What Would A Virtual Assistant Do For Me?
I get calls from various agents and brokers throughout the country, and one thing they ask me is:
“I don’t know if I have enough stuff for a full time real estate virtual assistant. What could they do for me?”.
I guess I should fire a few answers back at them, and dive into what they are currently doing and NOT doing to promote themselves, which I have done, but recently I haven’t because It seems more powerful if they answer their own questions, so I typically try to talk about what led me to outsource my business, and what I wanted to be doing more of.
I tell them, I would like to write more blogs, because I enjoy it but my business has me answering emails and phone calls all day, and paying bills.
I would like to start using Facebook and Twitter more, because I enjoy that aspect of promoting myself. I can go into how much I hate doing Broker Price Opinions, and preparing for listing presentations.
Sometimes my focus wonders, and I start talking about spending more time with my kids, taking piano lessons, going sailing, all stuff I wanted to do more of — and all of the stuff I have been doing more of since I outsourced my business.
I have also noticed that brokers tend to equate the amount of business you do and money you make to how successful you are in life. My opinion is a little different. I closed 73 transactions last year, which grossed my company $604,000.00 in commission income. I pay my team of virtual assistants about $2,500.00 monthly, so for an annual payment of $30,000, I have 3 virtual assistants. I meet a broker who closed 250 deals last year, he has a about 13 physical employees and pays $395,000.00 a year in salaries. His gross commission income is $1,250,000. Simple math tells us he makes $646,000.00 more per year than I do. I respect what he has done, and I love talking to guys in his league. You get to see inside of a million dollar a year business. Some people may think that’s small potatoes.
Most Real Estate practitioners know that there are a bunch of other avenues that come from that type of business. Those avenues can increase your bottom line. I am interested and try to grow from the interaction between us. We start talking about inter-office frustrations, paying salaries for people who are mediocre workers. I smile, I have been there and can say I will never go back.
The conversation switches to lifestyle. I explain that I have just returned from the Philippines, how I went there for 1 month while my business ran virtually. Next, I talk about Brazil and how I am leaving in a few months to spend the winter there (winter for the U.S. but summer time in Brazil), then I talk about house boat trips and working from home whenever I feel like it, now and the conversation changes, suddenly I am the one who the millionaire Real Estate Broker is envying.
I give them a chance to talk about their plans and all I hear about is more plans to make more money, late nights organizing campaigns, no vacations, no personal growth. Then, I wonder what my lifestyle is worth and wonder when they consider making future plans. Is it the money that is important to them, or the status?
Can someone actually set up a business that runs on its own and does so virtually, allowing you to plan the rest of what you want for your life, to plan your personal wealth?
Visit me online at https://www.myoutdesk.com I would love to help you get set up with some virtual assistants services and you’ll see how it works.
