6 Skills Real Estate Investors Need Before 2030 (PART 2)

Welcome back to part 2 of 6 skills real estate investors need to build by 2030. If you have not listened to the episode prior to it, part 1, highly recommend you to do it so you can connect the dots and start from the top. So let's get to the skills number 4, 5, and 6. 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.

Welcome back to part 2 of 6 skills real estate investors need before 2030. So the fourth one, Liz, is resilience and adaptability, right? Especially when the market change and there are things that you can control, others you cannot control. So how do you see resilience? What is the secret?

And I love what you said. Resilience is the ability to stay steady when plans shift, right? And to make decisions that obviously protect you and others. So staying steady to something when plans are shifting and like there's so much uncertainty and there's so much maybe not working is not easy, right, Andresa? That's not, I always say, for the faint of heart. I do believe, though, that I've been through with you, with, you know, my other business partners, my husband, all of the above, a lot of opportunities to be resilient. I really do have that. I do feel like I have a muscle. When I think about resilience and what I wanted to share with everyone here is that it's not on the outside, right? I think it gets developed on the inside. And in one way I develop, and I have developed it over the years, is by making sure my cup is full. And here's what I mean by that. This isn't just like having the massage or getting my nails done, although I really do like getting my nails done. And Jess has inspired me to get my nails done. It's actually one of my favorite things to do now. It's beyond that though. Filling my cup means what do I need on a daily, weekly, monthly basis so I'm full emotionally, physically, spiritually? Those are the three big ones for me. And I am able to be more resilient if my cup is full, maybe not 100%, but certainly should be on the air of at least, I like to say, 80 to 100%. And what does that look like? Am I gonna control everything happening around me? No. So what do I have control over? On a daily basis, I take my vitamins, I work out, I exercise, I move my body. The days that I can't get to the gym, I at least take my little pup for a little bit of a longer walk. I do my daily prayer and meditation in the morning. I have moments of joy. I'm intentionally looking for joy, even in the midst of just a lot of really tough things. I know people listening are like, you don't even know what's going on for me.

Yeah.

That is really difficult. I don't know what's going on for you, but I can tell you that I have my share of things that I'm working through as well. And what I do believe in terms of resilience is that your resilience muscle increases when you look for joy in your daily life, because you may not be able to find it all the time in every single business situation. So that's on a daily basis. On a weekly basis, highly recommend having some time to yourself. I call it the state of the union. Pick 50 minutes on a weekly basis and do some journaling. Ask what's coming up for you. Ask what's working, what's not working. Having a little date with yourself has been one of the biggest ways I'm able to deal with resilience. 'Cause for me, I'll just keep pounding. My MO, my past has shown me that I'll just keep pounding with my head down, and then I'll wake up and be like, why am I so frustrated? And I don't want that for myself. Anymore. So the weekly State of the Unions, Andresa, helps me get out of that kind of just doing mode and action mode, which I can fall into just like all of us. So that helps. On a monthly basis, I'm very intentional with creating some fun and adventure in my life that really fills my cup in a way that— and usually move my body, playing a sport of some sort. Really good. I played some pickleball this past weekend when we were with our Strive members and our Be the Host mastermind. And my cup was like, that really was those, so created a, like, ooh, that was a little bump in my cup being full. So for yourself, those listening, resilience is not on the outside, it's in the inside. And it's really about how do you fill your own cup so that you can deal with all of what life is gonna give you, right? The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Absolutely. And the other part of this skill number 4 is adaptability. And For many women that are listening, you are used to work hard, right? And it's a, yeah, it's like a mantra. Yeah. Many times—

Badge of honor, you like to say, right? Yeah.

A badge of honor. And many times working hard will not solve the problem. And adaptability is the capacity to be aware of yourself, your surroundings, and adapt. How I communicate with one person is not the same way that I strategically communicate with other people, depending on what is the intention of the call. If it is more of an enrollment call, if it is a sales call, if it is a brainstorming call, I might show up differently. And I think that many times we use, oh, this is not me, and I don't wanna become somebody else, and then you don't adapt. That will hold you back from growing your real estate business. I adapt. I, I think I'm like a chameleon many times, but I'm aware of it. Not a chameleon in the sense of like you go with the flow and then you, you lost your identity.

