Flipping Houses with a Full-Time Job

Intro: 0:01
You're listening to the flip houses like a girl podcast where we educate, empower, and celebrate everyday women who are facing their fears, juggling family and business, embracing their awesomeness and wholeheartedly chasing their dream of flipping houses. Each episode delivers honest to goodness tools, tips and strategies you can implement today to get closer to your first or next successful house flip. Here's your spiky-haired breakfast taco loving host house flipping coach, Debbie DeBerry.

Debbie DeBerry: 0:39
What's up you guys? It's Debbie DeBerry here and my dog Dash. She is feeling super needy today, so she's hanging out super close to me. I don't know what's going on with her. Um, maybe it's the beautiful weather and she actually wants to be outside. I don't know. Anyway, I hope that whatever you're up to, you're having an awesome day, that it's been easy and I am grateful that you're spending some time with me. So what's going on in my world? Well, let's see. Next week is Thanksgiving, so we're kind of finalizing what we're doing on Thanksgiving day. We're actually going to be volunteering with an organization called operation Turkey. And there are lots of different ways you can volunteer and what we're going to be doing is actually delivering meals on Thanksgiving day. So I am really, really, really excited about that. I love this time of year. I love donating my time. I love donating my energy. I love being involved in the community. It makes me feel so much more connected and like I'm really living my higher purpose. I am not just focused on me and what's happening inside my little bubble. So I hope that you guys have some awesome plans for this coming holiday. All right . Now I want to do a listener shout out. First of all, you guys, thank you for taking the time to let me know that what I'm doing actually matters. And by you leaving a rating and a review, it really helps this podcast reach more people. So the way it works is the more ratings and reviews that a podcast has, the more likely it is to be shown to people. So thank you very much for doing that. All right , this a review. It cracks me up. Some of y'alls names are just funny. Uh , this one is by sweet little kumquat. That's just hilarious. It makes me laugh. All right , so it says I'm currently in the dip my toe phase of learning about real estate investing. Debbie's podcast is awesome. She shares mindset tips, practical strategies how tos and my favorite interviews with real women who have taken the plunge. I hope to be one of those women someday soon. And I'm thankful Debbie is sharing her knowledge and encouragement to empower more girls like me. Yes. Sweet little kumquat. I hope that I'm interviewing you as well. Uh, your name is so funny. So thank you for the chuckle. I appreciate it. And again, thank you for taking the time to let me know what I'm doing matters. Alright , so what I want to talk about today is something that comes up pretty frequently and that is this notion of I can't possibly start learning how to flip houses or even flip a house while also working a full time job. And I am here to say that that is total nonsense. You absolutely can do this while also working full time or as was the case for me, I had an entire business I was running and I still flipped a house when I first got started back in 2008 so yes, it is entirely possible to do this now. How do we manage our time in such a way that we can actually accomplish all that we want to accomplish and get all the tasks done that need to get done? That's exactly what we're going to talk about in this episode. All right? It's all about managing your time and operating in a way that will allow you to actually achieve anything you want to achieve. Okay? So the first thing is is you've got to set goals the right way and yeah, there is a right way and there's a wrong way. There's an acronym called smart, right? Smart goals. Maybe you've heard of this. So when you're setting goals, you need to keep that acronym in mind. So S, M, a, R. T. the S stands for specific meaning you have to state exactly what it is you want. It can't be a vague goal. Your goal can't be, I want to be a millionaire. That's not specific enough. Great that you want to be a millionaire. What does that even mean? Do you mean tomorrow you want to be a millionaire or in 10 years you want to be a millionaire and does millionaire T you mean $1 million in the bank or is it $1 million worth of equity in real estate holdings? Because those are two very different things, so you've got to be exact and it has to have a metric to it. For example, the women that I work with in my coaching program, the goal is to flip a house within the next six to 12 months because we're being realistic and we know it's ridiculous to say you're going to flip a house in 30 days. Now on top of being specific with your goals, you've got to write them down because you're a lot more likely to follow through on goals that are written down. Then goals that are just in your head and for extra credit, tell somebody, right? Tell somebody else your goal. That's scary, right? It's super scary because then you have to hold yourself accountable because now it's