Staying Motivated as a One-Person Note Professional
With as many one-person businesses as there are in the United States, you would think that there would be more written on this subject.
How many one-person businesses are there in the country? The number changes on virtually an hourly basis, so no one really knows for sure. In my state of Arizona, there are over 500,000 businesses registered. Yet only about 21 percent of those businesses have an employee! In our little Performing Seller Financed Note Industry I would venture to guess it is at least the same.
This means most note businesses are in the “one person does everything” category. The challenge: How do you keep your energy level and enthusiasm high when you are responsible for everything, and there is no one around to keep you motivated?
I have first-hand knowledge of this problem. I first encountered it early on within the first few months of my first year in the note business. My office was (and still is) my home. I was pretty much all alone, but I was still responsible for everything that the investors expected of a quality note professional.
I spent a lot of time at home on the phone (this was before the Internet). Every day I was fieldling calls from note holders and making follow up calls to try and get them to accept a price and move forward with selling all or part of their note. My friends and neighbors used to call me the “pajama man” because I spent so much time in my pajamas!
During my early years of working the note business my then wife worked full-time, and after I took the kids to school every day, I had the run of the house. This was great because I could watch TV, eat when I wanted and even got hooked on some Nintendo games way back then.
Don’t get me wrong, I did my job and did it really well, but there were times I really had to kick myself in the butt to keep going.
So how did I motivate myself? Let me give you just a couple of tricks I developed to keep myself going when it would have been easy to slack off.
1. Get in the habit of scheduling your day, and get in the habit of keeping your schedule. The word “habit” is the key. Repetition makes it easier to keep a schedule and a lot harder to slack off.
2. Hit the “streets” and talk to potential referral sources or prospects. Get out of the house, and actually talk face to face to other people through networking at different real estate related events, conventions and meetings. And I don’t mean sit at a coffee shop. I mean go sell yourself and the service you offer!
3. Go help someone else. Pick a note holder or associate (someone in real need) and figure out a way to help them — with no thought of return for you. If this doesn’t get you out of the doldrums, then nothing will!
The next time you start getting down, and you don’t know what to do, remember these three tips for not slacking off will make all the difference in the world! Remember success demands action, keep on marketing, it’s going to work! TWITA! (That’s What I’m Talkin’ About!)
Jeff Armstrong of Armstrong Capital has been a note investor and broker specializing in the performing seller financed note industry since 1991. For more updated and current information on how he can help you with your note business, your note investments or to request a quote on a note you currently have visit www.armstrongcapital.com to email him and subscribe to his weekly Note-Able Newsletter.