Gratitude is powerful. Here are nine things we can all use to leverage the power of gratitude this month.

It’s not always easy to keep up the habit of practicing gratitude as a part of morning routines. Yet, it is incredibly rewarding when we do take the time for it.

Even if things feel tougher right now, here are some of the things we can take a moment to be grateful for before we get into the season when most are focused on receiving and getting new things.

Low Interest Rates

While many might be experiencing the highest interest rates they’ve seen in their adult lifetimes, they are still historically very low. Wait until they hit 14% or 20% again.

If 5% or 7% still seems too high, then check out our current deal, with interest rates as low as 1%.

Opportunity And Ability To Invest In Real Estate

Just having the opportunity and ability to invest in real estate is a huge privilege and benefit. Many people will never realize that they have this chance to control their own financial circumstances.

The Tax Breaks Real Estate Has To Offer

Taxes are not fun. They only seem to be multiplying and going up. Fortunately, along with many other benefits, real estate offers a lot of tax breaks, if you take the time to take advantage of them.

The Freedom Being A Business Owner Offers

Owning your own real estate investment business gives you complete freedom over your own schedule. Many fail to exercise that freedom, and to take advantage of the flexibility or time off it provides. Though you do have control of that.

Convenience

It’s never been easier to invest in real estate. You can find and wholesale homes online without ever getting out of bed. You can get just about anything you want delivered to your job sites to complete house flips in two days.

Humans

As technology continues to take over, and the major flaws in AI, automation, and cybersecurity become even more glaringly obvious, it’s a great time to be grateful for humans. Even if they aren’t perfect either. Those in your family, that serve you, and that work for you, and who are your customers. You can’t make it without them.

Room For Growth

There is plenty of room to do more, and expand and scale what you are working on. Even if you aren’t satisfied with your current situation, be grateful there is so much available for you to do.

The Progress You’ve Made So Far

Even if you feel like you are going to fall far short of your goals this year and there is so much more you aspire to, take a moment to remember the progress you’ve made. No matter how significant you feel it is, celebrate those wins.

How Many People There Are To Help

There are millions of people out there that could use your help. They may need to sell or buy properties, or invest. Each one is an opportunity to grow your business, and to feel great that you are making a difference.

Technology and automation tools can be essential for scaling a profitable real estate investment business today.

However, without a little common sense, jumping on the latest fads can mean you are dooming your business to failure instead of streamlining your way to greater success.

Self-Sabotaging Fads For Real Estate Investors To Be Wary Of

There are countless new apps, software, and automation tools coming out each day. A couple of them may truly be valuable. Most are a distraction.

You should be automating elements of your prospecting, follow up, and systematizing your business so that offers are going out, properties are being sold, and you just have to focus on the big picture of growing your real estate business.

However, some companies have gone to the extreme of trying to go a tech only route, relying on not so intelligent AI tools, and in the process cannibalizing their own businesses.

This is most notable in customer service. Live chat tools became very useful. Users have gravitated to the ability to conveniently chat with businesses online, from their phones, and get real, instant help from humans on the other side. This has been very efficient for brands too.

Now some have tried to replace these human interactions with just chat bots. It doesn’t work. It just becomes a source of frustration. Like old phone systems that just looped customers around, pressing different numbered options.

This problem is compounded by companies like Upwork which have also ended any human customer service or ability to contact them by phone. This is true even for their top revenue producing customers that have helped build and fuel their business for over a decade, and have brought them over $1M in transactions. They are just burning their best and most loyal customers, and brand advocates.

It’s worth noting their stock price has tanked by more than two thirds in the past couple of months because of this. It is probably just the beginning of their downfall. As well as the overall AI bubble, just as we saw with the initial dot com bubble.

The Number One Predictor Of Success

The number one predictor of future business performance is customer happiness.

If customers aren’t happy, the business will go south. This can tank the largest global corporations. It will certainly cut short the life of small businesses as well.

The reverse is also true. Repeat customers are cheaper, more profitable, and easier to work with. They will also help grow your business with referrals.

It’s just basic elementary school math and common sense.

How To Balance Great Service, Efficiency & Profitability

Do use technology for marketing, for following up with those in your CRM, and for enabling prospects to enjoy an automated process, when it works for them.

Just remember that at times many will also need a human. Whether that is by phone, text, email, or chat. Consider that $15 an hour for a great service rep, could help you make or keep a $1M a year customer. Do the math on those returns.

 

How is your real estate investment business preparing for the new era of post digital marketing?

Everything is cyclical. The economy, the real estate market, and marketing. Just as we’ve seen some of the biggest changes in the first two of these, another super cycle change is primed to happen in marketing.

For those that have been in the business long enough, we’ve seen the rise and fall of direct mail, outdoor advertising, cold calling, purchased internet leads, and email, and more recently PPC and social media.

More and more factors are building up to force a new change in marketing, and what works and doesn’t. Ensuring your business is ready, and ahead of the game is likely to make all of the difference in deal flow and cash flow, as well as who survives and grows, versus those that fold.

The End Of Digital Marketing

The trust is gone, and more limitations and rising costs are accelerating the demise of digital marketing as we’ve known it for the past decade.

We recently saw TikTok surpass Google and Facebook to become the most popular website in the world. We’ve seen major online companies that should have been poised to dominate after COVID end up losing 30% to 70% of their stock value, and running into serious issues. Those include companies like Zoom, Netflix, Upwork and Better (mortgage). In most cases they seem to be failing because they made disastrous short term decisions at the expense of their most loyal customers and their reputation.

Google is getting hit with more and more lawsuits and limitations. The latest accuse it of misleading users about the tracking that has been happening even when they thought they turned off location services. This will directly impact PPC advertising and SEO.

Real estate advertisers have also been driving themselves crazy and burning enormous amounts of money on junk. Including new grammar checking apps, SEO analyzers, and joining groups offering tons of self-sabotaging duplicate content, such as blogs and white papers.

This is on top of rising costs from bots, and scams, often initiated by advertising platforms like Facebook themselves.

Then there is spam, spam, spam. Now it is not only phone calls and social media like LinkedIn, but in text messages and ads too. Countless consumers have also been burned trying to buy things directly over social sites like Instagram, and may be vowing only to do business with local sellers they can see and hold accountable.

Post-Digital Marketing: What’s Next?

As consumers and businesses get burned out on digital marketing, grow tired of losing money and won’t even take a chance on it anymore, what’s next?

What marketing will work and be useful after the digital we’ve grown accustomed to? Especially if you are trying to buy, sell or rent real estate?

Half the country has already decided that they want to be free and return to normal activities. They aren’t interested in vax mandates, masks, or restrictions. So, outside of the Northeast and California, expect in person meetups, in person sales presentations, groups, and experiential marketing in the real world to make a huge comeback. More modern, boutique offices may also reappear with new innovative twists.

As more and more people migrate and move, signage may be more important as they explore new areas.

Those stuck at home in the most restrictive states, may see direct mail once again seeing great results.

These are all things that require marketing, just different types. It may be authentic and original mail, pitch decks to present on your device in person, what you wear, etc. The question is, are you investing in these materials and copywriters, strategists, part time, fractional or remote CMOs to help you win in this transition and new era?