out in the open. That's some good stuff right there. All right, so S in smart is for specific, has to be a specific goal and it has to be a metric. So it has to be measurable. What that specificity is, the M in smart stands for meaningful. Why do you want to achieve that goal? Why is that? Why you want to achieve the goal? Why is that? Why you want to achieve a goal? All right, so you just keep going deeper and deeper until you're left with the absolute essence of why. And it's usually around freedom or family or love or whatever, but it's usually drilled down to one or two words. Okay? So it has to be meaningful to you because your goal might not mean to me what it means to you and that's fine. My goals aren't going to mean to you what they mean to me it is super individual. Okay? The a in smart stands for achievable, so it's excellent to have lofty, long term goals. Okay. But along the way, you've got to have short term goals and milestones that you're achieving or else you're going to feel completely frustrated. You're going to feel like you're not making any progress. So the way I coach in my program is entirely around this. I break things down so that each week the women in my program understand what their goals are for the week, what their tasks are for each module, what needs to be accomplished in order to move on to the next module. That's how you have short term wins on your way to the longterm goal that you're trying to reach. So those are really important for mindset, for morale. You've got to see that you're making little wins along the way. And honestly they might seem little, but every single when you get is huge. Okay, so all right , next one is R for relevant. And what do I mean by relevant? What the heck is irrelevant goal? Well, it means that it's important to you and it is in alignment with your values, your beliefs, and who you are in your core. Okay? So it has to be relevant to you. And then finally the T in smart is for time-based . They have to have an exact date. If it's left open ended. Our brains don't do well with that. So if we have all the time in the world to accomplish something, guess what our brains do. Our brains take all the time in the world to accomplish that something. So you've got to have time limits. You've got to have specific dates when you want to achieve your goals. All right , so that is the smart acronym when it comes to goal setting. That's how he set goals the right way, using that smart acronym. Okay. The second thing to do to really manage your time in an effective way is to use a time management system. So I don't know if you know Stephen Covey , he wrote the book seven habits of highly effective people. I've read it many times. It's something that I read probably every, every 12 or 18 months. I read it again because I always get something new. So the most recent time I read it, his time management matrix really stood out to me. And basically what you're doing is your tagging things as either important, urgent, neither of those things or both of those things. And when you start paying attention to where you're spending your time, you're likely spending them on urgent things. When really for longterm success. Stephen Covey says that we need to be focusing on the things that are important but not urgent. Because usually the urgent things are fires that we're putting out for someone else. They're not necessarily for us. Okay, number three, audit your time for seven days. Now my coach, so I always have a coach and one of my coaches recently said to me that I needed to audit my time and how I was spending it, which honestly I was like, Oh God, I don't want to do that. That sounds so dumb. Oh , so I am incredibly coachable. At first I might be like, ah, I don't want to , but I'm totally going to do the thing because that's why I hire coaches because they are where I want to be in some aspect of my life or business. So that's why I hired this coach anyway, so I had to record how I spent my time and there are some apps that do this for you, which is awesome. So what I did was I used an app that basically was running in the background. I'm on my computer and anytime I did anything, it was recording where I was spending my time and honestly I was pretty surprised at how much time I was wasting doing things that were total time sucks. So record your time and see where you're spending it and if you're not spending it mostly in that quadrant that Stephen Covey says is the most important, which is important stuff that isn't urgent, then you need to rearrange your schedule and put the focus on those specific tasks. Okay? Number four, time block. Like I mentioned earlier, your brain will use as much time as you give it to complete a task. So if I say I'm spending all day seven hours recording this podcast episode, editing it, preparing it to be released on the next release date, then guess what? It's going to take me seven hours to get it done. If I give myself two hours to do that same task, guess what? It gets done in two hours as much time as we are allotted, we will take that time to accomplish the task. So when you're time blocking, I think there are two important things to consider. One, give yourself less time than you think you need and