Between 1930 and 1940, France spent $3 billion building the Maginot Line—an impenetrable defense system along the German border.

When Germany invaded in 1940, they went around it. Through Belgium.

France fell in 6 weeks.

France built the wrong defense system for the war they were about to fight.

And 56% of real estate operators are doing the exact same thing.

I've analyzed hundreds of real estate businesses through the Investor Priority Pyramid (IPP) assessment. 56% are stuck at Available Capital—they built deal flow systems before capital systems.

I did this myself. Multiple times. Lost earnest money, due diligence money, time, and most importantly—my confidence.

In this episode:

• Why most operators build the wrong system first
• The 56% pattern I see in IPP assessments
• How to know if you're building your own Maginot Line
• What to fix before you look for your next deal

Links:

📊 Take the IPP Assessment (5 min, free): [link]

📝 Read the full Substack article: [link]

🎧 Subscribe for weekly episodes

About the show:

Fix This Next helps real estate operators diagnose what's actually broken in their business—before they waste time and money fixing the wrong thing.

Are you writing SOPs while your deal flow is dying? I see this constantly. Operators documenting processes for a business that doesn’t have customers. They optimize systems that don’t produce revenue. They’re playing business instead of running one.Let me show you what this looks like at scale.Cracker Barrel’s CEO had a problem. Traffic to the stores was down. The menu was stale. Revenue was declining. What did she do?The Image IssueShe launched a $750 million rebranding campaign.New logos. New interiors. New signage. She went on national morning TV to unveil Uncle Herschel’s removal from the logo. She declared that their customers’ and employees’ feedback on recent changes to the brand was “overwhelmingly positive.”Read the full breakdown: https://scotttoddwrites.substack.com/Free resources:Fix This Next for Real Estate Investors: https://www.fixthisnextforrealestateinvestors.comMy weekly newsletter: https://scotttoddwrites.substack.com/Me: https://www.scotttodd.net

Most business owners think they need more software.

They're wrong.I see founders spending 67% of their revenue on SaaS subscriptions—working to fund their tools instead of themselves. That's backwards.

Here's the truth: you can't automate your way to revenue.

Software is for making existing work efficient. But if you don't have work worth making efficient, you're just burning cash.

In this video, I break down:

• Why spending $800/month on software when you're making $1,200 is a death spiral
• The "Digital Minimum"
• what a $50-100/month stack actually looks like
• My 10% rule: software should never exceed 10% of revenue (ideally 5%)
• How to audit, cut, and rebuild your stack the right way
• When to actually add software back (and the 2x ROI test)

I built a SaaS product that hundreds of people use monthly. And I'm always the slowest person in the room to add new software. That should tell you something.

Read the full breakdown: https://scotttoddwrites.substack.com/p/stop-automating-your-way-to-bankruptcy

Free resources:

Fix This Next for Real Estate Investors: https://www.fixthisnextforrealestateinvestors.com

My weekly newsletter: https://scotttoddwrites.substack.com/

Me: https://www.scotttodd.net

I was recently speaking to a friend, and he told me about a person he recently let go. Within two weeks, he was frustrated. “She’s not fixing anything,” he told me.“What did you expect?” I asked.“She told me she had 15 years of experience, and I expected her to know what to do.,” he explained.The problem wasn’t the VA. It was him.He had hired someone as a patch. Someone to fix the chaos, not to solve for capability or capacity. Without a system in place, the new hire became another layer of confusion. And instead of freeing him up, she created more work.This is one of the most common mistakes I see business owners make when they start building a team. Heck, I made the same mistake. So I’m speaking from my own street education. It’s easy to hire too soon, for the wrong reasons, or without a plan.So let’s talk about the right reasons, the wrong reasons, and how to know if it’s time to add your next team member.Read more at: https://scotttoddwrites.substack.com/p/my-new-hire-was-terrible-but-theMe: https://www.scotttodd.net