We were lucky to catch up with Ray Woods recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ray , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

One of the biggest roadblocks business owners and even career professionals run into when trying to scale is not investing money into themselves. Another obstacle could also be growing too fast.

Let me touch on investing in yourself first before growing too fast. Money is a tool and tools are to be used to produce, fix, or create. If the tool sits there idle for too long, then it will become rusty and worthless. It’s the same with money. If money is not in circulation, it becomes worthless since it is not creating or fixing anything.

When I started in real estate, I started with one of the easier entry points called wholesaling. I started back in 2016 when I was unemployed and running around the city of Atlanta trying to close some deals to feed the family. I initially joined a real estate group that cost me over $400 for the education on wholesaling real estate. I used a credit card to pay for this that put in me further into the negative with my finances.

After about three months of running around, I had four deals that did not go according to plan which would have been $35K. I took a long break to re-evaluate my life, get myself and my household together. I was very discouraged. I didn’t come back into the real estate business until the year 2020.

Something happened in September 2020. There was an influx of successes that, to the best of my knowledge, had been brewing for some time now. I ended up closing my first deal in October 2020 making around $3500. Another deal shortly after that resulted in a $15K check. Then a third and a fourth that totaled to be about $4500.

Prior to closing the first deal in October 2020 I was doing everything myself. I was cold calling, sending direct mail, driving around looking for houses, writing up contracts, and even analyzing those potential deals, all while working a 9-5. I basically did not sleep. I thought to myself I need to start working smarter and not harder because I am going to burn out.

When I got back into business in 2020, I joined a different real estate group that was created by a trusted individual. I spent about $500 to join this group and just stayed close to the people that were successful. To eliminate working hard so much I started asking questions on how I can operate on my business and not in my business.

This was critical because it would allow me to not make the same mistakes many have made while growing a business. Taking the time to learn from individuals who are successful in your field also helped in building a strong foundation to my business. You need a strong foundation in case something does take off very fast. If your business takes off too fast and you cannot control it, then it may crash and burn. This would be the second obstacle that some business owners come across when scaling. If you cannot manage 4 or 5 figures what makes you think you can manage 6, 7, or 8 figures?

I was instructed to start putting systems together and basically followed what my coach had in place. No need to re-invent the wheel. With the proceeds I made from my four real estate closings, I hired a virtual assistant to do my cold calling, property analyzing, and an assistant to bring in leads. I used a dialing system where the leads could be stored, and my VA could make those calls while I focused on more money generating tasks at the same time working my 9-5.

Instead of me spending hours working in the business I took the money I made and started working on the business. The time spent on my end turned into purely sales and continuous improvement on my business systems. The only tasks I had to fulfill was taking the motivated leads from my VA and closing out the deals. I slowly scaled my business by building more systems and automating my processes to remove me from inside of the business.

Doing this not only freed up some time for me but it also opened up more doors to the world of real estate investing. I was soon able to acquire more working capital that ultimately landed my first air bnb property. My air bnb currently is a luxury listing in Atlanta near the Mercedes dome and it generates $5000-7000/mo in revenue. I am even now in the position to purchase apartment complexes. I would have never had the time to find this air bnb property if I had not invested the money back into the business to grow it and have the proper systems in place.

Scaling up does not have to be about only business either. During the Covid shut down, I took the extra money to invest into my career advancement. The stimulus checks allowed me to purchase some courses that once passed, I would acquire certifications to raise my engineering salary. This is just one example.

You see what I had to understand is that growing should take time. It should not be rushed. You should first know that your best and number one investment should be yourself. Without the proper education I would have not known how to structure the systems within my business. I see plenty of people that want to go the “free” route all the time and then complain that nothing happens. Well, it is because when you do not have any skin in the game, you do not feel obligated to take action. Too many people become free seminar junkies and do not take action on anything. Then, when they do not get the results, they wanted “overnight”, it is a scam.

Let me be the one to tell anyone reading this, ALMOST EVERYTHING to some extent is a scam. Taxes are a scam, universities are a scam, the stock market is scam, you name it.
I took tons of risks, some calculated and some not calculated, to be able to get the knowledge I needed to grow as a person and a business owner. Even to this day, I look for the correct education that will benefit me and the business.

You must be able to really sit back and foresee where you could end up if you put your money toward improving yourself. Some people are scared to invest into themselves because they lack the self-confidence to do better. I totally understand because I felt that way in 2016. Also realize if you quit completely, you will be miserable for not going after what you dream of.

I tend to look at worst case scenario. If that worst case doesn’t kill me then I keep going. As 50 Cent said, “Get Rich or Die Trying”. Even then at my last breath I can pass with a smile knowing I gave it my all.

So, take my advice: stop being scared to spend money to make more money. You are going to make more money when done correctly.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am from a small town in Mississippi and one of the few in the neighborhood to break out of the dreamless mindset. There is a good bit of individuals that never see what the world has to offer. I was not that individual and wanted more.

One my main drives is to learn as much as possible about money. I grew up in a household where we didn’t know much at all about money. Living paycheck to paycheck was the common thing to do. No savings, no investments, no credit, nothing. As I got older, I went to college for an engineering degree and later become interested in real estate investing.

I speak in full disclosure about my real estate journey on my Instagram (@realestatewithrayy) and my YouTube channel (Real Estate with Ray). On my channels I discuss the ins and outs of the business, the pitfalls no one likes to discuss on social media, and give free advice on how to be successful in this business by avoiding certain mistakes.

I also help many individuals with budgeting their finances for their household. We get down into details on where money can be saved or allocated to increase the household cashflow. When I am able to help people become more conscious of their finances and even coach them on how to increase their income it is a great feeling. I enjoy seeing others grow financially and mentally.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I initially built my audience on social media by learning about social media. I studied the ins and out of social media. Everything from the technical side to the front end. I have coached a few businesses on running ads and growing their presence and acquiring more sales through social media.

After helping so many with their social media I decided that it is time to focus on my brand building. The key to social media is to understand there is no secret. I have spoken to top influencers all over like Grant Cardone, Ken McElroy, Brandon Turner, and Thach Nguyen. They all told me the same thing. Just make content.

You want to make content that is engaging, genuine, and there to help people. When you make content like this your value increases in the digital space.

Even today, I post content to engage the audience and help as much as possible via Instagram and Youtube. This is how I have built and still building my social media.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of clients for me has been social media. I receive many real estate deals on social media. I also get messages for me to help them with budgeting their finances and learning about real estate investing.

Some even ask how they can increase their credit score to acquire funding for their business. With technology today, if you are not on social media you will fall behind greatly.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realestatewithrayy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realestatewithrayy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamraymondwoods/
• Youtube: https://bit.ly/RealEstateWithRay

Image Credits
Image Credits: Ray Woods (myself)