to block out the important tasks. And I will say this, it is incredibly important to block out personal time. If you aren't taking care of yourself, you cannot show up and serve other people regardless of how you do that in your life. You cannot do it well if you aren't taking care of yourself. Additionally, when are you most effective? For me, I'm a morning person. After about 3:00 PM I am not going to be able to brain things for you. I'm not going to be as effective or efficient or productive. So I try to do most of my tasks that creativity or being fully present and connecting with people. I try to do those things before 3:00 PM and ideally in the morning. So know what timeframes you are most effective and most productive. And most awake and aware and present and time block accordingly. Okay. Number five, start your day with a morning routine and I know some people are going to roll their eyes at this one and maybe every single one. That's okay, but here's the thing, if you aren't where you want to be and you're still doing the same thing today that you did yesterday, maybe it's time to change some stuff. Okay? I highly recommend the morning miracle, which is a book by Howe L rod. It's awesome. Okay. It is a fast read and it highlights specifically the reasons why you need to have a morning routine. Okay? For me, the reasons I think it's important are you start your day with intention and you start it proactively versus the first thing you do. Being grabbing your phone and reacting to emails and texts and social media and all of the influx of stuff that puts you on the reactive side of things where you want to be on the proactive side of things where you are dictating the way your day goes, where you are intentional about how you start your day and how you set your day up. Starting your day with a morning routine is incredibly important to set yourself up for success for that day. Number six is along the same lines as time blocking, but this is specific to emails, so blocking out time that you're going to respond to emails as well as blocking out time that you're going to hop on. Social media. Yes, we are all wasting so much time on social media. Turn off your social media app alerts, break the habit of checking your social media accounts every time you get bored or every time you feel overwhelmed and don't know what to do next. Instead of reaching for your phone to check email or hop on social media, take one action step that will move the needle towards your goal. Okay. So schedule, email, response times, and schedule social media time. All right , number seven, take frequent breaks. Okay. Our brains work and learn and produce better in chunks of time. So every 60 minutes or somewhere around there, get up. Go for a little walk. That leads us into number eight, feed your body regularly and with healthy, wholesome foods. Number nine, exercise regularly. It doesn't have to be a five mile jog every day. Go take a walk for 30 minutes every day. You've got to be moving your body. You've got to be taking care of your body. Again, if we are not taking care of ourselves, there's no way that we can show up fully to serve other people. Number 10, meditate. Yep , I know, I know. Roll them. Roll those eyes. I know it . Meditation is incredibly effective for boosting productivity. How well it helps with focus. It helps with tuning out the things that are not important. It helps with energy levels and it helps you sleep better. And guess what? All of those things help you manage your time better and make you more productive. And I know you might be thinking, Debbie, it's too hard. I can't sit still. I can't make those thoughts that go through my head when I try to sit still. I can't make them stop. Guess what? You have to practice meditating. You have to keep practicing meditating and all of those things you will get better at. But in order to be better at the thing, you have to practice the thing. Okay. All right . Number 11 get a coach who can guide you. Look, I grew up playing sports, so I've always known the value of a coach and it goes so much deeper than just the how to of doing something. I mentioned it earlier, I always have a coach. I actually have two right now in , I know that I'm going to get to where I want to be faster and with a heck of a lot less pain if I align myself with a coach. So what the coach is doing is making me more efficient and I value my time just like anyone else does. And I have a huge Mead for efficiency. I am hardwired to make things more efficient. So if I can align myself with a coach who will tell me exactly how to do what it is that I want to do, the steps I need to take, and that person also provides incredible support. You better believe I'm going to align myself with that coach. That's just how I operate. That is my mindset. If I come at it as, Oh, I can't afford a coach, or Oh, I'll figure it out on my own, guess what I'm doing? I am wasting my time and I promise you I'm wasting a heck of a lot more money trying to figure it out on my own. So find a coach who's doing what you want to do and align yourself with that coach. Okay? Simple as that. That's efficiency. Number 12 this is a big one. You need to quickly reboot when necessary. So what do I