Venture capital (VC) funding is highly sought after by entrepreneurs, but only about 100/ 100,000 ventures actually succeed in securing it, about 80/100 fail with it, and only about 20/100,000 ventures actually succeed after they secure it. Despite the scarcity of VC and the high failure rate, many entrepreneurs seek VC with VC pitches, or seek help from the business-school-and-incubator network to create “winning” pitch decks.

While most pitch decks include standard elements like product/service description, market analysis, management track record, and financial details, the reality is that pitch decks are a very poor predictor of venture potential – and sophisticated entrepreneurs and VCs know that. No one can forecast your potential from a pitch deck. As an example, about 10 of the world’s leading VCs rejected Steve Jobs, and about 12 rejected Google.

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That’s why VCs wait for Aha, i.e., real evidence (proof) of potential, not just words on a page. There are 4 types of Aha based on the real results of billion-dollar entrepreneurs. In this article, we will explore 4 types of pitch decks based on these 4 types of Aha that improves your chances of getting VC if you still want it when you get to the particular type of Aha – 94% of billion-dollar entrepreneurs took off without VC.

The Previous-Unicorn Pitch Deck: If you are an entrepreneur who has already achieved unicorn status with a previous venture, you will find it relatively easy to attract VC for your new venture. This type of pitch deck showcases your track record as a successful entrepreneur. For instance, Elon Musk’s pitch deck might simply state, “Hi, I’m Elon Musk, and I’m considering starting a new venture. I’ll provide more details later. In the meantime, send your checks to the following address.”

The Unicorn-Technology Pitch Deck: Entrepreneurs who have developed a billion-dollar technology that addresses a significant market need have a strong chance of securing VC. This type of pitch deck emphasizes the proven efficacy of the technology and its potential to disrupt the market. For example, a technologist like Herb Boyer might introduce his pitch deck by saying, “Hi, I’m Herb Boyer, and my colleagues and I have successfully pioneered the field of genetic engineering.”

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The Unicorn-Strategy Pitch Deck: Entrepreneurs who have already launched their ventures and demonstrated their unicorn-level strategy have an advantage when seeking venture capital. This type of pitch deck highlights the venture’s successful execution and market traction. An example could be Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, saying, “Hi, I’m Pierre Omidyar. I started an online auction company and had hundreds of thousands of auctions last month and have the potential to grow into millions.”

The Unicorn-Entrepreneur Pitch Deck: Pitch decks from unicorn-entrepreneurs who have successfully launched a unicorn venture and are starting to dominate their emerging industry can generate significant interest from VCs who want to invest in a potential Unicorn-Entrepreneur due to leadership skills. These entrepreneurs have already demonstrated their ability to create a successful business, making it more likely that VCs will want to invest. For instance, Mark Zuckerberg’s pitch deck might include a confident statement like, “Hi, I’m Mark Zuckerberg. I recently launched Facebook and have already captured a substantial user base, starting with Harvard and Stanford students. Now I plan to expand to the rest of America and the world.”

The Best Pitch Deck

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The ultimate pitch deck is one that you don’t need because your venture is already growing rapidly without VC funding. Jan Koum’s experience with WhatsApp exemplifies this approach. Having built the company with angel capital and achieving profitability, Koum only accepted VC funding after eight months of persistence from a VC firm. A pitch deck from him might simply state, “Hi, I’m Jan Koum. I built WhatsApp with $250,000 in angel capital and we’re already profitable. So, actually, I don’t need your investment. Please, buzz off.”

MY TAKE: While pitch decks are all the rage, it’s essential to provide real proof of potential. Empty promises and inflated claims can only go so far. By learning from unicorn-entrepreneurs who have achieved remarkable growth without VC funding, you can gain valuable insights into building a strong business foundation. Remember, VCs are looking for tangible evidence of success. Aim to offer real proof that demonstrates your venture’s potential and your skills, and you’ll increase your chances of securing venture capital investment

MORE FROM FORBESExclusive: The Rags-To-Riches Tale Of How Jan Koum Built WhatsApp Into Facebook’s New $19 Billion BabyBy Parmy Olson

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WikipediaPierre Omidyar – Wikipedia
WikipediaHerbert Boyer – Wikipedia
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Escrow is a key part of real estate transactions and mortgage agreements, but many homebuyers and homeowners aren’t familiar with escrow and how it works. Escrow protects homebuyers, sellers, homeowners, and even lenders with real estate-related financing—it supports those parties throughout the homeownership lifecycle.

