Dale on the Daily

Your Network Is Your Most Overlooked Business Asset

• Dale Kerns • Season 1 • Episode 12

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Ever wondered why some real estate investors seem to close deals effortlessly across multiple markets while others struggle to gain traction? The answer often lies not in their strategies or systems, but in the strength and relevance of their professional networks.

In today's fast-paced real estate market, who you know—and more importantly, who knows what you're trying to accomplish—can be the difference between struggling to find opportunities and having deals flow to you naturally. This isn't about collecting business cards or growing your LinkedIn connections. It's about strategically building relationships with people who align with your specific goals and can help you overcome obstacles you haven't even encountered yet.

Take my recent Chicago deal as a perfect example. Despite never having done business in that market before, I secured a property under contract and had it assigned to a buyer within two days—all through one phone call to someone in my network. This wasn't luck; it was the result of deliberately cultivating a relationship with that buyer long before I needed their help. We had previously discussed other potential deals that didn't materialize, but those conversations built the foundation for success when the right opportunity finally presented itself.

For wholesalers especially, understanding the distinction between acquisition and disposition is crucial when building your network. If you're focused on finding deals, connect with people who excel at selling them. If you're strong at selling, network with those who can find opportunities. Being crystal clear about your goals helps you identify exactly who should be in your network.

The most overlooked aspect of effective networking? Visibility. You must be vocal about what you're doing and where you're trying to go. People who want to level up their networks are looking for others with similar ambitions. Don't let fear of judgment keep you from fully engaging in communities filled with like-minded professionals seeking mutual growth.

Ready to transform your business through strategic networking? Start by evaluating your current connections against your goals, then take deliberate action to build relationships with those who can help you reach them. Your future success may be just one relationship away.

Speaker 1:

Today I want to talk about your network. You hear everyone talking about your network and the famed. Your network is your net worth and I believe having a good network and the right network is severely underlooked by most people. When I first started out, I got into mentorships and went to meetups but didn't fully understand about leveling up my network and building a network. Just being in a mentorship, facebook communities or going to meetups isn't enough. You need to immerse yourself into those groups and really take the time to meet people and build relationships. Having the access to the right people in those communities is invaluable and you don't realize how much success you could be missing out on because you're not building your network properly.

Speaker 1:

If you're looking to build or change your network, you first need to know what you want, who you want to associate with and what your goals are. Knowing who you are and where you want to be and how you want to get there will help in finding the right network and who is part of that network. For example, if you're wholesaling and your hedgehog concept is wholesaling let's say virtual, nationwide like myself, you wouldn't want to get into a network, group or community that isn't wholesale. They're doing something else and that's not your hedgehog concept. You wouldn't want to be associated with that group and that community and build your network off of that, those networks and communities they're not going to be the right place for doing that. To go deeper, you also need to know the goals you want to achieve so you can identify the people in your network and who you want and need to associate with to achieve those goals. So, for example, currently in my wholesale business I'm more focused on the acquisition side than the dispositions or selling my deals side of that business deals side of that business. So within the communities and mentorships I've focused on building my network and relationship with people that are involved in the dispositions. That way when I get a deal under contract, I know exactly who I need to reach out to. That can help get my deal sold and closed.

Speaker 1:

Just this past week I got a deal under contract in Chicago. Now I've never done a deal in Chicago and therefore I don't have any contacts in Chicago, but in my network of people I had previously built a relationship with someone that buys properties in that area. I immediately reached out to him. We reviewed the details. I had some pictures of the deal, sent it to him, let him know what was going on and within two days we had signed an assignment. So I'm assigning the deal to him and he's going to be buying it. And that all happened within only a couple of days one phone call because we had already previously built that relationship. So we're both in the same community. We had previously spoken about other deals. We've even looked at some other deals before that didn't go through. So we had already had a relationship built because of that community, because I knew what he did, he knew what I was doing and I was able to reach out to him and secure that deal with one phone call. So now that we're doing that deal together, that relationship is gonna be even stronger and better. The next time I reach out to him about a deal it'll be even easier to close than previous because we've already built that relationship.

Speaker 1:

So, knowing that my goal is to grow my wholesaling business, specifically at the moment my acquisition side, I knew I had to find and build relationships with people that can handle the dispositions. So I knew my goals, I knew where I wanted to be. Therefore, I knew who I needed to talk to and was able to build the correct relationships around my goals. So this has already helped increase my network and my net worth by being able to get deals closed easily through the relationships that I've built.

Speaker 1:

So once you're in those communities, another part of building your network and probably the most important in my opinion is being loud about what you're doing and your goals. You get into those communities and people need to know what you're doing and where you want to go. If you just sit on the sidelines and don't participate or don't communicate, no one's going to know who you are, no one's going to know what you're doing and they're not going to know your goals and people looking to level up their networks. They want to work with people who also want to level up their networks. So, to dive in a little bit, you need to really immerse yourself and let everyone know who you are, what you're doing, what your goals are. Then you can find people who you, who can help you grow now and in the future. You'll know better who you're looking for and also they'll know who you're looking for. If you're vocal about what you got going on, what you're doing, what you're looking to do and where you're trying to go, they can find you as well as you find people.

Speaker 1:

So I made a video about taking action and part of that video was on getting over the fear of opening up and being judged by other people and just taking action. So this is the moment that you need to let that go and really just take action. If you're in the right communities and network of people, nobody's going to judge you for wanting to better yourself, do better in your business, level up your network and really grow. That's what these communities are for. And if you're in the right community with the right people, then you're all there for the same reasons. You're all looking for each other. So these are the people that you want to work with, grow with and make money together with. So you need to put yourself out there.

Speaker 1:

The old saying you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Once you do, you won't know what you're missing by networking and building relationships with other people. Having the correct network and relationships with people is invaluable. Having a good network is a key element in your success. You need to build it now and then keep nurturing it over time and really building that foundation of one the communities you're in, having that right network and then building the people within that network. They're going to help you grow yourself, grow your business and really level up together and have the success and obtain the goals that you want to obtain. Let me know how your network has helped you in your success. I appreciate you tuning in and look forward to you seeing you on the next video.