Well, it could be a fakeness, right? Because sometimes—

Yeah. In a fakeness way.

Yeah.

I think it, it would be really out of alignment if I'm not very intentional on how to build relationships. So I am an integrator, Liz is a visionary. She's more relationship-oriented, I am more process-oriented. However, if I put my hat on of building relationships, I'm coming to a call really from that point of view. I will adapt, I will chitchat about the freaking weather, about I don't even know what people talk about, right? But I will do the talking in the beginning, the little 5, 10-minute chit-chat. In my head, I'm like, oh, please.

You're not doing 10 minutes, first off. 10 minutes is a complete lie. 5. 5.

2?

2. I think 2.1 seconds.

How long can you talk about the freaking weather though, right? So versus going to the point, 'cause I know that, oh, you're from, where are you from outside Philadelphia?

Ah, right?

Nowadays it doesn't really matter when you're actually from, does it? I don't know, right?

But I totally start my calls with typically where people are. You know why? There's a strategic reason. Here's a million-dollar reason I do that. It is not for just chit-chat. Now, if I'm somebody who naturally builds relationships and I'm going to be someone who we're building a community of just not strategic knowledge, but access to resources and people, I do need to know where people are located from a market awareness, from a just expanding my kind of relationships, if you will. So I have people in different areas that I can call upon, especially when we're doing pop-ups, we're doing events. That's why I ask where people are from.

Totally agree.

All right.

But people are asking me like, how is the weather in Philadelphia? That's the other question. I'm like, who cares?

I don't know about that.

Right? Who cares? But I do that. So I think adaptability, it's something that you are aware And it's strategic.

Yeah.

And you go with the flow and not more hard work. Not necessarily you're going to get the results that you are looking for, but many times you cannot see it, right? So that's when, again, you need self-awareness and need other people to give you the feedback. No, don't do that way. Do this way, cuz I did it this way and it worked. So one of the very one of my favorite people that are going to be presenting at InvestorCon. Her name is Alicia St. Germain. I met her when I was starting my real estate investment journey. I was doing a Rich Dad Poor Dad training. She was one of the trainers. She trained over 10,000 people and she's going to be speaking at InvestorCon about the power of decision making, how to stop overthinking, and create a framework so you can follow and feel very confident and optimistic about your decision. So this is very important to create a framework that you can follow when you are thinking about adapting one way or the other. Very cool session, so don't miss it. The next skill set, skill number 5, motivation and self-awareness, right? So when it comes to self-awareness, I think this is the starting point. This is where, this is the beginning. I don't think it's enough to make a change or to adapt, right? Somebody being aware of their strengths and shortcomings, it's also not a, not enough for them to change and become what they need to be in order to live the life that they want. Research done by Harvard shows that 95% of people believe that they are self-aware. However, actually only 10 to 15 are. So the main reason is that self-awareness required auto-reflection, and also feedback. So the key is, if you're not surrounded by people that you like, trust, and respect, that can truly give you accurate, honest feedback, you're just stuck in that self-awareness loop, but not changing anything.

I'm not a Harvard professor, of course. I'm not one of those, but I, I think there's also, here's a reason there's a gap. I think theoretically—

We'll send this to Harvard for them to adapt.

Yes, send this to Harvard and be like, oh my God, Liz Faircloth is brilliant. She needs to come to be a visiting professor. I think there's a gap between, and here's where the, why the 95% versus the 10%. I think there's a gap between what people want. I think people really want to be self-aware. I think 95% of people want to be self-aware.

Okay.

And I think then about 10 to 15% are actually self-aware. Aware. Do the work. To do the work. It's like most people wanna be financially free. There's a lot of wanting of people. However, when the rubber meets the road, are you able to put your ego and your, you know, humanist, if you will, aside and hear what people have to say? And that's hard. That's hard work. It's not, I don't think that's easy. Just like becoming financially free, being an entrepreneur, making the long list of hard things, right? I think increasing that 10% to more 95% is asking the question, but then being willing to listen and then do something with it.