Let’s break down what escrow is, its role in real estate, and how it can be beneficial. 

What Escrow Really Is

Escrow is an account where funds are held by a third-party provider, such as a title company or real estate attorney, until both sides have met the contract terms. When the two parties have upheld their end of the agreement, the escrow provider will release the money or assets in the account to the necessary parties. 

Escrow can be used in any transaction and is usually used for larger purchases, such as car purchases. It’s most commonly used in a real estate transaction.

How Escrow Actually Works

In a home-buying transaction, the escrow holds funds until the buyer and seller meet the purchase agreement terms and close the deal. Buyers and their mortgage company must transfer the agreed-upon funds into the account, and the sellers must prove the home is in acceptable condition (via an appraisal, inspection, and/or buyer walk-through) before the deal goes through. Once the escrow provider confirms the contract conditions are met, each party receives its portion of the exchange.

Escrow also protects buyers and sellers throughout the process in case of a dispute. The escrow provider acts as a mediator in the event of an issue, and the money is held in a separate account from the buyer or seller, so it can’t be withheld for reasons not outlined in the agreement. 

Most homeowners also have escrow accounts for insurance and taxes, according to the terms of their mortgage. This type of escrow works by homeowners paying a monthly sum included with the mortgage payment to be set aside in an escrow account. The lender can then use the account to cover tax and insurance payments on the home. 

What Is an Escrow Account?

An escrow account is a bank account where funds are held and managed by a third party until the terms of a contract are upheld. There are two different uses for escrow accounts in real estate—one to hold funds during the home-buying process and the other for homeowners to set aside funds for insurance and property taxes.

Home Buying Escrow Accounts

Homeowners might first become acquainted with escrow accounts during the home-buying process. When putting in an offer, a buyer usually provides an upfront payment, called earnest money, to show the seller their commitment to the deal. This money is held in an escrow account until closing. As the deal progresses, buyers will add their remaining down payment, closing costs, and funds from the lender into that account. When the deal closes, those funds are distributed to the sellers and other parties needed to be paid, such as the title company or a real estate agent. 

Escrow protects both parties during the transaction. For example, if the buyer decides to back out of the deal, the seller will still receive the earnest money held in the escrow account. If the seller backs out or doesn’t meet the purchase agreement terms, the buyers will receive the earnest money back and walk away from the deal. 

Because a third party handles the escrow account, buyers or sellers may also need to pay escrow fees to compensate an agent or company for the paperwork and transaction fees. This cost is usually 1-2% of the home’s purchase price and is included in the closing costs. 

For Taxes and Insurance: When to Use Escrow

If you purchased your property with a mortgage loan, your lender will likely set you up with an escrow account to pay for insurance and taxes. As you pay your monthly mortgage, a portion of the payments will be set aside in the escrow account for the lender to pay for your homeowners insurance and tax bills.

Lenders estimate the total amount for insurance and taxes based on the previous year’s amounts. Since those bills can fluctuate from year to year, you may have over or underpaid those bills in your mortgage payments. 

The mortgage company must monitor the bill costs to ensure it’s charging you the correct amount. If homeowners have overpaid into the escrow account, the lender will issue an escrow refund. If the lender collects too little, it will notify you that you have an escrow shortage. You’ll need to cover the difference with a one-time payment, or the amount will be divided by 12 and added to your monthly payments.

Who Manages an Escrow Account?

Escrow accounts are helpful in real estate because an unbiased third party manages them.

The escrow provider, either an escrow agent, escrow company, or mortgage servicer, can help settle any disputes between contracted parties and keep the process fair according to the terms of the agreement. 

An escrow agent or escrow company typically handles accounts during the home buying process, and a mortgage servicer manages escrow accounts throughout the lifetime of the mortgage loan. 

