6 Skills Real Estate Investors NEED Before 2030 (PART 1)

The World Economic Forum recently released research that shows 40% of the skills that we rely on today will be changing by 2030. One of the biggest takeaways of this report was that access to information will not dictate the success of real estate investors.

What will make a difference is their capacity to interpret information, lead teams, adapt quickly, and make strategic decisions. So we have prepared Part 1 and Part 2 episodes where we're going to break down the top 6 skills that you can start developing now. Let's get started with the first 3. Welcome to the Real Estate InvestHer Podcast, a top 1% show helping women achieve financial freedom by investing in real estate. And now your hosts, Liz Faircloth and Andresa Guidelli. So this report identifies the growing capabilities across multiple industries. So let's break down the first skill set, analytical thinking and problem solving. Many real estate investors have an opportunity to sharpen that skill in a single day every day, right? We get to do that. So when, what exactly does that mean? So the report talks about being able to analyze complex projects, to evaluate patterns, and really think outside the box when things are not obvious. So when it comes down to real estate, that can be applied when analyzing a new market, a partnership, passive investment deal, the list goes on and on. But let's talk about the skill itself. Liz, Do you believe that in order for somebody to develop this skill, they need to be a quote unquote analytical person?

I don't, because I would be really SOL, shit outta luck. Now, uh, for the G-rated people listening, no, I, I think most people think they have to be this analytical personality to be effective in, in as an investor. You don't necessarily have to be that personality, but you need to develop a skill set. And here's what I mean by that, right? There's some people naturally, right, based on personality, they're just data-oriented people and they're like that in every area of your life, right? Andresa, you're analytical and you're analytical in your personal life, in your professional life. It's not like you—

I think I'm medium.

You're medium?

Because there's those people that— I'm like medium.

You probably are medium analytical. I agree with that.

There are some people that are really like— to analyze and I'm like, I'm gagging here.

I agree with you. I agree with you. So I do think for me, right, thinking about my own personality and then my own skill set as an entrepreneur as well as a real estate investor, I think I come from more of a, you know, people orientation, building relationship personality, right? And not someone who wants to get bogged down in tons of detail. And quite honestly, I'm not the most fact-based person. If I shouldn't be on a debate team, probably. I don't know if you want me on your team on debating things.

I want you to charades with me.

Yes, I'm very good with charades. I know my skill. I know my, I know my kind of natural tendencies. I'll say not, but, but, and as an investor, you do need to have a kind of a base minimum on analytics, meaning there's like analytical of like diving into deals, right? Andresa diving into the analytics of, of income and expenses. That doesn't mean you have to be the person that's taking the first stab at all of those analysis. However, you need to have kind of like the strategic analysis to be able to say, okay, where are the trends moving? What are the market demands of this community? Does it make sense to do a fix and flip in this community versus a buy and hold versus a short-term rental versus a co-living, a luxury build, right? Luxury builds aren't being done in every community.

Why?

Because the demand is not there. Very simple stuff. However, that is part of the analytical skill set, something that comes up for me is there the community that I'm building a luxury new build, there is an appetite. There is again, strong demand, low supply, always a good place to be in with real estate. Now, strategically, I'm already thinking about a future project. Obviously, you've got to get this project complete. But if I'm, if I'm having success with the GC and the team, my next thought is what's the next opportunity if I'm having success with what I'm doing? So it's interesting because what's coming up for me, Andresa, is that I don't know if it's luxury builds. Number one, land is scarce on the river. I'm, I'm not gonna be able to build like 10 more luxury builds where I'm building right now. It's the only one that's actually there that I can actually do. What comes up for me is like, where are the trends? What's the pain points in this community? And we are in a more luxury boutique community and people like families coming into the community who wanna actually have their kids in the school system, They just can't afford to live here. They just can't afford to live here. It's as simple as that. And I do think, again, depending on land, there's a lot of question marks I have. I don't have all the answers, but if you can create more attainable homes for people who wanna live in these kind of communities, you're gonna be on the side of solution. Now again, I don't have all the answers on how to do that just yet. However, that is an interest, right? Something I, I may explore. That's what being analytical in this business looks like. You're, you're already a few steps beyond, right, Andresa?

