How to pivot my current business?
I currently own and operate a real estate investment company that curates discounted investment properties for investors. I have an email list of over 4k clients and still growing, and although that sounds impressive, were not doing as much business as you'd think. My client base is made up of agents, brokers, investors, contractors, and others associated with construction, lending and anything real estate related.
Im interested in getting some ideas on how I can take my current client base and pivot to start a new business providing value via an online service or marketplace of some sort using those same clients.
There are many things that are outdated and cumbersome with Real Estate and although it's a problem I have personal experience with, Im finding it difficult to come up with ideas for a new online business.
Any input is highly appreciated.
Much Obliged,
Sell a sponsored slot on each email.
4K seems pretty good size for such a hyper-focused and high-leverage niche.
Checkout what this guy did with his marketing newsletter. He gets into all the financials, etc. If you can watch the full hour, I'm sure you'll get some ideas from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWLpDu9x8Vk
Thanks for recommending this video, definitely found some gems.
Good to hear!
Thanks, Ill check it out.
Wow, sounds like a great business as it is! Do you only curate properties in certain regions? Thought of creating a franchise model for other entrepreneurs in other regions? Do you charge enough for your services given the value of the deals each property results for your clients? Working with any financial brokers/institutions for investors to create a "one-stop-shop" where clients can use your curated site to find properties, place offers, use your network of agents, lawyers, mortgage brokers, etc. to facilitate the deals, and then connect with contractors in the area to work on the improvements for either resale or rental? Gotta be a way to make this into an ecosystem like Kijiji/FB Marketplace where you not only offer a carefully curated list of properties across the country, but also the resources for clients to make money on the property at the same time. THAT has a lot of value if done right. Pick a property. Run the numbers on the site, see what you need to make it profitable and execute. All in one easy to use site.
Thanks! A small business but a business none the less. Ive given your suggestion some thought but theres alot of hurdles that Id need to overcome to make it work and Im just barely figuring out a small piece of it. Definitely on my list of projects.
Yes, I'm sure this is HUGE undertaking. Good luck with it. Happy to help any way I can if you ever need help. Cheers.
Thanks. Much appreciated.
This might take insane regulatory efforts, but you might want to put properties on the blockchain (Ethereum). There is already a lot of speculative liquidity.
Yea this is definitely alot to take on. Great concept but from my experience I dont see this taking on for a while the Real Estate industry is far behind on adopting this kind of tech.
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Yes I've just realized that. Im noticing that most businesses today work the other way around where they build the business and later have to spend time and money to get their clients. Im basically trying to reverse engineer my business by using the audience from my current business.
To your point, I literally just did this today. I sent out a survey to my list but so far only 6 out of the almost 300 opens have responded but all did say yes.
Im leaning towards building a community/marketplace for all things real estate. Ive noticed that there are alot of RE communities on Facebook and reddit for those in the industry but I havent seen one place that really caters to them and connecting the dots.
I would say that the client list is most valuable asset but other then that I have a website that we use to list deals and promote ourselves. Im basically a one man show and most of the business has been built on good marketing and word of mouth.
The main struggle is automation and scalability, for two reasons, lack of systems and money. Also lack of inventory (specially now) and the nature of the business where you can work a deal for weeks or even months but it will fall through.
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This is great feedback, I'll definitely keep all this in mind moving forward.
Im just starting to learn how valuable it is to sit in on these community forums and see what kind of problems are out there to be solved.