mean by that? You and only you have to be your source of motivation. And that comes from really knowing and feeling a deep connection to your why and your bigger purpose. But you have to be your source of motivation. You can't get it from anyone else. You have to be your source of motivation because if you're relying on someone else to constantly be that source of motivation, what are you going to do when that person's not there anymore? Be self sufficient and figure out the ways that you need to show up for yourself in order to motivate yourself and feeling deeply that connection to your why. That's the answer. Also, stop making everything about you and focus on your why and serving others. When we stop making everything about us, it opens us up to show up in such a bigger way for other people. Trust me, this can be super hard. I get it. The more I put myself out there, guess what? The more haters come out of nowhere. I become a bigger target. People honestly reach out to me and say the meanest things to me. They don't even know me and they already have this preconceived notion of who I am and they say hurtful things to me and here's the thing. I know that it's about them. It is 100% about them has nothing to do with me. They're triggered by something, but it's not about me. It doesn't make it any easier to take. When someone says something that is totally out of line, it doesn't make it any easier, but here's the deal. Why do I keep showing up? Even though sometimes I'm like, screw it. I don't want to do this. I don't want to take the hate from people who have no idea who I am. It is incredibly frustrating, but why do I keep showing up? Well, first of all, that's my stinking motto for 2019 is to keep showing up. I have it on my sign behind my desk. You see it on all the videos you've seen of me. I have it on a bracelet I wear every day. Keep showing up even when it's hard, but why do I keep doing that? Because the most important thing to me, all of my decisions, everything that drives me and my business and honestly in my personal life is paying forward the love, support and encouragement my mom gave me. That's it. When it comes to business, that means teaching women skills that allow them to be self sufficient and loving the crap out of them as they struggle their way through the challenges as they celebrate huge accomplishments they never imagined they could do. That's why I keep showing up, so you have to find what makes you keep showing up and it has to mean so much to you that all of the potential crap that comes with it, you can overcome it. How are you going to reboot quickly when necessary. Okay. The last one is to stop using time as an excuse. I think the majority of people who say, I don't have the time to do this even though I really, really, really want to and I have a burning desire to do so. I think that they are not being truthful with themselves. I do . I think that what is really going on is that they're terrified and by not moving forward, by not making progress, by not doing things in a different way than they've been doing them. By not trying, guess what? You don't have to risk making a mistake or looking like a fool and knows of the things we want to avoid the most. We want to avoid making mistakes and we want to avoid looking foolish, so stop using time as an excuse. Just try that on in my, not bit at all. That might not be you at all, but what I guarantee you is that the majority of people who start on this house flipping venture do not have the time to do it, but they make the time to do it. The vast majority of people have a full time job. They have another business, they have a busy life, and yet they still make the time to accomplish those milestones on the way to the big, lofty goal. All right , you guys, those are the 13 time management tips that I wanted to give you for achieving your goals. Now, like I mentioned earlier, your ratings and reviews are super meaningful to me and also they help me get my message to more people. So I am on a mission to instill in women that if they want to flip houses for a living, they 100% can do so successfully and love their life while they do it. So if you are getting anything out of this podcast, would you be so kind as to leave a rating and review and help me reach more like-minded women? Also, this is the final push for the end of 2019 because I'm closing down my program pretty soon and we'll reopen in 2020 so this is the time that you need to be out there learning, putting all of the steps together, finding a house to flip. This is prime time right here. And if you're sick of not making progress, if you're sick of putting your dreams on the back burner while you watch everyone around you accomplish theirs or maybe you're watching other people in your city or town flip houses and you know you can do it better because you do it with a lot more heart, but you don't know the steps and you know you need help along the way. That is why we're here. Go to first, flip done right.com and it tells you exactly what you need to do to learn with me and my amazing tribe, okay? You guys, until next time, go out there, flip houses like a girl. Leave people and places better than you found them and make it a great day. Bye y'all.