Differences Between an Escrow Company and Escrow Agent

An escrow agent is an individual, a real estate attorney, or someone affiliated with the title company. An escrow company has the same responsibilities as an agent. Escrow agents and companies support buyers and sellers in the home buying process to ensure paperwork is correct and both parties follow the purchase agreement’s terms. 

What Is a Mortgage Servicer?

A mortgage servicer is a company that manages the tasks and logistics of a mortgage, including sending borrowers monthly mortgage statements. While the mortgage servicer handles mortgage logistics, including managing the homeowner’s escrow account, it may or may not be the same company that provided borrowers with the loan. 

How an Escrow Account Benefits You

Escrow has its benefits for multiple parties. Here are a few reasons you might want to use escrow as a home buyer, homeowner, or mortgage lender.

Home buyers benefits

As a buyer, an escrow account protects you by safeguarding your earnest money until the seller proves they have met all the purchase agreement terms and are leaving the property in acceptable condition. If the sellers don’t hold up their end of the deal, buyers can recoup the earnest money in the escrow account. 

Homeowners benefits

Escrow can be beneficial to homeowners as well. When homeowners pay into escrow with their monthly mortgage payments, they only pay 1/12 of the total property taxes and insurance bills. This spreads out the money a homeowner is responsible for and avoids larger bills due at once. Additionally, homeowners can avoid late payments or late fees since the mortgage company is responsible for using escrow funds to pay the bills on time. 

Lenders benefits

Escrow benefits lenders by ensuring borrowers pay their homeowners insurance and property taxes in full and on time. An escrow account also reduces the risk of a lien against the property. 

Escrow FAQs

It can be confusing to understand how escrow works. Here are quick answers to some of the most common questions people have about escrow accounts:

How long do you pay escrow for?

Homeowners pay escrow as long as they have a mortgage on the property. Homeowners can suspend paying escrow once the principal is paid off, and they can take responsibility for paying their property taxes and insurance payments.

Is escrow a good thing or a bad thing?

Escrow is neither good nor bad for homeowners. It’s all a matter of preference. If homeowners choose not to have an escrow account, they are responsible for paying taxes and insurance bills independently. Many prefer having all the expenses on one bill (mortgage payment) and choose to use an escrow account to hold the funds from the payment needed for taxes and insurance. 

For buyers and sellers, escrow is usually a good thing. It protects the buyers’ money and ensures the sellers have held up their end of the purchase agreement. It also protects the sellers if buyers withdraw from the purchase for reasons not outlined in the agreement. 

What is escrow on your house?

Escrow on the house typically refers to the escrow payments homeowners make to pay for their tax and insurance bills. The escrow payments are a portion of a homeowner’s monthly mortgage, and the funds are held in an escrow account until the mortgage company withdraws the money to pay for those bills in full. Once homeowners pay off the loan, the mortgage escrow account is no longer needed, and homeowners will be responsible for paying for insurance and taxes on their own. 

What is your escrow balance?

The escrow balance is the amount of money homeowners have sitting in the escrow account. This money comes from the escrow amount homeowners pay as part of their monthly mortgage payments. Mortgage companies use the escrow balance to pay the yearly homeowners insurance and property taxes.

Do you even need an escrow account?

If buyers purchase their home without a mortgage, an escrow account isn’t needed for taxes and insurance since they don’t have a lender to make the payments on their behalf. For homeowners with a mortgage, the lender may or may not require escrow. 

Typically, lenders require buyers to have an escrow account if they put down a down payment of less than 20% of the home’s purchase price, but some mortgage lenders give homeowners a choice. For example, FHA loans and USDA loans require escrow accounts. VA loans do not require them. 

What does it really mean to be “in escrow?”

The term “in escrow” means an asset (usually money) is being held until the conditions of the agreement have been met by both parties. This period in real estate is often 30-60 days, or however long it takes for the deal to close. 

How does escrow apply to real estate?

Escrow comes up multiple times in real estate when two parties need a neutral location to hold money or other assets until contract conditions (like a purchase agreement) are complete. It is also often used by homeowners with a mortgage to hold funds for tax or insurance bills that the lender pays on their behalf. 

