Syndication Business Toolbox
The Essential Resources for Running Your Business
Todd Heitner
Do you have any suggestions for effectively managing time?
Ellie Perlman
Yeah, one of the things that I’ve done and I learned it from Gary Keller, the founder of Keller Williams. He wrote a great book called “The One Thing”. So, if you’re out there, just go get the book because it’s amazing. But basically, the bottom line is, in order to grow and to manage your time better, you’ve got to focus on what really matters. So take the four, you know, three or four hours of the day. I used to block them and work only on the things that I knew that were instrumental to my business, to my growth. So basically, you kind of got to ask yourself “What is the one thing that by doing it, everything else is easier, or I can basically eliminate many other tasks that I have?” And so, for me, for instance, the answer was underwriting deals. You know, it took me so much time and I spent all my time on it. I didn’t have time to speak with investors. I didn’t have time to really look at other deals on a strategic level. And so, this is the one thing that I focused on. At first I was only underwrite myself, which was a good exercise. And then I realized “Okay, I need to find someone who can do it more effectively.” And then the shift was “Let’s find someone who can underwrite.” And so that’s what this whole thinking process was helping me understand. So, and then it changes and then it was “Okay, the main focus is to find the next deal and what do I do?” So, in the first three or four hours in a day, I would call brokers, fly out to Atlanta, for instance, and to Dallas to see the properties. And so, I devoted a lot of time to basically run the number, sorry, not the numbers, but review it with my underwriter, but build relationships with brokers so I can bring more deals. And so just blocking the time in the morning was very helpful for me because it forced me to focus on the most important things that could actually bring my business to the next level.
Todd Heitner
And so do you like during that time, do you kind of block out other things like email and text messages and that kind of stuff?
Ellie Perlman
I wish I did. This is very hard for me to do. I know that some people do. If they can do it, you know, that’s great. I didn’t do it, but I was I didn’t have kind of a running. You know, I do have a to do list every day. You know, I have I’m looking at it right now. I have about seven or eight different things I need to get, I need to do. But if I don’t start doing them and if I don’t start answering emails in those four or three hours, it still coming in. I want to know if there’s an emergency, but I don’t reply to them. I just focus on what I need to focus on. That was very helpful for me.
Todd Heitner
Yeah, I can see where it helps to do the those really the most important thing first in the day because it’s pretty easy if you don’t if you put it off later in the day, it just doesn’t get done. A lot of times it gets put off till tomorrow and then the next day. So yeah, it’s good, good advice.