I began flipping houses for profit with a desk in my two bedroom apartment and a plastic file box. You know those plastic file boxes with a handle on them that you find at Office Max? That was what I was using to start building my empire.

I had a computer and a copy machine. I found early on that it was a real blessing to have a copy machine. I started with a low end one. Now I’ve got a few of them. It was a real great piece of equipment to have. If you don’t have one yet, get on it. They are needed in the real estate business.

I hired someone to do the administrative work because I felt my time was better spent working on the business. I wanted to be making offers on bank repo houses, going to seized property auctions, and working with private lenders. I believed that I needed to be concentrating on what needed to be done in order to run the business. My administrative assistant could work with Quick Books Pro. Contractors could rehab the properties. Other people could be picking up the other responsibilities. So, how do I hire my office help?

First, I run an ad in the paper for 10 days. I have the resumes faxed over and then I set up group interviews. I interview everybody all at once. What happens is the conventional wisdom says that if I’m going to interview somebody I call you in for 30 minutes and have a 15 minute break and then I call you in and have a 15 minute break and then I call you in. Problem of it is you don’t show and I’m left twiddling my thumbs.

Going through the interview process is taking time away from my day. Remember, I want to be out making offers and finding repossessed homes for sale.

If I do it the conventional way, what happens if the interviewee doesn’t show up? Now, when I bring someone in that does show up, don’t I tell them the exact same thing I was going to tell the no show? Don’t we say here’s the company, here’s the job, here’s the pay, here’s the vacation, here’s the benefits over and over and over?

I don’t do that and I don’t think you should either. What I do is I bring everybody in at once. I interview 19 people at one time. How many times do I have to say the same stuff? I want to save time for them and save time for me. After that, I give them three minutes a piece to talk to me. Then I decide. I rate them and I decide who’s coming back for the typical long interview.

So everybody gets here at the same time. Some people are going to pass. Some of these people probably knew they were going to pass right from the first two or three minutes. Yet they stick around out of courtesy for the whole half hour.

I would imagine that a lot of you reading this have gone through countless conventional interviews. But I have found it‘s a lot better to get all the faces in front of you and once. I can tell my story one time.

I use a questionnaire with potential hires. I ask them how they deal with bosses or how they deal with other workers. I need to know what does and does not motivate them on the job. I ask them and find out.

By the time you go through this you get to know the person. Talk to them for a few minutes. They’re going to decide whether they’re in or out. Maybe they wanted a bigger company. They see that it’s a very small office and not ideal for their needs. Some interviewees are seeing the set up and saying. "I love this."

Tell the group about yourself. Tell them what your job duties are and your pay range. Tell them all at once about vacation, hours, benefits and lunch break.

Without question, I recommend that you have policies and procedures available so that they will have an idea of what your business is and how you want and expect it to be run.