4 Things JamieWishes Every New Investor Knew " One of the deals I learned the most from was also one of my biggest losses,” Jamie Wooley admitted ruefully. “It was a historic renovation (images below and right), so we took a 700-square-foot property and added 2,000 square feet. It’s one of my favorite transformations, but it was also one of my biggest losses. That hurts, too, because it was 100-percent my fault. I learned a lot.” Here are four things Wooley hopes new investors can learn from her, so they do not have to learn these hard lessons firsthand: 1. You can’t do real estate on a handshake,
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especially not with someone you don’t know. “That huge loss was a direct result of my choosing the wrong contractor, not setting out a scope of work, and agreeing to the relationship with just a handshake. You want to just be honest and shake hands, but that is not realistic with strangers in real estate. It’s not good for anyone.”
Wooley's team (from left to right): Ashlyn Allen, Colin Ferrall, Sabrina Foley, Esperansa DelRio, Madonna Sims, Tim Hughes and Terry Wilson.
Wooley added thousands of square feet and modern living space to this small, historic property and, despite the hard lessons she learned, says the project is still one of her favorites today.
WHEN JAMIE WOOLEY, founder and owner of W Streets Inc., a Dallas- Fort Worth-based real estate solutions company, started investing in late 2015, she already knew she had no plans to take things slowly. That was why four months earlier, she had turned in her notice where she worked as an office manager – right about the same time she received her real estate license and her first sign. “I’ve always been a visionary, and it’s all or nothing with me,” she said forthrightly. “I told everyone from the day I got my license: I don’t know what it looks like yet, but I’m going to do this full time.” Wooley recalled her family viewing her real estate investing goals with skepticism. “I have always been blessed to have the most amazing family who loves and supports me, but with that being said, I heard, ‘We love you, but…’ an awful lot at first,” she admitted. “That just pushed me harder! I do my best work when my back is against the wall.” These days, Wooley is widely considered to be the largest-volume female wholesaler in the country, something she embraces. “I never look
at the situation as ‘I’m a woman trying to make it in this industry,’ but I do think sometimes it helps open doors,” she explained. “People do tell me that they’re willing to take time with me that they might not otherwise take because they don’t see a lot of women doing what I’m doing. I’m always going to do the best I can, which means if someone is going to give me an opportunity or talk to me about something I’m working on, whether it’s because I’m a woman or not, I’m going to show up and go for it.” GOING FOR THE PASSION Wooley has been an entrepreneur from the beginning. After going to college on a golf scholarship, meeting her future husband, and starting their family, she went to work at a golf course as a cart girl. In no time, that position expanded as she started a marketing company catering to local golfers and promoting more than a dozen courses. “The problem, though, was that it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing,” she recalled. “I had started the company because I knew about golf and I did not want to work for someone else, but I
NONE OFTHIS COULDBE POSSIBLE WITHOUTMY AMAZINGTEAM THATWORKS SO HARDTOTAKE MYVISIONAND SOARWITH IT. I’M SO GRATEFUL FOR MYTEAMAND FOR MYHUSBANDAND DAUGHTERWHO ALLOWMETOWORK 80-HOURWEEKS ANDHELPOUT SO MUCH SO I CAN ACHIEVEMYGOALS.”
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2. Find the resources to get a mentor, a coach, or educational training. “It used to be that you could not have a real estate investing coach unless you had the resources to pay pretty big money for a personal mentor or program. Today, there is so much information online, for free, that you can start there. I still think if you have the financial ability to do so, you should pay a coach or mentor, but if you don’t, then identify someone in your local area doing what you want to do and ask them if you can help out with their business in exchange for advice and experience.” 3. Stay with your strategy of choice for at least six months. “Every market is competitive right now, but I think the
real reason a lot of investors do not make it in real estate is because they run around chasing four or five different things. They go to a meetup and they hear terms like owner-financed, subject-to, flip, wholesale, and they do not focus on one thing. Without an action plan and sustained focus, you won’t be successful. Once you experience that first success and master that first strategy, then you can start adding things to it.” 4. Fear and failure can be beautiful. “The mindset and experience you gain from failure are rewards in themselves. Learn to love failure and fear, then learn from failure and fear. You must never let fear of failure alter the goals you set out to achieve!”
JAMIEWOOLEY
20 | think realty magazine :: october 2018
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