What’s in a day
New and aspiring investors often ask me what a typical day looks like for us. I’m not sure we have “typical” days. Some are just smoother than others.
Take yesterday for instance.
I woke up and was at the gym by 6:15 a.m. (Note: Ashley is there by 5:15 a.m. We play tag team on our workouts to make sure someone is home with the kids). By 7:30 a.m. I was back home. We read scripture, got the kids up and ready and were at our level 10 meeting by 9 a.m.
Level 10 is our weekly leadership meeting. We go over last week’s tasks, check our quarterly goals status and spend time working on issues our leadership team needs help with. This meeting is huge. It keeps us accountable, inspired and on track. It lasts for an hour and a half, so we were finished by 10:30 a.m.
After that, I had a few calls with contractors working on our flips. Then I headed to Home Depot in Calhoun to make some necessary purchases. Once complete, I went south to door knock in Bartow County.
I went by five houses. During that time, I got a call from Candice who keeps the kids on the days Ashley comes into the office. My 5-yearold had pushed something up her nose and had it lodged in there. Candice was looking for ideas on how to get it out.
At the next stop, the tenant was a homeschool teacher, a nurse and, most importantly, a mom. After talking about the house, I asked her if she had any suggestions on the clogged nose. She told me a doctor would have someone hold the clear nostril shut and blow into the child’s mouth, which pushes air through the other nostril and should dislodge an object. I thanked her and immediately called Ashley who had went home to help. She tried it and it worked.
At 1:30 p.m., I had an appointment with an out-of-state seller. I was meeting their tenant at the property for an inspection. This took about an hour, and the tenant was up front with me about the property’s issues. They also told me about a vacant house. I went to investigate it. There, I got a call from my insurance man, Steve, saying one of our new acquires needed to have a handrail repaired before he could issue general liability coverage.
We’re running low on contractors, and this job needed to be done ASAP. So, I cut door knocking short and headed back to Gordon County.
I went by Calhoun Home Depot again and got the needed supplies.
When I pulled up, the house’s new roof was already being installed. I love it when a contractor shows up when he says he is going to. I pulled around back to stay out of their way and get closer to the deck.
While I was there, the teenagers came home from school. You see, we bought this property with a tenant installed, which is not normal. The teenagers just assumed I was a worker. When we got the rail up, they began to talk about how long it had been since it had broken. I asked how it had happened. At this point, one of the girls did a half sashay as she said “P-A-R-T-AY.”
Apparently, they had had a wild enough party that someone had fallen though the handrails and gotten into a fight. These kids were barely driving age. Not a good sign. They were also inquisitive as to whether I partied when I was young and still like to today. I assume they were hoping to score an alcohol purchase. When I told them “No, I don’t,” they said, “That’s lame.”
What was great about this interaction was I got to find out what kind of people were living in this house. And because I didn’t walk up and announce to everyone I was the new owner, they just started divulging information to a supposed worker. Needless to say, they won’t be staying long.
I finished up the rail and was back home by 5:30 p.m. Then, we went to the fair for some much-needed family time.
And that, my friends, is what’s in a day.