Yeah, I think when it comes down to analytical thinking and problem solving, I want all of you that are listening to considering that all the different challenges that you face in your life, you build a muscle. So I was born and raised in Brazil and I'm, I come from limited resources. Don't get me wrong, I don't come from poverty and then like, oh, you are starving. Nothing like that. However, we had to really think about the resources, the access in school and different, different areas to really do a lot with very little. So that forced us to really be creative and problem solving. So when I come to the US and I saw the, for my master's degree, the bill was $75,000 and I needed to show that amount on my bank account in advance. And when you, you do the, the currency transfer, it was 5 times more. So of course I didn't have that, right? So I needed to think about how I'm going to do that. So I leveraged my relationships and I got a sponsor that put their, you know what, in the line in order for me to say, okay, this is how we're going to do it. And I got a scholarship, so they didn't have to pay for anything, but they trust. And it's like a, my first private money lending situation type of deal. But for all the women that are listening, I want you to think about all the different things that you went through that are not necessarily related to real estate. You guys solve different things. For all the mothers out there, you are problem solving on a daily basis. So I really want you to do not discard that skillset. I want you to bring that skill set. I don't care what that is. It is the muscle that you can apply and challenge the status quo. That is, I think, what they're talking during this, this report and like how we are going to think differently. Information is not going to be what differentiates successful investors from others. It's their ability to think and collaborate faster and adapt super, super fast. So that's what we're talking about. Let's go on one thing here, Liz, before we go to skill number 2. So analytical thinking and problem solving, everything that we do during InvestorCon, we wanna make sure that you are applying those skills. So here's a session at our upcoming InvestorCon where you will be able to apply exactly what we just talked about. So the session called Spotting the Shift: Investing Where the Market is Headed with Trixie Castro, she's going to share with you a framework that you can follow all about analytical thinking. How does she separate herself from the market and look at the data in order to make decisions? The second session that we are going to have, it's one of my favorites. It's a signature of InvestorCon. It's called Good deal, bad deal. This is a hands-on session. We had Kim Kiyosaki presenting two deals and we were like analytically thinking, okay, which one would you invest in? Why? Where are the holes? All the above. This year the theme is passive investing. So how you can look at the deal and based on your goals and where you, you are going, you are headed, which passive investment deal you would invest. So it's really a hands-on exercise, and Whitney Houghton is leading it. She's going to really break down what questions should you ask when you are evaluating it, what questions should you ask yourself, and what questions should you ask the person that you're investing with so you know exactly if you guys are a good fit. All right, the second skillset I love this one because it applies across any industry. It's leadership and social influence. And the word leadership, Liz, I think it's, it's very broad, right? What does that actually mean to lead? And I think many people believe that, oh, I don't need to develop that until I have a big team. So it's like that corporate vision. Well, what would you say, Liz?

You know, leadership isn't about leading a team. It's about leading yourself, right? It begins with yourself. And what does that look like? There are solopreneurs. There's a lot of women listening that are leading and they don't have a VA or they don't— a virtual assistant. They may not have even a GC. We have some women doing all the work themselves for some of their projects. And ultimately you are leading yourself. If you are the only person working for you right now, well, then that's what you got, right? And then we want you to move beyond that. That's, that's a lot A lot of the work we do, Andresa and I do, investors—

It's not sustainable.

And it's not sustainable.

We know you can handle, honey, we know that.

We know that. We got that.

But, you know, you're, that's not why you're investing in real estate, to get another job and then, right?

Right.

But before we derail, let's go back.

But in order to, in order to build a team, you know, we work with real estate agents. You know, team is so broad. Let's go back. It really does begin with yourself. And leading yourself means that you are aware of who you are. You are aware of what you bring to the table. You're even aware of your gaps. So every time I'm working on a project, my leadership begins with me assessing not just who I need, but where my gaps are on the team, in the process, in whatever we're trying to accomplish so I can mitigate those gaps. That's, I think, a critical leadership skill. And if you think, oh, I could just do it all, or it's not a big deal, or we'll figure it out as we go, you're gonna be behind. You're gonna be behind because of just that nature of thinking. So it begins with yourself. Once you get beyond yourself, it is about bringing other capabilities and capacities to the table. And that's simple, right? I mean, it's simple, but it's not always done, I should say. And I also think it's common sense, right, Andresa? People would often say, yeah, build a team, build a team. I don't think people though really step back and say, okay, Who do I need to become in order for me to lead others? And when I say that, the hardest part usually is when people don't report to you. They're not on your payroll. You're influencing them, right? You're— they're maybe a contractor, they're 1099. Everyone I'm working with on my, my build that I was sharing, no one technically works for me, but that is my team right now on this project. And how I enroll, how I'm Clear with what I want and need. All matters, right? Who's leading whom? I expect a designer to be leading me in design. If I'm leading them in design, then one of us is not needed. Now, who's leading the project? That's me. So as you're exploring, what does leadership mean to you? It begins with yourself and it also begins gaps, strengths, and then those A+ players around you, whether they're Contractors are not part-time. They're not. The value and the quality of the person is the most important part versus like, are they full-time? Are they part-time? That's secondary, right? That's what most people think about. So that's the work I think to be done in terms of leadership.

