This last week has been a roller coaster ride . So , guys , I want to talk about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship life , but better yet , just keeping it real with you guys . So this week I want to talk about the highs and the lows . So , first off , I was able to get a first time home buyer family into their home .
We closed yesterday today is , excuse me , february 27th and they were able to close February 26th , so congratulations , yay , that was a very good high . Some of the lows were getting people coming through our housing development that we're doing on Baird Park and people are just not seeing the value . So that has been a struggle .
The other aspect of the low side is it weighs and when we're not selling houses the way I think we should be selling them , it weighs on me and it really it gets me anxious and full anxiety . And so welcome to entrepreneurship , business ownership , whatever .
And part of that anxiousness is money making sure you always have enough money for your business , for yourself , to make sure that you can pay the bills . And I've had some sleepless nights of not being able to shut my mind off and say , yeah , I am not worried about this , which it's a flat out lie because I am worried about it .
Then , the other side of this over the weekend we had three showings of our houses and Saturday into Sunday we got some feedback . The buyers didn't like this , they didn't like that , blah , blah , blah . And I didn't think anything of it come around Monday . Yesterday , we got an offer late in the day and it was a full listing price offer .
It's being grossed up because he is a veteran , so he's using the VA and he doesn't want to . He doesn't want to pay any closing costs , which is fine . But to say I was surprised that this happened yes , because the back and forth that happened with this realtor was pretty short of oh , we're thinking about putting an offer in .
We might put an offer in , but not sure how that's all going to play out . And it was around dinner time here in Arizona I got a phone call from our realtor and they said , hey , we've got an offer on the table . And she said do you want the good news or you want the good news ? I'm like damn , if we have both good newses can't be wrong .
And she tells me and I'm like that's a good offer and it's healthy . They want to close the deal . And it's healthy . They want to close April 2nd . They don't want to close on April Fool's . So that's fine with me . But To say that I was surprised , it's a good thing .
The bad thing is we still have a few things to do on this first house that needs to be tidied up , and it's all money related , because we've got to do the backyard , we got to put the fence up , we have a stump that needs to be grinded down , and then we need to finish up the front yard , the stairs , and we're going to put a walk path in and some
mulch . That shouldn't be too hard . It's just the stuff in the back , because there's some I don't know if you want to call them seedlings smaller trees that need to be pulled out , but I'm being told we might have a bobcat that can do most of this work , so we'll see what that looks like . So that is definitely a positive .
The second house is done and there's some minor things that have to be done too , and I think we're going to have them give us a quote to get that backyard done on the second house . So we just get it over with . But we've been working on this one buyer and this is part of the ups and downs , because this is a down .
I've been working with this potential buyer since January , late December , early January and it's just been a slow , arduous process to get all this paperwork to me to figure out what he qualifies for . But we're now almost two months into this business and we're just finding out . He said he was a veteran , which I got his DD 214 .
He was a veteran , but he didn't serve long enough on active duty so he doesn't have enough points to get any type of status so he can have a veteran excuse me , a veteran loan .
So I had to tell him that , because he finally gave me his caseworker at the Veterans Administration and I went through it with her and I said all I need to know does he qualify , yes or no , and if no , how many points does he have and what is he missing ? So she walked through all that and explained it to me .
So then I was able to then go back to him and explain that you have not been on active duty , we're not on active duty for long enough . And he said we did it back in 2014 . I said , yes , she told me about that because she'd been his caseworker for all that time . And she said back then he didn't qualify either and he was already out of the service .
So being able to have that conversation with him and letting him know that he didn't qualify for the actual veterans benefits was tough . But now we are actually closer to the finish line because now we're going to put him into a VA excuse me , an FHA and he's already attended Hope of Evansville , which is our non-profit that does down payment assistance .
So he's got that done .
And then he found out that he's been working through another housing program there , local to Evansville , that he has an escrow account that I don't know how much is in there I know it's more than $100 and I know it potentially could be close to $1,000 to where that money is his as soon as he graduates his program and he has to do one more housing I think
they call it a housing counseling course . I'm not sure the exact terminology , so don't get angry at me , but he can get that money free and clear . They literally write him a cash years check and say this is yours and you get to use it for whatever you want . That's huge .
So I'm looking forward to getting him into the second house , but we still have the second house on the market . We're marketing it .