So let me ask you a question, right? Wouldn't you think that the 10 to 15% would increase if people had deeper relationships with one another? Because let me tell you something.

Sure.

Somebody that I just cross on the train station.

Don't care.

Know nothing about this person. I'm not gonna don't give a damn about their feedback at all, right? So it really depends on who you're getting the feedback from. I do take feedback from people that I like, trust, and respect that can come and honestly, I know that they have my back. They have no intention to do any harm or anything else, but they care enough to give me a feedback that might stink, at the beginning, but it might be beneficial later on. So don't you think that if people had more honest and deeper relationships, they will be more open for feedback?

I do. I do think there's value though. So for example, I'm facilitating a workshop, I'm speaking at an event.

Okay.

And there's certain people that I don't have trust, they don't like trust or respect me, right? They're meeting me for the first time.

Sure. There are some people that when you don't have the opportunity, right, there's a tension you can control.

There's tension, but there's also just this, who are my customers? Who am I trying to influence? And does their opinion have value? I remember, just a quick story, I remember teaching and facilitating a, is actually a communications workshop to one of my clients when I was doing consulting. And I was rolling this particular training out to It was like 7 different states right before I had Zach. It was right before I left the company that I was working for. And I remember in these moments I would read all the feedback forms, who thought I did a good job, who didn't, what was their feedback. And I was so attached to the feedback in a way that I was like depressed if they gave me a 1, if they gave me a 5, I was happy for the day. My whole way of looking at myself was placated on these feedback forms of people who didn't even know me. Right? Which is crazy. My point though is there's value of getting feedback, asking for feedback, and getting feedback from people who don't know you. Now, how attached I am to that feedback and what I do with that feedback is the work. Because someone who's self-aware, I can't be all things to all people, but do they have something to share that actually can make me more effective in my role? Well, then I'm gonna do that and not be attached or not beat myself up. And so I agree with you, the trust, like, and respect, but I do, it's fascinating what people think of you when they don't trust, like, and respect you. And what do you do with that? Is it helpful? Is it harmful? It just depends on how not attached you are. I think that's the key.

I was on a global workshop, workshop, no, conference in New York City. And Simon Sinek, the guy who wrote the book about the Why, He was talking about feedback. The timing of feedback can be very crucial. So he was sharing that he attended a play, a Broadway play of a good friend of his. And at the end where they come on the corner and they sign the autographs and things like that, she looked at him in the eye and said, so what did you think? Right? He hated the play, but that was not a good time to tell her that there were room for improvement in different areas of the play. So he said, you did an excellent job. Let's talk about it later. Right? And I thought, excellent, because the person is not in the capacity to receive the feedback at that moment. And I think that for you and I, when we are in mastermind or workshop, We do a mastermind at InvestorCon. I don't know a lot of people there. So many times we feel the resistance, right?

Sure.

Which is natural. It's like, who the hell? You actually don't have the full picture.

Full picture. Right?

Yeah. Of it. And that's why building relationships, I think, will facilitate much more of, of self-awareness when you're like, you care enough to tell somebody, uh, what you are seeing with the intention of growth. And you're courageous.

And you're courageous. In those conversations. You've taught me that, Andresa. I was always from the vein of, well, if someone doesn't ask me, am I gonna really just give unsolicited advice, right? Who am I to do that? And I think when we're courageous and bold, people we, again, like, trust, and respect, and we're like, wouldn't it have been helpful if I was in their shoes? Would it have been helpful to get this feedback? And if the answer's yes, and you do it in a way that has some compassion, and you're not hitting someone over the head, there's no bad that can come out of that. And I had a conversation with someone after an event, you and I chatted with a colleague. I said, you did it. It was a great event, but I'd love to give you some further feedback if you're open to it. Had a call with her a couple weeks after the event, gave her some feedback in a really constructive way, in a helpful way, I believe. And she's like, thank you so much. No one's been sharing anything with me. You're the first person who gave me feedback and this has been so helpful. So more of us, Andresa, need to give feedback to one another, unsolicited, in a way that has that compassion and is clear, certainly, but is courageous. I think we as women need to be doing more of that in our lives.

