Entrepreneur Interview

The past couple of weeks we have had an assignment to seek out and interview an entrepreneur.  As soon as I saw we were given this assignment I knew immediately who I wanted to interview.  There is an entrepreneur in my old ward who is a rental property business owner.  I wanted to interview her in the past when I was given this assignment, but it never worked out.  I knew this was the perfect opportunity.

I set up an appointment and went over to her house on Friday, November 11.  I did not feel like I had to ask her the questions in order that I had on my sheet as I felt the conversation flowed naturally and she would address the question sometimes before I even got to it.  

Here are the takeaways I got from our interview:

1. Start as early as possible, but only go as fast or as slow as you can handle
• The younger you can start in your business the better. Don’t wait too long because sometimes it takes several years to truly see the fruits of your labors.
• Go as fast or as slow as you can handle financially and stress wise. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and if you take on too much too fast you fail to do any of the things that need to be done.  Your business (and even your personal life) will suffer.
2. Pray for the direction you should go
• Always seek direction from the Lord in every decision and in how to manage your time and money wisely. 
• Be willing to follow that direction.
3. In the rental property business, it is nice to have a good cop/bad cop.
• Have one person who is the softy and can be kind and nice all the time.
• Have the other person be the one who is a stickler for the rules and can enforce them.
4. How to best manage finances
• When repairs are required, try to do as much of the work as you can as possible to save yourself money. Search google and YouTube videos or take classes at Home Depot or Lowes.
• Don’t get swayed by the large sum of cash that comes in at the first of the month and then spend it all before the month is over. Create a budget and stick to it.
5. Constantly be doing your homework.
• Make sure you get an appraisal and a home inspection to make sure you are getting a good deal.
• Look into creative financing or do things differently to get the down payment for the next purchase. 
• Always be reading or studying the market and the internet to find other deals or other ways to improve.

While a good majority of the things we spoke about I already knew, she tweaked some of my thinking or gave me other ideas to pursue.  I was able to tell her things we had done and she would say, "maybe you could try this."  I felt it was more of a refining process than a complete learning process.  It was really nice to be able to bounce ideas off of someone who had somewhat done what we are trying to do.  In her case, I found out they just have the one mobile home park and some one room cabins that they rent out and they have not tried to gain any other rental properties nor do they intend to.  So there were a few things she was unable to help me with, but overall it was an amazing experience and I felt like we are moving in the right direction.  I just wish we could have moved there a little sooner in our lives.