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In July 2024, I visited the Ferry Building in San Francisco to sit down with CapitalG partners Jill (Greenberg) Chase and James Luo. As Alphabet's growth-stage VC fund, CapitalG specializes in backing startups that have found product-market fit and are ready to scale with investments ranging from $50M to $200M. We talked about the key signals that indicate a company is ready for growth-stage investment, how CapitalG leverages Google and Alphabet resources to boost its portfolio, and their frameworks for assessing risk and potential returns. We also spent time talking about the importance of go-to-market strategies, team-building, and product partnerships. Whether you're an early-stage founder or curious about what it takes to scale a business to the next level, this conversation offers actionable insights into navigating growth-stage funding. Runtime: 53:05 EPISODE BREAKDOWN (1:57) A general overview of CapitalG and its relationship to Alphabet and Google. (6:11) What are some of the early signals indicating that a company is at growth stage? (8:33) James: “When you get to the later stages, you have a ton of different data points that you don't have at the Series B.” (12:53) Jill: “We talk a lot about the concept of, “are you paid for the risk that you're taking?” (18:53) Jill: “Our job when things aren't going so well is to remind them of the dream and to say, ‘no, we're not giving up.'” (19:30) Which trends and technology are Jill and James following these days? (25:25) James' framework for sizing TAM for growth-stage startups. (30:50) James: “TAM is a judgment call. It's as much art as it is science.” (32:28) Jill on what separates a high-potential AI startup from the rest of the pack. (38:29) Jill: “The way we approach investing at CapitalG is highly thematic and sort of thesis-driven.” (44:50) Why growth-stage investing is similar to park rangers looking for forest fires. (48:45) James: “You're basically never going to find somebody who's amazing at every possible thing that you need to do to run a business.” (51:01) Jill: “It is a huge red flag for me when somebody can't say, ‘yep, I was wrong about this.'” LINKS Jill (Greenberg) Chasejillgreenberg@capitalg.com James Luo CapitalGRobinhood Stripe Magic Rippling San Francisco Ferry Building
WDAV and the Fair Play Music Equity Initiative continue the second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts with R&B artist Nia J joined by flutist Jill O’Neill and violist Ben Geller. We speak to the trio about how well they bonded as a group, and how the addition of the classical instruments helped “breathe some life back” into the singer-songwriter’s music. Nia J Ben Geller Jill O'Neill Transcript Frank Dominguez : This is Frank Dominguez for WDAV’s Piedmont Arts. On Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30 PM, WDAV continues its second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre blending and community building. This time, we’re teaming R&B singer-songwriter Nia J with flutist Jill O’Neill and violist Ben Geller. The trio joins me now via Zoom. Thanks, everyone! Jill O’Neill : Thanks for having us. Nia J : Yeah, excited to be here. Frank : Nia, R&B is a category of music that's really as broad and varied as classical music in terms of its range of sounds and artists. So who are some of the musicians, from R&B or otherwise, who have had an influence on your music? Nia : I would say Jhené Aiko comes to mind. I really like her harmonies and the really melodic tunes that she is able to achieve. And just that it’s really peaceful. I like for my music to be tranquil and have that really peaceful state. I really like Daniel Caesar as well. Same thing as far as harmonies - I really like the way that he writes. Both completely different artists, but those are two that come to mind when I think of R&B artists that inspire me. Frank : And if I were asking you to describe what R&B means to you, how would you talk about that? Nia : I don’t know, it's kind of limitless right now! There's no sound that is unique to it at the moment, everyone's taking their own direction with it. I think it gets back to the lyrics. The lyrics are really soulful, I think the message is usually pretty powerful. And I like the contemporary stance that a lot of artists are taking, where we're fusing different genres into it. Frank : Jill, you are a flute professor at Winthrop University and you teach Music Appreciation, but in addition, your resume also includes the Charlotte School of Rock and courses in the History of Rock and Roll. How did you come by this eclectic streak? Jill : It actually doesn't seem eclectic to me, I don't know why it does to everybody else. (Laughs) You know, I grew up listening to heavy metal and punk and being a kid in the 80’s. Yes, I play a very… solit(ary), shall I say, girly instrument. Most of my teachers were men when I was a kid. (The flute) is seen as that frilly, fluffy, pretty, very vocal instrument, but that actually is very unlike me as a human and as a musician. When I have to play flute, I really have to bring myself into Nia’s way of thinking. I really have to calm myself down and try to contain it. Because that’s not the kind of music I really listen to and the two bands that I played with, it’s not pretty flute music. It’s kind of heavy, loud, grinding… and that’s just the kind of person I am. So, when I’m playing drums, I actually sometimes feel more like myself. But the flute is my life. I started playing piccolo when I was six, so of course, everybody insisted that I gravitate towards the flute as well, so I played both. And alto flute and bass flute. But that’s just one very small part of me. I think as a teacher, that’s what I bring to the table, because I make sure that all my students can do everything. I always say, “the more you do, the more marketable you are, so don’t pigeonhole yourself!” Frank : Great point. Ben, most of WDAV’s listeners are used to seeing you in evening wear at concerts by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. What is the appeal for you personally about stepping outside your usual circle and collaborating with Nia J on this project? Ben Geller : Well, it's… that pigeonholing that Jill was talking about, that’s more of my life. I think when I was younger, I had broader interests, and as I got older, I wanted to focus more and more, and eventually orchestral viola kind of took over my life. Not to say I don't love it, but I miss doing more out of the box stuff. And playing in the orchestra does get you a decent amount of variety. We play all kinds of classical music and modern stuff. But being a directly contributing partner to a project like this was… I mean, I love that. Nia’s got such a unique voice, a beautiful voice, and great songwriting. And working with another colleague in Jill, who brings this whole varied background… this was so much fun. I wish we could do this all of the time, always. Jill : Hear that, Nia? (Laughs) Hint! Ben : Stand by. Nia : Taking the hint. Frank : That's really great to see the obvious bond that has formed between the three of you. Nia, I'm interested in your creative process for writing songs. Are you thinking about the audience and their expectations of you, or are you perhaps more driven by your own experiences and emotions? How does it work for you? Nia : I think anytime I try to start with the audience, it just doesn't work. So usually, it's best if I think about how I'm feeling and experiences that I'd like to share, and usually I get lucky and those experiences can be related to by others and people who are listening. So I just try to be authentic in why I'm writing and taking from my experiences and then just hoping that people will connect. Frank : Jill, I have another question for you. And given that you demonstrated you're not the stereotypical flutist that some people might have in mind, how did you go about working with Nia? What form did the collaboration take? Jill : You know what, it was really easy. She had sent Ben and I her music quite some time before we got together, and Ben and I just kind of had - immediately, I mean, we’ve known each other and played with each other for a long time - we just had a sense of what each song needed from us. So that's why I ended up just grabbing a whole bunch of different instruments before I left because we had no idea what was going to come of rehearsals. It was a neat kind of hodgepodge of listen to a tune, grab a different instrument, try something… substitute one instrument for another, until we just found it. I don't think that's a secret. I think that's the way most people write music. So it was fun for us to have that beautiful base of stuff that she had already written. It made our jobs really easy, don’t you think, Ben? (Laughs) It really wasn’t taxing for us. We did have to decide a few times, and Nia was really prominent in the conversations, about how much of the music do we keep and add us on to, versus trying to have us recreate that. It wasn’t an easy task when Ben and I felt like, “Oh my God, we have to play flute and viola. How are we going to make her music sound (right)?” That was really scary. Until she had this look on her face, like “No, you don’t have to do that. You can do anything you want.” And as soon as we realized that, it was on. I mean, we just kind of went crazy. And when Ben got out his mandolin, Nia just looked at me like, “Yeah. This is going. This is what we want.” Frank : Ben, how about you? What was the transition to playing music in this sort of milieu? Easy, or difficult, or how did you manage it? Ben : You know, viola is a backup instrument. We don’t… it's not always “spotlight” for us, for sure. So thinking about it in this vein was a little bit (of) where I live, in how to best support a good clear melody. And viola didn’t always make sense, so I happen to have this wonderful mandolin that I love and don't play enough of, and it seemed to fit on a few of Nia’s songs, so we kept using it. Frank : One definite message I'm getting from this is that there's a lot more to the contemporary classical musician than first meets the eye and than I think the average audience member might realize, not only in terms of your training and background but your interests and the ways you express yourself. Nia, when you were getting ready for this NoteWorthy concert, did you have any role in playing… in terms of choosing the instruments or the musicians who would be performing with you? Nia : I wasn't really picky. They asked what types of instruments (I’d like), and I’m like, “I don’t know!” It’s been a while since I’ve worked with classical musicians. I did choir, and we always performed alongside classical musicians, but that was in high school, so I’m like, “Whatever you think sounds like it will fit with my music.” I was randomly paired with Jill and Ben, and it was great because Jill… the first day that we rehearsed, she brought like fifty different instruments. So it was nice that we could experiment, as they were saying, and just play around to see what worked and what didn’t. I had no idea what route I would take with it. Frank : I’m going to give you the last word, Nia, and ask you what stands out for you as the most memorable part of working with Jill and Ben specifically as classically trained musicians? What did that combination bring to the songs you had written and have been performing? Nia : I think they definitely helped breathe some life back into the music. After performing the same songs over and over again, sometimes you lose touch with them. So working with Jill and Ben helped me reconnect with them in a way that I hope the audience will see when they watch the performance. And just who they are as people, too. I’ve grown really fond of you guys, and getting to work together was awesome. I’m just really grateful to have gotten to meet both of them. Frank : My guests have been R&B singer-songwriter Nia J and flutist Jill O’Neill, as well as violist Ben Geller. On Wednesday, August 24th at 7:30 PM, you can hear them perform when WDAV continues the second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts, presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre blending and community building music. And you can watch WDAV’s YouTube channel to catch the video or WDAV’s Facebook page. You can also get more information about the artists and the series from noteworthyclassical.org. Thank you, everyone, for speaking with me. Jill : Thanks, Frank. Ben : Thanks for having us, Frank. Nia : Thanks! Frank : For WDAV’s Piedmont Arts, I’m Frank Dominguez.
Jack Thursday - Chasing Zero (LA 1771) Transcript: Steve and Jill here. Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the valley of the sun. Steve: Today is Jack Thursday and I'm going to talk about this concept I created quite some time ago that just doesn't seem to die. It's sung to some people called Chasing Zero. Jill: I'm excited. I love it. This comes up often. I'm trying to think of, probably because of career path, it comes up in career path. You talk about it and we've done a few shows on this. This whole topic and this description intrigues people, myself included. So, I'm glad we're doing another show on this today. Steve: Good, Jill. Before we get into it though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free and don't forget to subscribe to the Land Academy YouTube channel. Comment on the shows you like. Jill: Josh wrote, "Hi all, new guy here with a quick question. Got my first mailer and I'm getting some responses. Tried to bring my wife into the operation/discussion, but she's having a hard time wrapping her head around the vacant land, then I mentioned houses. Her interest peaked quite a bit and she's been looking at the House Academy public website. Curious of your thoughts on House Academy training business model, and if any other newbies are doing both, or houses exclusively. Likewise, any thoughts as to why the House Academy podcast and overall focus from Jack and Jill has waned a bit? Market? Just making that model less appealing? Feel free to PM me if that's easier." Oh, I love it. This is good. Steve: This is a very popular topic on discord. Jill: Yep. Steve: There is a lot of responses to this. Jill: I bet. Steve: I love buying and selling houses. Jill: Me too. Steve: Right now it is the most competitive I've ever seen it in my entire career. Jill: And I don't want to play. Steve: If you talk to any homeowner, especially in those target areas, with mid range, two, three, four hundred thousand dollars, buy it for 300, sell it for 400 without any real renovation, they'll tell you that they get two or three offers a week. Jill: Right. Steve: And very frustrated. They'll tell you in a very slam it down on the desk frustrated way. We don't care to run with that, so much competition. We could make it work. We've done it. When the market ... and everybody said this on discord. Jill: Isn't that funny? Steve: I'm reiterating it. When a market chills out a little we'll get back into it. Jill: It seems counterintuitive, but you're like, "Wait a minute. Why would you want now to buy houses and jump in the pool when it's so hot because everything sells so fast?" But, Steven's right, because of the whole way that we operate everything is buying it right. If I'm in a bidding war with somebody else, I'm not buying it right. It's just too nutty. I like it to be slowed down a little bit, not as much competition, I can get some smoking deals, mark it up very effectively, and then sell it and move on. Steve: Here's the truth. Jill: But I like houses, too. Steve: Here's the truth time. If somebody put a gun to my head and said, "You're going to buy and sell houses now." I would sit down. I would run data like I run it now with some changes, and then I would look at the pretty rural markets that are pretty solidly served by useful internet service providers so you can get a good connection, because everybody seems to be ... more and more people are working from home and moving out into outlying areas. So I could choose the right rural markets and buy and sell houses all day long. Jill: Correct. Steve: The fact is, and if I had a nickel for every Land Academy member that came to Jill and I and said, "Wow, thank you. I'm so much out of the house business now. It's so much easier and more profitable to buy and sell land.
Jack Thursday - Chasing Zero (LA 1771) Transcript: Steve and Jill here. Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the valley of the sun. Steve: Today is Jack Thursday and I'm going to talk about this concept I created quite some time ago that just doesn't seem to die. It's sung to some people called Chasing Zero. Jill: I'm excited. I love it. This comes up often. I'm trying to think of, probably because of career path, it comes up in career path. You talk about it and we've done a few shows on this. This whole topic and this description intrigues people, myself included. So, I'm glad we're doing another show on this today. Steve: Good, Jill. Before we get into it though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free and don't forget to subscribe to the Land Academy YouTube channel. Comment on the shows you like. Jill: Josh wrote, "Hi all, new guy here with a quick question. Got my first mailer and I'm getting some responses. Tried to bring my wife into the operation/discussion, but she's having a hard time wrapping her head around the vacant land, then I mentioned houses. Her interest peaked quite a bit and she's been looking at the House Academy public website. Curious of your thoughts on House Academy training business model, and if any other newbies are doing both, or houses exclusively. Likewise, any thoughts as to why the House Academy podcast and overall focus from Jack and Jill has waned a bit? Market? Just making that model less appealing? Feel free to PM me if that's easier." Oh, I love it. This is good. Steve: This is a very popular topic on discord. Jill: Yep. Steve: There is a lot of responses to this. Jill: I bet. Steve: I love buying and selling houses. Jill: Me too. Steve: Right now it is the most competitive I've ever seen it in my entire career. Jill: And I don't want to play. Steve: If you talk to any homeowner, especially in those target areas, with mid range, two, three, four hundred thousand dollars, buy it for 300, sell it for 400 without any real renovation, they'll tell you that they get two or three offers a week. Jill: Right. Steve: And very frustrated. They'll tell you in a very slam it down on the desk frustrated way. We don't care to run with that, so much competition. We could make it work. We've done it. When the market ... and everybody said this on discord. Jill: Isn't that funny? Steve: I'm reiterating it. When a market chills out a little we'll get back into it. Jill: It seems counterintuitive, but you're like, "Wait a minute. Why would you want now to buy houses and jump in the pool when it's so hot because everything sells so fast?" But, Steven's right, because of the whole way that we operate everything is buying it right. If I'm in a bidding war with somebody else, I'm not buying it right. It's just too nutty. I like it to be slowed down a little bit, not as much competition, I can get some smoking deals, mark it up very effectively, and then sell it and move on. Steve: Here's the truth. Jill: But I like houses, too. Steve: Here's the truth time. If somebody put a gun to my head and said, "You're going to buy and sell houses now." I would sit down. I would run data like I run it now with some changes, and then I would look at the pretty rural markets that are pretty solidly served by useful internet service providers so you can get a good connection, because everybody seems to be ... more and more people are working from home and moving out into outlying areas. So I could choose the right rural markets and buy and sell houses all day long. Jill: Correct. Steve: The fact is, and if I had a nickel for every Land Academy member that came to Jill and I and said, "Wow, thank you. I'm so much out of the house business now. It's so much easier and more profitable to buy and sell land.
Jack Thursday - Chasing Zero (LA 1771) Transcript: Steve and Jill here. Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the valley of the sun. Steve: Today is Jack Thursday and I'm going to talk about this concept I created quite some time ago that just doesn't seem to die. It's sung to some people called Chasing Zero. Jill: I'm excited. I love it. This comes up often. I'm trying to think of, probably because of career path, it comes up in career path. You talk about it and we've done a few shows on this. This whole topic and this description intrigues people, myself included. So, I'm glad we're doing another show on this today. Steve: Good, Jill. Before we get into it though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free and don't forget to subscribe to the Land Academy YouTube channel. Comment on the shows you like. Jill: Josh wrote, "Hi all, new guy here with a quick question. Got my first mailer and I'm getting some responses. Tried to bring my wife into the operation/discussion, but she's having a hard time wrapping her head around the vacant land, then I mentioned houses. Her interest peaked quite a bit and she's been looking at the House Academy public website. Curious of your thoughts on House Academy training business model, and if any other newbies are doing both, or houses exclusively. Likewise, any thoughts as to why the House Academy podcast and overall focus from Jack and Jill has waned a bit? Market? Just making that model less appealing? Feel free to PM me if that's easier." Oh, I love it. This is good. Steve: This is a very popular topic on discord. Jill: Yep. Steve: There is a lot of responses to this. Jill: I bet. Steve: I love buying and selling houses. Jill: Me too. Steve: Right now it is the most competitive I've ever seen it in my entire career. Jill: And I don't want to play. Steve: If you talk to any homeowner, especially in those target areas, with mid range, two, three, four hundred thousand dollars, buy it for 300, sell it for 400 without any real renovation, they'll tell you that they get two or three offers a week. Jill: Right. Steve: And very frustrated. They'll tell you in a very slam it down on the desk frustrated way. We don't care to run with that, so much competition. We could make it work. We've done it. When the market ... and everybody said this on discord. Jill: Isn't that funny? Steve: I'm reiterating it. When a market chills out a little we'll get back into it. Jill: It seems counterintuitive, but you're like, "Wait a minute. Why would you want now to buy houses and jump in the pool when it's so hot because everything sells so fast?" But, Steven's right, because of the whole way that we operate everything is buying it right. If I'm in a bidding war with somebody else, I'm not buying it right. It's just too nutty. I like it to be slowed down a little bit, not as much competition, I can get some smoking deals, mark it up very effectively, and then sell it and move on. Steve: Here's the truth. Jill: But I like houses, too. Steve: Here's the truth time. If somebody put a gun to my head and said, "You're going to buy and sell houses now." I would sit down. I would run data like I run it now with some changes, and then I would look at the pretty rural markets that are pretty solidly served by useful internet service providers so you can get a good connection, because everybody seems to be ... more and more people are working from home and moving out into outlying areas. So I could choose the right rural markets and buy and sell houses all day long. Jill: Correct. Steve: The fact is, and if I had a nickel for every Land Academy member that came to Jill and I and said, "Wow, thank you. I'm so much out of the house business now. It's so much easier and more profitable to buy and sell land.
HIGHLIGHTSFrom law school to working in the music businessDealing with mental illness in the familyLife is a continuous healing process We all need some kindness in lifeBringing people together with conscious acts of kindnessLet life lead you to where you need to be Linking up with kindness communities all over the worldIt's time to put ourselves firstBe intentional about doing good thingsQUOTESJill: "Life is a big journey. We're always learning and growing and keeping on. I think that's a big piece. Do what you need to do to heal whatever is holding us back, because otherwise it's just going to keep holding you back."Jill: "When we grow up, many of us as hurt little children, there's a part of us that needs and longs for kindness. Whether it's a kind word, whether it's a hug, whatever we need. I think as human beings we all need kindness. I mean, who doesn't? It is the balm that cures." Anniece: "I think the way to listen best is to be present first." Jill: "It's time to see what else flows in and to let life lead me and to pay attention to what is exciting to me, what lights me up, what feels dull, what was time to let go of. And frankly, here we are again, in the pandemic time, I have look again: what lights me up, where am I ready to let go."Anniece: "I love your kindness communities because we all know in that word itself, in community, is the word unity. That's how we come together. And in compassion is the word compass. So you can never guide a light with another until you have compassion."Jill: "Forget random acts of kindness. Can we practice conscious acts of kindness, please? That's what I'm putting out to all of you, is to practice a conscious act of kindness everyday, at least one."Jill: "Let's take the opportunity first to be grateful for what we have, and give of what we have, so that we're able to receive more."Connect with Jill in the links below:Email: support@jilllublin.comWebsite: https://jilllublin.com/Books: https://www.amazon.com/Jill-Lublin/e/B001IQX7LY%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shareVisit Anniece's website: https://www.annieca.com/.Follow Anniece on her socials:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnniecaInsuranceLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anniecaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/annieca_com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYCyARfbz1NIPvjT8hIVZrw?fbclid=IwAR0jhtipM_DXOPafp-IZdDr8qLSX9-eApgDlLyI9m-WJfF9OAJ9Zo5oMp0wTwitter: https://twitter.com/AnniecaMergers
On this episode Ms. Jill Garvin, Wing Director of Psychological Health, speaks to Ms. Kristen Alexander about the importance of communication, connection and community when it comes to relationships. Ms. Kristen Alexander is a Heroes In Transition spouses group coordinator. Heroes In Transition provides many family, couples and veterans programs to our community. heroesintransition.org ------SCRIPT------ Jill: hello everybody this is Jill Garvin the director of psychological health for the 102nd Intelligence Wing welcome back to our wellness podcast today I have Kristen Alexander here with us she is from heroes and transition a lot of you have probably heard about them one of my favorite organizations and favorite people they assist veterans and military families and do a lot for our community and for a lot of our members here at the 102nd actually Kristen and her husband John they are both couples group facilitators and Kristin is the spouse's group facilitator and John is the veterans facilitator co-facilitator am I saying that the right facilitators right Kristen: yeah coordinators facilities that's what I have to say it's all good Jill: yeah so coordinators I apologize so one of the reasons I wanted to talk to Kristen about some of the programs and offerings that that heroes in transition has is because a lot of people i'm finding especially since Covid have really been struggling in relationships marriages that have broken apart or relationships that are really really struggling and a lot of people are struggling right now and I have definitely had an uptick in in my office and my arena around people struggling with that and heroes in transition certainly has stepped up during Covid and and is offering a lot of different things to meet the needs of our veterans and their families and since Kristen is involved in the the program for for couples and and in relationships I wanted her to tell us about what they're doing and introduce yourself and tell us how did you get involved with heroes in transition you and your husband you know give us a little a little background Kristen: awesome thanks Jill so my name is Kristen Alexander as Jill said and we are going into our fifth year with heroes it is my husband had started with them in a conversation of facilitating a veterans group and carrying that on and I was kind of like yeah well there’s spouses two so because my husband's a veteran so we've been through the deployments and you know all the things and so that really sparked an awesome conversation about starting with couples first and building the trust there and then breaking off and doing kind of separate groups so we started from the grassroots up and we started with the couples group we created a couples group and it just has continued to grow and grow and grow now that we have now we have to do lotteries for our events Jill: Wow Kristen: yeah so it's been amazing and it's been amazing to see the growth not only just within the organization in the group but the growth and the friendships that have come together because of that space Jill: i've heard some amazing feedback from our members that have gone on some of the couples events and retreats and it sounds like it is really well planned and just very therapeutic and amazing Kristen: yeah it's really great coming from because i'm not a therapist you know I don't i'm a spouse you know I am half of the married couple so that's the role that we take with it is you know creating the relatedness of another angle you know and what that does is that opens up the door for more conversation for maybe more needs that whether it be the veteran or the couple or the spouse might need they tend to be a little bit more open to maybe furthering on with other areas but you know reading just some of the things that you know we get feedback on and with covet it's been tough because a big part of what we do is we would do we do monthly we do bi-monthly events so what we do is we do like last month February was a couple's group event and we did a virtual valentine's dinner that was amazing and then this month we'll do the veterans will do an event and the spouses will do events separate and then the month after april we'll go back to a couple so we kind of alternate so it kind of it builds up the individuality because to be able to be strong as a couple you have to have your you have to know who you are right like so you still have to have that sense of self and independence Jill: yeah Kristen: because sometimes that goes away as a military spouse right but thank goodness for zoom we've been able to go virtual and it was like hey we don't have to give up everything but it has been a big part of like I said what we do is we would do an event to kind of get people together socializing that kind of thing and then we would do dinner and not being able to do the dinner was a fear that we would lose that connection because when you're sitting down having dinner and that's where the connections are coming in the smaller conversations and you know that kind of thing and but we've been able to through being virtual we've been able to still somewhat keep that connection and we've actually had a lot of new people join us which has been great because a lot of people don't feel comfortable coming into a group Jill: right Kristen: so the virtual aspect has been a blessing there's a blessing in everything as we know has been a blessing to allow people that maybe would feel a little bit intimidated or uncomfortable to be around people physically at first Jill: yeah Kristen: to kind of come in this way you know and like one of the things was feedback we got was it's such a pleasure knowing that in difficult times we can still grow and adapt to continue to get to get out there and build your support group you know so just knowing that providing that space for them you know and don't think we're not getting anything from it Jill: of course yeah Kristen: you know it's just it's it's pretty amazing Jill: so so how did you and john so you're doing this as a as a couple right obviously and what what kind since you're a spouse as well what sorts of things have helped you along your journey in marriage as a military spouse what what things have helped the two of you stay married Kristen: yeah so there's that yeah communication for sure and a lot of what takes a long time is to really learn how to listen and listen in a way that you're you get the intention of the conversation right so it's like kind of building those skills you know and it lit I remember when we went to therapy back in the day you know and just one of the exercises that we had to do was sit back to back and take take 10 minutes talking taking turns because then you're not interrupting Jill: yeah Kristen: he couldn't see my face because he doesn't because I was a crier I might still be but you know doing things like that you know so like some of one of the exercises that we did during one of our retreats was it was called the recreation exercise so one partner would say something and then would express whatever they were gonna express and then the other partner would come back and say okay so I heard this is what I heard and would say it back and then they would have a conversation did they really hear what that person was saying Jill: yeah Kristen: you know so it's really and it's just practice and when times get crazy we all fall out of it a little bit so those these reminders of the things that we do and we continue to really put in how important communication is is a good reminder for everyone that you just can't be successful without communication Jill: yeah communication is so key Kristen: yeah Jill: and i'm glad you mentioned well just an idea of one of the things that you do on the at the retreat yeah tell us a little bit what are the events like what do you do Kristen: yeah so we have twice a year so we do that every other month so that every month there is a an event for a veteran spouse Jill: and what type of events the this month Kristen: for the spouses I am running a i'm leading a vision board workshop so we all and we're gonna focus on hope like what can we bring you know what can we create and really just kind of getting down I have a whole worksheet there's a process it's not just cutting out pictures and pasting them they're gonna we're gonna do some digging you know in creating and with that the veterans this month are doing they're doing yoga and meditation which is awesome Jill: with Sarah right Kristen: yeah yep saturday we love Sarah yeah and also too I know they're still doing they do some work with Marie Bartram also and I know that they're still doing some like weekly virtual events too just to kind of keep people connected which is super important every saturday I do a spouse's coffee chat virtual which has really been a huge part of staying connected you know about Jill: I love that kind of thing what time is that Kristen: 9 a.m on saturdays and we do have a facebook group for couples and we also have email lists that I can give you you know when we before we wrap up how people can get connected to that kind of stuff but what we do I want to a couple of our biggest things is twice a year we do a couples retreat so we you know and they both have a little bit of a different focus one of the couple's retreats is really about building the community in teamwork you know also working on communication skills with each other but like building community and just really getting that you're not by yourself in this you're you've got people you know and then the other one is really digging deeper into your relationship in really just looking at how you can work on those communication skills different things different exercises that you can do how to communicate in a way that is effective because there's all different levels of communication Jill: It is a skill Kristen: as we know and to be able to communicate effectively is a huge skill you know and you know unfortunately we're not born with it we have to create it and but we also have to be committed to it Jill: yeah Kristen: you know and really just being able to get on each to get on each other's level really just listen to the other person you know one of the things that we learned was doing a daily temperature reading and what that is is you just there's like five different topics and you take turns and there's no discussion about it you're literally just filling in this is what's happening this is what's new blah blah blah you know whatever that kind of thing Jill: nice Kristen: yeah it's really cool Jill: well I was going to say you mentioned uh community connection communication and committed and just that just paints such a wonderful picture on yeah how we have successful relationships whether they're friendships or romantic relationships in our marriages but especially that connection piece and I love that you guys are keeping folks connected Kristen: yeah thank you it's you know and really just looking at again some of the things that they give us back you know the feedback like what stands out is reconnect relearning love languages you know that kind of stuff really just having one-on-one time to themselves instead of always being a parent oracle or a worker or you know something like that and what happens is a lot of times they don't especially with our military families and couples they don't have family here you know so they don't really get a lot of that one-on-one time you know so now when events come up they're a little bit more apt to look you know might look for a babysitter and make that extra effort to get that one-on-one time and then when they experience that one-on-one time they're like oh that's who you are oh I forgot Jill: yeah you're an adult too Kristen: yeah right you know so it's really it's really been so amazing Jill: yeah you guys do so much and again I know we're all appreciative of especially during Covid just stepping up and and having all of this and and because most everything is free right Kristen: everything is everything is free Jill: which is amazing yep yep and and I love yeah there are a lot of uh silver linings that came from Covid especially zoom and like you said there are a lot of veterans or service members those that suffer with anxiety or ptsd and they don't necessarily want to go into a crowded room with other people and so having the option to to see people on a screen and you're in your own safe comfortable environment is is wonderful yeah something wonderful Kristen: it kind of fills that gap a little bit yeah and for our valentine's dinner we had you know we had everybody got to pick up their dinner they got a choice of their meal they went and picked it up at marshland 2 and we met on zoom at 7 pm and there were a lot of people that didn't know each other because we've been in this for a year so we haven't really been able to you know do a lot of the connecting but by the time that dinner lasted like three hours and we were like wow like we laughed and people just got to really know each other and people were sharing and it was just you know it was just really great for them to have that like ah yeah with my people Jill: a breather yeah and and and there's such power and just being around other people that you can identify with and understand military life culture marriage all of those things do you guys have something coming up Kristen: we have well in March 20th we have the spouses the spouses event and that's going to be a vision board workshop and then the veterans are doing they're doing yoga and meditation I think that might be March 13th might be the week before I think maybe and then there's also we have a families group too and Casey and Aaron and Vanheusen run that and that's amazing so we do and those are monthly events and you know we couldn't do it without the hard work of our donors and sponsors who are like Jill: yeah I know and that's because they see all the great work you're doing they love you guys it's just amazing to see the outpouring of support and love that heroes in transition gets from the community Kristen: it's been amazing and we do have it's the full moon yeah that's why i'm but we we do have the Ruck4HIT coming up which is like one of our aside from the gala well both of those are our biggest fundraisers and the Ruck4HIT like everybody can take part you can run walk you can do whatever and that is going to be based right out of Mashpee and that is the end of April April 30th to Jill: yeah so that every you guys will be meeting at the heritage park Kristen: yep that's going to be our home base and we have teams and we've been doing that I mean we've been doing that I think this is our fifth or sixth year doing that the first one we did the beta run to new york city and back and that was pretty amazing Jill: everybody knows about the rock Kristen: I mean I think so but it's so great and that's when and we also what happens with the ruck is we have a lot of the people that participate in our groups they that's where they come to give back so they volunteer and they kind of you know help the whole thing happen but again we couldn't do it without the people that sponsor us and you know our donors our board of directors are amazing they just have so much trust in us which is amazing yeah Jill: yeah well you do amazing things and you have amazing results you've helped a lot of people like I said there's so many 102nd members here that have given me feedback over the years about oh just all the different ways that heroes in transition has helped them and and we've been able to call on you guys when we've needed something or needed a resource for someone it's just great to be able to pick up the phone and and get you guys anytime so thank you so is there anything else you'd like to mention that that's coming up or how do people find you Kristen: people we have we do have a website at heroesintransition.org and an easy way to remember how to get connected to the groups it would be if you were looking to get information about the spouses group you would email spouses@herosintransition.org if you wanted to get information about the veterans group veterans at harrows in transition and couples couples at heroes families families at heroes so we try to keep it simple you know that kind of thing I know the couples group we have a private facebook group that is specifically for military couples the families group has a facebook group for that but definitely go and you know like heroes in transition on facebook and you'll see all the connections there Jill: you're on instagram too right Kristen: I think so I i should be better at instagram and just Jill: some people are more instagram Kristen: it's yeah yeah yeah but I think we have an amazing social media guy Chris he's just awesome and yeah he he gets all of our stuff everywhere yeah it needs to go Jill: and the emails you mentioned if they go on the website all of those Kristen: they'll be able to find you know find that too you know and then they'll also be able to see you know we're pretty good about you know responding quickly and you know like the spouse's group events are for spouses of military members you know the veterans events or for that you know that kind of thing so yeah so Jill: wonderful Kristen: so that's it like just come see us no matter what rain shine we make it happen Jill: especially with zoom it doesn't matter what the weather is Kristen: yeah in person not in person Jill: you know and I love the the that you guys are doing rock the way you're doing it I i don't think I could have ever participated before but i'm planning on doing it this year yeah I have been running but but just again the way that uh some of the different options I think will make it more available Kristen: yeah it's we had people from other countries participate last year we had so that's the thing with Covid too like it's kind of you have to be creative right Jill: yeah Kristen: and you have to open up we had families participate together you know and they would send in their miles you know and then we'd add them up on on our team or whatever yeah yeah definitely a way whether you want to come and walk and you know the registration form is out I believe which is cool so anybody can register can register individually or as a team and then or you know come down and help us out you know just be a smiling face and cheer us on because we'll be tired Jill: well thank you and please thank uh Cindy and Nicole for all and your wonderful board I appreciate everything that you guys do for the community and I appreciate you coming on today and we'll definitely have you guys back because you're always doing new and innovative and ongoing things and I want to remind people that you guys are here so thank you Kristen: anytime thank you
Transcript Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit broadcasting from awesome, Southern... Are we southern or central area? Steve: Central? Jill: Excuse me. Awesome, Central Arizona. [inaudible 00:00:16] I have got to figure that out. Steve: Our elevation's 1500 here. In California, we were at elevation number... Like one foot. Jill: There we go. Steve: You know how you obsess on- Jill: I do obsess on that. Steve: On the weather and stuff? Jill: And GPS and all that. Steve: I have elevation issues. I put elevation in every single one of our land postings. Jill: [inaudible 00:00:38] you remember, you used to have that thing... And it was dialed into satellite stuff? Steve: Yeah, the weather... Jill: Yeah. And it would tell you all kinds of cool... The barometric pressure and things like that. I'm going to get one of those again for the new house. Steve: I think that you can get... I like the one that goes on the roof, where you don't need the internet. Jill: This one didn't need the internet too. Steve: So you install a little thing that goes... You ever see those little... Jill: A little gyro thing? Steve: Yeah. Jill: Oh, well you can do that if you want. I don't need that. Steve: [inaudible 00:01:09] Jill's out, if you have to install anything now. Jill: Exactly. Steve: Do you ever notice how girl products are just like open it and plug it in? And it's clean and pretty and simple and you don't really get any real information or the meat of anything? But- Jill: Why is this a bad thing? Steve: They're happy. Jill: It should work. I should open up and plug it in. Steve: I think I just described Apple computer. Jill: It's like a bathroom scale and should be able to just do it quickly. Not have to program the whole thing. Steve: Before Jill starts to talk about women's weight. Today, Jill and I talk about introducing Land Academy accountability and women's groups. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. And if you're already a member, please join us on Discord. Jill: Okay. James wrote, "Hello. When filling in the red, yellow, and green tests in the equity planner, which filters are used for land and farm to get land postings and Redfin [inaudible 00:02:09] data?" Assume on Redfin for [inaudible 00:02:13] data, you only select land for the last three months. And for land and farm, no houses and undeveloped land. However, the numbers from these filters are very different than the numbers in the example Jack uses for the equity planner. And I want to make sure I'm doing this right. Steve: You're doing it right. James, I can tell you haven't filled this out before and by this question, you are going to be wildly successful at this. Whenever I get questions about equity planner, data scrubbing. Like yesterday, the school district thing yesterday was nothing short of amazing. I didn't make enough of a big deal about how positive that is like Jill did. So I'm doing it now. The answer is this. When you have a lot of data available, i.e. You have an urban county or a zip code that you're sending it to, then use it all in from one source, probably Redfin. You're not going to get the data that you need in realtor, all of it. And you're not going to get all of the data that you need in Zillow. You are going to get it in Redfin. The bad news is that Redfin's coverage doesn't... Rural counties are not a priority for them. So you're doing it right. I can tell. In three months is great, that's actually what I use. It's interesting that you say three months, because that just made sense to you and that makes sense to me. Jill likes 30 days, but there's not enough data. You can do it back three years if you want on Redfin, that's, that's not apples to apples. Because real estate market was not the same thre...