Absolutely. If you see it, right? If you see how somebody can do something better that is gonna help them achieve their goals, might as well, right? So at InvestorCon, we have a session about wealth planning. And if you're like, oh, another session about financial planner that's going to tell me what's la— no. The difference between this session is that is all about you thinking about your life first and then having the strategies to fit and not the other way around. We know so many stories about financial planners that don't even include real estate, that don't even consider the season that you are in your, in your life, and they're proposing things because they're gonna get a commission or is what the market is saying. So you are with the masses. So in this session with Mary Lyons, we are matching your goals with your life. We're going deeper. So you're gonna be answering a lot of questions and people are gonna walk out with different plans cuz that's how it should be versus, hey, follow this strategy here because this is the secret sauce. Skill number 6, is technological literacy. I barely could make it saying those things.

Say it 10 times really quickly. We'll see if you get 'em all. No.

Right? It's beyond being aware of what is available nowadays that can facilitate the process, the communication, and having a pulse of different parts of, of your business. So how do you see technology and more specifically AI nowadays, Liz, helping us grow our real estate portfolio?

Yeah, I mean, well, I think there's so much to AI, right? It literally is evolving as we go day to day. I will say, though, from a tech perspective, I think the biggest mistake that many investors are making is that they're— when they're analyzing, say, a deal, a market, a situation, right back to the analytical skill, we're relying on, okay, what's working with the person? They're very people-related or even system-related. More importantly, though, what is a tech software process put in place, something that's tech-enabled that will help facilitate the solution quicker, faster? Like you're saying, get a pulse on whatever information is missing or you're behind on. For me, I'm very aware— give an example of asset management. Obviously, there's a lot of people and teams that are doing asset management, right? They're ensuring that And the building is being run according to the business plan. Bottom line, whatever the business plan in terms of occupancy, vacancy, you know, NOI, etc. More importantly though, are there systems or processes or softwares out there that asset managers are using beyond like, say, the property management software or a report that they're getting? I came across something I've never seen before. Again, doing some initial due diligence may or may not be useful, but I'm like, that's interesting. So Again, is there softwares and tools and tech that could be enabled to make the people on your team more effective? That's really a leadership question versus is this person doing a good job or not? Well, that's one thing. But in terms of the tech part, I think we all need to ask those questions and have people around us helping us answer them. And certainly using AI, right, to potentially source some of those softwares and seeing what's working, what's not working, what's quicker, what's efficient, et cetera.

Googling things is dead, right? The key now is to ask your AI and get the answers fast. So I actually don't use AI as a tool. I use AI as a team member. It's an advanced brain that I get to tap to do anything from recipes to answer my 5th grade son's math test. All the above, to analyze a deal, to put together a project, projections, to analyze documents, to compare documents. Hey, compare this document with this document. What is the difference? What was changed? All the above that I don't need to spend too much time looking at it. It does not substitute my brain, right? But I don't think it should substitute yours either, but it accelerates, it boosts how I get things done, and it's available right now to anybody. So why not take advantage of it to the good, right? So during InvestorCon, Dr. Rachel is going to do a workshop and help you build, not just talk about it, not just theory, but together you will build not one or two, but 5 AI assistants that can help you support your real estate business. So this is a hands-on. If you know about AI but you don't know how to do it and you really need somebody to help you build, this is it. This is going to be done on Sunday before we kick off InvestorCon. So you're going to walk in without knowing nothing about it and walk out with a team ready to go, right? It's very important that you don't get overwhelmed by it. You just embrace it. Embrace the technology, use to your advantage. You don't need to be an expert, but not leveraging it, you're gonna be behind. That's just thinking like, oh, I don't use emails to communicate, right? This is crazy to think about. Same thing for for AI. So, whoo, part 2 is over. Thank you so much for listening. Do something about what you heard here. Join us as investor at InvestorCon, June 14th to 16th. It's a curated event for women building wealth on their own terms. As you can tell, those are action interactive sessions oriented for women who are really committed to build not just a portfolio, but the life that they truly want to live. Thanks so much for listening. Bye.

Thank you so much.

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.

¡Gracias!