One of the, I would call, quote unquote, resistance of people leading a team is because they say that, oh, it's gonna take so much time to, you know, tell people what to do and blah, blah, blah. So I wanna make a differentiation between leading and managing. I think a lot of people get confused with that. I was on a call a week ago with somebody and she said, I have 3 VAs. And I said, how often do you talk to them? She said, every day. On Monday, I tell them exactly what to do during the week. And then on Tuesday, I remind them of what to do. And then I keep telling them what to do and reminding them what to do. And I'm like, wow, that sounds Overwhelming. She's like, yes, I am, because I was told that hire a VA and then they will save you time. And now I am like spending so much time leading them. I'm like, you're not leading them. You're actually managing them. Have a call with them on Monday and they bring to you what is the priority for the week with KPIs, meaning how do we know we are making progress? What is the deadline of it? What we're trying to achieve? And they know if they have a bottleneck, then they raise the issue to you. And that's when you guys brainstorm. But there is not a possibility on earth that I'm going to have multiple meetings throughout the week in order for that to happen.

One of the simplest things that I, and I think you and I have used this as a tool in our toolbox for many years, and it seems so simple that like, I'm actually gonna say this on air, As a leader, being on the offense is more important than being on the defense, meaning you're not reacting, you're responding. And one way to really set yourself up for success is literally to have recurring meetings with your team members, whether the structure means a group or individually. Just that alone saves— what time does that save? It saves tremendous amount of time. And then everyone's clear on who's leading the call and what you're what the agenda is for the call. Obviously that's important and critical, but just having a recurring meeting with a team member is so useful and helpful that that's not done. We went to a mastermind, Andresa and I, this past weekend, and we were talking about, I forget whom we were talking to as we were masterminding, but it came up, but how often do you meet with them? Oh, we don't. We just chat a little bit in the morning. Oh, hold on, hold on. We can chat, but if people aren't structured in the sense of, okay, This is when we meet to talk about X, Y, and Z, and this is the expectation. This is what success looks like. Then you're all just kind of chasing your tail, their tail. And that to me is leadership. That is one of the key parts of leadership is to have recurring meetings with your team so you can move forward, right?

And I'll, I'll tell you, I'll be very honest. Leading a team is a skill set that I had to develop, right? Because I have very little patience. With people in general. What? Yeah, that's, it is what it is. I think, I think fast, I move fast, I'm analytical, I don't linger around. So the way that I had to find the right people to work with me, I had to sharpen my skills on hiring, right? Liz and I had to find the right people with the skill that could be also a good match based on their experience. And also put guardrails because it would make me nuts if I had to meet somebody every single damn day to remind them of things. If I have to remind people of it, I'm not using tools. I didn't set the expectation right.

Mm-hmm.

Did you do it? Oh, I thought it was for next week. Oh, so let's put in place somewhere that we know, we both know what the deadline is. Where are we tracking all the above? Otherwise, I think people spend so much time doing the managing of it since there are tools, there are guardrails, standard operating procedures that can reduce so much waste of time. And then when they meet, it's to solve a problem, to achieve a goal, to brainstorm a bottleneck that is holding them back. That's when the brains come to play, not to say, where can I find this link? Ah, come on. Let's go, right? Who has time for that? And I think that that's sometimes the frustrations of a lot of investors that they are managing. And of course you're damn overwhelmed.

Yeah.

Right? Which leads to, you know, Liz, you talk about partnerships, like starts with ourselves and then with the team, right? Another layer is when you have a partner, you are running a business with your partner. What do you do when you have two leaders, right? Then what? So when it comes down to leadership, we have a session and I'm very excited that you guys are gonna be able to attend at InvestorCon with Cass Lazaro. Cass and her husband Mike sold their company for $745 million to Salesforce. You heard it right. So they went from bankruptcy to selling it. Building successful businesses together, and also being married. So they're all about partnerships, and she's going to be breaking down what it takes to lead a team, lead a company, and also lead one another. What are the roles and all the good stuff about having a partnership, how to deal with conflicts and still focusing on the growth of the business. What's that?

Conflict. I don't know about that.

What are you talking about? Right? So it's crucial that we also develop the skill. It's not something that, oh, they have the secret sauce and that cannot duplicate it. Every single session at InvestorCon, we are really like squeezing from each speaker what is that you learn and how can they be transferable to every single attendee. Liz, skill number 3, I think is one of my favorite. It's all about clear communication. And I, throughout the years, and still something that I don't think it's something that I'll ever stop. I probably will be listening to this podcast years from now. I'm like, what the hell was I trying to say? Right? Because that happens when I look at emails that I sent in the past or social media posts. I'm like, what the hell I was trying to say there? That's unclear. So I'll tell you a story that, that happened to Liz and I. Her and I traveled to Milwaukee to go through a communication workshop and had this character, he's a character, Pat, his name, was leading the group. So several entrepreneurs stood up and shared what did they do. Very simple, short and sweet. And Andresa Guidelli stood up and she shared the following sentence, and this was years ago, so I still remember it. She said, I help entrepreneurs going from crazy to lazy. And I'm like, what? Did I hear that wrong? Did she just say that she helps crazy people, only crazy ones, go from crazy to lazy? And how is lazy better than crazy? Right? I had a lot of questions. There was a lot of questions.