Introducing Land Academy Accountability and Women's Groups (LA 1425) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit broadcasting from awesome, Southern... Are we southern or central area? Steve: Central? Jill: Excuse me. Awesome, Central Arizona. [inaudible 00:00:16] I have got to figure that out. Steve: Our elevation's 1500 here. In California, we were at elevation number... Like one foot. Jill: There we go. Steve: You know how you obsess on- Jill: I do obsess on that. Steve: On the weather and stuff? Jill: And GPS and all that. Steve: I have elevation issues. I put elevation in every single one of our land postings. Jill: [inaudible 00:00:38] you remember, you used to have that thing... And it was dialed into satellite stuff? Steve: Yeah, the weather... Jill: Yeah. And it would tell you all kinds of cool... The barometric pressure and things like that. I'm going to get one of those again for the new house. Steve: I think that you can get... I like the one that goes on the roof, where you don't need the internet. Jill: This one didn't need the internet too. Steve: So you install a little thing that goes... You ever see those little... Jill: A little gyro thing? Steve: Yeah. Jill: Oh, well you can do that if you want. I don't need that. Steve: [inaudible 00:01:09] Jill's out, if you have to install anything now. Jill: Exactly. Steve: Do you ever notice how girl products are just like open it and plug it in? And it's clean and pretty and simple and you don't really get any real information or the meat of anything? But- Jill: Why is this a bad thing? Steve: They're happy. Jill: It should work. I should open up and plug it in. Steve: I think I just described Apple computer. Jill: It's like a bathroom scale and should be able to just do it quickly. Not have to program the whole thing. Steve: Before Jill starts to talk about women's weight. Today, Jill and I talk about introducing Land Academy accountability and women's groups. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. And if you're already a member, please join us on Discord. Jill: Okay. James wrote, "Hello. When filling in the red, yellow, and green tests in the equity planner, which filters are used for land and farm to get land postings and Redfin [inaudible 00:02:09] data?" Assume on Redfin for [inaudible 00:02:13] data, you only select land for the last three months. And for land and farm, no houses and undeveloped land. However, the numbers from these filters are very different than the numbers in the example Jack uses for the equity planner. And I want to make sure I'm doing this right. Steve: You're doing it right. James, I can tell you haven't filled this out before and by this question, you are going to be wildly successful at this. Whenever I get questions about equity planner, data scrubbing. Like yesterday, the school district thing yesterday was nothing short of amazing. I didn't make enough of a big deal about how positive that is like Jill did. So I'm doing it now. The answer is this. When you have a lot of data available, i.e. You have an urban county or a zip code that you're sending it to, then use it all in from one source, probably Redfin. You're not going to get the data that you need in realtor, all of it. And you're not going to get all of the data that you need in Zillow. You are going to get it in Redfin. The bad news is that Redfin's coverage doesn't... Rural counties are not a priority for them. So you're doing it right. I can tell. In three months is great, that's actually what I use. It's interesting that you say three months, because that just made sense to you and that makes sense to me. Jill likes 30 days, but there's not enough data. You can do it back three years if you want on Redfin, that's,
Jill from Alberta, Canada. She is a homeschooling mother to 3 children, a birth doula, and a recently certified birth support coach through the Birth Coach Method. She is excited to use her newly learned coaching tools to help her clients achieve their desired birth experience even if they cannot have a doula attend their birth. Jill works with pregnant women in their last trimester to coach them around their desires for their birth, their current reality, and circumstances and closes every coaching session with an action assignment designed to reach their goals. Aside from sharing her incredible VBAC story, we discuss: -What birth coaching is and how it is different from childbirth education. -How hiring a birth support coach can help you, even if you can't have a doula attend your birth. -How birth support coaching places the pregnant parent as an expert on their body and their birth. Find Jill and learn more about birth coaching on her Instagram page: @jillmcknight_birthdoula ( https://www.instagram.com/jillmcknight_birthdoula/ ) Episode Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by @Nourisher, formerly known as Milkful nursing bars, Nousrisher believes that moms deserve the most nutritious food. Their pre and post-natal bars are made to nourish her unique needs throughout motherhood, without sacrificing flavor. Their delicious flavors include Papaya Turmeric: A tropical treat! Folate-packed Papaya + anti-inflammatory Turmeric. Spirulina Ginger: Sweet and spicy! Nausea-soothing spicy ginger plus energy-boosting Spirulina, and Strawberry Rosehip: OMG flavor! Yummy strawberries plus immune-boosting Rosehip. Check them out at thevbaclink.com/go/nourisher ( https://www.thevbaclink.com/go/nourisher ) Meagan: Happy Wednesday, women of strength! It is Julie and Meagan. We have Jill with us today. She’s in Canada and we cannot wait to hear not only her stories, but we want to dive in a little bit more on birth coaching-- something that she has gone into during her journey. She actually has three kids. She had a C-section and then two VBACs. We can’t wait to hear that story. She is a certified birth coach and a birth doula. We’re really excited to hear more about the coaching, what that entails and how we all can learn more because I know as a doula, for me, I think that would be something really fun to add to my offerings and my skills. I can’t wait to hear that. Julie has a review of the week, so we’ll turn the time over to her. Review of the week Julie: I’m Julie and I have a review of the week and I’m also interested in learning about birth coaching. I’m just really excited. I’m not going to start asking questions and things because it’s the very beginning of the episode. But at the end we might just pick your brain a little bit, Jill. This review is from Apple Podcasts and the reviewer name is Khuxx. The review’s name is “Success.” Khuxx says, “This podcast helped me in so many ways. I had my VBAC baby in the early morning on Thanksgiving four days past my due date. I was religiously listening to this podcast in those three days leading up to labor as I felt my chances of my perfect labor were being ripped away. Putting my headphones and pushing play on The VBAC Link when I would start to doubt my ability my whole pregnancy was honestly my lifesaver. I told my midwives that this was helping me stay positive and I recommend it to EVERYONE. Thank you SO MUCH for creating the perfect podcast for all pregnant moms, not just moms wanting to VBAC. If I would have known about this with my first, maybe the outcome would have been different.” Thank you so much, Khuxx, for that review. We were just talking about that before we started recording. We wish this had been around when we were having babies. And Jill, same thing. It always makes me feel really good when we hear that we are helping people and that our stories that we share on the podcast are helping others as well. Thank you, Jill, for sharing your story today. And thank you to everybody who has ever shared their story on our podcast and in our Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/thevbaclink/ ) community and in our Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/thevbaclink/?hl=en ) stories. We wouldn’t be The VBAC Link without every single one of you. So, thank you. Episode sponsor This episode is brought to you by Nourisher. Formerly known as Milkful Nursing Bars, the company has rebranded and expanded to bring you new bars. New flavors to meet all of your needs throughout the motherhood journey. Nourisher products are made to “nourish her.” Each of the products are super nutrient dense while still being a very tasty snack that moms can look forward to. Their delicious flavors include Blueberry Coconut, Chocolate Banana, Maple Walnut, Papaya Turmeric, Spirulina Ginger, and Strawberry Rosehip. Let’s talk about flavor. My favorite, guys? Strawberry Rosehip hands down. Not only are these bars delicious and tasty, but they have amazing benefits for both you and your baby in the pre and postnatal stages. They increase your energy. They support tissue repair and brain building. They improve gut health with fiber, probiotics and healthy fats. They give you a nutritional lift from sprouted grains and seeds that provide essential nutrients. They are packed with superfoods like turmeric, spirulina, and rosehip to support a healthy immune system and reduce inflammation throughout the pregnancy and postpartum stages. Go ahead and give Nourisher a try. You can get right to them by clicking the link in our show notes or going to thevbaclink.com/go/nourisher. ( https://www.nourisher.co/?rfsn=4803705.3f03cd ) Give them a try. You will not regret it. Jill’s story Meagan: Okay, you guys. It’s podcast Wednesday and Jill has an awesome episode for you. Jill, we’re going to turn the time over to you to share your amazing story and then let us pick your brain at the end. Jill: Great. Thank you so much, Julie and Meagan. Thanks for having me. I am a VBAC mom. I had my first child in 2009. I didn’t have a doula. I didn’t really have a birth team set up. I went into it to see how it goes, kind of thing. I felt like an absolute goddess being pregnant, I’ll tell you that. But I always felt really deflated every time I left my prenatal appointments with my obstetrician. I felt like it was so run of the mill, going through the motions. I always felt really sad afterwards. I felt like, “Hey, I feel really great. I feel like I’m glowing. I feel amazing.” If I had a doula or if I had someone to talk to and download about it afterwards, that would have felt really nurturing to me. So I went along and my pregnancy was actually really great. I was healthy. I was strong. I never considered that I would have a C-section. I remember going through the hospital for the tour and the last stop was the operating room to show us expectant moms where it is and things like that. I was like, “Yeah, sure. I’ll look at it. But there’s no way. I’m just not going to have one.” My mother didn’t have one. My grandmother had ten babies and I just thought, “It’s not happening,” so I didn’t have any information about how to prepare for a C-section. Meagan: A lot of times in these prenatals, there isn’t really any education given on C-sections. First time moms go in to have this baby and they’ve heard about a C-section but they don’t really know what it entails. That’s something that could be added to prenatal care. Jill: Yes. I think so for sure. Based on conversations that I’ve had with women throughout the years, it’s the same thing. At least to have had it as part of the prenatal, that would have been helpful for sure. I guess I can just skip to the birth. Pretty uneventful pregnancy, it was fine. My baby was late. The first time around when you go over the 40 week mark, it’s like, “Oh my gosh. When is this going to happen, right?” I did end up going into spontaneous labor at 41 weeks. We just had my in-laws arrive from Scotland. They had planned their trip to come for when the baby was born. Since baby was late, they showed up on the day that I started going into labor. So I had a house full of visitors. I started in the middle of the night feeling the early signs of labor. I did some of the things that I learned in my prenatal classes-- moving around when I could, trying to lie down when it felt comfortable. I ran a bath. I sat in the bath for a little while and then the contractions started to get a little bit intense. My husband and I decided to go into the hospital, which was just around the corner, so really close. I got checked into triage. The part that always sticks out in my head was that the nurse that was there didn’t look at me. She had her head down and asked, “Are you having an epidural?” I was like, “Uh, I don’t know.” She was like, “Well, you don’t need one. But if you don’t get one now then the anesthesiologist might be busy so I would suggest that you say yes.” Julie: Oh my gosh, I hate when they do that. Meagan: It’s added pressure in a vulnerable moment. Even if you didn’t plan on that, you feel vulnerable and think, “Well, what if I end up wanting one and they’re not here?” I don’t like that. Jill: There was another woman that was laboring in the room and it was quite intimidating. I could hear her. She was pretty close, I think, to giving birth. The nurse then said, “So that woman there, that’s not her first baby. You can hear she’s going through some painful contractions. So if she’s feeling pain, what do you think you’re going to feel?” So I was like, “Wow. Okay.” Julie: Labor and delivery nurses-- I don’t think they mean ill intent when they say these things. I think they’re really trying to be helpful. But there should be a class about tact in the birth room. Maybe not. But I’ve heard things like that in the birth room. What are you supposed to say as a parent and you’re a first time mom? It’s so frustrating. Jill: Yeah. That’s it. All of those things led to me getting an epidural, but I was only at 4 centimeters. Knowing what I know now, that was quite early. But for me, at that stage, it felt really painful. I had never felt anything like that before, so it felt like, “Oh yeah. I want this pain to go away. I want to be more comfortable.” I got that epidural administered and then was hooked up to the IV, the machines, and all the things. I was strapped in and lying down on my back. From there, I continually was progressing and I did dilate. I don’t have the notes with me right now, but long story short, eventually, I got to the point where baby was going into distress. They had to insert that fetal scalp electrode. I just felt like a rag doll. At the beginning, when the epidural was administered, it worked really well. For some women it doesn’t work really well and they still feel the contractions. But I felt nothing and I thought, “Oh, this is cool. I’m going to lie here and the baby is going to come. Wow!” I just had no idea. Then there were more interventions. There was the fetal monitor, then baby was in distress. They were giving me oxygen, then there were several doctors, students, nurses, and more students coming to observe me. That moment is so clear in my mind when I’m lying in the bed with the oxygen mask and I have what felt like eight people surrounding me. I’m freaking out and my husband’s like, “It’s okay,” but we’re like, “I don’t know what’s going on.” That was quite scary. But I did get to the point where I was 10 centimeters and was able to push with directed pushing. I didn’t feel anything, so I was going based on what the labor and delivery nurses were telling me to do as my feet were up in stirrups and still lying on my back. I spent hours doing that. Eventually they were able to lift me up and put me over one of those bars where I was sitting upright to try and get some gravity on my side. Then they started talking C-section at that point because I was pushing for about two hours and because he was in distress. I kept asking for more time. I asked for another hour and then after that third hour, they could see his head. I remember them bringing a mirror and you could see the head, but he wasn’t far enough down that they could use a vacuum or forceps. That led to that moment where I had to sign off for surgery. I still feel quite emotional just remembering. Meagan: That was a hard moment. Jill: Yeah. Then wheeled into surgery. As C-section moms, we all know that feeling. It feels really cold when you go into that operating room and everything is very quiet, very eerie. Everybody’s in their full scrubs and it’s a scary place. I was shaking at that point. I think there was something about the drugs they administer to you and they have to strap your arms down. I remember shaking and I felt very nauseous. When they did the surgery, it was quite a weird feeling. Because my son was descending down the birth canal, they actually had to pull him out. So his head came out in that cone kind of way. Julie: You kind of had to recover from a vaginal birth and a Cesarean at that point. Jill: It was almost that way, right? He was very large. He was 9 pounds, 4 ounces. Knowing what I know now, birthing a 9 pound, 4 ounce baby on your back, for 18 hours… Meagan: It doesn’t leave a lot of room for baby to get down in the right spot. Jill: I didn’t know much about birth until after that moment and I did my research. I was like, “What was that? Why did that happen?” I blamed myself a lot and I went through a lot of really negative emotions. I felt very disappointed. I felt ashamed. I felt really ashamed. I didn’t expect that I would have a C-section and I didn’t like that I felt ashamed to tell people that. It was really confusing. It was a crazy start to motherhood. I absolutely adored my son. Thankfully we bonded well with breastfeeding and skin to skin, but I remember those nights that I stayed in the hospital. It was really quite traumatic. There are lots of other details, but I think that’s mainly the gist of it. After that, it really drove me to research and find out why. I got a hold of my records of my birth to find out what actually happened, what led to it. Megan: Which is such a good idea to do. It’s really important to get those records. We encourage all of our personal clients to do that. Jill: Yeah, I found it really helpful. Then you can research and you can find out what all these terms mean. In the moment, you’re not really absorbing all the terminology that they’re throwing at you. You’re just scared. There’s the shock that takes over and you can’t absorb anything. Even in a straightforward labor, you’re not taking in information. I did a lot of work with the resources that were available at the time. It was 2009. I ended up stumbling into home birth which wasn’t anything I would ever have thought I would get into. I didn’t know anybody who had home births. I was actually quite intimidated by the thought of a home birth. But my research led me there. I started to really get into that world, which is quite an interesting place to be and a lot to learn there. I guess that’s what led me to want to be a doula because I’m reading all of these amazing books written by midwives and I thought, “I would love to be able to support somebody in a way that…” Meagan: The way you wish you had been able to be supported? Jill: Exactly, because I know exactly what I would have done for myself back then. That was part of my healing too. Like I said earlier, I really beat myself up a lot. It’s so common for moms who have unplanned C-sections or planned C-sections as well. As I did my research and I learned more, I started to forgive myself. I thought, “I did the best I could with what I had.” I didn’t know anything about epidural other than that it takes the pain of labor so I’m like, “That can’t be bad.” After I learned what I did in my doula training, I’m like, “Oh, so maybe 4 centimeters was a bit early.” If I had somebody there to support me for a few more hours to get to seven or eight centimeters, maybe the epidural would have been a great thing for me. So I was able to slowly heal from some of that negativity that I was holding onto and that shame and that disappointment. I could see my C-section as the catalyst for change in my life that helped to guide me towards birth work. I’m thankful for it in that way. Meagan: I feel you. It’s kind of the same. I had two C-sections before I landed into the birth world but even though they were not my desired birth or my desired choice, I would not have changed anything because it led me to where I am today. Julie: Me too. Jill: Then for my first VBAC, I waited 18 months because that was the recommended time. I don’t know if there is one recommended time, but for me, it was the 18 month wait after my first C-section to then try and get pregnant with my second child. I did that and then thankfully we got pregnant easily. I set myself up right away with midwives. In Canada, we have a public healthcare system which is great, but also stressful because you have to get your care provider the day you pee on the stick. You cannot mess around. I got myself into a really great midwifery practice right from the beginning. I was planning a home birth. I felt that was the best place for me. The midwives at this practice were supportive and actually really loved working with VBAC moms. I was in really, really good hands. Just the way life goes, my husband got transferred to Melbourne, Australia for work. So when I was six months pregnant with my second child, we moved to Australia. Julie: Oh my gosh! I love Australia, but what a horrible time to move to another country. Jill: I know. We had actually been there already temporarily before my pregnancy and then we came home for a bit. I knew it was coming so it wasn’t completely out of the blue at the point, but I did have to navigate a completely new healthcare system there in Australia. Julie: Australia is completely different for Cesarean, VBAC and birth in general. It’s a completely different mindset even from the United States. Different parts of Australia have different birth cultures as well. It’s something I’ve been interested in learning more about, actually. When Meagan and I upgrade our VBAC van to a VBAC jet-- we’re dreaming really big right now. We’re going to have a VBAC Link jet and then fly to Australia and figure out the Australia birth world, VBAC, Cesareans, all that. And maybe we’ll go doula some people in the Outback. That would be awesome. I’m dreaming big. This is like, 50 years down the road if we’re still kicking around. Jill: That’s great to dream big. Julie: I’m going to stop talking now. Go on with your story. Jill: I’ve never lived in the States but I can imagine Australia’s system to be a mixture of the United States and Canada because they do have public healthcare and private. It’s a nice little hybrid which was good for us because we weren’t residents of Australia so public health care, we still had to pay for anyway. We actually went private and I actually hired private midwives because the midwives there at that point weren’t covered under public healthcare like they are in Canada. I found some great midwives supporting my VBAC home birth. Everything was great. Totally crazy that we now lived down under. We were in Melbourne. It was a great city and I was in good hands. My husband took a little bit more time to get adjusted to the home birth, but we managed to come to an agreement. We planned the home birth and there was a concern that I had a front lying placenta early on in the pregnancy, so I just needed to get an ultrasound at about 36 weeks to check on that. I got some more interesting news at that ultrasound which was that my baby was breech. Meagan: Not always a fun thing to find out. Jill: No. And that’s the thing from my experience with my second child. I went to the ultrasound by myself and my husband was at the pool with my son. It was like, “Oh, you know. It’s all good. You go play with him. I’ll go to the ultrasound and meet you later.” Oh God, could I have used somebody there with me. I obviously did not expect that either. Breech? What? I was a complete hot mess after finding that out. But my midwives were totally cool and they were like, “That’s okay. You’re only 36 weeks. Lots of babies are breech. They do somersaults. They go all around. It’s no big deal.” They were able to help me calm down and explore options. Then I was into a whole other level of not just VBAC, I was then looking into breech which is a little bit more frightening when you look on the internet about breech birth. This was in 2011 when breech was considered very high risk and almost always a C-section. I was quite devastated because I was so scared of having another C-section. So I did all of the things. Spinning Babies-- I was lying down every day with my ironing board propped up on my couch. You lie down on your back with your head down and your feet up. Julie: The Breech Tilt, yes! Jill: Yep. Lots of hands and knees, doing all of the cat-cow hands and knees positions. I did everything. I did handstands in the pool which got me some pretty weird looks at the public pool. I did chiropractic care specifically for breech. I did Moxibustion, an acupuncture procedure where they put these needles in your pinky toes and then they have this charcoal cigar-lit thing that lights up and heats up the needle in your toes. I did all the things. She was not having it. She remained in the breech position. Julie: That’s frustrating after you do all that work. Jill: I know. The private/public system actually worked in my favor because I ended up getting in with an obstetrician in Melbourne who specializes in high risk. He does breeches, twins, VBAC’s, so he took me on as one of his patients. He was really great. I still had my midwives too but they weren’t able to be my primary care providers in the hospital because of the breech. It was more like she was a doula to me which was really great too. With breeches, the rule for my obstetrician was an eight hour labor or less but if it goes over eight hours then there is probably something going on. Julie: Well, that’s not fair. Lots of labors are longer than eight hours. Jill: Yeah. That was scary and no epidural. There were a bunch of other rules, but eight hours was the limit. She was late too. She was about six days overdue. I started to feel the discomfort in the evening. I went to bed. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night, sometime between midnight and 2:00 am. I thought, “I’m going to get up now. We’re going to move around.” My husband was making oatmeal. We called the midwife to let her know I was starting to feel the early stages of labor. By about 3:00 am, I said to my husband, “You have to call the midwife NOW.” She was asking him, “Ask Jill to rate between 1 and 10 the intensity of the contractions.” It was literally, “7. Okay, no 8. Okay, no 9. No, 10.” It came that quickly. I got into the shower. Then interestingly enough, there was meconium coming out of me because my baby was in the breech position so bum down. Julie: That way baby doesn’t get aspirated. Jill: It’s crazy, right? That was freaky. We still had to get to the hospital because I still wasn’t having that home birth. It was very fast. That was 3:00 in the morning, then we had to rush off to the hospital. I was that woman. No seatbelt, I was holding myself up with my hands, my arms fully straight, like, “This baby’s coming!” She was coming. When we got into the maternity ward, the nurses welcomed me. I remember them talking to me so sweetly saying, “It’s okay, honey. You’re just having a contraction.” I’m like, “Ugh, yeah. Okay.” When they checked me, the bum and the legs were coming. They were coming. They had to get me to wait until the obstetrician came because she was breech. So they had to wait for him to come. He lived about a five minutes drive away. We had the breathing and the “look deep into my eyes”. I think everybody was a bit panicked. This was a two hour labor. It started at about 3:00, then about 5:15 in the morning, I was directed to push. I really wanted to stand up. That was my urge-- to stand up, but I did have to go on the bed. Everything was moving. Everything was coming anyways. It didn’t really make a difference. But I think for me, with my first birth, I just was like, “I don’t want to lie down.” She was born bum first, then legs popping out. Then you see that the body is there and the head is still the last to birth. When she was born and they placed her on my body, she was upside down. It was the feet up at my chest. So that’s the way she was born. Meagan: That’s awesome. I didn’t realize that your first VBAC was breech. Jill: Yeah. She was a breech baby. That was that birth. It was a healing birth for me. It was a stressful birth. The lead up to it, with it being a VBAC and with being breech-- but I could see what my body was capable of. That’s what really healed me. I was quite surprised with how quick the labor was, just the two hours, really. Julie: That’s super fast for a first time vaginal birth and for a breech baby. That’s super speedy, as my four year old would say. Jill: Yeah. But it’s funny because I think the personalities shine through. My daughter now is going to be nine and I’m like, “Of course you were born breech. Of course you were born the complete opposite way than most.” Julie: I agree 100 percent with that sentiment, I really do. Jill: She’s our cannonball. She bursts into the scene all the time. I’m like, “Well, that’s how you were born.” It makes sense. Then my son, who was the C-section, we have to drag him out everywhere. So I’m like, “Oh yeah, you wanted to stay. You were good. We had to pull you out.” Meagan: That’s so funny how they all fit their births. Jill: For sure. Then for my third birth, we stayed in Australia for a couple more years after that, almost three years after my daughter was born. We got transferred back to Canada, but to a completely different part of Canada. As you know, Canada is a huge country. I was then home kind of, but still a four hour plane right from my home. Still quite foreign, but the same healthcare system and things like that. I planned a home birth again for my third birth and had really amazing midwives again and very supportive and really, really loved working with VBAC moms. I think I always shock people when I tell them about my birth story of my second child. They’re like, “Hold on, what? A VBAC and a breech? Okay, wow.” Then they knew about me having a really quick labor for my second child. So they were expecting another quick labor. For my third birth, she completely surprised me and came ten days early. My first was seven days late. My second was six, so I thought she was going to be five days late. I don’t know, I just couldn’t think any other way, but she was ten days early. Completely different scenarios. We have two kids now, almost six and three, planning a home birth so we didn’t have anywhere to go. It was Easter Sunday. We did the Easter egg hunt in the morning. At about 10:00 in the morning I said, “I think, maybe, could you send the kids over to the neighbors to play?” Because I thought I might like to have the kids there for the birth, but then when I got down to it, I said, “I think I need to just not have to think about that so let’s send them over to the neighbors to have some space.” Contractions got pretty intense at about 11:00 in the morning. I was pacing up and down in my bathroom. Again, similar to the first birth, I said, “Contractions are getting pretty intense.” I said to my husband, “You’d better call the midwife.” The midwife was like, “Well, what’s going on?” And literally, as she was on the phone, my body just couldn’t help itself and I went straight into pushing. My husband was there on the phone. Meagan: Wow. Jill: I know. He had had a shower earlier and left his towels on the floor. Which, we get so upset with our husbands for doing stuff like that, but I’m like, “Oh wow, so you left the towels on the floor,” and that was where our daughter was born, just right on those towels in the bathroom with the midwife on the phone. She was able to hear her first cry. She knew it was good. She didn’t have to call the ambulance or anything like that. She just said, “I’m going to come over as soon as I can.” She was coming from the hospital from another birth just ten minutes away. So she came and showed up. She was so cool. She was so calm. She was so like, “Everything is great. Everything’s fine.” She ran my bath for me. I had my daughter with me and my placenta was still attached. I still hadn’t birthed the placenta yet. She got me through that. It was just amazing. It was another very healing experience for me. Very shocking. Meagan: It sounds amazing though. Sounds like a lot, but amazing. Jill: Yeah. Unplanned, right? Not expecting that. That was a one hour labor from start to finish. Meagan: You have an amazing cervix. Your cervix is like, “Listen, I’m ready and when I’m ready, I mean I’m READY.” Jill: We’re done now. I said to my husband, “Listen, if we’re going to have another baby, it’s going to be a Walmart baby. Seriously, I won’t even make it home. I don’t want that. We’re good.” Meagan: That is crazy. And then there’s a cervix like mine that takes days and days and days. I always told my husband that we should have another one because I want to know what my cervix would do now that it’s done it. Julie: We are still holding out hope that there will be another Heaton baby. Meagan: It’s not looking like it. Julie: I know, but I am still hoping. You know my plan for you. Meagan: Oh my gosh. So C-section, breech, VBAC, unassisted, unplanned home VBAC for your second VBAC. Holy smokes, what a ride. Well, thank you so much for sharing. I know we have a few more minutes. I would love to talk more about the coaching. Tell us more about what you’re learning, how people could find that or how you found that, how people can find you and all of the things. Julie: And how that’s different from doula support. Jill: I trained with the Birth Coach Method, it’s called. My teacher was called Mary Life Trauma. She was a doula for years and then trained to be a life coach. She’s merged birth support work with life coaching. It’s different from what a doula would provide because it’s not about giving information about birth, although you can if your client requests that, but it’s more about getting to her belief system about what she holds true about birth. You’re using coaching tools and asking really strong questions to get to planning your most optimal birth experience. Normally, a doula would offer maybe two or three prenatal visits and one or two postnatal. I’m not sure. There’s a range. For coaching, it would be six prenatal visits of one hour long and two postnatal. We’re really getting a full picture of where she is in her pregnancy. Things around relationships, with support systems, nutrition, health. Just getting a full picture of where she’s thriving and where there’s challenges-- ways that we can come up with establishing goals for how she can be at a 10 in a certain area as opposed to a 5. How can we get her feeling empowered? Also, there is a component of understanding her reality-- what sort of health conditions she has or if she has any personal issues or anything that’s getting in the way of her reaching her goals. Then you can work on finding different options to reach her goals and then, just like with life coaching, there’s always action steps. There’s always a way forward. The coach is helping the client to stay accountable to their goals. When you’re working with your client, most likely in the third trimester, you’re giving an action assignment and then you’re checking in with them saying, “How are you doing with XYZ?” It’s just really about empowering and inspiring the client as opposed to teaching or educating. It’s not about giving more information. It’s about pulling back the layers of yourself to see what you hold true within you. Julie: That’s interesting. Do you attend the birth or not? Jill: Either way. Meagan: Can you extend that option? Can they be like, “Okay, I really want to have you attend my birth?” Julie: But it’s not necessarily a part of what a birth coach would do unless you’re specifically requested for that, right? Or is that what I’m understanding? Jill: Yes. That’s it. I think it’s an interesting time right now because of COVID. Some hospitals can have doulas, some can’t. There’s so much confusion, right? So I think it’s a nice alternative at the moment to then get all the support that you need to feel ready even if the doula cannot be there to attend your birth. Julie: It sounds like a really valuable toolset to have even as a doula. I’ve heard it said by one of the midwives that have been on our podcast before that two prenatal visits as a doula is not enough. It’s just not enough. I usually end up spending a lot more time with my clients than the two one and a half hour prenatal visits because, especially with VBAC, there’s just so much to do. I’ve been trying really hard to know how to reconcile that. Anyways, I’m not going to brain dump right now on you, but it sounds like this could be a way to supplement that and help add value to what you’re bringing to the birth community and your individual clients. Maybe they don’t want a doula at their birth but they do want some help in figuring out what birth looks like and feels like to them and how to gain that confidence. It sounds really cool. Jill: Yeah, it is really cool. I think it’s like 20 years ago or whatever when people didn’t really know what a doula was and they’re like, “What’s a doula?” It seems like it’s that kind of way with birth support coaching. People are like, “What is that? I’ve never heard of that.” So we’re just working on trying to get the word out so people know that it’s available. It’s just in the early stages, but I’m really excited. Julie: That’s really cool because you could technically take clients all over the world. I just supported, informally, somebody in India last night to have her VBAC because she knew all of the doulas in her area and she didn’t feel comfortable having one of them be her doula. I was on Facebook Messenger helping her feel supported until her team got there. Maybe I’m saying too much information because it’s illegal to have a home birth in the country that she’s birthing in. I think I already said the name of the country. So it was a really cool experience to be able to be involved that way even though she is halfway around the world from me. It sounds like something that can be done virtually as well where you don’t necessarily even need to be in person. Is that right? I don’t know if that’s part of the program. I know there’s a specific training. Meagan: That’s really cool. Super, super cool. I’ll have to check that out. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your amazing stories. Q&A Julie: Questions! Meagan: Oh yes! Guess what. I always forget. We have questions for you. We asked in your submission when you submitted. I don’t know if you remember answering them, but one of them is, what is a secret lesson or something no one really talks about that you wish you would have known ahead of time when preparing for birth? Jill: For my first birth, it’s definitely the importance of a supportive birth team. Hands down. For sure, that would be my answer. Meagan: Awesome. Then the other one is, what is your best tip for someone preparing for a VBAC? Jill: My best tip is really sitting with and naming your emotions that you have about any emotional scars that you have after your C-section because I think the emotional healing is unexpected. I think it takes time. It takes quite a lot of time. Really pointing out those negative emotions, naming them, really sitting with them and being able to really talk about your birth story-- and be held and validated in all of your feelings, not rushed off by the classic, “Healthy baby. That’s the best outcome.” You know? Megan: Definitely. I think working through all of those things prior can really help the next birth just in general to go smoother. Because for me, there was actually a lot of stuff I didn’t realize I hadn’t worked through and then I had to work through it right then in labor. It was really hard to have to backpedal a little bit to work through all of that. Alright, well thank you, thank you. You are just darling and we are so glad that you were with us today. Jill: Thank you so much. It was nice talking with you. Thank you for having me, Julie and Meagan. Closing Would you like to be a guest on the podcast? Head over to thevbaclink.com/share ( http://www.thevbaclink.com/share ) and submit your story. For all things VBAC, including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Julie and Meagan’s bios, head over to thevbaclink.com ( http://www.thevbaclink.com ). Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Fear of Success Defined by Jill (LA 1362) Transcript: Steven Jack Butala: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Steven Jack Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy show, Entertaining Land Investment Talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala, Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt broadcasting from pretty Park City, Utah. Steven Jack Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about fear of success as defined by Jill. And I mentioned it yesterday. We were on a show, a podcast as a guest yesterday. Jill: It was Before the Millions with DeRay... I can never pronounce his last name correctly, but it was really interesting. Steven Jack Butala: It's all kinds of questions about what was it like before you guys made a go of it, buying and selling land separately and collectively, and I learned a bunch of stuff about Jill. One of the things I learned is that that's how this topic came up. He said, Well, why don't people do this? And Jill said, "Media said fear of success." And then she went on to explain herself and I'm like, "Wow," because we know we never talked about this and it actually makes a lot of sense. So before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: John wrote, "Hi guys. I sent out my first mailer to my first county about a week and a half ago, 1800 units. Currently waiting for that to start hitting mailboxes so I can see what the response is. I've got another mailer for another county queued up for another 1800 units. Should I send it out this week? Or am I setting myself up to be completely overwhelmed by the responses?" Awesome. Do you want to go on? Steven Jack Butala: I can tell you what I think. What you're going to find out when these people start calling back is that the process that you put in place like that intake process for analyzing deals and accepting the ones that are good and rejecting the ones that aren't is flawed because everybody does it differently including myself in all this stuff. First time you try this stuff, it's just a disaster. So I would not send out another mailer. I would wait on this 1800. You're going to hone your skills on buying some property and do the whole thing. And then once you've got like maybe one acquisition or two acquisitions under contract, and you're getting set up to sell them or post them on the internet, that's when I would send the mailer out. Jill: There comes a few times a year, we are not exactly on the same page and this might be one of them. I would actually- Steven Jack Butala: A few times a week actually. A day sometimes. Jill: I was being really nice. Try to be nice. But this is one where I don't know if I would do it. I think if you're brand new, I think 1800 units a week out of the gate, if you're a one man show and you have a full-time job might be a little bit heavy, but if you don't have full-time job and you have all the time in the world, this is not nuts. I would say really I would do every other week because once you start the process going, you're going to get into a groove. That's just me though. So again, this is all personal preference. Steven's theory is get it all the way through and there's nothing wrong with that concept. Figure out all these little mistakes. You're going to make a lot of mistakes and figure them all out, and then you can dive in at a different way. I'm kind of a, "Let's figure it out as I go," because I don't want you to be in the habit of stopping and starting because that's where some people drop the ball. Steven Jack Butala: If you're in the process of trying to find a permanent female, I would highly recommend finding one with Jill's attitude where you're not just fixing stuff as you go because stuff's going to go sideways. If you are looking for a spouse, male or female, who needs to preplan everything out and then all they're going to do is end up being disappointed no matter what happens. You got to find a go with the flow spouse. Jill:
Fear of Success Defined by Jill (LA 1362) Transcript: Steven Jack Butala: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Steven Jack Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy show, Entertaining Land Investment Talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala, Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt broadcasting from pretty Park City, Utah. Steven Jack Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about fear of success as defined by Jill. And I mentioned it yesterday. We were on a show, a podcast as a guest yesterday. Jill: It was Before the Millions with DeRay... I can never pronounce his last name correctly, but it was really interesting. Steven Jack Butala: It's all kinds of questions about what was it like before you guys made a go of it, buying and selling land separately and collectively, and I learned a bunch of stuff about Jill. One of the things I learned is that that's how this topic came up. He said, Well, why don't people do this? And Jill said, "Media said fear of success." And then she went on to explain herself and I'm like, "Wow," because we know we never talked about this and it actually makes a lot of sense. So before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: John wrote, "Hi guys. I sent out my first mailer to my first county about a week and a half ago, 1800 units. Currently waiting for that to start hitting mailboxes so I can see what the response is. I've got another mailer for another county queued up for another 1800 units. Should I send it out this week? Or am I setting myself up to be completely overwhelmed by the responses?" Awesome. Do you want to go on? Steven Jack Butala: I can tell you what I think. What you're going to find out when these people start calling back is that the process that you put in place like that intake process for analyzing deals and accepting the ones that are good and rejecting the ones that aren't is flawed because everybody does it differently including myself in all this stuff. First time you try this stuff, it's just a disaster. So I would not send out another mailer. I would wait on this 1800. You're going to hone your skills on buying some property and do the whole thing. And then once you've got like maybe one acquisition or two acquisitions under contract, and you're getting set up to sell them or post them on the internet, that's when I would send the mailer out. Jill: There comes a few times a year, we are not exactly on the same page and this might be one of them. I would actually- Steven Jack Butala: A few times a week actually. A day sometimes. Jill: I was being really nice. Try to be nice. But this is one where I don't know if I would do it. I think if you're brand new, I think 1800 units a week out of the gate, if you're a one man show and you have a full-time job might be a little bit heavy, but if you don't have full-time job and you have all the time in the world, this is not nuts. I would say really I would do every other week because once you start the process going, you're going to get into a groove. That's just me though. So again, this is all personal preference. Steven's theory is get it all the way through and there's nothing wrong with that concept. Figure out all these little mistakes. You're going to make a lot of mistakes and figure them all out, and then you can dive in at a different way. I'm kind of a, "Let's figure it out as I go," because I don't want you to be in the habit of stopping and starting because that's where some people drop the ball. Steven Jack Butala: If you're in the process of trying to find a permanent female, I would highly recommend finding one with Jill's attitude where you're not just fixing stuff as you go because stuff's going to go sideways. If you are looking for a spouse, male or female, who needs to preplan everything out and then all they're going to do is end up being disappointed no matter what happens. You got to find a go with the flow spouse. Jill:
So You Made 100K on a Land Deal Now What (LA 1302) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hey. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt broadcasting from sunny Southern California Steve: Today Jill and I talk about, so you made a hundred grand on that last land deal, now what? Jill: I know what. Steve: Well. Jill: Do it again. Steve: Celebrate. Yes, first you need to take 10 minutes and celebrate. Maybe do shot of tequila or something. Jill: Yeah, tens good. Ten minutes is good. Steve: Whatever works for you. Eat a piece of chocolate cake, I don't know whatever works for you. Jill: What is yours? Steve: And that's the whole show. Jill: Quick. You want to celebrate? What? Can I have a budget? I made a hundred thousand dollars. How much money can I spend from my separation? Steve: You know, Jill and I made a huge amount of money one time on a real estate deal. You know what we did? Bought new computers. Jill: Yeah. It went to the business and it made us more effective and it, and I was just so happy. Yep. All right. Quick, you give yourself $500. What are you going to do? Steve: God, I haven't thought about something like this in a long time. Because usually I just go do whatever I want. Jill: I know but- Steve: For 500 bucks, what would I do? You know what I would do? Call up my buddies, probably bring you and your friends, girlfriends, and just pay for everybody's night out. Jill: That's very sweet. Well, now I feel like a little bit like a heel because mine's different. Mine is I call no one. Steve: Oh my God. Is this a spa day at that MZ diamond acquisitions? Jill: No because I have $500, it's just a spa day. That's it. I call no one, I turn off my phone, I leave it in the car and I'm gone for several hours. That's how I celebrate. Steve: Jill, I speak frankly, here. You should be doing that once a week anyway. Jill: I know. I should but spa's are kind of closed right now. Steve: Why don't you schedule that? Jill: Because the spa's are closed right now. That's, trust me, don't you, don't think I'm not, that's not on my list. Steve: Can't you have like a masseuse come to the house? Jill: I haven't really tried that hard but I could probably work on that. So, but thank you, that's not what this show's about. Thank you. Steve: Yes it is. This is about a hundred grand. It's totally about this. Jill: Okay, I guess so. Okay, yes because I just learned, I didn't know of any that would come to the house. And I just heard from somebody recently that they know someone. So that's in the works. But do you know what? I still don't want to do it in my own house. I have to go somewhere because I don't want to have to hide. And you know, I want to just, I'd like to go and be treated. Steve: You want to go somewhere and do that? Huh? What if I leave the house? And then- Jill: It's still not that great. I want to go be treated. Steve: This is interesting. Jill: You know what I want to do? Steve: You learn new stuff about your mate every day. Jill: I want to go to Terranea, or something equivalent, and just really have a nice, nice time. Thank you. Steve: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Mohad wrote, I've been practicing using Real Quest Pro to pull data in an area I'm looking to send my first mailer. Once I enter all the criteria and submit, it seems like a lot of the data I pull has some sort of housing on it. I'm entering in zero to 0% improvement and I'm still getting many buildings slash houses. I don't want to waste money on records with houses. I've gone through each land use to figure out which is pulling the records with the houses, but it looks like they are just blended in with several uses. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the houses, to be sure I'm doing something wrong? Steve:
So You Made 100K on a Land Deal Now What (LA 1302) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hey. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt broadcasting from sunny Southern California Steve: Today Jill and I talk about, so you made a hundred grand on that last land deal, now what? Jill: I know what. Steve: Well. Jill: Do it again. Steve: Celebrate. Yes, first you need to take 10 minutes and celebrate. Maybe do shot of tequila or something. Jill: Yeah, tens good. Ten minutes is good. Steve: Whatever works for you. Eat a piece of chocolate cake, I don't know whatever works for you. Jill: What is yours? Steve: And that's the whole show. Jill: Quick. You want to celebrate? What? Can I have a budget? I made a hundred thousand dollars. How much money can I spend from my separation? Steve: You know, Jill and I made a huge amount of money one time on a real estate deal. You know what we did? Bought new computers. Jill: Yeah. It went to the business and it made us more effective and it, and I was just so happy. Yep. All right. Quick, you give yourself $500. What are you going to do? Steve: God, I haven't thought about something like this in a long time. Because usually I just go do whatever I want. Jill: I know but- Steve: For 500 bucks, what would I do? You know what I would do? Call up my buddies, probably bring you and your friends, girlfriends, and just pay for everybody's night out. Jill: That's very sweet. Well, now I feel like a little bit like a heel because mine's different. Mine is I call no one. Steve: Oh my God. Is this a spa day at that MZ diamond acquisitions? Jill: No because I have $500, it's just a spa day. That's it. I call no one, I turn off my phone, I leave it in the car and I'm gone for several hours. That's how I celebrate. Steve: Jill, I speak frankly, here. You should be doing that once a week anyway. Jill: I know. I should but spa's are kind of closed right now. Steve: Why don't you schedule that? Jill: Because the spa's are closed right now. That's, trust me, don't you, don't think I'm not, that's not on my list. Steve: Can't you have like a masseuse come to the house? Jill: I haven't really tried that hard but I could probably work on that. So, but thank you, that's not what this show's about. Thank you. Steve: Yes it is. This is about a hundred grand. It's totally about this. Jill: Okay, I guess so. Okay, yes because I just learned, I didn't know of any that would come to the house. And I just heard from somebody recently that they know someone. So that's in the works. But do you know what? I still don't want to do it in my own house. I have to go somewhere because I don't want to have to hide. And you know, I want to just, I'd like to go and be treated. Steve: You want to go somewhere and do that? Huh? What if I leave the house? And then- Jill: It's still not that great. I want to go be treated. Steve: This is interesting. Jill: You know what I want to do? Steve: You learn new stuff about your mate every day. Jill: I want to go to Terranea, or something equivalent, and just really have a nice, nice time. Thank you. Steve: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Mohad wrote, I've been practicing using Real Quest Pro to pull data in an area I'm looking to send my first mailer. Once I enter all the criteria and submit, it seems like a lot of the data I pull has some sort of housing on it. I'm entering in zero to 0% improvement and I'm still getting many buildings slash houses. I don't want to waste money on records with houses. I've gone through each land use to figure out which is pulling the records with the houses, but it looks like they are just blended in with several uses. Any suggestions on how to get rid of the houses, to be sure I'm doing something wrong? Steve:
Quick Land Sale vs. Retail Price (LA 1300) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hello. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Jill: Oops. Steve: Entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Steve: Today, Jill and I talk about a quick land sale versus retail price. Jill: Right. Steve: You want to explain that title? Because it's kind of your title. Jill: Oh, is it? Okay. It's kind of like, think about the kind of person you want to be. A quick land sale is for me, just how we operate. I used to say I'm a wholesaler, but that even gets confused. I don't want people to ... People have negative thoughts sometimes- Steve: Yeah, it became a negative term. Jill: It did, and it's so silly because I think people see a wholesaler as someone who doesn't acquire property, all they do is assign a- Steve: Get in the way. Jill: ... property. Exactly. Assign it versus yeah, virtually get in the way. I am with you. And the way we do it, which is still wholesaling. People don't, I don't know why it got all garbled. We buy the property. I will seek out the property. I will buy the property. I will pay the full price for the property. We own it. We close escrow, it's in our name. Now I'm going to turn around, mark it up and sell it. So I can choose to quickly double my money and get out or I can, Hm, I can mark it up and some people do this, they get a little greedy and they think about retail. Why would I sell a property, Jill, that I paid $20,000 for? Why would I sell it for $45,000 tomorrow when I can sit and wait and get seventy for it. Because that's really what it's worth. And my question is, why wouldn't you? I mean, do you really want to sit and babysit the property and talk to all the people who want to go drive on it and roll around on it and camp on it and love on it? Have a virtual thing of what their tiny home's going to look like on it and see their family running through the field on it. Dream it up. And waste all that time. I'm kind of getting into the show, but that's describing it and we'll talk more. Steve: The undertone or between the lines here is, the ethics of what we do. That's what I want to get into. Jill: Oh, really? Steve: Yeah, because I haven't heard it recently, but I've heard people in the past, give me a hard time about what we do for a living. We haven't brought this up. Jill: I haven't heard this in a while. Okay, good we'll talk about that. Steve: We haven't brought this up in a long time, but I think it's worth talking about. Jill: I love it. Steve: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Gina wrote, "Hello. My name is Gina. I've been doing land investing for a few years now and I guess I'm here to try and see if I can improve my workflow. I send out about 2000 letters a month, but I'd like to make that close to 5000." Thank you, Kevin. One of our moderators. Yep. Steve: Thank you, Kevin, by the way from me. Jill: Yeah. "Any tips, tools tricks you use to scale? I currently work a full time job and simply don't have the time to sort through all the sites and piece together that many records. 2000 sites would be my max without going crazy. Any help from experienced members, such as yourself, would be much appreciated." Cool. So I'm wondering what sites she's going through to piece together records. I'm thinking if she's a member, you're not piecing anything together, you're just- Steve: She's a member. Jill: Okay. So you should be using Real Quest Pro, having an idea before you go into there to download the data, you've spent a lot of time picking the areas, picking the County and getting it all from there. You're holding back. Go. Steve: In the interest of education, I'm going to be very plain speaking here. I don't see the difference between processing 2000 or 5000 at all. In fact,
Quick Land Sale vs. Retail Price (LA 1300) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hello. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Jill: Oops. Steve: Entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Steve: Today, Jill and I talk about a quick land sale versus retail price. Jill: Right. Steve: You want to explain that title? Because it's kind of your title. Jill: Oh, is it? Okay. It's kind of like, think about the kind of person you want to be. A quick land sale is for me, just how we operate. I used to say I'm a wholesaler, but that even gets confused. I don't want people to ... People have negative thoughts sometimes- Steve: Yeah, it became a negative term. Jill: It did, and it's so silly because I think people see a wholesaler as someone who doesn't acquire property, all they do is assign a- Steve: Get in the way. Jill: ... property. Exactly. Assign it versus yeah, virtually get in the way. I am with you. And the way we do it, which is still wholesaling. People don't, I don't know why it got all garbled. We buy the property. I will seek out the property. I will buy the property. I will pay the full price for the property. We own it. We close escrow, it's in our name. Now I'm going to turn around, mark it up and sell it. So I can choose to quickly double my money and get out or I can, Hm, I can mark it up and some people do this, they get a little greedy and they think about retail. Why would I sell a property, Jill, that I paid $20,000 for? Why would I sell it for $45,000 tomorrow when I can sit and wait and get seventy for it. Because that's really what it's worth. And my question is, why wouldn't you? I mean, do you really want to sit and babysit the property and talk to all the people who want to go drive on it and roll around on it and camp on it and love on it? Have a virtual thing of what their tiny home's going to look like on it and see their family running through the field on it. Dream it up. And waste all that time. I'm kind of getting into the show, but that's describing it and we'll talk more. Steve: The undertone or between the lines here is, the ethics of what we do. That's what I want to get into. Jill: Oh, really? Steve: Yeah, because I haven't heard it recently, but I've heard people in the past, give me a hard time about what we do for a living. We haven't brought this up. Jill: I haven't heard this in a while. Okay, good we'll talk about that. Steve: We haven't brought this up in a long time, but I think it's worth talking about. Jill: I love it. Steve: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Gina wrote, "Hello. My name is Gina. I've been doing land investing for a few years now and I guess I'm here to try and see if I can improve my workflow. I send out about 2000 letters a month, but I'd like to make that close to 5000." Thank you, Kevin. One of our moderators. Yep. Steve: Thank you, Kevin, by the way from me. Jill: Yeah. "Any tips, tools tricks you use to scale? I currently work a full time job and simply don't have the time to sort through all the sites and piece together that many records. 2000 sites would be my max without going crazy. Any help from experienced members, such as yourself, would be much appreciated." Cool. So I'm wondering what sites she's going through to piece together records. I'm thinking if she's a member, you're not piecing anything together, you're just- Steve: She's a member. Jill: Okay. So you should be using Real Quest Pro, having an idea before you go into there to download the data, you've spent a lot of time picking the areas, picking the County and getting it all from there. You're holding back. Go. Steve: In the interest of education, I'm going to be very plain speaking here. I don't see the difference between processing 2000 or 5000 at all. In fact,
Real Definition of Homestead (LA 1299) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hello. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land, investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWitt broadcasting from sunny, Southern California. Steve: Today Jill and I talk about, well, really, I talk about, the real definition of the word homestead. Jill: Why is it only you? This came up because of a call that I had it. And this guy was nutty. Well, I'll explain it. But this nutty seller was explaining to me how he got this property. He's the first one to get the property. It was never properly, what was the word he said, what did he call it? Divided. It wasn't subdivided. He said staked out or something like that. And I'm going along like a homestead and he's telling me no. So we talked about it. Now we're going to try to clear this up. Steve: That's interesting. Because I chose this topic because I was reading a stream, an extremely lengthy stream in our Facebook. Jill: So they're talking about it too. Steve: Yeah. It's all over the internet man. And it's so wrong. I have to be real straight here. There's some really bad information about the word homestead. And I know why, because homestead means four or five things to different people. So I'm going to try to clear it up. Jill: It's funny. Steve: And not in a boring way. Jill: [inaudible 00:01:22]. By the way. Steve: That's okay. Jill: Okay, good. I got to say usually we're recording this a few days before. Now pretty much today we're recording on the day. This tells you a little bit about our weekend. Steve: We were late because of our social life interfered with our professional life recently. Jill: You should not let that happen. And we did, "Well, we can record tomorrow." I'll just record tomorrow, or we can record tomorrow. And then here, we're like, Oh, you can't. We have no more tomorrows. Steve: Remember back when we first started out, not with the Atlanta Academy, but just working together. And we were there every day and working hard and all into it. And now it's just a lapse [crosstalk 00:00:02:03]. Jill: [crosstalk 00:02:06] I guess so. Don't do that. Steve: I hear radio radio switches clicking off all over the place right now. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. So Austin wrote, "Hello. After a somewhat successful first round mailer, I have a handful of recorded deeds from the County," as you should. This is great. "I haven't sold anything so far. I focus in Northern Arizona and have five acre plus desert properties that I'm hoping to sell in the 2,500 to $3,000 range. For this price point, is it appropriate to hire a photo company such as WeGoLook. There's others like that too, to shoot photos and or video, or should I use stock photos from the region and those will be adequate?" Thanks, Austin. And we put those in there for [inaudible 00:02:59] people. That's one of the things- Steve: There's 10,000 pictures in the original program of Northern Arizona. Jill: That we shared. Steve: [crosstalk 00:03:08] 10,000, maybe 8,000. Jill: When I say we, I mean, somebody else that worked for us or you. Steve: What do you think about this topic? Jill: I would, you know what? I think that back in the day, it was hard to get people and hard to tell them where to go. And for them to find properties, it was difficult for us alone telling photographer. But nowadays you could get a guy for 50 to 75 bucks off these companies or Craigslist, and you can give them GPS coordinates that they can pop in their phone and they can drive right there. So I think not hiring it I think there's no reason nowadays to not hire a photographer, to go out there, hopefully see a couple... And you've got how many properties? Steve: A handful. Jill: Is there a way... Do all of them at the same time. Have your photographer pick the first sunny day w...
Real Definition of Homestead (LA 1299) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hello. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land, investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWitt broadcasting from sunny, Southern California. Steve: Today Jill and I talk about, well, really, I talk about, the real definition of the word homestead. Jill: Why is it only you? This came up because of a call that I had it. And this guy was nutty. Well, I'll explain it. But this nutty seller was explaining to me how he got this property. He's the first one to get the property. It was never properly, what was the word he said, what did he call it? Divided. It wasn't subdivided. He said staked out or something like that. And I'm going along like a homestead and he's telling me no. So we talked about it. Now we're going to try to clear this up. Steve: That's interesting. Because I chose this topic because I was reading a stream, an extremely lengthy stream in our Facebook. Jill: So they're talking about it too. Steve: Yeah. It's all over the internet man. And it's so wrong. I have to be real straight here. There's some really bad information about the word homestead. And I know why, because homestead means four or five things to different people. So I'm going to try to clear it up. Jill: It's funny. Steve: And not in a boring way. Jill: [inaudible 00:01:22]. By the way. Steve: That's okay. Jill: Okay, good. I got to say usually we're recording this a few days before. Now pretty much today we're recording on the day. This tells you a little bit about our weekend. Steve: We were late because of our social life interfered with our professional life recently. Jill: You should not let that happen. And we did, "Well, we can record tomorrow." I'll just record tomorrow, or we can record tomorrow. And then here, we're like, Oh, you can't. We have no more tomorrows. Steve: Remember back when we first started out, not with the Atlanta Academy, but just working together. And we were there every day and working hard and all into it. And now it's just a lapse [crosstalk 00:00:02:03]. Jill: [crosstalk 00:02:06] I guess so. Don't do that. Steve: I hear radio radio switches clicking off all over the place right now. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. So Austin wrote, "Hello. After a somewhat successful first round mailer, I have a handful of recorded deeds from the County," as you should. This is great. "I haven't sold anything so far. I focus in Northern Arizona and have five acre plus desert properties that I'm hoping to sell in the 2,500 to $3,000 range. For this price point, is it appropriate to hire a photo company such as WeGoLook. There's others like that too, to shoot photos and or video, or should I use stock photos from the region and those will be adequate?" Thanks, Austin. And we put those in there for [inaudible 00:02:59] people. That's one of the things- Steve: There's 10,000 pictures in the original program of Northern Arizona. Jill: That we shared. Steve: [crosstalk 00:03:08] 10,000, maybe 8,000. Jill: When I say we, I mean, somebody else that worked for us or you. Steve: What do you think about this topic? Jill: I would, you know what? I think that back in the day, it was hard to get people and hard to tell them where to go. And for them to find properties, it was difficult for us alone telling photographer. But nowadays you could get a guy for 50 to 75 bucks off these companies or Craigslist, and you can give them GPS coordinates that they can pop in their phone and they can drive right there. So I think not hiring it I think there's no reason nowadays to not hire a photographer, to go out there, hopefully see a couple... And you've got how many properties? Steve: A handful. Jill: Is there a way... Do all of them at the same time. Have your photographer pick the first sunny day w...
Thin Line Between Insulting a Seller and Pricing to Buy (LA 1295) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Howdy. Steve: Welcome to Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny northern California. Steve: Today, Jill and I talk about the line between insulting a seller and actually buying a piece of property. This is a topic that's very fresh in how we're buying and selling land, and it's something that we all deal with. It's one of the top five- Jill: It happens. Steve: -or eight questions that we get from new people or really even experienced real estate people, like, "What do you mean you send offers out for 20% of what the property's actually worth?" Jill: Exactly. Steve: How do you deal with that? There truly is a line between... There's a thin line between offering $25 for a piece of property, which I personally think is ridiculous. Some people do it with success. Jill: Right. Steve: We'll talk about all that. Jill: Thank you. Steve: Before we get into it, though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandAcademy.com online community, it's free. Jill: I would like to add on the LandInvestors.com online community, it's free. Steve: Oh, yes. You'll get there. Jill: It's okay. Steve: You'll get there both ways. Jill: That's true. Lucas wrote, "Hi, everyone. Lucas here from Greenville, South Carolina. For some reason, I'm extremely nervous and excited at the same time. After reading the book-" Steve: Are you crying? Crying on the inside. Jill: That's daily. That's kind of how I wake up, nervous and excited. You're not alone, Lucas. Steve: Crying on the inside and laughing on the outside. That's how I wake up. Jill: "That's right. After reading your ebook, listening to the podcasts and watching YouTube interviews, I have become convinced that I want to do this and I could be good at this. I love data. Steve: Excellent. Jill: "I'm part of a manufacturing engineering group, and my colleagues call me the data guy because I so enjoy statistics and deep diving into the metrics." This is all really good. Steve: Excellent. Jill: "And I love land. This is good. I have a dream of starting a homestead with my wife and children someday, so for the last several years, I've been scouring GIS maps and Google Earth, trying to find a hidden gem for our homestead. I have long believed that there are incredible deals out there, just waiting to be found, and I couldn't process the data in a way that was efficient. After spending hours examining attributes of parcels in numerous states, I just couldn't figure out how to get the truly amazing deal. When I saw this community, it was like a lightning bolt turning on. It hadn't even occurred to me that this could be a potential business. I have been focused on upstate South Carolina, western North Carolina, upstate New York and all of Vermont, my home state. Steve: Excellent. Vermont's a great choice. Jill: "Someday, I want to leave properties for my children, and I want them to have business savvy. I feel like I have a knack for this stuff. I just need some direction. My biggest challenge will be managing this endeavor with the time constraints of my full-time job and my life as a parent. I'm so determined, though. If I can make some success with my initial mailer and my first purchase, I know there'll be enough momentum to really change my career. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you and collaborating and sharing ideas. Thank you, Steve and Jill." Awww, that's so cool. Steve: I'm going to turn this over to you right now, just the initial part of it, anyway, because I know that you talked to people constantly in the exact same boat. Jill: There's no question. I'm looking to see. He's just kind of sharing his experiences, right? Steve: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jill: Am I missing something? Steve: I think he joined. Jill:
Thin Line Between Insulting a Seller and Pricing to Buy (LA 1295) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Howdy. Steve: Welcome to Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny northern California. Steve: Today, Jill and I talk about the line between insulting a seller and actually buying a piece of property. This is a topic that's very fresh in how we're buying and selling land, and it's something that we all deal with. It's one of the top five- Jill: It happens. Steve: -or eight questions that we get from new people or really even experienced real estate people, like, "What do you mean you send offers out for 20% of what the property's actually worth?" Jill: Exactly. Steve: How do you deal with that? There truly is a line between... There's a thin line between offering $25 for a piece of property, which I personally think is ridiculous. Some people do it with success. Jill: Right. Steve: We'll talk about all that. Jill: Thank you. Steve: Before we get into it, though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandAcademy.com online community, it's free. Jill: I would like to add on the LandInvestors.com online community, it's free. Steve: Oh, yes. You'll get there. Jill: It's okay. Steve: You'll get there both ways. Jill: That's true. Lucas wrote, "Hi, everyone. Lucas here from Greenville, South Carolina. For some reason, I'm extremely nervous and excited at the same time. After reading the book-" Steve: Are you crying? Crying on the inside. Jill: That's daily. That's kind of how I wake up, nervous and excited. You're not alone, Lucas. Steve: Crying on the inside and laughing on the outside. That's how I wake up. Jill: "That's right. After reading your ebook, listening to the podcasts and watching YouTube interviews, I have become convinced that I want to do this and I could be good at this. I love data. Steve: Excellent. Jill: "I'm part of a manufacturing engineering group, and my colleagues call me the data guy because I so enjoy statistics and deep diving into the metrics." This is all really good. Steve: Excellent. Jill: "And I love land. This is good. I have a dream of starting a homestead with my wife and children someday, so for the last several years, I've been scouring GIS maps and Google Earth, trying to find a hidden gem for our homestead. I have long believed that there are incredible deals out there, just waiting to be found, and I couldn't process the data in a way that was efficient. After spending hours examining attributes of parcels in numerous states, I just couldn't figure out how to get the truly amazing deal. When I saw this community, it was like a lightning bolt turning on. It hadn't even occurred to me that this could be a potential business. I have been focused on upstate South Carolina, western North Carolina, upstate New York and all of Vermont, my home state. Steve: Excellent. Vermont's a great choice. Jill: "Someday, I want to leave properties for my children, and I want them to have business savvy. I feel like I have a knack for this stuff. I just need some direction. My biggest challenge will be managing this endeavor with the time constraints of my full-time job and my life as a parent. I'm so determined, though. If I can make some success with my initial mailer and my first purchase, I know there'll be enough momentum to really change my career. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you and collaborating and sharing ideas. Thank you, Steve and Jill." Awww, that's so cool. Steve: I'm going to turn this over to you right now, just the initial part of it, anyway, because I know that you talked to people constantly in the exact same boat. Jill: There's no question. I'm looking to see. He's just kind of sharing his experiences, right? Steve: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jill: Am I missing something? Steve: I think he joined. Jill:
This week I'm talking with my friend Jill Stribling. Jill's family has first-hand experience with COVID-19. If you're a longtime listener, you may remember my chat with Jill back in Ep. 35 about her decision to unplug her family, including her 10-year-old son, whose behavior around screens had started to concern her. About Jill Jill is a teacher and is the owner and founder of English for Fun, a school in Madrid, Spain. English for Fun is a learning laboratory where children and adults are empowered to take risks and try new things. They collaborate with the best research institutes throughout the world in order to bring quality education to Spain and to the world. Jill Stribling has a B.A. in Child Development and Psychology and a Master’s degree in Education and specialty in Literacy and Language Arts from California State University and more than 20 years of experience in education. After several years teaching in public schools in Los Angeles, CA, she was recruited by the American School of Madrid in 2001, where she taught Kindergaten and First Grade and took on several leadership roles (i.e. Grade Level Chair, Accreditation Committee Leader, etc.). With her educational and professional experience firmly in place, she developed a methodology for making language learning fun, and began her entrepreneurial journey in 2008 with literally one student in her living room. Shortly afterwards, she had a total of 70 students, and actually had to expand her business. English for Fun is an educational group with an English Enrichment Program for children and adults, an Urban Camp Program, an American Early Childhood Center and a Training Center for educators. Today, she owns schools in Madrid and Pozuelo de Alarcon, and this year alone more than 3,000 students will benefit from the English for Fun method! Back in the fall of 2018, I had the privilege of visiting the Stribling family, touring English for Fun, and speaking with the parents at both of the school campuses. Big Ideas It is important to think of others during this time. If we are not careful, we could cause the death of someone that we or someone else loves. This is a great time to stay inside and work on ourselves. Quotes Jill: I think that this was the scariest thing that I've ever been through in my entire life. Jill: We were really lucky that he recovered in a week. Jill: I think that now looking back on it, we realize, you know, how crazy everything was and how fortunate we are. But, um, but yeah, it was not easy. And, and, you know, I wish looking back on everything that, that not only would we have taken this more seriously when it happened. Jill: If you are someone who is a carrier and you infect other people, you will never know if you caused a death for somebody that someone else loves. Audrey: It's almost as if like, if you don't know anyone directly, it must not be that serious or something. And these numbers of deaths on that we see on the news just seem not as relevant if you don't know them, which is sad. Jill: The thing about how contagious it is is that you don't even realize it until it's too late. Jill: So that for me is the hardest part of this, is all the damage you do to others when you're not careful. Jill: By the time you realize that you have it, you've already passed it to eight to fifteen people. Audrey: I was wishing we had done better because now of course we're seeing that it's kind of everywhere now and cases are still going up in like most of our states. Jill: I think COVID is kind of teaching us that, you know, we've gotta live differently. Jill: It's not about me anymore. It's about somebody's grandmother. It's about somebody's mother who could have cancer. And I know that for a fact, because I have seen it. Jill: I get it like we're social. We want to go out. But I think right now it's the time to work on ourselves. Audrey: I, like you, hope that from this, we learn that we are a community. We're a global community. What happens over there impacts us, we all have a responsibility. Resources/Links English for Fun NY Times article Jill mentions I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness Review by Audrey One Simple Thing - Find Your Flow What is "Flow"? Flow is a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi (pronounced “cheeks sent me high”) that refers to a state of optimal experience and involvement in an activity during which we are performing at our best. Watch Dr. Csikszentmihalyi talk about flow in his TED Talk, “Flow, the Secret to Happiness.” When we’re in “flow,” we are doing something we really, really enjoy. We can’t wait to do the activity again, and we feel a lot of positive emotions while participating in the activity. We can stick with it for hours without even noticing the time going by. In fact, when we’re in flow, it’s hard to stop whatever we’re doing. Flow is different from pleasure – simply doing things that are enjoyable like watching TV, scrolling on social media, or shopping. Instead, flow activities usually are demanding and take our full attention and concentration. How do I achieve flow? People achieve flow in all different ways, including while playing a musical instrument, playing a sport, writing, painting, attending a concert, bird watching, riding a horse, or running, to name just a few. Often we cannot relate to the passion others have for their personal “flow” activity, since their enthusiasm and passion seem inordinately high. For the lucky ones among us, we find flow in our daily work. The younger you are, the more likely it is that you’ve been in flow today. Young children excel at getting into a state of flow, usually during unstructured play time. As they create their pretend worlds, “cook” in the sand box, build a fort, or swing high on a swing, they are joyful and time flies by for them. Young children are experts at happily living in the moment. As we get older, however, we need to be more aware of getting ourselves into that engaged, amazing state that we enjoyed when we were younger. Official definition of flow Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does. Possible Flow Activities And here are some ideas of possible flow activities from Deann Ware, Ph.d: Physical activities such as sports, yoga, dance, and martial arts Outdoor challenges such as hiking Music–writing, playing, mixing Art–painting, sculpture, mixed media, pottery Photography Woodworking Do-It-Yourself projects, such as home improvement Working with animals Gardening Cooking and baking Software development/coding Scrapbooking Writing Needlework–sewing, knitting, cross stitch Horseback riding What you do for work (hopefully!) Questions to ask yourself (and your kids) What activities get you into flow? When have you been doing something that you are so engaged that you’ve completely lost track of time? What are new activities you want to try this summer? What makes your heart “sing?” Sometimes, we need to explore different activities before we figure out which activities get us into that awesome state of flow. Don’t worry if you haven’t found that awesome, engaged state yet. Sometimes, it takes awhile to explore, and many adults haven’t even figured it out yet! So start now, while you have some free time, exploring different activities – creative, athletic, academic, etc. – and find your flow! Flow states are a great clue as we figure out who we are and what makes us our best self! Finding Flow My Favorite I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness
Excited to have the fab Jill Streefland on the podcast today. Based in the Netherlands and winner of 5 Reportage Awards and 2 Story Awards, Jill was in our top 30 photographers of 2019, and she shares so much with us today, including: • actually shooting a wedding during the middle of corona times, • shooting fellow wedding photographers' weddings, • her past life as a dancer and its impact on her photography, • how she got into photography, • the story of her very first wedding, • some Netflix recommendations, • Dirty Dancing, • the importance of workshops, • her specific thoughts and tips regarding Story Awards, • the story behind one of specific Reportage Awards, • some life changes she will make going forwards, • word of mouth and social media, • living in the moment, • a memorable mistake, • her recent work in boudoir, • something that bugs her about our industry, • what drives her in life, • what happiness is to her, • advice for just starting out, • and much more... By the way, this interview was actually recorded on 13th June 2020, so if you notice any time discrepencies with what we say - things move so fast during these corona times! - you'll know why. There's a full transcript at https://thisisreportage.com/podcast-episode-36-this-is-jill-streefland/, as well as examples of her work and link to her website. Also, just a quick word before we go over to Jill: It's been so exciting this week to see so many photographers from all over the world join our brand new sister site for documentary family photography, This is Reportage: Family. We only launched last week and we already have over 130 members; just been blown away by the response. So exciting to be promoting the power and skill of both documentary family photography, and documentary wedding photography, with the two TiR sister-sites going forward. Exciting times!
