A short YouTube interview between Mark J. Podolsky and Sharon Vornholt (recorded April 24, 2015). After light conversational opening about coffee, Sharon identifies the top reason investors fail: lack of a marketing plan and failure to implement it. She recommends having 3–5 lead-generation strategies (direct mail, website, networking, Craigslist, bandit signs, etc.), committing marketing as the daily priority, and allocating roughly 4–6 hours per week (more when starting or working a full-time job). Closing notes provide links to Sharon's blog and podcast.
Questions this video answers
April 24, 2015.
The lack of a marketing plan and the failure to implement that plan.
Three to five strategies for finding leads.
About four to six hours per week (minimum); possibly more when starting or if working a full-time job).
louisvillegalsrealestateblog.com (and her podcast 'Let's Talk Real Estate Investing').
Chapters
Hey, it's Mark Podolski, the lane geek from the Lanegeek.com and today having a virtual cup of coffee with me. You know her, you love her. Sharon Vorlenholt, Louisville Galsrealestateblog.com Sharon, how are you?
I'm great. Great to have coffee with you today, Mark.
What are you drinking?
Got my drink.
I know, but what is that? Is that a cappuccino, a Frappuccino? It's not a Frappuccino.
It's a plain coffee. Just a plain, generic, good Keurig coffee.
So a good Keurig coffee. So there's no agave, no sugar, no splenda, just black coffee?
No, No, I didn't know you were gonna get that detailed. No, I got a little bit of 2% milk and a little bit of steak stevia in there.
All right, look, I'm. I'm, you know, a coffee geek, a land geek. I gotta know these things, Sharon.
I'm a coffee snob.
Are you really? So am I. I've got. I've got the whole aeropress thing going. We'll have to talk about it after the. After our coffee talk. Okay, so let's get into it. What are we talking about?
We are going to talk about the number one reason investors fail.
Okay. What is it? Because I don't even know.
You don't know? It is. It has to do with marketing, and it is the lack of a marketing plan and the failure to implement that plan.
So what do you suggest?
Well, there's really about six things, you know, they can do. The first thing is they need to have three to five strategies for investing, you know, for finding leads. And it might be a little different for every business, but all in all, they're going to be pretty simple. So you, for instance, you might do a mix of direct mail. You might get some leads from your website. You might have networking in there. Maybe you work Craigslist. But there are lots of ways. I'm not the bandit sign person, but some people hammer up bandit signs. But the point is, you can't just have one or two. You know, you need multiple strategies, and then you need to commit to a certain amount of time for marketing. You know, marketing can't be the thing that happens after life happens. You have to, you know, I usually tell people four to six hours a week, kind of at a minimum. If you're in the beginning and you're still getting your list and you're still putting together your direct mail, it might take more. You may, if you have a full time job, you may have to work nights and on Saturday. But everybody, you know, marketing should be their first thing that they do every, every day. That's, that's their job to create leads coming in their business. Because, you know and I know if you don't have leads, you don't have a business.
Yeah, absolutely. It's so funny because for everybody that's heard Sharon on the Best passive income model podcast, she talked about two books and one of the books was the one thing. So of course, being the geek I am, I just read it. And I have to tell you, I think that the one thing in real estate when you first start out should be marketing. Do you agree?
I agree. It's got to be your sole focus because if you don't have lead, all the negotiating, the talking to sellers, you're not going to have anybody to talk to or anybody to negotiate with. So marketing is your job. If you're short on time, it's marketing.
Right. I love it. All right, Sharon Vornhold, thanks so much for having a virtual cup of coffee with me. Where can we learn more about you?
You can learn more about me at the Louisville galsrealestateblog.com or let's talk real estate investing PODC.
I love it. All right, thanks everybody for spending some time with us and having a virtual cup of coffee with us. Learn more about me thelandgeek.com and I'll have a link to Sharon's blog because let's face it, nobody can. I can't even spell Louisville. I can spell real estate and blog. So I'm going to link to Sharon's amazing blog. Sharon Vohenholt, thanks so much. And after this call, I'm going to beg you to come back on the podcast.
I. I'll be back anytime, Mark. Thanks for having me.