Lots of questions.

And then Pat has this thing that he pretend he was calling his sister. So, so we could hear what we just said. He's like, so he pretending that he's calling his sister and say, hey, I have somebody here and she's helping entrepreneurs going from crazy to lazy. Do you have anybody? And then like, well, that sounds very weird. The women said, I was like, exactly. So what does that actually mean? He asked a lot of questions. So in a nutshell, this woman was helping entrepreneurs that have chaotic businesses for the lack of systems and process in place, putting those things in place so they can then go to vacation, spend time with family at the beach and not doing anything. I'm like, that's very different. To what you just said. And my point, Liz, is that I believe that now more than ever, people are using ChatGPT. Yeah. To be clear, but they don't read what ChatGPT gave them, and then they send it or they post it without really looking at it.

And it makes no sense.

It's too confusing. Yeah. It's too confusing. I'm like, I don't even know what does that mean? So one thing that I would recommend all of you that are listening, Ask ChatGPT to criticize what you wrote. Say, critique what I wrote. Point out any gaps that you see. If you were reading this for the first time, would you be confused? And what questions would you ask? So you're basically playing devil's advocate against yourself in order to become more and more clear, right? And that, that's something that I do it all the time. I'm like, oh, okay. All right. Because English is not my first language, so I might think I'm saying something, probably this is happening now, but I'm not actually, right? So it's a constant, it's a constant evolution. How, how did that show up for you, Liz?

The other thing that pops in my head when I think about really clear communication is the differences of how people actually communicate. So like you were just saying, Andresa, right? English is not your first language. I always joke that English isn't my first language either, even though I was born here. But I, you know, for a lot of reasons, but man, I missed those classes early on. I really should have go back to elementary school. No, I'm just joking aside. I think different personalities, right? I was sharing a little bit about the extrovert who likes to build relationships. They also tend to be verbal communicators. So their way of communicating is effective to them, but may not be effective to someone who's like, what is it you're trying to say here? Is this a brainstorm session? Is this like a, Is this just you verbally sharing? Is this actually direction? It could be very confusing to other people who don't have that communication style. So a few things, right? For those listening that wanna be more of a clear communicator, they need to create outlets to brainstorm and get their ideas out in certain ways, of course, 'cause that's how you process things. But then if you're presenting or you're trying to enroll someone in a contractor, a lender, then that's when you really should have some talking points, right? That's not when the brainstorm necessarily happens. So being really clear with yourself where you need to brainstorm and where you need to verbally kind of share is really important. I don't just brainstorm with everyone about everything. That's not what I do. It's not effective. So I think as a clear communicator, knowing what you need to be more clear in your communication begins with you, right? Back to leadership. I think for the introverts or people that need to kind of go away and think about it, they need to do the same thing. What do I need to prepare so I can be very clear in my communication? Because they may under-communicate, they may be too quiet, and then they're like, shoot, I should have said this, I should have said this, I should have said that. So I think that both personalities can kind of either over- or under-communicate, but be mindful of what you need so that you can clearly communicate. As I think that's everyone's ability if we take the time and we're actually present and mindful, right?

So for at InvestorCon, I'm gonna share two, two sessions that you are going to gain the framework to communicate better. One of them is all about raising private money. I have countless conversations about people not being able to raise private money, and I say, let me see your deck. And they say, what are you talking about? I'm like, that's what I'm talking about. They don't have a deck. That would efficiently present themselves as the experts, share a clear picture of their experience, the deal itself, and have clear next steps. So we are preparing a workshop that you're gonna walk in without a deck and walk out with a deck ready to go before InvestorCon starts. The second session that I believe This can make the difference between you getting a deal and not getting a deal. And it's really the, it's called the lender's playbook. What that is, is what do you need to have in place already so when a deal comes, you can get funded super fast. There is a playbook and you should be aware of it. So you are just adapting in a few things, but majority of it, you already have it. So you can paint a very clear picture about who you are to the lender and why is this deal a good deal for them to fund it. So love those two sessions for all of you. The first one is with Lauren Burchell. She's a pod mentor of ours and she's going to break down the, the deck for you to raise private money. And the second one about the lender is with Brenda Chen and Melissa Gorda. Okay, so I hope you guys attend those two sessions. Now let's talk about the fourth skill, but you're gonna have to go to the next podcast because this is just part one, right? Take a break, go to the bathroom, grab a cup of water, and I will see you on part two. Thank you for listening. I hope you found today's conversation valuable. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. And share this with the women in your life that needs to hear it. I'll see you next week.