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
What’s In This Episode: Brad: Welcome to breaking down your business, episode 365. You can find the show notes of this episode of breakingdownyourbusiness.com/365. Jill: It's us again. Oh my gosh, 365 episodes. Brad: It's like a whole year. People don't spend a whole year with us. Jill: Look at you, good at math. Brad: I did that in my head. Jill: Yeah. Brad: Not even a calculator. Jill: Unbelievable. Thank you to everybody who has stayed with us for fricking 365 episodes.
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
What’s In This Episode: Brad: Welcome to breaking down your business episode 364. [crosstalk 00:00:10]. Jill: Hello. It's still up. Brad: You can find the show notes for this episode of breaking down your business.com/ Jill: I don't know, but you just said episood. I don't know. Brad: 364. Jill: It's like you still can't pronounce. We're 364 episodes then he's going to learn to speak English one day. Brad: I don't know why you think that. Jill: I don't know cause it helps with running a business. Brad: I'm 53 years old. I am not going to learn something. [crosstalk 00:00:36] Pronunciation things. Jill: I see, you're not going to learn words.
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
What’s In This Episode: Brad: Welcome to episode 357 of Breaking Down Your Business. Jill: Hello everybody. Brad: There's Jill. Jill: Hey. I- Brad: I'm Brad. Jill: ... Already miss you, Brad. I'm Jill and you're Brad. Brad: It's true. Jill: And it's really, really difficult to do this right now. Do you want to tell the people why? Brad: Well, so the last couple of episodes were recorded before the coronavirus overtook the United States. And so they were recorded in the studio at the beginning of March and we wanted to rush back into the studio and do like a coronavirus update for you. But- Jill: We couldn't. Brad: ... that didn't work out. Jill: It did not. Brad: Because Jill has been struck with the coronavirus.
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
What’s In This Episode: Jill: If you want to play to my heartstrings, like every good story, like every good book or movie, I need you to move me emotionally. Brad: Welcome to Breaking Down Your Business, episode 351. You can find the show notes for this episode at breakingdownyourbusiness.com/351. Jill: 351. Brad: When you go there, you might notice that we have a fresh coat of paint. Jill: We do. New website, re-hauled, overhauled- Brad: Nobody cares. Nobody cares. Jill: ... over-site, over-web, website overhaul. We do. Brad: That word salad there, that's Jill from The Founding Moms. Jill: It is, and I believe we're listening to Brad from Anchor Advisors.
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
Brad: There are definitely days when I lose a deal and I'm like, I'm never going to work again. No one's ever going to hire me. I just don't need someone to say, "Fred, you had three bad deals in a row." Brad: Welcome to Breaking Down Your Business episode 346. Jill: It really does scare me every time. Every time. Brad: You can find the show notes for this episode at BreakingDownYourBusiness.com/346. Jill: 346. That's a lot of episodes. Brad: I'm Brad from Anchor Advisors. Jill: I'm Jill from The Founding Moms. Brad: Jill, what are we talking about today? Jill: I don't know, but I'm feeling very military today. I don't know why. Brad: This month we've been talking about accountability.
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
Brad: If you're not scared, like if you're not making a promise that makes you go "Jeez! Can I say that?" You're probably not making a big enough promise. Welcome to Breaking Down Your Business Episode 343. Jill: Yes it is. Brad: [crosstalk 00:00:15]. Brad: I'm [Brad 00:00:18] from Anchor Advisors. Jill: I'm [Jill 00:00:21] from the Founding Moms. Brad: How's the eggnog going? Jill: It's delightful and delicious. Brad: Do you want some? Do you have some left over for tonight? Jill: We'll see. We'll see. I don't know. I don't know. It's delicious. It's delicious. Are you going out tonight? Brad: No. Jill: Partying? Brad: Amateur hour. Jill: What? But it's going to be a whole new year in like a couple of hours. Brad: It is, yeah. And I'll be asleep. Jill: All right. Brad: Because I'm... Whatever.
Land Academy Members Self Start Accountability Metric to Insure Success (LA 1097) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Steve: Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt, broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Steve: Today Jill and I talk about how Land Academy members have self-started an accountability metric to ensure their own success. Jill: I love it. Steve: Who the heck wrote that title? Jill: Wasn't me, because the word metric was in it. Steve: What does it mean? What it means is some smart person in our group started a Facebook group called accountability, Land Academy accountability. And the people that join it, you know it's an invite only or it's like requests only, how that works. Jill: It's a secret group. Steve: And they- Jill: It's not secret now, sorry. Steve: It's not secret anymore. When certain people start off on stuff like this, everybody knows this. It's hard to stay on track. Stuff happens. Like you got to pick up your kids from school or whatever. Your job gets in the way. So this is an accountability group to make sure that if you commit to sending out, it's kind of like Weight Watchers, you are going to get weighed in ... I don't even know how the Weight Watchers works. Jill: I can tell you. Steve: How does Weight Watchers work? Jill: There is a weekly weigh in. It's true. It's actually funny. Steve: I'm choking myself laughing. Jill: Why Weight Watchers came from, but okay. Steve: So what happens in Weight Watchers? Do you say I'm going to lose a pound or I'm going to stay on this diet? Is it like, let's see how this goes next week on the scale or I have a goal in losing a pound? Jill: Well you have a goal. Well, in the old days when I did Weight Watchers way back when, like you kept track, it wasn't on our phones back then and you kept track of it, you had points and you could eat so many points a day. And then once we could go to meeting and you'd weigh in and meet with your person, they say yay and you'd sit down and someone would talk and then you go home with a bunch of recipes. Steve: So does everybody like not eat the day before? Jill: Oh, I'm sure. Oh yeah. And they like drink a lot of coffee. Try to get things going before you go to the meeting. And like were your thinnest, lightest weight clothes, like don't wear a sweatshirt that might weigh something. It's so funny. Take your shoes off. Steve: So I don't, I'm not a member of this group. I think you are though. Jill: Oh, I was. Weight Watchers way back when. Steve: No, no. This accountability group. Sorry, I changed gear. Jill: No, no. Steven. I am actually not currently a Weight Watchers member. I do however support, always support Weight Watchers. I am not a Weight Watchers member at the time. Are you telling me I should? Steve: No. It has nothing do do with- Jill: Is this about the chump? Steve: No. Yeah. You don't ever want to talk about any woman's weight. Jill: That should be the stump the chump, like do you bring up Weight Watchers with a woman? Steve: Sitting next to a woman on your own show, do you even bring up Weight Watchers. What kind of idiot would bring up Weight Watchers? Jill: And then ask me questions about it. Like,
How to Make a Good Land Posting (LA 1082) Transcript: Steve: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Good day. Steve: Welcome to The Land Academy Show, Entertaining Land Investment Talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt, broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Steve: Today, Jill and I talk about how a good- how to make a good land posting. Sorry. I got a little confused there for a second. Jill: Okay. What is a good land posting? Steve: What is a land posting? Jill: What? Steve: What's a land posting? Jill: Wait a minute. Steve: Wait, don't I just call my real estate agent and say, "Hey, I've got a piece of property. How about you sell it?" Jill: Can I just put a for sale sign on it, and just walk away? Put my phone number? Steve: This has got off to a good start. Jill: Oh, good. Steve: Because that's what I think the whole world thinks. Jill: I want to think. Okay, let's think of all the things you would just [inaudible 00:00:43] like. Steve: My sister in-law is a real estate agent [inaudible] last Christmas she was talking about a piece of land that this she looked at. Let's call her. Jill: Yeah. Steve: Shell get solved, it'll be fine. Jill: Well, how about the girl that we bought our house from? Let's just call her. Steve: So it turns out it 21st century, almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century, we are think about that and the internet and how we do stuff with computers is so dramatically changed. This industry since it was kind of the whole concept of it, the modern day real estate industry was started in the forties and fifties 1940s and fifties for some reason there's lingering real estate agents still. Jill: Yep. Steve: If you want the answer to that question, go see who the number two lobbyist group is in Washington for the last 35 years. Jill: That's interesting. Steve: It's the national association of realtors anyway. Jill: Who are they? Who are they behind? I hate to guess, does it start with an N? Jill: [inaudible 00:01:41]. Jill: Is it? is it, is is number one the, is it the NRA is number one? Steve: NRA, up there, it's top five. Jill: Okay, I would guess. Steve: That's a good question. Jill: We should look this up. Steve: I only ever looked. I look up, I obsess on this stuff. Jill: I know. Steve: And all five of them or if you just, they're propping themselves up, falsely. Like it removes ironically removes the raw supply and demand of capitalism. But wow that went sideways fast. Steve: Turns out... Jill: You're getting a lecture from dad right now or professor Steve pick one. Steve: Jill and I are in the pre development of a show called the Jack and Jill show about relationships and working together and you know, kind of like couples therapy and, and a non real estate show for is what Jill wants to do and I and I completely agree with her. Jill: It's going to happen. Steve: So what we're practicing that was a... [Inaudible 00:02:42]. Jill: There we go. Perfect. Thank you. Professor Butala. Steve: It'll launch out in October and I'm sure it'll fail.
How to Get Over the Fear of Buying Property (1070) Transcript: Steven: Steven and Jill here. Jill: Good day. Steven: Welcome to the Land Academy Show. Entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And I'm Jill Dewitt broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Steven: Today, Jill and I talk about how to get over the fear of buying property. Seems like such an interesting, funny, incredibly unnecessary topic, but I know it's- Jill: Oh my gosh, are you serious? Steven: Yeah, to me it does. Jill: To me it's a necessary. Steven: Yeah. Jill: Unnecessary. Just because you have no fear and I have no fear, it doesn't mean- Steven: Any fear of buying real estate at all. Jill: I do not. Steven: Have you ever? Jill: No. Steven: Neither have I. Jill: Hold on a moment. That does not mean that everybody's that way. If it's one thing I have learned. Steven: Well you just cut me off in the middle of the sentence, but that's okay. Jill: I'm sorry. I didn't know you were going there. Steven: You know what we should do that's so, it's going to be annoying to the listener, but really fun for us. Jill: So sorry. Steven: Every single sentence the other person says, just cut them off. Jill: Not nice. Steven: Go ahead, Jill. Jill: No I didn't mean to do that. Steven: It's not a trap, I mean it. Go ahead. Jill: Finish your thing. Steven: No, I can't remember what I was going to say. Jill: Oh, well, sorry. Steven: Look, this show is all about learning how to buy and sell real estate, so it's not really about Jill and I at all. So what comes easy to us might be incredibly difficult for somebody and vice versa. So this topic came up because we have a lot of new staff right now, and I'm learning by watching how they're doing deals and what they're bringing to the table that adds to what Jill and I can bring to the table. You know, there's some concern about ... you know what I think this really shows really about, and then I'll let you take over, because I know you have a lot of notes. It's just insecurity, not about buying real estate, it's just like fear of failure. Jill: Well I was going to say, I really saw it when we were talking about the topics. Not our people, the members. I talked to new members all the time. New and or thinking about jumping in, and this is one of their concerns. Steven: Oh, okay, good. So it is necessary. Jill: It is necessary. And I have a lot more to say when we talk about the show. Steven: Before we get into it, let's take to a topic posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Joe wrote, "Hello, my name is Joe. I'm 28 years old, married and no kids. New to this site and learning about land investing. I'm very interested. This is definitely something I want to do. However, I don't really know the best path to take at this point in my life. I have a decent paying job, but I hate it." Poor guy. "I'm just now getting to where I can make a change. I either want to go back to college or go back into the military. Now that I've found this, I'm not sure if I should focus on getting a better career first and then working towards investing in land, or just use the job I have now to save and get started. I don't know really what it takes to get going and I don't know h...
Breaking Down Your Business | Small Business | Business Owners | Entrepreneurship | Leadership
What’s In This Episode: Brad's a little confused about what customer experience actually is, so Jill and Brad call CX guru Jeannie Walters to help him out. "Whether you know it or not, you are providing a customer experience." - Jeannie Walters Jeannie explains that customer experience is the journey someone takes before they become a customer all the way to when they either cease to be a customer or become a lifelong advocate. The businesses who do it well are proactive about the experiences they're providing. Done right, it can lead to more referrals and more value. However, most businesses don't factor in what customer experience might mean, and instead just focus on making the sale and getting the customer. But you can decide what sort of customer experience you want to deliver and build that into the way you do business leading to positive results for everyone involved. "If I told you that by tweaking a line on your invoice... would get you three new referrals, wouldn't that be worth it?" - Jill It used to be that you needed 12 positive experiences to overcome one negative one - and now you need 22. It can seem overwhelming. So if you're just getting started with customer experience, what can you do? Start with repair and little changes. It feels like a lot of work but with feedback from your customers, it makes a huge difference. What customer experience are you providing? Hang out with Jill and Brad! Wanna join Jill and Brad for drinks at their FIRST-EVER offline event? Meet them September 13 at Park & Field in Chicago to get your shouting on. RSVP here. Guest: Jeannie Walters is the CEO/Founder of Experience Investigators™ by 360Connext, a global Customer Experience consulting firm. She has 20 years of experience helping companies improve loyalty and retention, employee engagement, and overall customer experience. Visit her website and sign up for her 21-day CX challenge.
Finance Friday with Steven Butala and Justin Sliva (LA 908) Transcript: Steven: Stephen, Justin, and Jill here. Welcome to the Land Academy show. Entertaining land investment talk, I'm Steven Jack Butala with Justin Sliva. Jill: And Jill Dewit broadcasting from sunny Southern California and Justin: Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Steven: Today Jill and I talk about, every Friday, Finance Friday and the deals that we're doing. Jill: And I get to be a guest. Today. Steven: I know you love that. Jill: I know. Steven: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com community. It's free! Jill: Before we get into this, can I talk about what we just were talking about? Steven: Sure. Jill: It's so flippin' funny. So we're doing two shows back to back right now. Recording two shows back to back and Justin's the only one who did the cost. See why I'm like, "Yeah whatever." Justin: You outed me! Steven: Jill and I, this is show 908, 908 for us, and Justin, show number 12. So he's still excited, you know? We're just done with it. [crosstalk 00:01:05] Justin: I'm using the kids, threw me a bottle of water to I could lube up my throat. You've got two minutes, go go go! [crosstalk 00:01:17] My son is crawling under my desk right now to get out. Jill: Steven and I have our feet up today in recliners, whatever. Steven: We're both a little buzzed from the night last night actually. Jill: Yeah it doesn't matter. Justin: Take another shot. Jill: Guy drops dead right now. Justin: I went to bed at 8:45 last night, now I feel horrible. We just went to bed early. We watched Jack Ryan. Jill: Oh cool, how was your birthday? I, last week- Justin: It was good! Yeah it was pretty low-key on the day before but me and my wife went out the weekend before. First time we've actually had a date, just us two, in probably five or six months, it'd been a while and I've been asking her, she's like doesn't want to leave the new baby with people. We went to the Mexican restaurant that we normally go to and I think we are going to split a pitcher of margaritas and she's like "I want this jalapeno margarita." So then I started drinking rum and Cokes. Nine later at the second bar we're at, with some great people watching us, a cool funk band on, so it was a lot of fun. Steven: That's how the fourth child happens. Jill: Yeah. Careful! Justin: No, no. Unless I have another wife. [crosstalk 00:02:27] If there's a fourth child come involved you're going to see half the wall behind me, she's gonna take half of everything. Steven: Every once in a while Justin says some really Texan stuff. [crosstalk 00:02:41] Get another wife though. We don't let that happen in California. Jill: You guys. Alright I will read the question now. I will save this. Read the question. Brandon asks, "I have a money partner that I started mailing for to purchase houses and just closed on our first house and he's in the process of fixing it up and we'll be selling it soon. Now that he has seen that this actually works, he asks if we can mail to multi-family apartments to try to pick up one at a discount." Steven: This is perfect for Justin. Jill: I know! "[crosstalk 00:03:20] and I know how to get the data, but my question is, do you send out blind offers for apartments too? If so, how would you price them? Because apartment values based on the net income and c...
Jill Richmond joins us today to talk about the U.S. government’s somewhat mixed success to date in regulating cryptocurrency and the growing push by predominantly conservative political forces to reduce federal intervention and give states a bigger say in how this new economy is regulated. Jill brings us up to speed on how crypto trade and lobbying groups such as the Digital Asset Trade Association (DATA), which she Co-Founded, are faring in their efforts to ensure that states pass consistent laws across the board. And she explains how the growing tensions between states and Washington D.C. on crypto regulation involves the principle of federalism. We’ll give you a report card of states and show how some states are doing better than others at this political gamesmanship. Tune in to find out what’s fact, what’s substance, and what’s grandstanding in the growing political battle over cryptocurrency. Topics Covered in this Conversation with Jill Richmond: – Patchwork of federal regulations – Confusion and lack of clarity – Complex woolly regulatory environment – States trying to create clarity for companies – Many states also creating patchwork of laws – Difficulties of crypto companies to get banked – Interest from banks to move to foreign jurisdictions – Confusion over definition of cryptocurrency and ICOs – Role of federalism in crypto politics – Conservative groups working to give more power to states – Digital Asset Trade Association (DATA) working to create consistent state legislation – States Report Card – How DATA was created and got involved in legislative activity – States doing the most on regulation – Gubernatorial races and impact on industry – Wyoming becoming Delaware of crypto – Rise of crypto banks – Getting Congress to become more engaged – Closing thoughts and key takeaways Questions and Comments? podcast@gem.co Guest Contact Information Jill Richmond LinkedIn | Twitter | Telegram Website: Digital Asset Trade Association Resource Links Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: State Law Roundup US Election Sees Crypto-Friendly Politicians Win Governor Races DATA Continues To Move the Needle in Wyoming Wyoming Eyes Creation of Blockchain-Friendly Bank to Lure Bitcoin Startups State Regulations on Virtual Currency and Blockchain Technologies Crypto industry leaders warn Congress: Figure out regulation, or watch innovation leave the US Colorado Digital Token Act Wyoming wants to be Delaware of the West With Business Court U.S. State of Wyoming Defines Cryptocurrency ‘Utility Tokens’ as New Asset Class Transcript: Interview with Jill Richmond Interview Recorded On: January 8th, 2019 Topic: Politics and Crypto Chitra: Welcome to the show, Jill. It's great to have you. Jill: No, it's great to be here. Thanks, Chitra. Chitra: Thanks so much. So this past year there was a tremendous amount of interpretation and confusion it seemed on how different federal agencies were defining how cryptocurrency should be regulated. Jill: Sure. So - and I think to lean into that a little bit more - I think you have everyone from the SEC to the CFTC to FinCEN determining whether we're looking at property, we're looking at commodity, or we're looking at a security, but none really turning around and saying this may be a new asset class. So, what you have is agencies that leaned in really hard without creating a lot of clarity and companies wrote reactively and proactively trying to respond to what was either coming down the pike as they anticipated it. And so, interestingly enough, what you've started to see as a result of this kind of complex woolly regulatory environment is states and hopefully on the federal side, trying to lean as heavy as they can and trying to create some clarity for companies, individuals, and otherwise, and obviously consumers in terms of how they need to behave, operate within a framework in the United States. Chitra: Let's pause for a minute and talk about the current state of affairs for businesses and investors when it comes to pain points and friction in how they're operating. Jill: Okay, sure. So, I guess you sort of need to define what you're talking about here, are you talking about cryptocurrency? Are you talking about blockchain technology? Chitra: Cryptocurrency. Jill: Cryptocurrency, fine. Okay. So for cryptocurrency, you have a lot of companies that have very difficult time trying to get banked. So there are banks that are more or less unhelpful to companies that are operating in the US and companies are finding themselves having to find a jurisdiction and bank outside of the US. So there's this, I would say, this interest in moving to other jurisdictions. So that's a huge pain point for companies. Certainly companies who were trying to bank class last year had a very difficult time. I can get to that later. In terms of what legislation is on the ground, possibly in Wyoming to have a bank that basically is supporting blockchain and crypto-based companies. There are pain points around, even companies, and I'm often uncomfortable in discussing it, but there were companies who essentially said, look, we want to do an ICO. Can we do an ICO in this country? Does that mean that we have to turn around and now only work with accredited investors? Chitra: An ICO is an initial coin offering, which is a method of crowdfunding in cryptocurrency. Jill: Yes. So, essentially, companies last year were producing utility tokens and treating those utility tokens effectively as an investment vehicle and running afoul of major securities law. Essentially treating a token, utility token, extensively, which needs to be treated as utility token. In other words, the token has utility consumptive value within the ecosystem. Chitra: Unlike a security for instance, which the SEC says ICOs and tokens essentially are. Jill: That's right. So there is still real value in having a utility. That utility token, however, should not, could not, cannot be treated as an investment contract per se. So it's the intent around what that token’s primary purpose is. Chitra: And this is a source of great disagreement at the federal level. Jill: It is still a source of great disagreement, although I don't know because the disagreement is such that, the SEC still looks at the how we test as- Chitra: Which is a supreme court test that deals with securities regulation. Jill: That's right. And so, in applying that test to, I guess a utility token, it can be very complicated. And as I said, it often is about the intent of the utility tokens. So, there was legislation that was created out in Wyoming. We can cover that, HB 70, which was a bill that was passed in a Wyoming last March that we helped. And I can tell you that we helped shepherd along, which really stipulated effectively what a utility or an open token is and that it is exempt from property taxes. Chitra: So this is important because the SEC says that cryptocurrency is a security and is illegal unless regulated by the SEC, then you've got the commodities future trading commission. The CFTC says, oh no, cryptocurrency is a commodity. And then you have the IRS saying cryptocurrency is property. And then you have FinCEN which is the treasury’s financial crimes enforcement network saying that it is money. So you have all of these different interpretations. But now you have a state named the Wyoming saying, we believe that utility tokens can be essentially exempt from- Jill: Property taxes. Chitra: ...from property taxes. So it seems like this is a perfect example of federalism at play. So can you talk a little bit about how federalism is kind of playing a role here and eventually they'll, it seems that in situations like that often courtside with the federal laws and so how will this all play out? Jill: Yeah, it's a good question and we haven't seen it yet. So yes, it is a perfect example of federalism, but you still have major issues that fall within, I guess financial markets to some extent, taxes and otherwise that are still at the purview of the state level. So, as long as you are working closely with the state securities, if you're working around securities law as it relates on the state level, you're extensively okay. Do I think that there's going to be a showdown about what's happening in Wyoming? I don't know. We haven't seen it yet and it's hard for me to predict whether we're going to start seeing the courts take on what's happening on a state level. It's still extremely nascent right now. I mean with Wyoming being probably the front runner and the most maybe controversial legislation on the ground in one particular state. Chitra: Let's go back to the broader area. It seems that many states are now weighing in on how cryptocurrency should be regulated. And the Brookings Institute essentially categorized states in seven different ways. And they said there are states that are unaware, reactionary, appreciative, organized, actively engaged and recognizing innovation potential. And I know that your trade group, The Digital Assets Trade Association has also done a lot of work and done a report card on how states are fairing when dealing with cryptocurrency. Can you sum up what you’ve found? Jill: Yeah, I think that's fair. So what you saw in 2014, is the first wave of kind of 20 states that came in and started to regulate or started to create legislation acknowledging cryptocurrency and more or less protecting the consumer. So you've got New York and California and the license. So, but fast forward to 2018 really is sort of the next wave of states that fall within those sort of seven categories. So for us at The Digital Asset Trade Association and I love the Brookings, I thought Brookings did a great job of breaking that down, at least for people who were slightly unaware of what's going on on a state level. What we did is take it a little, a step further, which is to say the elections are imminent and let's kind of highlight some of the governors that we know are either proactive. So in the case of Colorado, we had Jared Polis who we know as a state legislator, formed the blockchain coalition. Chitra: And you're referring to the 2018 midterm elections. Jill: [crosstalk] That's correct. Yeah. So anyway, the short version of a long story is that where seven of those states fit. So there are seven key states that are really looking into legislation that not only is acknowledging the technology, but are creating safe harbor legislation and also, trying to identify where blockchain technology fits around public and private services. So, can we have state records on a blockchain? Can we have... how are we treating smart contracts? So you have places like Delaware, Arizona was extremely progressive. Wyoming as we know which issued and passed six bills last year, extremely progressive and probably the most progressive. So our scorecard was basically giving, we're giving governors and states, essentially an A rating or a passive rating or an A rating, so to speak. So at least voters started to understand where their state fit and where their legislators fit around adopting legislation that was probably creating job creation within their state. So it wasn't just about cryptocurrency, it was, look, we're taking a really strong position. We want companies to set up shop in the case of Wyoming and we want to be seen as an innovation hub. Chitra: So what's at stake really here is the entire new ecosystem that's being built around cryptocurrency. So it's a jobs and attracting more companies to increase your tax base. There seems to be a lot at stake here. Jill: Yeah, there is a lot at stake and I think there's still that pivotal moment where legislators are starting to see if they take action, they can retain talent, company innovation, staying either in-state and not fleeing to a new jurisdiction. That's the hope. That, that innovation, that sandbox legislation that gets put on the table in Colorado for instance, creates opportunities for new financial based or fintech-based companies to operate within their state and not flee and go somewhere else. Chitra: What are the stakes for crypto businesses in terms of the friction we talked about, the pain points, what do they want? Jill: Oh, well. I guess it was September of this year, there was a real, there was a round table on a federal level that was put together with a number of major players within the industry and above and beyond all else, it was clarity. It was just clarity. It was the, look, in order for us to have big money come into this industry, it needs to be regulated well, it needs to be regulated with clarity and their hopes in the friction at least as far as they're concern is as they're building new financial products and infrastructure, that clarity means everything in terms of, again, where that innovation is coming from. Is it in Korea or is it really coming out of the United States? Is it coming from Malta or is it coming from the United States? Chitra: So you have at the federal level, a patchwork of guidance and confusion. And now you have states jumping in and every state is trying to issue its own idex on regulation of cryptocurrency. You have the underlying kind of a conservative political movement steeped in federalism that's tried to give more [crosstalk] power to the states from ALEC, the conservative organization, the American Legislative Exchange Council. So you have that underlying kind of political movement that's driving some of this stuff. And then we have groups like yours that's trying to wrestle all of this to the ground and finding some kind of consistency. So how is this all working out? Jill: Well, it's complicated. So, and maybe it helps if I give a little bit of an information. Oh, I help you understand a little bit about DATA, so- Chitra: Your organization? Jill: My organization, which is The Digital Asset Trade Association. The Digital Asset Trade Association, let me just sort of give some context to bring you right back. Digital Asset Trade Association was really formed last year. End of January, we had a round table with the chief information officer at the CFTC and the SEC and we sat down in a private room with stakeholders from blockchain and crypto-based companies and said, what can we do to help you? In not so many words, what can we do to help you communicate directly to the companies and understand their pain points and help you understand how do you either both weed out bad actors or be compliant or operate in a way that is moving the needle on proactivity? And so what came out of it, at least the timing, was Wyoming was really fast moving in introducing six pieces of legislation. And we as an organization that had just been formed, turned around and said, we're going to focus all of our energy and attention over to Wyoming. We're going to work closely with the Wyoming blockchain coalition. We're going to work closely with Caitlin Long and help them shepherd through kind of a stake in the ground and that's what we did and we did it very quickly. It was within two weeks. We sort of dropped in like a SWAT team, testified, introduced as much language, education, support as the state needed. Walked away and said, okay, we have our mission. Our mission is now to use Wyoming as kind of the ground zero, even though there were other states before, but use Wyoming as sort of the proverbial ground zero and say, now let's try and create federal language that takes HB 70, for instance, on a federal level and create consistency among states. Chitra: [crosstalk] utility token definition. Jill: This is utility token definition, exactly. And so, we started to get inbound requests from states and guidance and support and we went over to Colorado and started working in Colorado to help pass legislation that by the way, did not pass. But we have a very different makeup in the Senate and the House right now and we have a very progressive governor. And so the short version of a long story, is DATA was really formed to create consistency among states and we will be working with bodies like ALEC to help support that consistency among states. Chitra: But at the moment, given this patchwork, the fact which of course is democracy at its best and worst as we know it, is this a blessing or a curse that states are jumping in willy nilly to try to change and shape this ecosystem. Jill: Is it Pollyannaish for me to say it's a blessing and a curse? Because it is. It's a blessing because you almost need to do this pincer move. There's a little bit of a pincer move that needs to happen. States are going to jump in and they're going to try and clarify and they're certainly going to do that hopefully, or at least in their best interest, which is to attract companies and they're going to go head to, so Wyoming is going to go head to head with Delaware and you've got states that are going to start competing with each other to attract talent, to attract innovation. Now is that helpful for those companies? Probably not. The reasons why states are doing it versus why companies need to have some defining language. So, it's a blessing because now you have companies that are like, great, I feel like I can go move- Chitra: They have a home. Jill: They have a home, they can move to Colorado and there are a lot of major companies in Colorado. They can move to, you have kind of, you have companies that are now at least exchanges that have turned around and said, okay, we can move out to Wyoming and leave Washington for instance. So you're attracting talent, but you will have to create a serious pincer move around the introduction of a lot of that consistent legislation on the federal side now. And we hope as a trade organization to bridge, we've got many masters, but to bridge that chasm so to speak. Chitra: And one of the things you're seeing is the education of politicians both at the federal and at the state level about blockchain technology and cryptocurrency and the midterm elections were significant for the cryptocurrency industry in that you had the election of three crypto savvy, crypto friendly governors, I guess it was Jared Polis of Colorado and- Jill: Gavin Newsom. Chitra: Gavin Newsom of California and you had the third one was Mark Gordon of Wyoming- Jill: Wyoming. Chitra: ... of course. And then you had- Jill: He was inaugurated last night. Chitra: Yeah. And then you had two who were re-elected. One was Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island and Greg Abbott of Texas. So you've got five state governors now who are getting educated and are knowledgeable and supportive of cryptocurrency. And that seems to, that that's going to have an impact too. Jill: Yeah, it will. I mean, you absolutely will. I mean, you're literally starting to see the movement of that legislation right now. You've got bills that are hitting the House floor in Colorado. You have new package legislation that we hope we expect to get very little push back on, but we don't know. There's now five bills that are hitting the House floor on Friday. Chitra: In Wyoming? Jill: Wyoming. Chitra: And what do they, just generally speaking broadly, what are they trying to do those bills? Jill: So you've got, and I'm going to lose the number, but I think it's HB 76, so forgive me on that. We'll have to edit that. But HB 76, so you have clarifying legislation, which is just re-clarifying HB 70. It helps to clarify in terms of the utility and the exemption of property taxes. And the most important bill, I think that's hitting the floor is a banking bill. Which is setting up the establishment of a bank, which is- Chitra: A crypto bank. Jill: A crypto bank. Chitra: The first of its kind? Jill: It will be the first of its kind, which is not FDIC insured. So there will be no lending, but it is really for the purposes of depository and acts really for companies to be able to have a bank. I don't know, you've been in this industry long enough to see what it's like to try and set up a bank account. It's often your bank account is shut or frozen or you have a ton of issues and this is a huge pain point for companies. So, I think part of the package of legislation in Wyoming is again, to attract companies and talent. Chitra: So, in essence is Wyoming trying to become for Crypto what Delaware is for traditional banking for instance? Jill: It is. Yeah. It is. I think you saw 1977, Wyoming really was the first issue, the LLC. And so, I think there's always been a little bit of a rivalry between Wyoming and Delaware of sorts. But Wyoming has attractive reasons for companies to go. And, I will say that only because I'm watching companies that are relocating to Wyoming that are setting up developer communities across Wyoming that are setting up a secondary office or a third office or a fourth office so that they can take advantage of what Wyoming offers them. Not that I'm plugging Wyoming, I don't live there, but it's- Chitra: It's one of the states that's proving to be friendly to crypto businesses. Jill: Yeah, that's right. Chitra: So let's look ahead to this year, 2019. What do you see happening in terms of federal legislation regulation, state legislation regulation, studies, business development across the spectrum? Where do you see us ending up at the end of 2019 compared to where we were a year ago? Jill: I think you're going to get a lot more clarity. I mean, I do believe that there is so, I think on a macro level you've seen all of the pieces of the puzzle be put back together again to the extent that you have now strong movement on the state level. So you have a number of bills and key states that are moving. You've got New Jersey that's moving on legislation and Arizona as we know, has moved on legislation. We're getting inquiries from New Mexico and otherwise, legislation that is a little bit more closely aligned with either our agenda of our members or closely aligned with creating innovation etc and just clarity. And I think that the makeup on the federal side, at least in Congress, is such that we will start to move much more quickly in creating consistency as well. So I think- Chitra: [crosstalk] If nothing else, maybe this is an invitation for Congress to jump in and start to provide some of this legislative language to clarify some of these issues and then reduce the confusion. Jill: Agreed. I mean, I think this is a good year to see some, either groundbreaking movement or some clarity. So, I think you saw it was maybe December 11th and there was a lot of, it wasn't the most welcome move, but I think you saw the CFTC did a public request for input really around aspects of how Ether and the Ethereum network operates. You're starting to see the engagement at least open inquiries into, let's figure this out. Chitra: Great. Any closing thoughts, Jill? Jill: Yeah, I think, look, I'm a big proponent of my organization. We are constantly looking for support in companies that want to join our working groups, especially as we develop working groups post-Wyoming around really around banking and identity and otherwise. And so I would say please sort of visit us at digitalasset.org and keep an eye on what we're doing in Wyoming and keep an eye on what we're doing in Colorado. Chitra: Great. And where can people learn more about you and the work you're doing? Jill: So you can find, so digitalasset.org that's probably the best way. And you can certainly reach out to me directly at jill.richmond@digitalasset.org. Chitra: Awesome. Well, Jill it has been so great to have you on the show, and there's so much going on that a lot of us are not even aware of at the state and federal level. Jill: Yeah. Thanks for asking. Yeah, thank you.