We're going to do an open house this weekend to where they can walk through the first house , even though it's pending , and they get to see what that first house looks like and then they compare the two , because we did the second house a little different and we're going to do a barbecue , have some hot dogs and have some drinks , get people out there , get
them excited and get them really pumped up about the development , because we've got 13 more properties that we need to go through . So that is a good thing .
So I've talked to you guys about the highs , the lows , the ups , the downs , but now I want to tie it into personal , how it affects me and , I'm sure , for you guys out there that are small business owners , entrepreneurs you guys know what I'm talking about .
When you're up at night making sure that you've got enough money to pay the bills , I'm with you on that that's a pain in the butt because when you go several months without selling a house or closing a loan , it becomes very tough . And people think that being an entrepreneur is you have all this time and money , and it's actually the opposite .
You actually are very limited on time , because it's your most valuable asset , so you want to make sure that you're using it effectively through the day , whether it's through blocking your calendar , making sure that you're doing revenue generating actions , steps , whatever you want to call that . And the last is you're getting enough rest .
And I know that I'm not getting enough rest because I'm stressed out and being stressed out isn't good , but also , at the same time , I have to get this stuff done , I have to get these things taken care of and in the end , it is going to be on my back . So how do I balance all this out ? I really have to start each and every day with quiet time .
I journal , I read out of a Bible , I read out of the Bible and just get focused , because it helps me with anxiety , because I know what I have to accomplish on a daily basis , and it all revolves around making sure we have money and the business is flowing . Now you're probably saying , well , it sounds like your business is not doing well . That's not it .
I could have more than enough money in the bank and I don't want to go through it . It's not . It's just one of those things that I worry about , and I think , once we have three or four houses going and they're sold and we're in that groove because we've taken a little bit of time of getting houses sold because the market sucked for a while .
We were going against the grain on the market because rates were so high . Once we have that going and we're planning the flag three and four times consistently , I think I'll feel a little more comfortable . But it's still going to be a bother .
And for you guys out there leave a comment in the notes I'd love to hear how you guys overcome anxiety when you're worried about the future . You're worried about money because it's not easy and I know the only way to take it or not take it , excuse me to handle it is to take it head on .
But if I don't start my day out with focus and being very strategic in what I do to help myself with my mindset , my day is destroyed . And I have to make sure that I'm getting this right , otherwise it sets me up for failure , and that's tough . Failure sucks but it does lead to success . But failure in this sense is demotivating .
It really pounds on you and the best way to describe it is I know and I'm not trying to run away from the failure , but I'm trying to minimize the failure that is not going to teach me to grow and be a better leader , to be a better person , to be a better entrepreneur husband , brother , whatever uncle , friend .
I'm running away from the thing that is stopping me from being more successful , and that is anxiety , and I know a lot of us . We suffer and struggle with it , but in the end , part of that anxiety helps me stay focused .
The other part of it keeps me down and I have to find a way to channel that anxiety even more to make me more hyper focused on certain things , to get them pushed out , Because as soon as I can get those things done and push them out and check them , they're done .
There's relief , but sometimes it's the act of getting started that is the most daunting thing to do , and that's where I want to end here , guys , is this is it's the act of getting started . We always think about how we can make things perfect , to make everything work for us , and it just it doesn't work that way .
Sometimes you have to just go and actually do it , because in the end it's never going to be perfect . If it were , then everyone would be doing what I'm doing or doing what you're doing . Everybody wants to be an entrepreneur and a small business owner , but how many actually go and do it ? Not many .
There's not a lot of us out there , and I say that because a lot of us got out of the business because that thing that happened in 2021 and 2022 , the vid , and it brought people to their knees and they just didn't want to take on any more pain . I get it . It almost did the same thing to us .
It brought us to our knees , but we were able to bounce back and move forward . But now I'm at that point to where I keep on hitting these walls and its nervousness and its anxiety . I know I'm knocking on something bigger and I have to continue to push forward .
It's just tough at times and the only way to get through the toughness or the hurdles is setting my mindset right in the morning , journaling , reading chapters in the Bible . I like to read positive affirmations . There's just something about setting my mindset right in the morning to get me focused , to get me grounded . That gets me there .
Now , if that could potentially not work for you , I get it . I'm just sharing what I'm doing , but the problem is real If we don't take our anxiety on right out of the shoot in the morning ? How can you focus on any type of revenue generating tasks to set yourself up for success ? All right , guys , that's it for this week .
I hope you guys have a great one . Stay safe , stay healthy . I'll see you guys on the other side .