My Entrepreneurial Journey and Discovery of BBQ #1
03/31/19 • 26 min
Tim started his adult life in the Marines as an intelligence analyst. During those 5 years, he learned some valuable lessons and also realized that he did not want someone to dictate how much money he would make. He then got into insurance sales, which was foundational to his understanding of the market and real estate before he made the career shift to real estate investing.
Initially, Tim was a project manager for a real estate investing company, prepping homes and keeping things moving along so the company could be productive and successful. From there, he and a business partner started Sprint Partners LP and got into the area of owner financing notes within real estate investing. A few years later, he met the woman who would eventually become his wife and his true entrepreneurial journey began in 2006.
The first 2 years of their endeavor were great, filled with growth and profits, but when the harsh realities of the Great Recession set in, they had to cut their losses and basically eat up any gains they had made in ’06-’07. Tim reinvented himself in 2010 and focused on wholesaling, but he soon realized that he missed the networking opportunities that he had had through HomeVestors. He formed the REI Expo in Dallas in January of 2011, which continued for several years and expanded into regional events across the country.
Through this experience, he got connected to Five Star Expo and was asked to be a speaker on single family real estate investing. One thing led to another and he co-founded B2R Finance and served as the Managing Director for some time before he realized that his heart really wasn’t in it and he needed to get back into entrepreneurship. This led to the creation of the 2020 REI Group, which had good intentions but ultimately missed the mark as well because it kept him away from his true passion: his family.
Tim truly speaks from experience when he tells listeners to find their “why” and pursue it. Do not lose sight of what is really important to you and what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. Make an effort to prioritize those things and make your business fit around those commitments. For Tim, in addition to just being there for his family, it is finding happiness in looking for that idyllic barbecue joint wherever he is and just enjoying it.
Key Quotes:
· “No one else will tell me what my time is worth.”
· “Ideas are only as good as your execution.”
· “If you’re not happy, the people you love will not be happy.”
Topics Covered in this Episode:
· Real estate investing
· Entrepreneurship journey
· One-of-a-kind barbecue joints
· Making time for what is important
Connect with Tim:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/herriage
https://twitter.com/timherriage
Tim started his adult life in the Marines as an intelligence analyst. During those 5 years, he learned some valuable lessons and also realized that he did not want someone to dictate how much money he would make. He then got into insurance sales, which was foundational to his understanding of the market and real estate before he made the career shift to real estate investing.
Initially, Tim was a project manager for a real estate investing company, prepping homes and keeping things moving along so the company could be productive and successful. From there, he and a business partner started Sprint Partners LP and got into the area of owner financing notes within real estate investing. A few years later, he met the woman who would eventually become his wife and his true entrepreneurial journey began in 2006.
The first 2 years of their endeavor were great, filled with growth and profits, but when the harsh realities of the Great Recession set in, they had to cut their losses and basically eat up any gains they had made in ’06-’07. Tim reinvented himself in 2010 and focused on wholesaling, but he soon realized that he missed the networking opportunities that he had had through HomeVestors. He formed the REI Expo in Dallas in January of 2011, which continued for several years and expanded into regional events across the country.
Through this experience, he got connected to Five Star Expo and was asked to be a speaker on single family real estate investing. One thing led to another and he co-founded B2R Finance and served as the Managing Director for some time before he realized that his heart really wasn’t in it and he needed to get back into entrepreneurship. This led to the creation of the 2020 REI Group, which had good intentions but ultimately missed the mark as well because it kept him away from his true passion: his family.
Tim truly speaks from experience when he tells listeners to find their “why” and pursue it. Do not lose sight of what is really important to you and what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning. Make an effort to prioritize those things and make your business fit around those commitments. For Tim, in addition to just being there for his family, it is finding happiness in looking for that idyllic barbecue joint wherever he is and just enjoying it.
Key Quotes:
· “No one else will tell me what my time is worth.”
· “Ideas are only as good as your execution.”
· “If you’re not happy, the people you love will not be happy.”
Topics Covered in this Episode:
· Real estate investing
· Entrepreneurship journey
· One-of-a-kind barbecue joints
· Making time for what is important
Connect with Tim:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/herriage
https://twitter.com/timherriage
Next Episode
Getting Back In The Saddle #2
The topic of this episode of the Business and BBQ Podcast is “getting back in the saddle.” This could mean different things to different people based on their business situation, but for Tim it means getting reacquainted with your business processes and making necessary adjustments.
It is easy as the entrepreneur or leader of a business to focus on getting work done, reaching out to clients, closing deals, and building relationships without putting much thought into the systems and processes that are supporting your efforts. In Tim’s business, he had delegated most of the administration of these systems to his colleague Adam, and when Adam left the company, Tim was thrust back into the driver’s seat of the big picture business operations as well as these much smaller but foundational processes.
He learned 2 things during the initial shock of getting back into the inner mechanics of the business: (1) your systems have to evolve and (2) changing your systems can lead to company improvement. Tim describes for listeners the many different methods and programs his company has gone through for CRM and call tracking which has ended up in the use of CallRail and HubSpot for all of their needs. But it was not until Tim got back into using these tools from the administration side that he took a hard look at what the various programs offered and how those offerings could fit into his business model. By not providing Adam and his other employees with enough information about what the programs should do for the business, Tim had left them to guess what he wanted, which led to chaos for a while.
Second, he found that there were better ways to use technology and business strategies that would make the business more efficient in the long run. For instance, they transitioned from using Dropbox to using OneDrive because of the integrations available with systems that were already in place. This also led Tim to create a brand-new website which is simpler, cleaner, and overall more representative of his company and its mission. To maintain consistency in the website realm, Tim tries to dedicate Mondays to marketing, reviewing the website and website copy as well as writing his weekly blog post. Overall, the theme of this phase of his business has been “keep it simple.”
By becoming more involved in his business operations, he has learned so much about every step of their home buying process, and he recommends that every entrepreneur take this same deep dive into their own business every 30, 60, or 90 days.
When it comes to BBQ this week, Tim wants to make sure everyone knows that he is posting reviews on his website that you should be sure to check out if you are in Texas. Feel free to reach out at the email address below with recommendations of your own!
Key Quotes:
· “I was able to focus on working, not making something work.”
· “When you’re working well and you’re enjoying what you’re doing, you’re more productive, more creative, and more successful.”
· “If you don’t communicate your expectations about who is going to do what, then no one will do it.”
Topics Covered in this Episode:
· Real estate investing
· Understanding the nuts and bolts of your business
· Adapting to the market
· Taking advantage of technology
· Leadership by walking around
Links:
Connect with Tim:
Real Investing For Everyday Investors - My Entrepreneurial Journey and Discovery of BBQ #1
Transcript
You are listening to the business and barbecue podcast hosted by Tim Herriage. Tim Herriage is an active entrepreneur who built and sold six companies but the age of 40 and enjoys sharing the ups and downs of business and entrepreneur life. As for the barbecue, that's just something he has a passion for and likes to share as well. Here's your host, Tim Herriage.
TIm HerriageAll Right, all right, what's
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