Elie Katzenson interviews East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest (EBABZ) organizers Gillian Dreher, June Hong, and Maira McDermott about the specialness of zines and their relevance as underground publications for activists, artists, and writers in search for total creative freedom and publishing options.Transcript:Elie Katzenson:This is Method To The Madness, a biweekly public affairs show on KALX Berkeley celebrating Bay Area innovators.I am Elie Katzenson. I am here with the organizers of EBABZ, which stands for the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest, which is coming up this Saturday, December 8th at Omni Commons in Oakland.It's from 11:00 to 5:00. That venue, Omni Commons, is located at 4799 Shattuck Avenue, which is super close to the MacArthur Bar, and there's a drop off on the sixth bus line in addition to other bus lines. For now, I am here with Jill, June, and Mira. Hi y'all.Mira:Hey.Jill:Hey.Elie Katzenson:Let's start by talking about what a zine is.Mira:A zine, in my opinion, is really anything you want it to be. It doesn't even need to be printed. You can have online zines, digital zines. It's anything that you feel really passionate about or interested in that you want to share with other people, and you just kind of put together this little book.It doesn't have to be a traditional book shape. It can be any shape you want. Staple it, copy a bunch of pages, hand it out. That's a zine.Elie Katzenson:Zines are interesting because, as I understand it, historically they've been and they continue to be like an underground publication used a lot by activists, artists, and writers that are looking for the ability to self publish, which affords them total freedom.There's a lot of identity exploration that maybe traditional publishing houses wouldn't allow for that space, and so you have lesser represented communities exploring their identities.With this, I'm thinking queer people, I'm thinking like there's a lot of diasporic exploration, mixed identities, mixed ethnic identities, anarchist groups, a lot of unique politics are getting space. Then kind of nontraditional relationship models. I've seen some like polyamory and nonmonogamous related zines.Really valuable information that isn't able to get exposure elsewhere, in zines gets massive exposure. These fests, which take place across the country, they are really hubs of, this is a big word to say, but like revolutionary information sometimes. It all starts it seems on a small scale, but this work can have major repercussions in a positive sense for a lot of people.Mira:In my personal experience it has been revolutionary, because through zines that's how I have found the words to work through my own gender identity, and that was revolutionary for me.Elie Katzenson:What Mira just said is proof of why zines are so important. In your experience why are zines so special?June:I think the beauty of the zine is, as Mira said, the total freedom and creative control you can have over your publication, and because you don't have to go through the process of a publishing house, and you self publish, you can really make it anything you want it to be.Jill:I also love the element of like speed and spontaneity. An event can happen and you can make a zine about it immediately. I think it's so great for like activism, or current events, because you can react, and share your ideas. Any idea, super quickly.Elie Katzenson:When I think of something like writer's block, or like fear of showing your work, zines, in this punk way, emphasize the naturalness and the power of your first response,and sort of like first thoughts. How do you let go enough to just say like I'm going to put myself out there. I'm going to put my work out there. How do people do that? I'm so impressed by that with zines that I've seen. They're very thoughtful, but they're not over-thought and they're not manicured to the point of perfection.June:I feel like that's such like a classic problem with creative work or like an issue is at what point do I feel comfortable enough to like share my work. With zines I feel like there's such a broad spectrum. Even the range of zines that I've seen some look definitely more spur of the moment, first draft, made photocopies, and published versus zines that look more like traditional books.I feel like the answer to like when do you feel comfortable? Like how do you get over that hump? Like is this getting over your own perfectionism to publish is something that zines kind of help with, because it is so easy to make. That's one less barrier for you to like put your content out there.Elie Katzenson:How zines have been seen more in the mainstream, and so you're talking about the first draft zine, which is a little more, not less marketable. Then you have commercialized zines that maybe are a little less substance oriented.Maybe a little less political, a little less extreme, a little more surface level, and I've been kind of curious about what the dynamic is within the zine community in regards to content.Is there more collaboration in the same community? There seems to be maybe a little bit more friendship. I know that treating your zines is a big part of what you do when you table.Jill:I've had really good experiences making friends through zines, and even making friends zines on Facebook groups, and then traveling to those people's fests, and let me stay at their house.I've never met these people, and there's just a level of trust that comes in I think when you're sharing your work that's really personal. You kind of get to know someone and then they're like, "Yeah, I've never met you but I think you're not going to murder me, so come stay at my house for a weekend."Thinking specifically about when I went to Omaha Zine Fest, and the organizers of that fest were super sweet. I think there's just a lot of camaraderie in the zine community, because we're all just kind of doing the same thing. Not the same exact thing, but we all have the same passion for this art form.Elie Katzenson:This is the ninth year of EBABZ. As I understand it, it was kind of born out of people enjoying Portland Zine Fest, and San Francisco Zine Fest, and thinking that there was enough artists and creators in the East Bay to have a fest here, and even the organizers nine years ago are different than the organizers that are y'all, right?Mira I know that you kind of had like this sub-zine fest, The Bay Area Queer Zine Fest. I think that the space that EBABZ creates, not only at The Fest, which I've been to a couple of years in a row, but the work that you're championing and really like helping proliferate, how can people and the community of the East Bay in general help EBABZ thrive and help zinesters thrive. How can we support the creation of this work?Jill:Volunteer.June:Yeah.Mira:Show up day of. That's really important still.June:Please volunteer.Jill:It's crazy. My boyfriend especially lately has been in awe of all of the work that we've been doing. I think with events like this you don't realize, you always think, "Oh, someone's in charge."No one's in charge. We're just kind of making all this up as we go, and like working together and like figuring out how to get stuff done. Like I'll come home from our meetings working sessions and he'll be like, "Oh what did you do today?" I'll tell him and he'll be like, "What? Like you're doing so much stuff. That's so cool."So yeah, it would be great for people to get involved.Elie Katzenson:What kind of things can people do?Jill:So much, so everything, from all year long, we have different events. Mira's always really good, and June at like planning, fundraising events, getting in touch with like different organizations, figuring out how we can work together, teaching people how to make zines, like workshops like that.We also do planning stuff throughout the year. We have to like send out applications. We have to figure out like what are our mission statement is.Mira:There's administrative work, but all the way to like really fun poster makes.June:Yeah, make a flyer. InstagramMira:Follow their Instagram y'all.Jill:There's fun stuff happening. Voluntaring looks fun if you follow the Insta.June:I think a lot of people are afraid to volunteer, because putting yourself out there is always really scary. Also maybe in capitalist society in general, there's the concept that you have to pay a lot of time in a place before you have any power or say, and so you think that you shouldn't be there helping, or deciding how things are run because you're new, but EBABZ is a democracy as far as I can tell, a major democracy, and people are really welcome, and like radically welcome. It's radically inclusive.Jill:A friend of mine reached out to me and said they were too busy to volunteer but they know this person who's in high school who was looking for like some way to get involved with zines.We brought them on, and they have just gone for it. They reached out to like all the different high schools in the area to ask for people to get involved, share their zines. Any level of effort is appreciated.Mira:For sure. I feel like that can happen in such different ways too. Like so as we said, there's like many different capacities in which you can volunteer, but also like we all started volunteering at the same time three years ago, and how I showed up was I just saw like a volunteer meeting on Facebook.I just like showed up without really knowing that much about The Zine Fest. I'd like gone the previous year, but my friend had posted it on Facebook, so I was like, "Yeah, well I'll just like show up, and now I've continued to stick with it for the past three years, so you never know how it's going to go.Elie Katzenson:Tomas is one of the organizers who I think is not strictly active anymore, and he was talking about the idea that a zine more than maybe certain other mediums is really like a one-on-one interaction between the creator and the reader.What makes a zine one-on-one interaction? Why is that one-on-one interaction really essential, especially when you're talking about subject matter that is frequently very intimate, and life changing I guess I would say, because I think so much of reading zines is related to identity, and people find a sense of belonging that maybe they're not experiencing as frequently in reading fiction.Mira:In my experience it's been kind of like handing someone my diary, and they just happened to be standing right in front of me sometimes making really awkward eye contact. It's terrifying, but that's just kind of what it is.I don't know. It's really cool to have these one-on-one interactions with people even if it's not in person, and then have them give you feedback, or tell you that, "Oh, this zine meant a lot to me, because x, y or Z," and then it's like, "Oh, I'm not alone in what I'm feeling. Wow, this feels great." There's like solidarity with other people over just, I don't know, stuff that maybe you felt like you were alone in.Jill:There's those kinds of zines. I feel like that with a lot of mirror zines, and a lot of per zines, that are like diary type zines, but there's also the zines where it's more communal, and I feel like rather than like a one-on-one, it's this feeling of entering into a group just through reading.I'm thinking of ones that are collaborative that community produces, or ones that maybe share like history of like a place or a thing that you weren't familiar with. It's like you're entering into this world more of a shared base instead of one-to-one. It's one to a bunch. Even if you've never met those people, or seen those people.Elie Katzenson:When people think about getting involved in community, it seems like you have to be a people person, and really enjoy being extroverted all the time, etcetera. What's interesting about Zines is there's face for everyone, and there's sensitivity to whoever you are.You are just radically accepted and loved, and that respect is just so special. I don't think that's really a question, but I think it's something that I want people who maybe aren't familiar with zines, or who haven't participated in an event where zines are shared to know that that is really the environment that is created at a fest.Like Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory where you're going to find the level that you want. Maybe you find the blueberry early, and you get rolled away, or you make it to the end and you get your gobstopper. You know? So.June:Yeah, totally. That reminds me of how earlier we were talking about how to support zine communities and stuff, and we talked about volunteering, but also what I found that has been super important to me within zine organizing, and the Oakland art community in general, is I found that people are so supportive and welcoming, and down to help you out with your projects.People's generosity and acceptance has really blown my mind. It's super inspiring to see people be making things and helping other people make things, and being able to express their selves, and creative projects through helping each other out. That's another way to support is help a friend make something.Elie Katzenson:Totally. I read this newsletter, it's called The Creative Independent. I'll have to send you a link, because it's really great. They interview an artist every day, and sometimes they talk about in different art worlds there's more competition than others. Right?One of the pieces of advice that I read today was about being confident in charging for your work. People can pay for your work, and I don't know why that seems so radical to me, because it can feel so hard to say like, "No, that costs money, or that Zine is 10 bucks." You have really made something, and that's like a sacred exchange.Mira:It's hard sometimes, but I feel like the time that I'm most able to stick out for myself and my work is when people just try to take it off the table like it's free.It's the only time I'm really adamant like "No, I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this." That happened at zine event that I'm tabling at. It's hard to put a price on something you've created, but sometimes it's necessary because you have to even or you have to pay your bills.Elie Katzenson:Right? I mean even beyond breaking even though, right? It shouldn't just be, I just had to pay for my materials. It's like, "No, it's okay for me to make money off of a work that I made."Jill:Totally. Yeah.Elie Katzenson:But why does it feel so hard to do that?Mira:It can be hard to do because money obviously is not like the end-all-be-all of the world, but you also need it to survive, and pay the bills. It's something I do think about is why do we not hesitate to buy a five dollar coffee, but you have a problem with buying a five dollar zine, or something like that. I don't know. Not that it's always necessarily like that, but-June:Yeah, I think it is important to keep in mind value and the effort that people put into making creative work that isn't necessarily sold in a store, and for some reason that seems more official. Okay to give money to.Mira:Both as organizers charging for space, and on the zinester side of the table, charging for these things filled with ideas. We've been conflicted with anticapitalist sentiment too. Then like charging for things.If I'm making something that's against consumerism, and then I'm charging for it, like, "Oh, what do I do? What's happening?" It's all about valuing yourself, and your ideas and-Elie Katzenson:Right. You still have to function in the environment that we were functioning in, [crosstalk]June:It's not that we like money, but-Mira:Yeah.June:Give me my moneys.Mira:Yeah, that's, yeah. Personally I feel like that's been really hard.Elie Katzenson:It's interesting to me, because the price that you're charging the zinesters is quite fair in my opinion. I think it's what, 50 bucks if you're accepted?June:No, not even that.Mira:It's less.June:That's for a double.Mira:For a half table we have a sliding scale, 20 to $40, and then if you have a full table, it's 50 to 75 I want to say. We also-Elie Katzenson:You've always employed a sliding scale?Mira:Always a sliding scale, and also if people have financial struggles, they could email us and we waive the fee.Elie Katzenson:Wow.Jill:Some zine fests are not like that. It's really nice to be able to be a part of one that is like that.Elie Katzenson:I want to talk about The Fest schedule in general. I know the Rock Paper Scissors Collective did a memorial fund, The Rheo Memorial Fund, where they were giving away grants of $100 for people to make zines.You could apply for this zine scholarship. That was really special, because again, $100 means a lot. Be it to EBABZ if they can get a table, or just being able to make 50 copies of their work.Okay. So again, reminder the East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest is this Saturday, December 8th it's from 11 to five at Omni Commons, 4799 Shattuck avenue. It's free to get in. No admission. All these tables you can buy zines and peruse.I know that there's some workshops happening. Can you tell me a little bit about that?Mira:We have three different workshops. They're each about an hour long. We have writing from the margins, creativity, and embodiment for artists of color with Fatima Nasir. This one sounds awesome. It's a writing workshop, meditative practices, some brainstorming, and sharing stories.Elie Katzenson:What Times that?Mira:That one is at 12 and then at 1:30 we have mixed media sticker making with Raphael Tapra the third. Sounds extremely fun. You just use a bunch of stuff and make stickers. Very DIY. That's at 1:30 until 2:30, but you can stop by. It's kind of like an in and out situation.Elie Katzenson:Awesome.Mira:Or you can say the whole time. At 3:00 we have letterpress basics with Christie Holahan, and she's gonna show how this tabletop water press works.Then everyone's going to get to make good thing. They're gonna choose a phrase, and then everyone's going to let her press that phrase.Elie Katzenson:Cool. What part of Omni are they doing those in? Do you know? Cause it's like those two big rooms, right? The entry room, and then the larger back room.Mira:It's in the entry room and it's way in the back. You'll see these big wall partition screen things.Elie Katzenson:Oh cool.Mira:It's behind the partition.Elie Katzenson:Awesome. Couldn't have asked for a better workshop description. I was reading online that you are doing something new this year. I think it's called a zine store.June:Yeah. So the zine shop is something new that we're trying out this year. Mostly in response to how we were feeling that we wanted to include as many people as possible, because there are a limited number of tables, but we do get a lot of applications.For people who either didn't get to table, or just have like one or two zines, and don't feel like they can fill a table, they actually still have time to drop off their zine at five Friday at E.M. Wolfman Downtown. It's a bookstore. The organizers will be there the whole day selling them instead of having all of those people having to table.Jill:Another thing we're trying different this year one of our organizers had this cool idea. At all these fests, it's always a person behind a table, and it is super weird. I'm sure for anyone who's been to an event like this, or a craft show before, when you're walking around, and you're like, "Do I make eye contact? Do I not make eye contact? I want to look at this stuff. But I don't want them to feel offended if I don't buy the stuff."It's this kind of tense relationship sometimes. Sometimes it's really fun and you make good connections and you have a great time. Sometimes different personalities, some people feel awkward.One of our organizers was like, "What if we move the zinesters out from behind the table." It creates a more like open layout, and visitors can kind of like file through and peruse without having to have these tense eye contact moments.The tabler will still be there, but it's off to the side, and it creates more opportunities for organic conversations.Elie Katzenson:That's interesting.Jill:Yeah it's our first year doing it. So we'll see.Elie Katzenson:Oh I'm really excited to hear that, because I'm totally used to the awkward dynamic. I just put that Mona Lisa smile on my face for like an hour.Jill:Yup. Same. It's like part of the thing.Elie Katzenson:Yeah.Jill:We still have tables like that, so you will get an opportunity to show your Mona Lisa smile. But yeah, it'll be cool.Elie Katzenson:I think sometimes I personally want to engage in conversation, but I'm conscious of taking up too much space, or maybe they need to spend time with other people and I'm scared of taking too much attention, but sounds like people are maybe more open to speaking than I think that they are. Right?Jill:Yeah. We should mention that we're only using the wheelchair accessible rooms, and it's kid friendly.June:We have the childcare room, but we do not have childcare. BYO Care. You can use the room. That's what Rebecca said. BYO Care.Elie Katzenson:It's wheelchair accessible and you can bring your kids. You can't bring your dogs.June:No.Elie Katzenson:I know. My life is not fair.Jill:You can't have it all.Mira:You really can't.June:After The Fest, there's a EBABZ after party that's happening from six o'clock to around 10 o'clock at Classic Cars West slash Hello Vegan Eats. So yeah, come through.Mira:There's going to be like 10 djs.June:I think it's going to be like six.Mira:Six to 10.June:Six to 10 djs.Elie Katzenson:If you each had kind of one last sentiment or thought to put out into the world as an EBABZ organizer, or something that you'd like to put out there for the end of this interview.June:Just every year. I'm so grateful for zine community, the applications we receive, and the care that is taken in those applications. Also my fellow organizers I'm super grateful for it, because everyone really tries their hardest. Put's a lot of effort into it. Also, yeah, I'm eternally grateful to Aura for introducing me to this community and I think of her.Jill:I went to cal, and I was super DIY, and in high school I feel I was super punk into all this stuff. Then you grow up, and you have to get a job and you have to make money. I have a mortgage now.I start to get out of touch with all my roots and this happy community and what matters in life. Coming to Zine Fest, and volunteering with Zine Fest, reminds me of all that stuff, and keeps me connected, and keeps me grounded in reality, and what's good.Mira:Sort of to echo what both of you were saying, I think organizing EBABZ has been one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done. For that I am eternally grateful to Aura for getting me involved. Also if you come to The Fest, please bring caffeine for the organizers.June:Yes.Jill:I don't drink coffee.Elie Katzenson:The East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest is taking place on December 8th from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Omni Commons, which is located at 4799 Shaddock Avenue in Oakland. You can follow EBABZ online on Instagram at E-B-A-B-Z-I-N-E fest, or visit them at their website, EBABZfest.com. Thanks. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Jill discusses caring for her son whose bipolar disorder surfaced during the teen years. She describes the lack of resources in rural Iowa, the criminalization of mental illness and how that affected her family. She explains how this journey as a mother makes you learn who you are as a person and how strong you can be. Transcription [music] Female Voice: Welcome to the Just Ask Mom podcast where mothers share their experiences of raising children with mental illness. Just Ask Mom is a Mothers On The Frontline production. Today we will listen to Jill, a mother from Iowa, share her story about raising a son with bipolar disorder. Tammy: Thank you for doing this. We really appreciate you being here. Jill: Absolutely. Tammy: Before we get into a lot of the content could you tell us a little bit about yourself before or outside of mothering, who are you? What are your passions? What are you interested in? Jill: It's a great question. Well, first of all, I think I've known since I was five years old, probably or even before that I wanted to be a teacher. My grandmother was a teacher, my aunt was a teacher. I would have to say that was my focus through high school. I went to college, I'm a teacher and I'm very passionate about it, very passionate about early childhood education. I currently decided to personally take a step back and decided to work on my Master's degree. Tammy: Wonderful. Jill: Yeah, between doing that and teaching full-time and having two children, let's say two teenagers at home. [laughs] Tammy: You're busy. Jill: It's busy. When I have a free second to breath and if I'm not writing the research paper or discussion thread I am spending time with my family and friends. That's very important to me. I like to exercise, I love to be outside in the summer in my flower garden. That's kind of me by myself. Tammy: So you knew early on what you wanted to do? Jill: I did and I think that doesn't happen a lot. Tammy: No. Jill: I I think a lot of children these days are just full of pressure. "I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do", and I just tell my boys I hope it's just a lucky one. So, 20-some years I've been in it and I don't ever see myself do anything else. Tammy: Oh, that's wonderful. You love it, that's great. Jill: I do, yes. Tammy: It's a gift when your passion can become your work. Jill: Yes, absolutely. Tammy: Absolutely. I want you to pretend that you're talking to other parents. What do you want them to know about your experience as raising a child with a mental health condition? What would you want them to know? Jill: I would say number one, trust your instincts. If you see something maybe that is out of character for your child, maybe something that differs from what they have "typically", how they've been acting. I guess just picking up on those little cues. I look back over the journey with my son it's been three years. Three years and three years now has gone by and I look back at some of the things and say. "Wow, I wish I would have been-- went with my gut more than I did". Does that make sense? Tammy: It does. Now with your son, was there a clear before-and-after of an onset of symptoms, did it sort of come on at a certain point in his life or did you always see it his whole life, or? Jill: No. We did not see it early on in life at all. There was no signs or symptoms at all. Probably started seeing it at the age of 15, his hormones were really coming on. When we first started seeing signs like I said looking back impulsive behaviors and things that typically hadn't been characteristic of my son, but because some of it we kind of blamed on, "Oh, he's a teenager. Oh, he's sowing his oats, he's doing this", but then he would be fine for a while. Then well, we'd have another as well, I say now an episode of just uncharacteristically behaviors. I should have went with my gut more than I did but I did try to get some he...
Jill discusses caring for her son whose bipolar disorder surfaced during the teen years. She describes the lack of resources in rural Iowa, the criminalization of mental illness and how that affected her family. She explains how this journey as a mother makes you learn who you are as a person and how strong you can be. Transcription [music] Female Voice: Welcome to the Just Ask Mom podcast where mothers share their experiences of raising children with mental illness. Just Ask Mom is a Mothers On The Frontline production. Today we will listen to Jill, a mother from Iowa, share her story about raising a son with bipolar disorder. Tammy: Thank you for doing this. We really appreciate you being here. Jill: Absolutely. Tammy: Before we get into a lot of the content could you tell us a little bit about yourself before or outside of mothering, who are you? What are your passions? What are you interested in? Jill: It's a great question. Well, first of all, I think I've known since I was five years old, probably or even before that I wanted to be a teacher. My grandmother was a teacher, my aunt was a teacher. I would have to say that was my focus through high school. I went to college, I'm a teacher and I'm very passionate about it, very passionate about early childhood education. I currently decided to personally take a step back and decided to work on my Master's degree. Tammy: Wonderful. Jill: Yeah, between doing that and teaching full-time and having two children, let's say two teenagers at home. [laughs] Tammy: You're busy. Jill: It's busy. When I have a free second to breath and if I'm not writing the research paper or discussion thread I am spending time with my family and friends. That's very important to me. I like to exercise, I love to be outside in the summer in my flower garden. That's kind of me by myself. Tammy: So you knew early on what you wanted to do? Jill: I did and I think that doesn't happen a lot. Tammy: No. Jill: I I think a lot of children these days are just full of pressure. "I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do", and I just tell my boys I hope it's just a lucky one. So, 20-some years I've been in it and I don't ever see myself do anything else. Tammy: Oh, that's wonderful. You love it, that's great. Jill: I do, yes. Tammy: It's a gift when your passion can become your work. Jill: Yes, absolutely. Tammy: Absolutely. I want you to pretend that you're talking to other parents. What do you want them to know about your experience as raising a child with a mental health condition? What would you want them to know? Jill: I would say number one, trust your instincts. If you see something maybe that is out of character for your child, maybe something that differs from what they have "typically", how they've been acting. I guess just picking up on those little cues. I look back over the journey with my son it's been three years. Three years and three years now has gone by and I look back at some of the things and say. "Wow, I wish I would have been-- went with my gut more than I did". Does that make sense? Tammy: It does. Now with your son, was there a clear before-and-after of an onset of symptoms, did it sort of come on at a certain point in his life or did you always see it his whole life, or? Jill: No. We did not see it early on in life at all. There was no signs or symptoms at all. Probably started seeing it at the age of 15, his hormones were really coming on. When we first started seeing signs like I said looking back impulsive behaviors and things that typically hadn't been characteristic of my son, but because some of it we kind of blamed on, "Oh, he's a teenager. Oh, he's sowing his oats, he's doing this", but then he would be fine for a while. Then well, we'd have another as well, I say now an episode of just uncharacteristically behaviors. I should have went with my gut more than I did but I did try to get some he...
Jill discusses caring for her son whose bipolar disorder surfaced during the teen years. She describes the lack of resources in rural Iowa, the criminalization of mental illness and how that affected her family. She explains how this journey as a mother makes you learn who you are as a person and how strong you can be. Transcription [music] Female Voice: Welcome to the Just Ask Mom podcast where mothers share their experiences of raising children with mental illness. Just Ask Mom is a Mothers On The Frontline production. Today we will listen to Jill, a mother from Iowa, share her story about raising a son with bipolar disorder. Tammy: Thank you for doing this. We really appreciate you being here. Jill: Absolutely. Tammy: Before we get into a lot of the content could you tell us a little bit about yourself before or outside of mothering, who are you? What are your passions? What are you interested in? Jill: It's a great question. Well, first of all, I think I've known since I was five years old, probably or even before that I wanted to be a teacher. My grandmother was a teacher, my aunt was a teacher. I would have to say that was my focus through high school. I went to college, I'm a teacher and I'm very passionate about it, very passionate about early childhood education. I currently decided to personally take a step back and decided to work on my Master's degree. Tammy: Wonderful. Jill: Yeah, between doing that and teaching full-time and having two children, let's say two teenagers at home. [laughs] Tammy: You're busy. Jill: It's busy. When I have a free second to breath and if I'm not writing the research paper or discussion thread I am spending time with my family and friends. That's very important to me. I like to exercise, I love to be outside in the summer in my flower garden. That's kind of me by myself. Tammy: So you knew early on what you wanted to do? Jill: I did and I think that doesn't happen a lot. Tammy: No. Jill: I I think a lot of children these days are just full of pressure. "I don't know what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do", and I just tell my boys I hope it's just a lucky one. So, 20-some years I've been in it and I don't ever see myself do anything else. Tammy: Oh, that's wonderful. You love it, that's great. Jill: I do, yes. Tammy: It's a gift when your passion can become your work. Jill: Yes, absolutely. Tammy: Absolutely. I want you to pretend that you're talking to other parents. What do you want them to know about your experience as raising a child with a mental health condition? What would you want them to know? Jill: I would say number one, trust your instincts. If you see something maybe that is out of character for your child, maybe something that differs from what they have "typically", how they've been acting. I guess just picking up on those little cues. I look back over the journey with my son it's been three years. Three years and three years now has gone by and I look back at some of the things and say. "Wow, I wish I would have been-- went with my gut more than I did". Does that make sense? Tammy: It does. Now with your son, was there a clear before-and-after of an onset of symptoms, did it sort of come on at a certain point in his life or did you always see it his whole life, or? Jill: No. We did not see it early on in life at all. There was no signs or symptoms at all. Probably started seeing it at the age of 15, his hormones were really coming on. When we first started seeing signs like I said looking back impulsive behaviors and things that typically hadn't been characteristic of my son, but because some of it we kind of blamed on, "Oh, he's a teenager. Oh, he's sowing his oats, he's doing this", but then he would be fine for a while. Then well, we'd have another as well, I say now an episode of just uncharacteristically behaviors. I should have went with my gut more than I did but I did try to get some he...
