ShortSaleWealth.com

Have you ever really wanted to get something done, but just didn’t have the time to do it? I know I have… The front yard of my house has needed some attention for some time now. I’m the kind of the guy that is meticulous about keeping the inside of my house clean, but for some reason, I can never find the time to keep up with the yard work that needs to be done. The bottom line is that the front yard needs to be raked and seeded, re-mulched, new plants have to be planted, and it just needs an overall facelift. I’ve been putting off doing this task for some time now, always allowing other things to get in the way. The truth is, I really don’t care much for yard work. Some people get a thrill out of it, but that’s just not me. When I’m outside, I’d rather be going for a walk with my 8 month old son or going for a bike ride out in the country.

In the past, I might have called up a landscaping company and had them come out and take care of it for me, but today I had a different idea. Why not throw the job out there on Craigslist and see what happens? Here was my ad.

I need some help getting my front yard cleaned up this weekend. Preferably Saturday. Basically, the yard needs to be raked, bagged and cleaned up. I need someone who is willing to do a good job. I want it to be raked really good and then you can use my spreader to plant grass seed and water afterwards. I’ll pay $10.00 per hour for this help and I’ll supply the materials. You just show up, feel free to bring a radio, and have fun with it.

If we have enough time, we may also spread mulch, plant bushes, etc… Please email me and let me know what time you can be here and how long you can stay. And please, don’t yank my chain… if you say you’re going to be here, show up.

The results were absolutely mind blowing. Within 24 hours, I got 91 responses. Are you kidding me? 91 RESPONSES!!! I had to delete the ad because I couldn’t handle all of the emails. 15 of the responses came from people that were HIGHLY qualified individuals that had recently been laid off from landscaping companies, you name it. As a matter of fact, 4 of the people had more than 10 years experience building retaining walls. One of the people built the retaining walls for some major corporations here in St. Louis. The point is… there were a LOT of very qualified responses from very qualified people, all who needed a little bit of work in some challenging times.

So, what does this have to do with real estate? Well, this experience got me thinking… how many other tasks in my day to day real estate business could be outsourced to someone like this. Someone that is willing to give it their all, and is happy to be working right now. My mind started getting ideas faster than I could write them down.

So, let me ask you the same question. What is going on in your business right now that you could really use some help with? Why not ask for it? The help is there. It’s also VERY reasonably priced.

Think you can’t afford it? I’m not sure you can afford not to. Think about it… How much is your time worth today? Time is the one resource that every one of us have that is non-renewable. Once it’s spent, you don’t get it back. On the other hand, maybe hiring someone at $10 an hour to do a task that you don’t want to do might free you up to do a different task that could make you a whole lot more!

Just a thought…