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What’s In This Episode: How do you engage your team? When your team is engaged, they're getting a psychic benefit from the work. They're into it! But even when you have the most engaged team, in the summer months, it can be tough. In this episode, Jill and Brad discuss how to keep your team engaged when they want to be outside. "I'm looking forward to being the old guy sitting in the coffee shop." - Brad Brad tries to solve his personal engagement problem by taking more Fridays off in the summer so he can enjoy long weekends. Doing so allows him to be more engaged at work and then at home with his family. Jill points out that the more time she takes off (whether it's three or four days), the more she dreads Monday. And there are some days she just wants to sit and chill out. So how can they convince employees to stay engaged when they understand being checked out themselves? "I don't want to take the joy of summer or breaks away from them." - Jill It might be a good idea to check in on your employees, not nannying them constantly, but to make sure that everyone is still on track. Maybe the expectations should be lowered in the summer, but does that mean you make less income because of it? And how do you get back into the swing of things? How do you stay engaged? How do you keep your team engaged?
When to Put a Mobile on Your Land (LI 697) Transcript: Steven: Steve and Jill here. Jill: Hi there. Steven: Welcome to the Land Investor's Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala. Jill: And, I am Jill Kristine DeWit, podcasting from sunny Southern California. Had to throw in there. Steven: With the K. Jill: With the K. Steven: Like the killer car. Today Jill and I talk about when to put a mobile home on your land and when not to. Jill: I know you're going to have some good ideas about this. Steven: I have multiple stories, multiple beautiful stories with happy Hollywood endings about mobile homes on land. Jill: I bet 99.9 to 100 percent of the time, it's never a bad thing. It's just, depending on your budget, your market, and all that kind of stuff. Steven: Here's a preview: imagine you're looking through the internet on Land Pin or wherever you look at land to buy it, and you flip through ten properties in XYZ county, and then, there's one with a mobile home on it. That's number eleven property that you look at, and it's priced just like all the others, I don't care if the mobile home's half burned-out. Are you going to click on that and look at it, and say, "You know what?" Jill: It's going to get my attention. Steven: "Somebody must live in there." Jill: They figured it out. Steven: "Somebody had a 'Little House on the Prairie' moment." It's not hard to make that jump. Jill: Exactly. Steven: Before we get into that, though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community; it's free. Jill: Okay. Mike asks, "I just want to see how others were checking on HOA, Home Owner's Association, status on their land deals. Basically, how do you check to see if there is an HOA?" You know, it's funny, I saw this question the other day, and I weighed in on it. Steven: Oh, good. They can answer it on the air, then. Jill: I actually put a note in there, because I was like, "Hey, good for you for thinking of it and checking it ahead of time because usually, what happens is, you learn about these after you good one up." After, you realize, "Oh no, I just bought and sold a property that had an HOA on it and it had $800 in back fees." That's usually how it goes, unfortunately. And, you go, "Well, I will always check that." So, sometimes, it's a little tricky because it's not on the deed; it doesn't smack you in the face. So, first thing that everybody was actually weighing in on in the forum in our online community was, ask the seller. Yes, first, that's your first thing. Number two, I would do some checking, and usually, if it has a subdivision name, that's going to be a first clue. It's not always correct; there's some subdivisions that do have and some that don't. And, some properties, you can't tell. But, if it's, like, in Glenn Oaks Ranches, there's a pretty good indication- Steven: That's subdivided property. Jill: Right. That there could be an HOA and you need to dig a little further. And, you could put in the name of that and do some internet searching, and nine times out of ten, you will find it. Steven: That was my suggestion. Jill: And then, the third one is, ask the county. Steven: Yeah. That's what I do. Jill: Because, they communicate back and forth because,
How Jack Jill use their Calendar to Succeed (CFFL 582) Transcript: Jack: Jack Jill here. Jill: Hey. Jack: Welcome to the show today. In this episode Jill and I talk about how each of us, how Jack Jill use our calendar to succeed buying and selling real estate. Before we get into it, though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: We were Jack and Jill, and now we're Jack Jill. Is this just one word? You just kind of [inaudible 00:00:33]. Jack: Hey, you want to know why it says Jack Jill? Jill: Yeah, why? I was sitting here going, "Hmm." I picked up on it at first and I'm like, "He, did it again." Jack: Because SEO- Jill: Where is Jack Jill? Jack: ... doesn't like the word and. Here's another reason, we are JackJill.com. We are not JackandJill.com. Jill: We should just say, "JackJill.com. Hi, my name is JackJill.com." I'm just kidding. I got it. I was just teasing you, so thank you. All right, Jason asks, "In my most recent marketing campaign I found a landowner who asked me if I could help him finance a land sale to his neighbor. The land owner says that he is too old to do the owner finance, but the buyer's haven't been able to find a bank loan for a subdivided section of his land." Interesting. This is very interesting. "It seems to me that if someone who invested in a promissory note might be interested in that business, but I don't know how to find such an investor. Do you have any advice on what to tell the seller?" Jack: Yeah, there's a website called LoanMLS, L-O-A-N-M-L-S. They have no affiliation with us in any way, but in my spare time I love perusing it because there's a bunch of notes for sale in there. We don't talk about it a lot, but note investing is a fantastic real estate vehicle. You can [crosstalk 00:01:55]. Jill: Yeah, I kind of like that. Jack: Jill and I have personal friends who have made hundreds of millions of dollars buying dramatically reduced loans from banks and financial institutions. You don't buy the property, you buy the mortgage that's underlying it. Think of a house that's got a mortgage on it. It's a 30 year mortgage. They're 15 years into it, and then for whatever reason, the owner's still in the house, the guy who had the mortgage is still in the house, same person, and they stop paying. For whatever reason the bank says, "Hey, this mortgage is for sale. I'll sell it. What's left on the mortgage is $25,000. The house is probably worth 200. I'll let you have the mortgage for 10 grand, what do you say? See if you can get this guy to start paying again." Now you're buying a 200,000 house for 10,000 or you're buying the note associated with it. By the way, you can foreclose on that if you want, depending on the local rules. This whole business of loans and buying the notes and stuff is really a good idea. I've done it several times. We don't do it right now because this other stuff we have is so incredibly profitable. Every once in a while, to the direct point here, Jason, someone calls us and says, "Jack, will you go buy this piece of land for me? Will you pay cash for it? It's $25,000. Sell it to me for $25,000, and I'll pay you over time." That's what's going on here. My answer is no. Not because it's not a great- Jill: It's not our business model right now. Jack: That's it, Jill. Jill: That's it. Jack: You nailed it. Jill: Yeah, it's not crazy. This is not crazy, and I give kudos to the guy for thinking of this and saying, "Since you're calling me maybe you'll do this."
Self Confident Offer Campaign Pricing (CFFL 564) Transcript: Jack: Jack and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to the show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about a subject near and dear to my heart: self-confident offer campaign pricing. It will make or break your real estate career. Oh, that sounds heavy Jack. Jill: It does sound heavy. Jack: Oh no. Jill: I know. Jack: It's actually a really positive thing. Jill: Right. Jack: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free and fun. Jill: Free and fun. Yes, making money is fun. That's true. Matt asks- Jack: What's more fun that making money? Jill: Not much. I agree. Jack: And doing it on your own terms and stuff. Jill: Yeah, if you don't get a kick out of watching your bank balance go up, there's something goofy there. Jack: Yeah . Jill: Alright, hey guys. I did a few searches on the forums and couldn't find anything specific about the topic of how to build a buyers list. Jack: What? Jill: I know. I've heard mention of manually pulling emails of LandWatch users, those are the signature people, in your areas and asking if they'd be interested in being buyers. I personally don't ask by the way, I just kind of put them in- Jack: I send a deal to them. Jill: Thank you, there you go. I just kind of assume it. I've heard mentions ... There's one of the answers right there. I've heard mention of people systemizing the process of scraping those emails. Yeah. It looks like it may be a good idea to keep one property up on eBay at all times. This is not crazy, too. And adding those people to the buyers list. Jack: Isn't it great where these ... Matt you are so smart. You're answering your own questions. Jill: You're answering your own questions. Jack: I love it. Jill: I know. It looks like managing your buyers list through Aweber is currently the best option. Again, right on. I wasn't able to find any definitive this is the best way to do it, other than the thing that you just wrote, or do these three things every week. Jack: That's it. Jill: I'm sure I'm not the only one who would benefit from this thread. Hopefully the group is getting some good actionable items from this thread. So my question to everyone is, if you were to build a buyers list from scratch today, how would you do it and how would you structure emails to your buyers list? Jack: First thing I want you to do, Matt, is go into our YouTube channel and type in how to build a buyers list. I have a couple videos on there, and they are very short and very effective, on how to pull email contact information out of LandWatch, number one. That will get you a lot of world class investors, land buying investors. Number two ... And everything you said is correct, by the way. I want you to memorize this concept, alright. Stop what you're doing and please listen. People who buy real estate, the vast majority of the people who buy real estate, already own real estate in the area where the property is. If you've got a 40 acre property in Mojave, Arizona, and you send a little note to everybody that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 mile radius around there that says something like, I notice that you have real estate near my property that I just bought,
Top 3 Places Investors Get Stuck (CFFL 562) Transcript: Jack: Jack and Jill here. Jill: Hello. Jack: Welcome to the show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about the top three places real estate investors get stuck, those bottlenecks. And they're different for everybody. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Andy asks, "I love the idea of sell before you buy. I've used Craigslist for vague ads to see how much interest there is before I buy a piece of land." Jack: Awesome. Jill: "When you get replies to the ad, how much information do you divulge? I do not want to give out the APN or address, but what if someone wants to drive out to look? Can you give them directions to land you do not own?" Jack: Sure. What I'd do is say, "Thanks for calling, but the property's sold. We sold it, but tell me, why ... I buy property in this area all the time. Why don't you give me your information? I'll make sure you're on a list because I constantly get properties in that area." Jill: Yeah. Jack: I used to do this before the internet. I used to do it in the classified ads. Jill: Yeah. Did you do it with ... Jack: Yeah. Jill: ... properties and stuff too? Jack: The rental property. Jill: Yeah, that's right. Jack: That's how I learned. Jill: How this works. Jack: I actually came up with this myself. I would put a fake classified ad for a rental house, and just see how many calls I would get. Off the Sunday paper, one ad. Remember that? Jill: Yeah. And then you're like "Well this is a good area." Jack: The first one I did, and I never did it again after that for rental houses. I got 140 calls. Jill: What does that tell you? Well I'm just going to say ... Jack: Massive lack of rental property in that area. Jill: Well here's the thing too, Andy. You'll know pretty darn quick if you have six voicemails on the first day, like well I guess I need to go buy that, and see how many more I can find. Jack: Exactly. Jill: So even if you don't get back to them or call them back, you'll know, but be, Jack said he's great. Get their information cause you know they're interested, so there's your buyers list. Jack: And then you can say, as far as giving them directions and stuff, you never want to mislead. You want that customer to be a customer for life, so you want to say, "No, I don't have prop ... property's sold." Here's the general area. Stop in the grocery store that's over there or whatever. Get that person to say, "Hey what's it like?" The person who's behind the counter. Jill does this all the time. She'll call local business right off of Google Earth, and ask them about, before we buy property. Just be a social butterfly about the whole thing. Jill: It's so funny, I know. Could you step outside and look across the street? Seriously. Jack: I know. Jill: I have done that. Jack: I know you have. Jill: They're like this is the weirdest thing on the planet, but okay. I would do that. Jack: And then they just fall in love with her like everyone. Jill: It's so funny. I have no fear. Jack: I know you don't.
How to Become the Batman of Investing (CFFL 560) Transcript: Jack: Jack and Jill here. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to the show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how to become the Batman of investing, how to be a superhero at this, not just regular. Jill: Love this. Wonder why we picked Batman. Jack: I love Batman. Jill: I know. Jack: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. [sham got 00:00:24] asks, "On my first two mailers, I had several people wonder if me and the offer were legit because of my address. It's in an area that I don't live and doesn't match the phone number either. Since I have a virtual PO box, some people found other people's businesses associated with it and said I must be a fake person. Others didn't understand why I have a different address than where I live. Obviously, a small percent of people, but enough to where I probably lost a deal or two. "There isn't a PO box that's super close to me, so if I got a local box, I'd likely hire an assistant to get my mail, which turns $10 a month expense into a $200 or more a month expense, which seems silly. I wonder if there's another way to do it that I'm not thinking about. Curious what others are doing and if you've run into any similar issues. "For the phone, I'm using Grasshopper now. It's fine, but with how much mail I'll be sending out, the number will be a five figure asset pretty quickly, so I want to be sure I have as much control over the number as possible. Is it better to go direct to the phone company, or what's the best way to be sure I'll never use the number?" I love that [sham got's 00:01:39] thinking about these admin- Jack: This is a very, very good question. Jill: It's admin/setting up the right way/being transparent and making sure people know who I am and stuff. Jack: This begs to a bigger question, in my opinion. It's not just a real estate question, it's about setting up an online business. The first thing that anybody does when they receive an offer is they look you up. They check you out. The more positive online presence that you have, the better. They are going to look. If two people are giving you feedback on this, you can multiply that times probably 50 or 100 that have actually looked it up and it never got back to you. This is a huge issue that needs to be addressed before you spend time and money on a mailer campaign. To directly answer your question, there's lots of places that you can find a virtual mailbox and they're going to look up your address. They're going to type it right into Google. First they're going to type your name, then your address. They're going to maybe even Google your phone number. You need to find an address that's not a house. How many times have you looked up a business for credibility and it's somebody's house? There's a picture on Google Maps. Jill: I don't like that. Exactly. That's funny. Jack: I stop right there. Jill: Yeah. Jack: I won't do business with somebody like that. Jill: I don't like it. Jack: You need a real address. Jill: [inaudible 00:03:22]Hold on, I think [sham 00:03:01] was going down the right path. I'm not sure I'm on the same page with you, Jack. You know what? Jack: Imagine that. Jill: I know. Full disclosure, where our mail gets sent, other people send their mail. You know what, though? People look us up but they look at our website and they see us a...
How to Overcome Bad Situations (CFFL 553) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill Dewitt. Jill: Hey there. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how to overcome bad situations. I'm looking forward to this, for a lot of reasons. Jill: I can't wait to hear why. Jack: I'm looking forward to it, because I'm like a hot head from Detroit, and so I can make a bad situation out of anything good. Jill: Yes you can. And I can't make a good situation out of anything bad. Jack: I know, I know Darma. Let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: It's really good. Kristen P. asked, "Hi I looking for some advice on what to do in this situation. I sent out a mailer in the beginning of August to a few counties in Texas, and with my luck Hurricane Harvey hit those areas dead on. So I'm not sure what the best route is. I know the area will be restored within time; however, I am worried about buying these properties, and having an issue selling them due to others being concerned about the damage in the area and what not. What would you do in my situation? Thank you. Kristen." Jack: This has come up a lot recently, 'cause there's a lot of hurricanes. It's hurricane season. And Jill and I actually agree on this, it's the one thing we agree one. Jill: Yep. Jack: As Ripley said in the movie Alien, "Nuke it for morbid." I would not even answer the phone. I don't believe in taking people when they're down like this, and when people are looking for their photo albums, and stuff in a flood. You don't want to be talking about a real estate deal. Jill: Right. Jack: And you don't want to take advantage of people ever. Ever, ever, ever, so that's what ... I would send a mailer out to Utah or something. Jill: Well what about this idea, Jack. Now that you are talking about it. I mean 'cause, so yeah A, we totally agree, which is, don't try to take advantage of people now in this situation. Got it? Jack: And you're 100 percent correct Kristen P. you're right, alright? But what it looks like to the rest of the world is that, you're trying to screw somebody. So, and we know you're not. You sent it out before the hurricane- Jill: Well hold on a moment- Jack: There's no way you can explain your way out of that. Jill: Well hold on a moment. Here's my thoughts. Let me run this by you Jack. Here's what I think, so she sent out these mailers. Let's think, in August, so they got it in August, and they've been thinking about it, and now they're gonna call her back saying, "Do you still want it? It's under two feet of water." Let's talk about that for a second. 'Cause that really maybe what's going on. She's made an offer, and she still wants the property. Does she say, "Now, I know I offered you a 1,000$ for that property. I don't want it anymore, 'cause now I know it's under two feet of water. I'm sorry, I can't help you." What about that scenario? Jack: I mean you know what, this is kind of like how to overcome bad situations. It's kinda like the show. There's a lot of ways you can go here. I mean, you could pick up the phone, and if the person says exactly what you just said, "Do you still want it?" I guess I personally, as much as I hate talking on the phone, and hate talking to people and stuff ... I think that you might want to just have a nice fireside chat with 'em, and say, "How are you doin'? Is everything cool?" And I don't know ...
When To Stop Selling (CFFL 539) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit! Jill: Hey there! Jack: Welcome to the show today! In this episode, as promised, Jill and I talk about when to stop selling. When is it just too much, jeez, stop with the shameless plugs of your websites. Jill: Bank account's too big ... Jack: Every other sentence is Land Investors this, Land Academy that. Before we get into it, though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community, it's great. Jill: Merritt asks, "Hi all. I'm wondering if folks have any experience with doing deals with attorneys. I know that I've heard warnings in the podcast from Jack and Jill that attorneys have a tendency to kill deals, but I'm not sure that applies to when they actually accept an offer you've mailed them. Jack: Man I have a lot to say about this already. Jill: This is good. Jack: Right? Jill: I got an accepted offer back in the mail that looked like a great deal. Reviewed it with Pappy Jack, thumbs up Pappy Jack, that's you. Strangely, after multiple attempts to get in touch with the seller via phone, no dice. Jack: Oh darn. Jill: Finally decide to email the guy and got a quick response. Jack: Oh good! Jill: He wants to do the deal but his deceased mom is on the title. I called the county and found out the necessary steps, removed him off the title- Jack: Good for you Merritt. Jill: And emailed him back the information, and the forms for him to file, et cetera. It should take him about thirty minutes of his time and cost $25. I said I would reimburse him. After I sent the email back to him, I notice that on his email, he was a D.A. Jack: District Attorney. Jill: It's hilarious. Looking him up and found out he's in fact the D.A. of the state's capital county. Awesome, this is so funny. Knowing this makes me want to take this deal down even more to show that I conquered the Genghis Khan of the state with an Excel spreadsheet and a $5,000 cashiers check. Jack: Oh, Merritt. We gotta have you on the show. You're hilarious. Jill: Is this cavalier and/or naïve on my part? Jack: No, it's great. Jill: I really can't run away, since I signed the Purchase Agreement with the D.A. Is this a mistake at a hundred miles an hour, Jack? Jack: Nope. Jill: Thanks for your thoughts. Jack: No, so let me clear this up. I don't dislike doing deals with attorneys. I just think that some of them can get a little overzealous and look for things to kill a deal. And by the way, just so we're all clear, full disclosure. Lawyers get paid the more they talk and do stuff. So if they can stretch a deal out for a couple more weeks, or a couple more months, or a couple more years, they get paid more. They can bill more. The more problems they find and that they have to solve, the more they get paid. Do all of them do that? No. In fact, one of my best friends is a lawyer in Scottsdale. I've known him forever. His name is Kent Lang, he's a construction real estate attorney- Jill: Sales plug. Jack: Yeah, well I hope it's [crosstalk 00:02:54] more business out of it. I have never dealt with an attorney who is more straightforward, honest and tries to get stuff done quickly. In fact, I tell Joe, Kent wrecked it for us.
Flirt To Convert II (CFFL 538) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hey there. Jack: Welcome to the show today. In this episode Jill and I talk about Flirting to Convert. Two. Jill: Two. Where the- Jack: A lot of years ago we did a show called Flirt to Convert. It was really popular because, I think- Jill: It's just funny Jack: they want to hear Jill's take on flirting- Jill: Thanks Jack: to convert, let's just say. Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on LandInvestors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Noam asked, "Hi Everyone. What templates do you chose to work with in order to complete a sale on terms, and where do you get them? For terms deals, I know I need a land contract, promissory note and purchase agreement (is this accurate?) I was going to use Rocket Lawyer or a similar website. Do you recommend going the Rocket Lawyer way? Do you mind sharing your own docs? Do I need to notarize my signature on any of these docs, or only does the buyer? Thank you." Jack: All good questions. Jill: All good questions. Jack: So, the program, the educational program that Jill and I provide on how to flip land which is on LandAcademy.com provides a library of contracts and agreements. They're examples. Jill: So you have all ours right there. Jack: Do you want to use those verbatim? No. You want to put your own twist on it, and make sure that the specific situation is reflected in there. Jill: Right, but the meat's there. Jack: Do you want to use Rocket Lawyer? Yeah, I've heard all kinds of good stuff. I've never pulled agreements down from there, but I'll tell yeah, you're doing the right thing here, asking this question on LandInvestors.com because everybody is- I mean there's people all over our group, hundreds of people that do agreements all the time so, someone's going to have a real good, up-to-date answer. We've been using the same agreements for quite some time, and it works for us. So, you're in the right hands, let's say. Jill: Exactly. Jack: If you have a question, or you want to be on the show, reach out to either one of us on LandInvestors.com. Today's topic, Flirt to Convert, at number two. This is the meat of the show. Jill, I know you have a tremendous amount of experience in sales, even right up to the last 20 seconds. Jill: What the heck? Jack: Me and the kids joke about it. If she's talking, she's selling us something. I don't even know I'm being sold something. Jill: Oh boy. Jack: She's selling me on putting her paja- Jill: We don't have a thing on you. I need to come up with one about you. Jack: She's selling me on putting my pajamas on. Jill: That's hilarious. Jack: She's selling me on what to eat for lunch today. Jill: No. Jack: When they were little. It's a compliment. Jill: No. Thank you. That's just called good parenting. And picking your battles. Jack: That's a good point. When is it sales, and when is it too sales-y, like used car salesmen, or when is it like- Jill: That's a good one. Jack: Or when is it healthy, helpful? Jill: Can I talk now?
Our New JackJill Show - You Tell Us What You Want (CFFL 534) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill Dewitt. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show today, in this episode, Jill and I talk about our new Jack Jill show. This is all about ... Jill: What's coming. Jack: What's coming, and what you think the show should be about. Before we get into it, let's take a question, posted by one of our members on the land investors dot com. Online community. It's free. Jill: Okay, Allen asks, "is anyone else having problems posting property on land pin?" This is funny. Oops! How'd this get in there? Wow, all right. This is good. I fill out the new listing info and when I click the save button, the website grays out and just says "saving". This is hilarious. I have tried to list this one property four times now and the same thing keeps happening. All right, so we just got a tech support question that made it into our show. So, I'm ... Jack: I'm gonna answer it. Jill: All right, tech support Jack. Go for it. Jack: It has to do with how you signed up. And so there's no way you could know this. It happens to like, three people of the ... I think that site has a thousands of people so ... Jill: That's hilarious. Jack: Please email Erin at land academy dot com if you're having issues. She's the manager of that whole line of business and she'll get you straightened out real quick. In fact, chances are Allen, you're way past. By the time this airs, you know, you'll be all set. Jill: It's fixed, that's hilarious. Jack: This does bring up a good point though. Jill: I think this is really funny, I feel like somebody wanted to get this ... someone's like frustrated and put this in there on purpose. Jack: This does bring up a great point, so, and the point is ... Jill and I, we start these lines of businesses like land pan, parcel fact, land crowd fund, land tank, and on and on and on, there's a bunch of them. And, we put a manager at the top of it and that person runs that line like it's their own business. With their own plans, and Jill and I just kind of help out. So, all kidding aside, this kind of just snuck in here and I'm glad it did. Jill: I think it's hilarious. Jack: It gave us an opportunity today ... Jill: To see what's going on in our business. Jack: It gave us an opportunity to talk about our business structure and stuff. And we modeled this whole ... built a moat around it. Jill, as Jill calls it, "built a moat around these lines". They're separate companies; after Berkshire Hathaway. That's what they do. He doesn't go to ... You don't go visit the company every day that you own. Especially if you own 50 of them; In fact you probably don't ever go. Jill: You can't, it's not possible. Jack: Warren Buffet doesn't sit around and talk about Sees Candy. Jill: It's even ... Just within your business, you don't spend ... You're not sitting with the accounting people one hour every day, and then the billing people an hour every day, and the customer service people an hour every day. You have to put them in place with the right tools and the right resources and trust them and let them go. Jack: And the right manager. Jill: Yeah. Jack: You have to put the right manager in, and hold that manger accountable. Jill: Yep. Jack: So there's clearly,
How To Call An Interested Seller (CFFL 524) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hey there! Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how to call an interested seller back. Man, this is so important, and I'm looking forward to it, because I want to hear from the expert, Jill. Jill: Thank you very much. Jack: Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community, it's free. Jill: OK, this is a little bit lengthy one, so I'm gonna preface that. So, new member here, in our group, Shammgod. This is [inaudible 00:00:32], shares. "Agreed on my first deal today. I figure I'd post it here, just to write out my thought process and so that if I'm missing anything, someone will hopefully correct me. Details: Seller and his father are both on the deed. He sent me a copy. I couldn't locate it exactly on the map, but agreed on a price way below anything on the market." Jack: Red flag. Jill: "I talked to the recorder and they verified things, and talked to the treasurer and the taxes are good." Jack: This is good. Jill: "Next steps: getting them a contract. I'm planning on sending them a small deposit because I don't think it's valid without one." Jack: Not necessary. Jill: I would just say weird. "This is a small deal so I'm planning on doing title myself." Jack: Awesome. Jill: "I think that I need to get notaries for both the father and son because they live in different states." Jack: Yes. This is boring. Jill: It's distracting. Jack: It's distracting, am I stealing your thunder? Jill: Just a tad. Jack: It's sad? Jill: Just a tad. No, you are, like every time I take a breath. Jack: Are you sad today? Jill: It's like darn don't pause, Jack's gonna throw something in there. Jack: Jack you're sad. Jill: I'm not sad. Jack: Jack, you're a sad little real estate investor. Jill: I'm just trying to share a story. Can I just share a story? Alright, where was I? Jack: "My biggest question..." Jill: Oh shoot, no I'm sorry wait, I totally, as we say that I just lost my place. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Jack: "My biggest question..." Jill: OK, "my biggest" ... do you want to finish this? Jack: "My biggest question around title or having the notary hand them the cheque is-" Jill: Too bad. [inaudible 00:02:19] I want to be Jack, this is good. Jack: "My biggest question around title or having the notary hand them the cheque is, what if I mess something up on the deed and I find out afterward it wasn't done correctly?" Jill: Boo hoo. Jack: "The seller would have already had the money." Jill: Uh-oh. Jack: Oh my god, sound effects Jill. Jill: Well this is what it's like. Jack: "I feel like there's probably a step here where I should make sure this doesn't happen if we're using a title company. That's a ... you know ... but I'm not sure what it is." Jill: Alright, I'm taking back over. "What's the play there?
How to Implement Infill Lot Offer Campaigns (CFFL 492) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Good day. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how to implement infill lot offer campaigns. This is, if you can't tell- Jill: It's really specific, I like it. Jack: One of my topics, not Jill's. Before we get into it though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on landinvestors.com online community, it's free. Jill: What's that supposed to mean? I wouldn't come up with something like this on my own? Jack: If it sounds like we're going to talk about something Tony Robinson talked about, I didn't come up with it. Jill: If it sounds like really- Jack: If it sounds like something Bill Gates would talk about, I probably came up with it. Jill: Okay. Fine. All right. Before we get into the HTML discussion about ... Just kidding. Okay. All right. Daniel asked, "I have tried to get a hold of the index maps from a few counties and have come up empty handed. Can anyone shed some more light on who is the best person at the County office to talk to in order to obtain these maps, or any additional information that may be helpful? Thanks." Jack: Excellent question Daniel. In fact it's topical, it's perfect to the topic today. So a lot of ... New people in counties don't understand, very frequently, what an index map is. And what an index map is, quite simply, is this. If you picture a map of a county there are certain areas ... When it got all subdivided, there are certain areas where the APN that starts with, let's say, 100 might be in the north east corner. The APN that starts with 200 might be in the south east corner. And it gets mapped out, it's a map that literally indexes the APN scheme based on the numbers. So, depending on where you are in the country, they don't call it an index map, they call it an APN map or a bunch of other stuff. Out west here they do call it index maps, which is why ... That's what we call it. But, let's say that you've talked to 19 people at the county and no one has any idea what you're talking about, here's what you do. This is really the show. This is the show. Jill: It's actually funny 'cause it's like ... You know what ... I gotta pause and interject here 'cause, you think you're ... I mean, let's be honest, they're real people. They may not have been there for a long time, they may be filling in for somebody, they may be brand new. They may just have not- Jack: They may be dizzy eating cake. Jill: They may just be in their own little world and all they do is stamp things 'cause that's all they do, and pass them to the next person. So, it's funny, you call the County and you think you're getting a wealth of information, like a formally trained librarian- Jack: Like a library, yeah. Jill: Exactly. It's not like the librarian. Sometimes you will find yourself educating the County person who answers the phone. Jack: You're interrupting them. Jill: Like this. Jack: You're interrupting their cake eating experience. Jill: Jack, would you stop that. It's not nice. 'Cause of one person. But, no it's not just one, but anyway. So, Jack. Jack: So, what do you do when no one knows what an index map is at the place where you're paying your taxes to pay their salary. Jill: Oh my gosh, here we go again. Boy. Jack: If you don't know what Redfin is,
Number One Reason People Fail (CFFL 450) Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Good Day. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about the number one reason people fail. Jill: Okay, I have to say something. So ... Jack: We're not even into it yet! Jill: No, no, no ... I just have to say something about this real quick because my assistant was going, "what is the number one reason?" I'm like, where are you reading that? What are you talking about? She goes, no it's a show you have coming up. I'm like ... Oh, that's a really good question. I think I know what he's gonna say, but I don't know what he's gonna say. So I think ... I told her I'll let you know. Jack: Because God forbid she listens to the show. Jill: No I know. They usually don't listen to our show. That's what's so funny. Everybody that works here does not listen to our show. Jack: Everybody who works with us has no interest in real estate. Jill: I know. Jack: And doesn't listen to our show. Jill: Well she does interest in real estate. Jack: It's just funny. Jill: I know. Jack: I don't know why. Jill: It's hilarious. Okay. So, I think I'm going to quietly ... You know like you're writing when you cover your hand I'm gonna write what I think it's about and I want you to tell me what you think it's about. Jack: Before we get into it even though Jill just did. Let's take a question posted by one of our members on landinvenstors.com online community. It's free. Jill: Okay. Claire asks, "Is there any special way to frame offers to owners of multiple parcels in the same subdivision?" Jack: Claire I am so proud of you. You are one of our original members and you're just killin it. And this is yet another incredibly intelligent question from you. Yes, this is what we do. It gets complicated, but I will tell you for the more sophisticated database people out there that are in our group or not in our group doesn't matter this is how you do it ... In a whole subdivision we'll use a thousand property example. There's a thousand properties in a subdivision and let's say two people own, you know, a ton of them. Which this is a real life example. It happens all the time. Usually the people who own a ton of them are like Jill and I. So you don't want to waste fifty cents on sending duplicate offers at all. You never want to do that. So you run through the mail merge or you call somebody at offerstoowners.com, which is one of our companies. They'll do it for you. You run a mail merge that says ... With all the single property owners, right, and now you're done with that and you get the offers in the mail. And now what you have in the tech world or the database world is an exception. You deal with these exceptions at the end. And so if there's those two people that own a ton of properties ... If you're brand new or if you're new to data, you can manually just copy and paste them in or you can run a duplicate data base filter which creates a separate type of offer and now you're only spending fifty cents to send an offer and it adds it all up for you. Fifty properties, or eighty properties, or a hundred properties. So, Claire reach out to me. I'll help ya. We have a little custom application that we wrote a lot of years ago that we run the data through and it separates the two. It's on my list to share with everyone. Jill: I love it. This is so good. This is a really great example of how quickly you can go from flipping your first deal to this stuff.
Everybody Loves Cheap Real Estate (CFFL 432) Transcript: Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode Jill and I talk about how everybody loves cheap real estate. Is there anything better? Jill: Who knew? Jack: There's a couple of things, might be better but- Jill: I don't know. Jack: Cheap real estate ranks in the top 3 or 4 for sure. Hey, before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the land ... landinvestors.com online community. It's free, we just changed it. Jill: Yep! It's coming. Patrick and Jessica asked, "Hi, as we mentioned before, we're receiving many signed offers, with deed, that have multiple properties on them- Jack: Sorry, guys this works- Jill: And we only want to purchase one. The county is saying that the owner needs to put them on their own deed. Does anyone know if we can have our property ... have the property owner record a quick claim deed with him/herself as grantor and grantee for each property. We could prepare this quick claim deed for them and then send a notary, maybe even with the new deed, that passes it to us. Then we could send all into in the county ans ask them to record the quick claim deed first. Thoughts? When acquired a title agent to help, they just want to close the whole deal and won't do this little part. These are within our first ten deals however, we are seeing many of the them and we would like to be able to know how to do this. Thanks in advance." We've done this before too, so- Jack: Thank you for answering this- Jill: You're welcome. Typically, you don't need a quick claim deed. Jack: No. Jill: I know that we all want to really trust and believe that the county is always a 100% right, where whoever answers the phone, they may not be ... they may not have been there that long and ... won't even really go there. Here's how you solve this. Cause Jack and I do it all the time. I will buy properties from one person or one entity, like maybe I'm buying twenty five at one time, but not I'm going try and sell twenty five. Then I'm not going to have it recorded twenty five times, 'cause Jack and I've bought properties- Jack: By the thousands- Jill: Thousands-[crosstalk 00:02:02] Jack: Thousands of properties in one day- Jill: One thousand recorded deeds times 25 dollars is a lot of money. We're not doing that. To record each one individually. So, no. But when I turn and sell it, I'm only selling one out of that group, which is correct, so they don't need to do anything, you just need to do one deed showing that one line item, that one property with the proper legal description, it's the one that's being now sold to you. And transferred to you. Jack: Here's where the confusion happens ... we get this question a lot. When you go register a car with a title, you can't put two cars on one title, right? Well, you can with real estate. You can put 300 properties, a thousand properties, two properties on one single deed. And then, sell them with- Jill: Separately- Jack: Individual deed. It's a new typical question and it's a good one- Jill: It's a very good question- Jack: I think we answered it. Jill: That was awesome. Jack: If you have a question, or you'd like to be on the show, reach out to either one of us on landinvestors.com. Today's topic ... this is the meat of the show, by the way.
Don't Take Our Word for it, Check Your Sources Jack Butala: Don't Take Our Word for it, Check Your Sources. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show today, this Tuesday. IN this episode, Jill and I talk about: Hey, don't take our word for it, check it out, do the research. Check your resources, check our ... Just do some research, and check it out on everything we say. But hey, before we really get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on TheLandAcadamey.com online community. It has several names, which we'll cover in a second, and it's always free though. Jill: Kierriah asked, "What do I do when a perspective buyer tells me there may be a POA, kind of like an HOA, a home owner's ... Jack: Property Owner's Association. Jill: Yep. Jack: That's a right way to say it, we always say HOA. But when we say, sorry go ahead. Jill: That's okay. No that wasn't interrupting at all. Jack: Go ahead, sorry. Jill: All good. "What do I do when a perspective buyer tells me there may be a POA, property owner's association fee, for the neighborhood? I haven't received anything in the way of a bill since receiving the deed." Not surprising, may take a little while. "So I have no idea if my property has a POA fee. This buyer wants to own her finance, so I may need to pay this fee for the next 3 years. Should I try to find out since he's making payments? Do I just wait to see if a bill comes from the POA? Jack: These are all great questions and I'm so glad this came up. The first thing you want to do when buying a piece of property, as part of the due diligence, whether or not to actually pull the trigger, google the subdivision name, if it's in a subdivision, if it's not then you're okay. If there is an association, then you want to call the person who runs it, and you want to ask them all about what's going on there. Jill: Did you say this before you buy? Jack: Yeah. Jill: Okay, good, because you don't want to buy it and then find out later on they owed $1000. Jack: Well the chain of events is this: you sent a ton of offers out, a bunch of them come back signed, or the seller calls you, whatever. And then you start to review the property. If you're new to this show, or new to the whole concept. Everybody else does it backwards and wrong. We do it correct. Jill: Exactly. Cause everybody wastes hours and days and weeks on properties they're not gonna buy. Jack: You only ever do due diligence on a property that the deal's already ... the aconomics of the transaction is done. Jill: Right. Jack: In all, in one of those things on the list to check it out is a POA. Here's a truth about POAs and HOAs. They have no idea when properties change hands, okay? They are very unorganized in general. I still get a bill every year from an HOA in Texas. We haven't owned property in there in probably 8 years. So they don't have a direct connection to what's the recorder's office; they aren't notified efficiently and unless they ... Some of the bigger ones go there every day and they see if anything's transferred, or they go to the website, or they're in the same building. What was the question? Jill: It's to the POA and the HOA's advantage to know who the current seller is because they want to make sure that person's getting a bill and paying them,
FaceBook Gets Property Sales Results Jack Butala: FaceBook Gets Property Sales Results. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Howdy. Jack: Welcome to our show, today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how Facebook gets property sales results. Man, the first time I heard that sentence, a while ago, I just scoffed. We're going to talk all about it in a funny, humorous way, because I'm old. Jill: You're not old. You're not old. Jack: First, let's take a question posted by one of our members on SuccessPlan.com, our online community. Let's read it. Jill: Okay. Luke asked, "Got this residential property that came with some others I bought. I did not want to buy it, but the seller said, 'Just take it.'" Boy, isn't that funny how often that happens. "Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to sell it. There's no access. There's six neighbors that are houses in a subdivision. They all back up to it. I'm thinking of sending them all letters to see if any of them want to buy it." Jack: Yeah, that's the answer. Jill: "Do you guys have any advice on what to say in the letters? I was thinking of putting maps in there ... Jack: Yeah. Jill: "... with handwriting on them pointing out to them the lot I have for sale. I would like to sell it. What's the best way?" Jack: You nailed it. Jill: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jack: You nailed it. I would do exactly what you said. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it, but I would say, "You know, the property that you're actually using, all of you anyway, here's your chance to buy it for next to nothing. Here's the taxes." You're not going to retire on this deal by any stretch, but it's the right thing to do. There's one person in our group, this is his whole business model. This is how he sells property. He buys property that's surrounded by other working ranches, let's say, and he sends them letters. So far, he's struck 100%. Jill: Yeah. My brother did that. I don't know if you know that. His house is up against like this ridge, and then there's a parcel there. When it came available, he was excited to buy it. He has no intentions of doing anything with it, but that way ... Jack: No neighbors. Jill: ... he can just say his property ... Yeah, there's no one that's going to touch it. No one can build anything there that could possibly block the view, and now he owns more property there. There's a lot of people out there that just get excited like that. Jack: I bought ... You know if you go to tax like ... If you go to look at existing tax liens that you can foreclose on in western states, they're packed with little tiny slivers of land that are people's driveways, or like I bought on with a well on it one time. I get the well too, so I sent one letter and made two grand. I foreclosed on the property for ... I don't know. It was like $100 all in. Yeah, I think this can become your full blown business model if you want it to. Jill: Yeah, but what also is nice is anything Luke makes off of this property is profit, because it was just thrown in the package, clearly. That happens. It's hilarious. Jack: We have two Lukes that I know about in our group. One's brand new, and one's really seasoned. I wonder which one this is. Jill: I think I know, but I'm not sure. Jack: Based on the spelling and punctuation, I think it's the new guy. Jill: I don't know. He's not that new, by the way. Jack: Oh, I'm sorry. Jill: It's okay. Jack: The new guy can write. The more established Luke, it feels like this punctuation's [crosstalk 00:03:17]. Jill: Oh, god. Jack: Maybe it because he makes so much [crosstalk 00:03:20]. Jill: Time waster. Jack: Yeah,
FaceBook Gets Property Sales Results Jack Butala: FaceBook Gets Property Sales Results. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Howdy. Jack: Welcome to our show, today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about how Facebook gets property sales results. Man, the first time I heard that sentence, a while ago, I just scoffed. We're going to talk all about it in a funny, humorous way, because I'm old. Jill: You're not old. You're not old. Jack: First, let's take a question posted by one of our members on SuccessPlan.com, our online community. Let's read it. Jill: Okay. Luke asked, "Got this residential property that came with some others I bought. I did not want to buy it, but the seller said, 'Just take it.'" Boy, isn't that funny how often that happens. "Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to sell it. There's no access. There's six neighbors that are houses in a subdivision. They all back up to it. I'm thinking of sending them all letters to see if any of them want to buy it." Jack: Yeah, that's the answer. Jill: "Do you guys have any advice on what to say in the letters? I was thinking of putting maps in there ... Jack: Yeah. Jill: "... with handwriting on them pointing out to them the lot I have for sale. I would like to sell it. What's the best way?" Jack: You nailed it. Jill: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jack: You nailed it. I would do exactly what you said. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on it, but I would say, "You know, the property that you're actually using, all of you anyway, here's your chance to buy it for next to nothing. Here's the taxes." You're not going to retire on this deal by any stretch, but it's the right thing to do. There's one person in our group, this is his whole business model. This is how he sells property. He buys property that's surrounded by other working ranches, let's say, and he sends them letters. So far, he's struck 100%. Jill: Yeah. My brother did that. I don't know if you know that. His house is up against like this ridge, and then there's a parcel there. When it came available, he was excited to buy it. He has no intentions of doing anything with it, but that way ... Jack: No neighbors. Jill: ... he can just say his property ... Yeah, there's no one that's going to touch it. No one can build anything there that could possibly block the view, and now he owns more property there. There's a lot of people out there that just get excited like that. Jack: I bought ... You know if you go to tax like ... If you go to look at existing tax liens that you can foreclose on in western states, they're packed with little tiny slivers of land that are people's driveways, or like I bought on with a well on it one time. I get the well too, so I sent one letter and made two grand. I foreclosed on the property for ... I don't know. It was like $100 all in. Yeah, I think this can become your full blown business model if you want it to. Jill: Yeah, but what also is nice is anything Luke makes off of this property is profit, because it was just thrown in the package, clearly. That happens. It's hilarious. Jack: We have two Lukes that I know about in our group. One's brand new, and one's really seasoned. I wonder which one this is. Jill: I think I know, but I'm not sure. Jack: Based on the spelling and punctuation, I think it's the new guy. Jill: I don't know. He's not that new, by the way. Jack: Oh, I'm sorry. Jill: It's okay. Jack: The new guy can write. The more established Luke, it feels like this punctuation's [crosstalk 00:03:17]. Jill: Oh, god. Jack: Maybe it because he makes so much [crosstalk 00:03:20]. Jill: Time waster. Jack: Yeah,
Bulk Mail Printing Explained Jack Butala: Bulk Mail Printing Explained. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Welcome to Land Academy. I'm Jack Butala. Jill : I'm Jill DeWit. Jack: We show you how to buy real estate for half of what it's worth. Jill : And sell it on the internet really fast. Jack: (both speaking) We are Jack and Jill and this is the Jack and Jill Show 2. Jack: With over 15,000 completed transactions we're the experts at acquiring property. Jill : Of all kinds, not just land. Jack: For half price, and flipping them for way more. Jill : All right, lets get this show started. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill : Hello. Jack: Welcome to our show today, in this episode Jill and I talk about Bulk Mill Printing explained. It's Friday. Jill : Happy Friday. Jack: First lets take a question posted by one of our members on Land Academy's free online community. Jill : Cool. All right. Brandon, not Luke, Brandon ... We have a lot of Luke's ... Brandon asked I have someone wanting to sell but is interested in maintaining the mineral rights. Before I call her back I want to be prepared. What is recommended? Try to keep mineral rights with the property if possible, or it's no big deal and proceed with the deed stating that she retains them. Any issues trying to sell the property with no mineral rights? Jack: Would you like to go or should I? Jill : Go for it. Jack: This is how mineral rights are conveyed and have been conveyed since homesteading property. Let's say in the whole chain of title since homestead, there's 10 people and you are number 9, the person you are going to sell it to in a month from now is number 10. Does this property have mineral rights? How do I know? What happens is, between number 1 and number 8 somebody withheld the mineral rights and they put it right on the deed. It says "I cam conveying this property whose legal description is this, and everything involved with it except mineral rights." How do you know if it was 2 or 3, how do you know the property still contains mineral rights? You have to go back and get all 8 documents. How realistic is that? Since back to the 1700's or whenever it was homesteaded. Extremely unlikely, in my opinion. That's how you know if the property has mineral rights. Best case, to answer one of these questions in here ... I love when there's like 6 questions ... The best case is that the mineral rights are still with the property, but it's going to take a lot of doing to find out. Mining companies are experts at it. Jill : It's funny, a lot of the deeds nowadays, the mineral rights, once they get taken out when someone's keeping the mineral rights, most of the deeds stop putting that phrase in there because it's just the property legal description. Mineral rights are not even discussed in the legal description, to find out you really have to go back. Which is a good thing we have access to all of that stuff we can do it ourselves. You have to go back and look at the deeds and see who got them and when. If you want to make it easy on yourself, Brandon, this is one of the things that we do. We pretty much tell our folks unless otherwise stated, please assume our properties do not have mineral rights. Because most of the time they do not. Jack: For the scope of what's going on here Jill, that's outstanding. Just assume that it doesn't have it. If you want to get in the mineral right business, and some people have done that and do that after they get involved with us, there's a lot of different ways to do that. Assume that it doesn't have any. Jill : Do we have any properties selling the properties mineral rights? Not at all. That's what we do.
Bulk Mail Printing Explained Jack Butala: Bulk Mail Printing Explained. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Welcome to Land Academy. I'm Jack Butala. Jill : I'm Jill DeWit. Jack: We show you how to buy real estate for half of what it's worth. Jill : And sell it on the internet really fast. Jack: (both speaking) We are Jack and Jill and this is the Jack and Jill Show 2. Jack: With over 15,000 completed transactions we're the experts at acquiring property. Jill : Of all kinds, not just land. Jack: For half price, and flipping them for way more. Jill : All right, lets get this show started. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill : Hello. Jack: Welcome to our show today, in this episode Jill and I talk about Bulk Mill Printing explained. It's Friday. Jill : Happy Friday. Jack: First lets take a question posted by one of our members on Land Academy's free online community. Jill : Cool. All right. Brandon, not Luke, Brandon ... We have a lot of Luke's ... Brandon asked I have someone wanting to sell but is interested in maintaining the mineral rights. Before I call her back I want to be prepared. What is recommended? Try to keep mineral rights with the property if possible, or it's no big deal and proceed with the deed stating that she retains them. Any issues trying to sell the property with no mineral rights? Jack: Would you like to go or should I? Jill : Go for it. Jack: This is how mineral rights are conveyed and have been conveyed since homesteading property. Let's say in the whole chain of title since homestead, there's 10 people and you are number 9, the person you are going to sell it to in a month from now is number 10. Does this property have mineral rights? How do I know? What happens is, between number 1 and number 8 somebody withheld the mineral rights and they put it right on the deed. It says "I cam conveying this property whose legal description is this, and everything involved with it except mineral rights." How do you know if it was 2 or 3, how do you know the property still contains mineral rights? You have to go back and get all 8 documents. How realistic is that? Since back to the 1700's or whenever it was homesteaded. Extremely unlikely, in my opinion. That's how you know if the property has mineral rights. Best case, to answer one of these questions in here ... I love when there's like 6 questions ... The best case is that the mineral rights are still with the property, but it's going to take a lot of doing to find out. Mining companies are experts at it. Jill : It's funny, a lot of the deeds nowadays, the mineral rights, once they get taken out when someone's keeping the mineral rights, most of the deeds stop putting that phrase in there because it's just the property legal description. Mineral rights are not even discussed in the legal description, to find out you really have to go back. Which is a good thing we have access to all of that stuff we can do it ourselves. You have to go back and look at the deeds and see who got them and when. If you want to make it easy on yourself, Brandon, this is one of the things that we do. We pretty much tell our folks unless otherwise stated, please assume our properties do not have mineral rights. Because most of the time they do not. Jack: For the scope of what's going on here Jill, that's outstanding. Just assume that it doesn't have it. If you want to get in the mineral right business, and some people have done that and do that after they get involved with us, there's a lot of different ways to do that. Assume that it doesn't have any. Jill : Do we have any properties selling the properties mineral rights? Not at all. That's what we do.
Joey was written by Danielle Villano and Jon Robertson Performed by: Emma Cenholt-Houland as Laurie, Rob Rosado as Steve, and Christa Brennan as Jill It was produced, and edited Adam Raymonda. Music was written and performed by Gabriella Ibacache and Adam Raymonda. Additional production assistance from Bob Raymonda.
Jack Butala: House Flipping v Land Flipping. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show, today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about house [inaudible 00:00:06], house flipping versus land flipping and some of the differences and pros and cons. Here's a hint: they're both good. Before we get to it, let's take a question, posted by one of our members on Land Academy's free online community. Jill: Cool. How do I get to that free online community? Jack: LandAcademy.com. Jill: Okay, Chris asked, "What is the significance of capping the assessed value so low?" Chris is obviously in our world, so he knows to ask this question. "Is it not worth it to mail to the higher assessed properties?" Jack: One of the shows we did this week was called Mailer Yield. I think it was yesterday. What mailers yield better results? Jill: Right. Jack: Maybe it was Wednesday. Jill: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jack: Happy Friday, by the way. Jill: Thank you. Happy Friday. Jack: The significance ... What we teach for beginning people is to take the bottom 20% of the assessed value this. Imagine this. Imagine a county, maybe the county that you live in. Now take all the property in that county, every single property, take out all the commercial real estate. Take out all the houses. Take out all the government owned land. Picture it in your head. Now you're left with vacant property, vacant, unimproved property. Now take all the properties out that aren't five acres, or let's just say we're going to send a mailer in that county of all the vacant property that's between five and eight acres. Jill: Okay. Jack: All right. Now, take the bottom ... They have an assessed value between a million dollars and ten dollars. You want the bottom 20% only, because you want to send letters out that are undervalue, really under value, like 40% of what they're worth, maybe less, so the strike percentage on that lower value property's going to be better. Does that make sense? Jill: Yeah. Jack: This is imperative. If you do not do this, the first time out, and you don't hit your numbers, like we talk about. For every hundred vacant properties that you send out, your going to buy one. For every 2,000 offers you send on houses, you're going to buy one. You will not achieve those percentages if you don't do it in the bottom 20% of assessed value. Jill: Right. Well, like Jack said, you gave a range. You know, am I going to send an offer to someone with a property with a half a million assessed value? No, and offering a couple thousand? That's not realistic. You're being realistic, too. Jack: Five acres in the middle of a city, that's completely unimproved is assessed way differently than five acres in a very rural area. Jill: Exactly. Jack: You want the five acres in the rural area in the beginning. The second part of his question is, "Is it not worth is to mail higher assessed value properties?" Heck, yes. Go ahead anddo that. Your strike percentage is going to be less. I've even done this on accident before ... Jill: It's true. Jack: ... and we bought property. Jill: Yeah, I mean it's true. I have bought property for ... Gosh, the guy paid twenty-something thousand for it, tried to sell it for forty-something thousand for it. I bought it for $1,900. I mean, come on. Jack: That's right. I bought huge acreage properties in really urban areas at our prices. Jill: Accidentally. Jack: When you're a little bit more established in your career, and your real comfortable with the mechanics of buying property and the whole thing, absolutely, start going over to some of the ... Go after some of those kahunas. Jill: Well,
Jack Butala: House Flipping v Land Flipping. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show, today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about house [inaudible 00:00:06], house flipping versus land flipping and some of the differences and pros and cons. Here's a hint: they're both good. Before we get to it, let's take a question, posted by one of our members on Land Academy's free online community. Jill: Cool. How do I get to that free online community? Jack: LandAcademy.com. Jill: Okay, Chris asked, "What is the significance of capping the assessed value so low?" Chris is obviously in our world, so he knows to ask this question. "Is it not worth it to mail to the higher assessed properties?" Jack: One of the shows we did this week was called Mailer Yield. I think it was yesterday. What mailers yield better results? Jill: Right. Jack: Maybe it was Wednesday. Jill: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Jack: Happy Friday, by the way. Jill: Thank you. Happy Friday. Jack: The significance ... What we teach for beginning people is to take the bottom 20% of the assessed value this. Imagine this. Imagine a county, maybe the county that you live in. Now take all the property in that county, every single property, take out all the commercial real estate. Take out all the houses. Take out all the government owned land. Picture it in your head. Now you're left with vacant property, vacant, unimproved property. Now take all the properties out that aren't five acres, or let's just say we're going to send a mailer in that county of all the vacant property that's between five and eight acres. Jill: Okay. Jack: All right. Now, take the bottom ... They have an assessed value between a million dollars and ten dollars. You want the bottom 20% only, because you want to send letters out that are undervalue, really under value, like 40% of what they're worth, maybe less, so the strike percentage on that lower value property's going to be better. Does that make sense? Jill: Yeah. Jack: This is imperative. If you do not do this, the first time out, and you don't hit your numbers, like we talk about. For every hundred vacant properties that you send out, your going to buy one. For every 2,000 offers you send on houses, you're going to buy one. You will not achieve those percentages if you don't do it in the bottom 20% of assessed value. Jill: Right. Well, like Jack said, you gave a range. You know, am I going to send an offer to someone with a property with a half a million assessed value? No, and offering a couple thousand? That's not realistic. You're being realistic, too. Jack: Five acres in the middle of a city, that's completely unimproved is assessed way differently than five acres in a very rural area. Jill: Exactly. Jack: You want the five acres in the rural area in the beginning. The second part of his question is, "Is it not worth is to mail higher assessed value properties?" Heck, yes. Go ahead anddo that. Your strike percentage is going to be less. I've even done this on accident before ... Jill: It's true. Jack: ... and we bought property. Jill: Yeah, I mean it's true. I have bought property for ... Gosh, the guy paid twenty-something thousand for it, tried to sell it for forty-something thousand for it. I bought it for $1,900. I mean, come on. Jack: That's right. I bought huge acreage properties in really urban areas at our prices. Jill: Accidentally. Jack: When you're a little bit more established in your career, and your real comfortable with the mechanics of buying property and the whole thing, absolutely, start going over to some of the ... Go after some of those kahunas. Jill: Well,
Deed Pass-Through Defined Jack Butala: Deed Pass-Through Defined. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hey. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about what a deed pass-through is, deed pass-through defined. Jill: I'm not even sure. Jack: That's why ... That's why I threw it in [inaudible 00:00:12] Recurring question and success plan we're going to talk about in a few minutes. Before that, let's share something interesting that happened to us lately Jill. Oh, it's me. I'm supposed to say it. Jill: I'm looking at you like, "Wait". Jack: Today is Wednesday and I am so happy to report that I ... Wednesday is the day that I do, what we call around the office, deal-review. It's a chance for our members to schedule calls, and talk to me and say, "Hey. Would you do this deal? I got this deal, I'm thinking about doing it. Should I do it?" Well, there's one ... One of our members, he's now officially our star-member. He has calling me just about every Wednesday to review deals for maybe 2 months. I think, as a member, I think he's 2, maybe 3 months into this with us. He's officially clearing 100,000 dollars a month, cash flow. Jill: That's awesome. Jack: Unbelievable. Jill: Exactly. Jack: I'm not going to ... he said it's okay to disclose his name, I'm not going to do that. Jill: I think it's good if we don't. Jack: We'll put a whole thing together at some point with the calls, and get him directly involved, because we all want to know his secret. Jill: You know it's funny, I know one little thing about this person, is that, we weren't his first encounter with this. He was like a lot of people that have come to us, that have tried other version of what we do. Trying to be investors and learning about the business, but they ran into ... They're missing a lot of the pieces. This person I know came, to us and clearly got ... Now has all the answers, because clearly, now, he's very successful. It's not like the guy's not motivated man, the guy is clearly motivated. Now he's doing what he wants to do and all that. It's really good. Jack: I asked him why he's so successful and some people aren't, and he said, "It's because I have to know ... I have to have the answers to everything. I have to know the why." That's how he put it. Jill: I love it. Jack: W H Y, you know. That really makes a lot of sense. Jill: That's what we do, we help you. That's part of the show. Jack: Yeah, that's what this show is. Jill: Yeah. Jack: Boy, he listens to the show too. He says, "You know what you said on the show last week, this and that." It's amazing. Jill: Good. Jack: I'm super proud of him. Jill: Me too. Jack: All of our members are killing it in their own way, but this just happens to be ... He just figured ... Made this work for him really, really well. I feel like a parent ... it's just weird. Jill: Parental pride. Jack: Yeah, I just feel proud. Jill: It's the same ... It's interesting, you're right. It's the same feeling, and I think it's the most wonderful thing. Jack: Jill, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the Land Academy online environment, community. Jill: Soon to be the Jack and Jill online community. Okay, not that we're going to change it again, but we're going to land on one, I promise. All right. Ron asks, "If I'm buying property from Jose 'blank' in California, and he's married, but the vesting deed shows just his name, what are you requiring the spouse to sign? Are you requiring the spouse to sign the purchase agreement, or adding an extra signature line on the new deed? I'm assuming leave the grantor name as Jose 'blank',
Deed Pass-Through Defined Jack Butala: Deed Pass-Through Defined. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hey. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about what a deed pass-through is, deed pass-through defined. Jill: I'm not even sure. Jack: That's why ... That's why I threw it in [inaudible 00:00:12] Recurring question and success plan we're going to talk about in a few minutes. Before that, let's share something interesting that happened to us lately Jill. Oh, it's me. I'm supposed to say it. Jill: I'm looking at you like, "Wait". Jack: Today is Wednesday and I am so happy to report that I ... Wednesday is the day that I do, what we call around the office, deal-review. It's a chance for our members to schedule calls, and talk to me and say, "Hey. Would you do this deal? I got this deal, I'm thinking about doing it. Should I do it?" Well, there's one ... One of our members, he's now officially our star-member. He has calling me just about every Wednesday to review deals for maybe 2 months. I think, as a member, I think he's 2, maybe 3 months into this with us. He's officially clearing 100,000 dollars a month, cash flow. Jill: That's awesome. Jack: Unbelievable. Jill: Exactly. Jack: I'm not going to ... he said it's okay to disclose his name, I'm not going to do that. Jill: I think it's good if we don't. Jack: We'll put a whole thing together at some point with the calls, and get him directly involved, because we all want to know his secret. Jill: You know it's funny, I know one little thing about this person, is that, we weren't his first encounter with this. He was like a lot of people that have come to us, that have tried other version of what we do. Trying to be investors and learning about the business, but they ran into ... They're missing a lot of the pieces. This person I know came, to us and clearly got ... Now has all the answers, because clearly, now, he's very successful. It's not like the guy's not motivated man, the guy is clearly motivated. Now he's doing what he wants to do and all that. It's really good. Jack: I asked him why he's so successful and some people aren't, and he said, "It's because I have to know ... I have to have the answers to everything. I have to know the why." That's how he put it. Jill: I love it. Jack: W H Y, you know. That really makes a lot of sense. Jill: That's what we do, we help you. That's part of the show. Jack: Yeah, that's what this show is. Jill: Yeah. Jack: Boy, he listens to the show too. He says, "You know what you said on the show last week, this and that." It's amazing. Jill: Good. Jack: I'm super proud of him. Jill: Me too. Jack: All of our members are killing it in their own way, but this just happens to be ... He just figured ... Made this work for him really, really well. I feel like a parent ... it's just weird. Jill: Parental pride. Jack: Yeah, I just feel proud. Jill: It's the same ... It's interesting, you're right. It's the same feeling, and I think it's the most wonderful thing. Jack: Jill, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the Land Academy online environment, community. Jill: Soon to be the Jack and Jill online community. Okay, not that we're going to change it again, but we're going to land on one, I promise. All right. Ron asks, "If I'm buying property from Jose 'blank' in California, and he's married, but the vesting deed shows just his name, what are you requiring the spouse to sign? Are you requiring the spouse to sign the purchase agreement, or adding an extra signature line on the new deed? I'm assuming leave the grantor name as Jose 'blank',
Why You Don't Need a Purchase Agreement Jack Butala: Why You Don't Need a Purchase Agreement. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala, with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode Jill and I talk about why you don't need a purchase agreement all the time. Great show today Jill. Before we get started, let's share something funny that, or interesting, I should say, that happened to us recently. Jill: You know, I wanted to share a really, really, really cool email that I got from somebody. I was going to point out a couple of little things in here. I love when I get these. This is interesting to me. I got to tell you, I read these, and I need to share it, so here I am sharing it. I mean, it's just so good, the feedback that we get. This individual ... I haven't asked, so I have to kind of ... can't drop some names here, but I can share some of it though. It says: "Hey. Hi, Jill. I just wanted to drop a note of thanks to you and Jack, having joined a few weeks ago. Although I have already been running a profitable land business, my methods have been rather than systematic." Jack: Yeah. Jill: Isn't that great? Jack: Yeah. Jill: He says, "I'm going through everything. It's so thoroughly done and it really does leave no stone unturned. I am smitten." Jack: Wow. Jill: Isn't that great? He said, "To offer perspective ... Jack: Smitten with you. Jill: ... I have actually been" ... Thank you. Jack: Jill smitten. Jill: Thank you. Jack: Dot com. Jill smitten dot com. Jill: You're so sweet. I have a quote here at the end I was going to save for you. My quote for you is, "This show may or may not appeal to you." You said that ... Jack: Make fun of Jack dot com. Jill: What you said the other day ... Yeah. No, but he's ... We're not his first go around here, but it sounds like we're his last go around. Jack: Awe. Jill: It basically ... His whole thing was we taught him how to web base this whole thing. He says ... Here's his ending, "Within a few weeks I intend to have a fully functioning, automated, web based selling properties. I love the idea of selling properties this way. I'm so thankful to have found you two. I look forward to tomorrow's podcast. Laughing along with you as I gain new insights." Jack: Awesome. What a compliment. That's great. Jill: Thank you. Isn't that cool? Jack: It really is I mean ... Jill: Took a few pieces out of that, but ... Jack: You can't buy that kind of stuff. Jill smitten. Jill: You're so funny. Thank you. Jack: I'm going to see if that's available. Jill: Jill smitten dot com. Jack: I'm serious. Jill: The crap Jack says dot com. Jack: I just ... I got an email for somebody recently. They said, "You know, once in a while you talk about a calendar. Can you please put a calendar together that shows the path that you can take. You know, what I'm suppose to do on Saturday. What I'm suppose to do on Sunday because I got to work Monday through Friday." and on and on, so I did. I put a calendar together and we're going to publish it. I mean I won't ... We're going to publish with your sales. Whenever you tell us to, but ... Jill: Okay. Jack: I finally ... I've been threatening to do that for quite some time. It actually turned out really cool. Jill: Threatening. Jack: No, a lot of people say, look, I get it. You guys are doing great. I see all these members doing it but I just need one step more. I need you to tell me. When I ... All right, let's say I start the thing on Thursday, how much time do I need? Well it takes this much time to go through the program, then this much time to learn the data, then on Saturday you start just do the mail,
Why You Don't Need a Purchase Agreement Jack Butala: Why You Don't Need a Purchase Agreement. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala, with Jill DeWit. Jill: Hi. Jack: Welcome to our show today. In this episode Jill and I talk about why you don't need a purchase agreement all the time. Great show today Jill. Before we get started, let's share something funny that, or interesting, I should say, that happened to us recently. Jill: You know, I wanted to share a really, really, really cool email that I got from somebody. I was going to point out a couple of little things in here. I love when I get these. This is interesting to me. I got to tell you, I read these, and I need to share it, so here I am sharing it. I mean, it's just so good, the feedback that we get. This individual ... I haven't asked, so I have to kind of ... can't drop some names here, but I can share some of it though. It says: "Hey. Hi, Jill. I just wanted to drop a note of thanks to you and Jack, having joined a few weeks ago. Although I have already been running a profitable land business, my methods have been rather than systematic." Jack: Yeah. Jill: Isn't that great? Jack: Yeah. Jill: He says, "I'm going through everything. It's so thoroughly done and it really does leave no stone unturned. I am smitten." Jack: Wow. Jill: Isn't that great? He said, "To offer perspective ... Jack: Smitten with you. Jill: ... I have actually been" ... Thank you. Jack: Jill smitten. Jill: Thank you. Jack: Dot com. Jill smitten dot com. Jill: You're so sweet. I have a quote here at the end I was going to save for you. My quote for you is, "This show may or may not appeal to you." You said that ... Jack: Make fun of Jack dot com. Jill: What you said the other day ... Yeah. No, but he's ... We're not his first go around here, but it sounds like we're his last go around. Jack: Awe. Jill: It basically ... His whole thing was we taught him how to web base this whole thing. He says ... Here's his ending, "Within a few weeks I intend to have a fully functioning, automated, web based selling properties. I love the idea of selling properties this way. I'm so thankful to have found you two. I look forward to tomorrow's podcast. Laughing along with you as I gain new insights." Jack: Awesome. What a compliment. That's great. Jill: Thank you. Isn't that cool? Jack: It really is I mean ... Jill: Took a few pieces out of that, but ... Jack: You can't buy that kind of stuff. Jill smitten. Jill: You're so funny. Thank you. Jack: I'm going to see if that's available. Jill: Jill smitten dot com. Jack: I'm serious. Jill: The crap Jack says dot com. Jack: I just ... I got an email for somebody recently. They said, "You know, once in a while you talk about a calendar. Can you please put a calendar together that shows the path that you can take. You know, what I'm suppose to do on Saturday. What I'm suppose to do on Sunday because I got to work Monday through Friday." and on and on, so I did. I put a calendar together and we're going to publish it. I mean I won't ... We're going to publish with your sales. Whenever you tell us to, but ... Jill: Okay. Jack: I finally ... I've been threatening to do that for quite some time. It actually turned out really cool. Jill: Threatening. Jack: No, a lot of people say, look, I get it. You guys are doing great. I see all these members doing it but I just need one step more. I need you to tell me. When I ... All right, let's say I start the thing on Thursday, how much time do I need? Well it takes this much time to go through the program, then this much time to learn the data, then on Saturday you start just do the mail,
Flip Houses 3 of 3 Mail Merge Print and Send Jack Butala: Flip Houses 3 of 3 Mail Merge Print and Send. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: It's Jack Butella for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cashflow from Land show. We show you how to buy property for half of what it's worth and resell it the very next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me. Jill: And inspiration from Jill. That's me. Jack: There's some funny stuff that happened to us recently. Jill, I can't believe that an Uber driver can tell you their whole life story in 6 minutes flat. Jill: Isn't it hilarious? It's so funny. Jack: We had an Uber driver last night and she was from Germany. She got married to an American and lives here now, lives in California. She told us her whole life story. Jill: It's hilarious. Jack: What it ended up being, her whole life story, the differences the way people drive in Europe and the way that people drive in California. I have to say, I think she was right. Jill: I totally agree. The whole valet parking thing I thought was really funny, too. I'll add that. Jack: Yeah, go ahead. It's the pass left thing that'll stick with me forever. Jill: The pass left? Jack: The left lane is for passing. Jill: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jack: I'm from Detroit, that's how we learn it there too. Jill: Exactly. Jack: It's not for driving on. Jill: Exactly. Jack: If you have a white minivan and 430 people in your care and you're driving in the left lane and 45 miles an hour, this is for you. Jill: Watch out. Jack: Please don't do that. Jill: I love it. Oh my gosh. Jack: The Uber driver felt the same way. Jill: Right. That's so funny. Yeah, this was 6 minutes of a lot of laughing. It was hilarious. My favorite story was when she talked about her dad coming over. Her dad was appalled at the valet parking. Wait a minute, you mean I'm coming to your restaurant and I have to pay to leave my car to go to your restaurant? I'm like, "You know, I never really thought about it. I'm just kind of used to it." The dad was pissed off about that. Jack: He was. Jill: It was really funny. Jack: You know what my response is? I think he's probably right. Jill: I think he's right, too. Jack: Why am I paying to park if I'm coming to your place? Jill: Exactly. It was so darn funny. That was just a thing that just got to him. What was so cute too was I kind of felt bad for her, it sounds like her family came out and they visited and they're not coming back. Jack: Yeah. She said, "I think that's about it." Jill: Yeah, I guess she's got to go visit them there. For some people, that's okay. Jack: Right. Hey, in this episode, Jill and I talk about flipping houses. This is little mini episode 3 of 3. It's called Mail, Merge, Print, and Send. It's a piece of this that I don't think it's talked about enough and we don't get enough questions about it. It seems just, I guess, a mechanical piece. I'm going to try to make this as fun as possible, okay Jill? Jill: Got it. Jack: Great show. Before we start, let's take a question posted by one of our members on successplan.com, our free online community. Jill: Jason from Michigan called in and asked: I have your Day to Doorstep program and I'm amazed at the amount of data available. Jack: I like where this is going. Jill: I like this, too. It's very true. It's awesome. How to remove the houses with mortgages, is there a place to get an overview on this product? Nice question. Jack: How do you move all the houses with mortgages?
Flip Houses 3 of 3 Mail Merge Print and Send Jack Butala: Flip Houses 3 of 3 Mail Merge Print and Send. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: It's Jack Butella for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cashflow from Land show. We show you how to buy property for half of what it's worth and resell it the very next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me. Jill: And inspiration from Jill. That's me. Jack: There's some funny stuff that happened to us recently. Jill, I can't believe that an Uber driver can tell you their whole life story in 6 minutes flat. Jill: Isn't it hilarious? It's so funny. Jack: We had an Uber driver last night and she was from Germany. She got married to an American and lives here now, lives in California. She told us her whole life story. Jill: It's hilarious. Jack: What it ended up being, her whole life story, the differences the way people drive in Europe and the way that people drive in California. I have to say, I think she was right. Jill: I totally agree. The whole valet parking thing I thought was really funny, too. I'll add that. Jack: Yeah, go ahead. It's the pass left thing that'll stick with me forever. Jill: The pass left? Jack: The left lane is for passing. Jill: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jack: I'm from Detroit, that's how we learn it there too. Jill: Exactly. Jack: It's not for driving on. Jill: Exactly. Jack: If you have a white minivan and 430 people in your care and you're driving in the left lane and 45 miles an hour, this is for you. Jill: Watch out. Jack: Please don't do that. Jill: I love it. Oh my gosh. Jack: The Uber driver felt the same way. Jill: Right. That's so funny. Yeah, this was 6 minutes of a lot of laughing. It was hilarious. My favorite story was when she talked about her dad coming over. Her dad was appalled at the valet parking. Wait a minute, you mean I'm coming to your restaurant and I have to pay to leave my car to go to your restaurant? I'm like, "You know, I never really thought about it. I'm just kind of used to it." The dad was pissed off about that. Jack: He was. Jill: It was really funny. Jack: You know what my response is? I think he's probably right. Jill: I think he's right, too. Jack: Why am I paying to park if I'm coming to your place? Jill: Exactly. It was so darn funny. That was just a thing that just got to him. What was so cute too was I kind of felt bad for her, it sounds like her family came out and they visited and they're not coming back. Jack: Yeah. She said, "I think that's about it." Jill: Yeah, I guess she's got to go visit them there. For some people, that's okay. Jack: Right. Hey, in this episode, Jill and I talk about flipping houses. This is little mini episode 3 of 3. It's called Mail, Merge, Print, and Send. It's a piece of this that I don't think it's talked about enough and we don't get enough questions about it. It seems just, I guess, a mechanical piece. I'm going to try to make this as fun as possible, okay Jill? Jill: Got it. Jack: Great show. Before we start, let's take a question posted by one of our members on successplan.com, our free online community. Jill: Jason from Michigan called in and asked: I have your Day to Doorstep program and I'm amazed at the amount of data available. Jack: I like where this is going. Jill: I like this, too. It's very true. It's awesome. How to remove the houses with mortgages, is there a place to get an overview on this product? Nice question. Jack: How do you move all the houses with mortgages?
We All Know Exactly What to Do Jack Butala: We All Know Exactly What to Do. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: S. Jack Butala for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cash Flow From Land Show. We show you how to buy property for half and resell it the very next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me ... Jill: And inspiration from Jill, that's me. Jack: Here's some funny stuff that happened to us recently. Jill: I actually considered renting an apartment above our favorite bar. Jack: Oh my God. Jill: It popped up- Jack: You crack me up with this stuff. Jill: I know. It popped up. I was looking for a long term rental. Jack: I have no control over my life at all. Jill: Here at the beach. I didn't realize it. I'm like this place looks kind of good. I'm zeroing in on the address and I'm like, oh this is going to be really bad. You can't do that. Could you [imagine 00:00:43] if we live- who would live above a bar, number one, and number two, that can't be good if you hang out there. Baby I'll be downstairs. That's never going to work. You never make it upstairs. Jack: Pretty much plan on going to sleep around three in the morning every morning. Jill: Yeah. Right. Then on the weekends, even if you're trying to get a good night sleep, that's not going to happen. Jack: Our home based office is in Scottsdale Arizona. Our house is there and all that stuff. Jill and I are going back and forth from California to Scottsdale and we're trying to find a place. It's pretty funny. This little journey about finding a place in itself, from real estate standpoint, is pretty darn funny. Jill: It is. It's hilarious. You know what it makes me think of too, you and I once a long time ago looked at a place in Old Town Scottsdale, if you remember that. It was a new remodeled building way up high. It was like on the third floor, remember that? Jack: Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative) Jill: We looked at this going, oh how cool would that be? We could live there. Then we realize oh no. Every one of our friends would be on our couch every weekend. We'd never have any- we're like no that's not going to work. Jack: Right. Jill: That's my funny thing. Jack: I'm in the process of buying a fairly large boat. We're using the same way that we buy property. We're sending a letter to everybody who owns one and offering way less than even half of what it's worth. If you don't know this, every single boat is for sale. The owner may not know it, but it is for sale. Jill: Yes. Jack: Anyway. I'm not telling our friends about that either. Jill: No don't. Jack: I'm going to take a picture of a rotting wooden boat somewhere and say, yeah come on stay on our boat. Jill: That's what we decided we're going to do. Jack: Don't tell anyone. Jill: We're going to show them a horrible awful picture of this beat up, junky, diesel smelling- Jack: Yes. Exactly. Jill: They're going to be like, "No we're all good. We don't want to come see you." [Shew 00:02:29]. Good they won't see the real boat. Jack: In this episode, Jill and I talk about we all know exactly what to do. Jill great show today. Before we start, as always, let's take a question, post it, by one of our members on successplan.com, our free online community. Jill: Okay. Dave wrote this question. I'm preparing a 1700 property mailer- Jack: Yeah Dave. Jill: Nice- to Park County Colorado. Per the course I have used LandWatch to find the cheapest properties per average. However, I've noticed that there's a lot of price fluctuation in that county. Any thoughts?
We All Know Exactly What to Do Jack Butala: We All Know Exactly What to Do. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: S. Jack Butala for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cash Flow From Land Show. We show you how to buy property for half and resell it the very next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me ... Jill: And inspiration from Jill, that's me. Jack: Here's some funny stuff that happened to us recently. Jill: I actually considered renting an apartment above our favorite bar. Jack: Oh my God. Jill: It popped up- Jack: You crack me up with this stuff. Jill: I know. It popped up. I was looking for a long term rental. Jack: I have no control over my life at all. Jill: Here at the beach. I didn't realize it. I'm like this place looks kind of good. I'm zeroing in on the address and I'm like, oh this is going to be really bad. You can't do that. Could you [imagine 00:00:43] if we live- who would live above a bar, number one, and number two, that can't be good if you hang out there. Baby I'll be downstairs. That's never going to work. You never make it upstairs. Jack: Pretty much plan on going to sleep around three in the morning every morning. Jill: Yeah. Right. Then on the weekends, even if you're trying to get a good night sleep, that's not going to happen. Jack: Our home based office is in Scottsdale Arizona. Our house is there and all that stuff. Jill and I are going back and forth from California to Scottsdale and we're trying to find a place. It's pretty funny. This little journey about finding a place in itself, from real estate standpoint, is pretty darn funny. Jill: It is. It's hilarious. You know what it makes me think of too, you and I once a long time ago looked at a place in Old Town Scottsdale, if you remember that. It was a new remodeled building way up high. It was like on the third floor, remember that? Jack: Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative) Jill: We looked at this going, oh how cool would that be? We could live there. Then we realize oh no. Every one of our friends would be on our couch every weekend. We'd never have any- we're like no that's not going to work. Jack: Right. Jill: That's my funny thing. Jack: I'm in the process of buying a fairly large boat. We're using the same way that we buy property. We're sending a letter to everybody who owns one and offering way less than even half of what it's worth. If you don't know this, every single boat is for sale. The owner may not know it, but it is for sale. Jill: Yes. Jack: Anyway. I'm not telling our friends about that either. Jill: No don't. Jack: I'm going to take a picture of a rotting wooden boat somewhere and say, yeah come on stay on our boat. Jill: That's what we decided we're going to do. Jack: Don't tell anyone. Jill: We're going to show them a horrible awful picture of this beat up, junky, diesel smelling- Jack: Yes. Exactly. Jill: They're going to be like, "No we're all good. We don't want to come see you." [Shew 00:02:29]. Good they won't see the real boat. Jack: In this episode, Jill and I talk about we all know exactly what to do. Jill great show today. Before we start, as always, let's take a question, post it, by one of our members on successplan.com, our free online community. Jill: Okay. Dave wrote this question. I'm preparing a 1700 property mailer- Jack: Yeah Dave. Jill: Nice- to Park County Colorado. Per the course I have used LandWatch to find the cheapest properties per average. However, I've noticed that there's a lot of price fluctuation in that county. Any thoughts?
You are Stronger Than You Think Jack Butala: You are Stronger Than You Think. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala for Land Academy, welcome to our Cash Flow from Land Show. We show you how to buy property for half of what it's worth and resell it the next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me. Jill: Great inspiration from Jill, that's me. Jack: Jill, there's gotta be some funny stuff you can start the show off with that's happened to us recently. Jill: Yes. I always have something funny. I'm up at four this morning ... I don't know why I'm up. I'm just like ... Jack: You live a crazy life, man. That's normal for us but for other people I think ... Jill: It's kind of true. That's a good thing to talk about on another show too. People probably look at us going, "What the heck is up with them?" Jack: That's what I think. Jill: I'm up, four in the morning and I'm on the computer. I'm working on our vacation home for the summer and I'm sending out some emails and things. I hear this sweeping, it sounded like it was right out my door. You know, it's really kind of funny ... I didn't know this. I get and I go out on the balcony and look down and there's a guy in a truck and they actually sweep the sand back on the beach. He's sweeping off the boardwalk. He's not a street sweeper, he's actually out there sweeping. Jack: Did you flash him? Jill: No. I didn't want to scare the guy because I was kind of like, "Somebody's out there." I thought he would be like, "Somebody's awake. Somebody's watching me." But yeah, there was an old guy out there sweeping. That made me feel good. Jack: Jill booked a condo for us right on the beach in Manhattan Beach, California over a month ago for about a week and we've been here now for over a month. That's funny enough I guess. Jill: I think what's the biggest funny take away that you and I brought from that week, we thought, "Oh, you want to be on the strand" and they were like, "No, being on the strand is not all that it's cracked up to be." Jack: There's sand in my gums. Jill: It's so funny, that's true. We roll a little differently. You were like, "I don't like the sand" I'm like, "Oh, yay. There's sand in my car. I like it." Jack: In this episode Jill and I talk about how you are stronger than you think. This is one of those shows where we talk a little bit about real estate and maybe some other philosophical stuff, so great show today. Before we start, let's start with a question posted by one of our members on successplan.com our free online community. Jill: Cool. Rob P. wrote: Hey all. I'm a complete newbie and just getting into the process of preparing mailers while I continue to learn. Not sure this has been a topic yet but I thought it'd be cool if everyone listed their best piece of advice if they had to pick one. Seeing how I have zero experience, I don't have much useful advice but, if I had to pick something on a more general note, it would be to take action. Far too often, like many, we'll spend far too much time in the research stage and end up never doing anything with it. That's why I am smartly using the "Learn as I go" approach here. That's timely. That's perfect. Jack: You couldn't write better questions. Jill: That was really cool. Jack: You and I couldn't sit down and dream up questions and write them better than this. Jill: Right. Jack: Rob, welcome to successplan.com and the family of Land Companies here and soon to be "Get There First", I guess this is our short, little verbal pre-launch to a company Jill and I are launching to help people effectively flip houses and get ...
You are Stronger Than You Think Jack Butala: You are Stronger Than You Think. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jack: Jack Butala for Land Academy, welcome to our Cash Flow from Land Show. We show you how to buy property for half of what it's worth and resell it the next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me. Jill: Great inspiration from Jill, that's me. Jack: Jill, there's gotta be some funny stuff you can start the show off with that's happened to us recently. Jill: Yes. I always have something funny. I'm up at four this morning ... I don't know why I'm up. I'm just like ... Jack: You live a crazy life, man. That's normal for us but for other people I think ... Jill: It's kind of true. That's a good thing to talk about on another show too. People probably look at us going, "What the heck is up with them?" Jack: That's what I think. Jill: I'm up, four in the morning and I'm on the computer. I'm working on our vacation home for the summer and I'm sending out some emails and things. I hear this sweeping, it sounded like it was right out my door. You know, it's really kind of funny ... I didn't know this. I get and I go out on the balcony and look down and there's a guy in a truck and they actually sweep the sand back on the beach. He's sweeping off the boardwalk. He's not a street sweeper, he's actually out there sweeping. Jack: Did you flash him? Jill: No. I didn't want to scare the guy because I was kind of like, "Somebody's out there." I thought he would be like, "Somebody's awake. Somebody's watching me." But yeah, there was an old guy out there sweeping. That made me feel good. Jack: Jill booked a condo for us right on the beach in Manhattan Beach, California over a month ago for about a week and we've been here now for over a month. That's funny enough I guess. Jill: I think what's the biggest funny take away that you and I brought from that week, we thought, "Oh, you want to be on the strand" and they were like, "No, being on the strand is not all that it's cracked up to be." Jack: There's sand in my gums. Jill: It's so funny, that's true. We roll a little differently. You were like, "I don't like the sand" I'm like, "Oh, yay. There's sand in my car. I like it." Jack: In this episode Jill and I talk about how you are stronger than you think. This is one of those shows where we talk a little bit about real estate and maybe some other philosophical stuff, so great show today. Before we start, let's start with a question posted by one of our members on successplan.com our free online community. Jill: Cool. Rob P. wrote: Hey all. I'm a complete newbie and just getting into the process of preparing mailers while I continue to learn. Not sure this has been a topic yet but I thought it'd be cool if everyone listed their best piece of advice if they had to pick one. Seeing how I have zero experience, I don't have much useful advice but, if I had to pick something on a more general note, it would be to take action. Far too often, like many, we'll spend far too much time in the research stage and end up never doing anything with it. That's why I am smartly using the "Learn as I go" approach here. That's timely. That's perfect. Jack: You couldn't write better questions. Jill: That was really cool. Jack: You and I couldn't sit down and dream up questions and write them better than this. Jill: Right. Jack: Rob, welcome to successplan.com and the family of Land Companies here and soon to be "Get There First", I guess this is our short, little verbal pre-launch to a company Jill and I are launching to help people effectively flip houses and get ...
Nothing Phases Me Anymore. My Speech. Whats Yours. Jack Butala: Nothing Phases Me Anymore. My Speech. Whats Yours. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Steve: It's Jack Butala for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cash Flow From Land Show. We show you how to buy property for half and resell it the next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me ... Jill: ... And inspiration from Jill, that's me. Steve: Here's some funny stuff that happened to us recently. Jill: I realized Steven's beach footwear consists of ... What ... Are they Converse? And Gucci loafers. We're here for a month, you have 2 things. Steve: I own 2 pairs of shoes. Jill: That's it. Gucci loafers ... There's no flip flops, there's nothing in between, it's that. No sandals. You have your converse shoes or your Gucci loafers. I was looking at that and you know what's funny? I can tell what kind of mood your in depending on your the shoes you put on. Steve: Really? Jill: Oh, totally. You are all business today. You're wearing your loafers. Steve: Oh. Jill: You wear your Gucci loafers- Steve: Is that good or bad? Jill: It's all good. I just ... I can mentally prepare to what's going on in your world based on the shoes you put on. Nothing else but your shoes. Steve: There's maybe 2 or 3 things in life that I'm extravagant about. Not extravagant, but I will pay full retail price for shoes. Jill: Yeah. Good shoes. Steve: Gucci discontinued these shoes. Here's a funny story. Jill: This is a good story. Steve: Gucci discontinued these shoes and we found a store 2 years ago. Jill found a store that still carried them and still had them leftover in stock from 2 years ago, so she goes and buys- Jill: It was in a Nordstrom. Steve: ... She goes and buys multiple pairs of these shoes, that are not cheap, and put them in her closet. I only know this because I saw the thing on the credit card bill ... Jill: Uh-huh (affirmative). Steve: ... Puts them in her closet and I asked her about it. She's like, "Oh yeah, I plan on, 2 years from now when the pair that your wearing is worn out, you can't take them to the shoe maker anymore, I'm going to give you one of these for Christmas. Jill: I'll whip out another one. I've got multiple pairs hidden, stacked away, so I know we're okay. Steve: That's love. That is Peppermint Patty love right there. Jill: Thank you, thank you. That's exactly what I did. Steve: In this episode, Jill and I talk about nothing phases me anymore. Here's my speech, what's yours? Jill, great show today. Before we start let's take a question posted by one of our members on SuccessPlant.com, our website and our free online community. Jill: Okay, Chaz wrote in and asked, "I started thinking about all the letters I just sent out and everybody can see what I'm flipping them for. May it better to have a separate sell website?" Oh. Steve: Yeah, what I think Chaz is saying is, "I have a website, it's XYZ.com," or whatever, "and I'm sending out on letterhead, sending all these letters to purchase property from people and then they can log onto my website and see them, clearly see that I'm selling them for way more." Chaz, you're darn right. I did respond to you directly in SuccessPlant because this is a great question and I can tell, the first sentence I said was I can tell that you're on your way. If you're having these kinds of thoughts and these concerns, you are in this, you've committed, and you're invested in it. The answer's this: You're dead right. We have a separate buy site and sell site, we always have. Well, not always,
Nothing Phases Me Anymore. My Speech. Whats Yours. Jack Butala: Nothing Phases Me Anymore. My Speech. Whats Yours. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Steve: It's Jack Butala for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cash Flow From Land Show. We show you how to buy property for half and resell it the next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that's me ... Jill: ... And inspiration from Jill, that's me. Steve: Here's some funny stuff that happened to us recently. Jill: I realized Steven's beach footwear consists of ... What ... Are they Converse? And Gucci loafers. We're here for a month, you have 2 things. Steve: I own 2 pairs of shoes. Jill: That's it. Gucci loafers ... There's no flip flops, there's nothing in between, it's that. No sandals. You have your converse shoes or your Gucci loafers. I was looking at that and you know what's funny? I can tell what kind of mood your in depending on your the shoes you put on. Steve: Really? Jill: Oh, totally. You are all business today. You're wearing your loafers. Steve: Oh. Jill: You wear your Gucci loafers- Steve: Is that good or bad? Jill: It's all good. I just ... I can mentally prepare to what's going on in your world based on the shoes you put on. Nothing else but your shoes. Steve: There's maybe 2 or 3 things in life that I'm extravagant about. Not extravagant, but I will pay full retail price for shoes. Jill: Yeah. Good shoes. Steve: Gucci discontinued these shoes. Here's a funny story. Jill: This is a good story. Steve: Gucci discontinued these shoes and we found a store 2 years ago. Jill found a store that still carried them and still had them leftover in stock from 2 years ago, so she goes and buys- Jill: It was in a Nordstrom. Steve: ... She goes and buys multiple pairs of these shoes, that are not cheap, and put them in her closet. I only know this because I saw the thing on the credit card bill ... Jill: Uh-huh (affirmative). Steve: ... Puts them in her closet and I asked her about it. She's like, "Oh yeah, I plan on, 2 years from now when the pair that your wearing is worn out, you can't take them to the shoe maker anymore, I'm going to give you one of these for Christmas. Jill: I'll whip out another one. I've got multiple pairs hidden, stacked away, so I know we're okay. Steve: That's love. That is Peppermint Patty love right there. Jill: Thank you, thank you. That's exactly what I did. Steve: In this episode, Jill and I talk about nothing phases me anymore. Here's my speech, what's yours? Jill, great show today. Before we start let's take a question posted by one of our members on SuccessPlant.com, our website and our free online community. Jill: Okay, Chaz wrote in and asked, "I started thinking about all the letters I just sent out and everybody can see what I'm flipping them for. May it better to have a separate sell website?" Oh. Steve: Yeah, what I think Chaz is saying is, "I have a website, it's XYZ.com," or whatever, "and I'm sending out on letterhead, sending all these letters to purchase property from people and then they can log onto my website and see them, clearly see that I'm selling them for way more." Chaz, you're darn right. I did respond to you directly in SuccessPlant because this is a great question and I can tell, the first sentence I said was I can tell that you're on your way. If you're having these kinds of thoughts and these concerns, you are in this, you've committed, and you're invested in it. The answer's this: You're dead right. We have a separate buy site and sell site, we always have. Well, not always,
Steve's Arizona GunSlinger Hot Sauce Business Failure Jack Butala: Steve's Arizona GunSlinger Hot Sauce Business Failure. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jill: This is Jill DeWit for Land Academy. Welcome to our cash flow from Land Show. In this episode, Steven and I talk about 1 of his biggest failures, it hurts that I'm a gunslinger. Steven, I can't wait for our listeners to hear about this story, so they don't make the same mistakes. Steven: It hurts me, it's a bad memory. Jill: So sorry about that. Steven: I'll share it for you. Jill: I hate to put you through this, but hey, before we start the story, let's take a question from a caller. Steven: Dale, from Vancouver asks, "So really, you don't need a real estate license to do this? Can you please explain?" This is an interesting question Jill, you want to take it, or do you want me to? Jill: I want you to take this. Steven: It happens a lot. Jill: It comes up a lot. You figured this out years ago, and I like your explanation. Steven: I'll give the short answer first, and then I'll tell you why. The answer is you can do it with a license or without a license, and in that effect, there's almost no difference at all. Somewhere along the line, probably a lot of years ago, somebody planted this idea in the American public's head that you have to have a real estate license to be an investor, and nothing could be further from the truth. You don't need to have a dealer license for a car dealership to buy a car, it's the same thing, so no. Very, very, very intelligent people make this mistake. It happens weekly to Jill and I, that people are running out getting a real estate license so they can be a real estate investor. The truth of it is, this is my pain, a licensed real estate agent is kind of subject to a different liability situation, or risk situation than an unlicensed person, because theoretically a licensed real estate agent, at least on paper is more experienced and they should know better. In reality we know it's really based on experienced and that's about it, so no, you don't need a license, but here's my recommendation. Real estate is cool, in most places it's pretty inexpensive. Out here it's about 500 bucks for 2, 3 weeks of education. I always recommend going to real estate school. More education is always better in everything, not just not this. Go to school. Hey, maybe you might decide to take the exam at the end and become an agent, and decided that it's for you, but at the very least you're going to spend 3, 4, 500 dollars and get a tremendous amount of value in a real world experience and learn about stuff. Jill: It's true. Steven: Then at the end decide, so no. Jill: Well I did this way too. Steven: Jill and I are not licensed. Jill: We're not licensed, but [crosstalk 00:02:41] Steven: Nobody here is licensed. Jill: As an investor, it's you buying your own assets, you're not representing somebody else to. Steven: Right Jill. Jill: It's different when you're representing somebody else. That's where the difference is, but people somehow they ... For some reason it gets blurred, and I don't know why. Like I'm buying something for myself and my company basically. Steven: Yeah, I think the blurriness comes from ... I agree with you, it's very blurry. The blurriness comes from the fact that there's a huge machine. There's a huge economic, political machine of people that are very, very interested in having as many license reorders as possible. If they're 1 of the top 5 largest special interest groups in Washington. That's what these fees are about, and these mandatory associations. Realtors have to spend a lot of money just to be licensed,
Steve's Arizona GunSlinger Hot Sauce Business Failure Jack Butala: Steve's Arizona GunSlinger Hot Sauce Business Failure. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It's super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don't even have to read it. Thanks for listening. Jill: This is Jill DeWit for Land Academy. Welcome to our cash flow from Land Show. In this episode, Steven and I talk about 1 of his biggest failures, it hurts that I'm a gunslinger. Steven, I can't wait for our listeners to hear about this story, so they don't make the same mistakes. Steven: It hurts me, it's a bad memory. Jill: So sorry about that. Steven: I'll share it for you. Jill: I hate to put you through this, but hey, before we start the story, let's take a question from a caller. Steven: Dale, from Vancouver asks, "So really, you don't need a real estate license to do this? Can you please explain?" This is an interesting question Jill, you want to take it, or do you want me to? Jill: I want you to take this. Steven: It happens a lot. Jill: It comes up a lot. You figured this out years ago, and I like your explanation. Steven: I'll give the short answer first, and then I'll tell you why. The answer is you can do it with a license or without a license, and in that effect, there's almost no difference at all. Somewhere along the line, probably a lot of years ago, somebody planted this idea in the American public's head that you have to have a real estate license to be an investor, and nothing could be further from the truth. You don't need to have a dealer license for a car dealership to buy a car, it's the same thing, so no. Very, very, very intelligent people make this mistake. It happens weekly to Jill and I, that people are running out getting a real estate license so they can be a real estate investor. The truth of it is, this is my pain, a licensed real estate agent is kind of subject to a different liability situation, or risk situation than an unlicensed person, because theoretically a licensed real estate agent, at least on paper is more experienced and they should know better. In reality we know it's really based on experienced and that's about it, so no, you don't need a license, but here's my recommendation. Real estate is cool, in most places it's pretty inexpensive. Out here it's about 500 bucks for 2, 3 weeks of education. I always recommend going to real estate school. More education is always better in everything, not just not this. Go to school. Hey, maybe you might decide to take the exam at the end and become an agent, and decided that it's for you, but at the very least you're going to spend 3, 4, 500 dollars and get a tremendous amount of value in a real world experience and learn about stuff. Jill: It's true. Steven: Then at the end decide, so no. Jill: Well I did this way too. Steven: Jill and I are not licensed. Jill: We're not licensed, but [crosstalk 00:02:41] Steven: Nobody here is licensed. Jill: As an investor, it's you buying your own assets, you're not representing somebody else to. Steven: Right Jill. Jill: It's different when you're representing somebody else. That's where the difference is, but people somehow they ... For some reason it gets blurred, and I don't know why. Like I'm buying something for myself and my company basically. Steven: Yeah, I think the blurriness comes from ... I agree with you, it's very blurry. The blurriness comes from the fact that there's a huge machine. There's a huge economic, political machine of people that are very, very interested in having as many license reorders as possible. If they're 1 of the top 5 largest special interest groups in Washington. That's what these fees are about, and these mandatory associations. Realtors have to spend a lot of money just to be licensed,
The True Value of Mailer Data (Single Biggest Reason for Our Success) Jill: This is Jill DeWit for Land Academy and this is our Cash Flow from Land show. Today I get to interview Steven [crosstalk 00:00:10] and talk all about mailer data so really the subject is, or the title is, the true value of mailer data. No compromises. It's the single biggest reason for our success. Love it. Steven, I know this one of your favorite subjects and it's one of the reasons we, well maybe it's the key reason, we are also successful at finding and sourcing these super undervalued properties. I mean all kinds of real estate. Thank you for letting me pick your brain on this and get in a little more detail and explanation about it. Why the heck is good data so important? Steven: Do you think we are putting people to sleep with these topics? Jill: Possibly. Steven: What if this was the first podcast we ever did? Jill: Could you imagine? We are going to talk about data. Steven: Who in the heck are these two talking about data and they expect anyone to listen to this thing for more than 40 seconds? Jill: Exactly. Steven: We got to do something fun. Jill: This is hilarious! Steven: What can we do? Tell us a story Jill. Jill: This is going to be going mailer data made exciting. Steven: Tell us something that you've done in your acting class. Jill is an aspiring actor. She is auditioning for commercials and stuff. Tell us some fun super crazy stuff that you have done that is super interesting, that no one else has done. Did you try out a new hair color? Jill: No, here's what's funny though, is that one of the parts that I'm playing in this ... It's a small director showcase of a bunch of different works, short plays. I'm in two of them which I don't think anyone else is in two. I'm a little flattered and I'm a little freaked out cause I'm like "Really?". I'm playing a woman older than I am. One of the first things the director said to me was "We've got to do something about your hair!". Steven: Cause it's too pretty? Jill: It is. It's funny because Thursday night is our dress rehearsal and they're trying to figure out- Steven: Can I go to this? Jill: Can I find a wig? You can't go to the dress rehearsal- Steven: You're play like a 70 year old woman, right? Jill: It's going to be hilarious. Yeah, I play a woman that has a child in their 30s or 40s with kids. Steven: This is every woman's dream is to play a 70 year old woman with makeup and stuff, and get on a stage, and look older than you really are. Jill: Oh my gosh, yes. At first I though, "Oh great, you cast me? Thanks." You know? But then she said, "We've got to make you look old. We've got to do something with your hair. Your hair is too nice, too dark." Steven: So what are you going to do? Jill: I don't know. They have something in mind. Now, that's not my talent[crosstalk 00:03:03]- Steven: They have makeup department? Jill: Yeah, that's not my thing. The makeup people are going to do something with my hair. Steven: That's great. Jill: I don't know what. Steven: You just have to show up? Jill: I just have to show up. Steven: And be an actor? Jill: And sit there. Exactly. Steven: I want to do that. I want to show up for a podcast and not do anything else.
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