What are the different scenarios where you can use escrow? 

There are two common scenarios where escrow is used in real estate. The first is in the pre-closing period, when buyers submit funds to an escrow account, and the funds are held from the sellers until the property is deemed acceptable and available to the buyers. 

The second use of escrow in real estate is mortgage escrow, where homeowners pay a set amount as part of their monthly mortgage payment into an escrow account for the lender to pay the insurance premiums and property taxes.

In addition to using escrow with real estate, escrow accounts can also be used in the following situations: 

• Rent payments: Renters may be able to pay rent into an escrow account, ensuring renters get their money back if a landlord isn’t maintaining the property according to the lease agreement.
• Large transactions: Escrow accounts can be useful for other large transactions, such as a car, to give you a stronger sense of security. You can contact an escrow agent if you’d like to incorporate escrow into your transaction, or there is sometimes an option to use escrow with online purchases. 
• Stock: For employees who are compensated through stock, those shares are often held in an escrow account until a set waiting period has passed and employees can sell the stock.

What is an escrow waiver, and when should you get one?

An escrow waiver is an exemption that allows a homeowner to forgo an escrow account with their lender and cover the taxes and insurance payments themselves. If your lender requires you to have an escrow account and you would prefer not to have one, you can ask your lender if you can apply for an escrow waiver. 

Some homeowners prefer to handle insurance and tax bills and get an escrow waiver to control the payments. If you obtain an escrow waiver, remember that instead of spreading out property taxes and insurance payments over 12 months, you will be responsible for the total cost of each item as they’re due. Take note of when those bills are due, and be sure to have the total amount ready on the billing date to avoid late fees.

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.

Want to grow your small business? Acquisitions can help you efficiently break into new markets, expand your customer base, and increase your offerings without building them yourself. It helps diversify your portfolio of products or services, which reduces risk and helps your company be more resilient to economic uncertainty.

But there are risks, too. There may not be a cultural fit between the two companies. The due-diligence process may not reveal potential problems, including legal, regulatory compliance, and financial issues. The acquisition may be poorly executed, leading to operational problems and the loss of key personnel. The purchase may be expensive, leaving the acquiring company with excessive debt.

Robyn Streisand, CEO of The Mixx, a strategic creative agency, began growing by acquiring complementary businesses. She reduced her risk by purchasing companies she had worked with for years. Creative Captain Group was her second acquisition.

Version 1.0 Of The Mixx: A Strategic Creative Agency Is Born And Focused On DEI

Back in 1997, long before others realized that a strategic creative agency could build a business by strategically connecting brands with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Streisand did. Interest in DEI grew, as did The Mixx.

Interestingly, Streisand thought certification as a woman-owned business was for office furniture and IT staffing companies, not creative businesses. “[Back then,] there weren’t a lot of companies that knew what certification was or meant, especially in the marketing media and communication space,” she said. But her client, Greta Davis at Time Warner, for whom she was developing its first-ever supplier-diversity program, asked her to get certified. So she did.

Version 2.0 of The Mixx: Growth Through WBENC And NGLCC Certification

Since then, she’s become a huge proponent of certification. You have to get to the table to be considered for a contract with a large company, and that’s just not happening enough for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more (LGBTQIA+)-, minority- and women-owned businesses. Corporate America and government have a significant role to play in helping underrepresented entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

Growth through certification became Streisand’s 2.0 version of The Mixx.

“The Mixx’s core competency is serving underrepresented communities, whether it’s women, LGBTQ, African American, Asian, Hispanic,” said Streisand. Campaigns can be aimed at internal or external audiences. The Mixx builds the bridge from the brand to the target market by diving deep into research to reveal new insights into what and how to communicate. The Mixx then quantifies the return on investment (ROI) on the campaign.

Version 3.0 of The Mixx: Growth Through Strategic Alliances

In 2014, Streisand launched the first-ever collective of certified LGBTQ-, minority-, and women-owned businesses called Titanium Worldwide. Titanium was created as a growth strategy for The Mixx. “We were being asked to compete for RFP opportunities and getting eliminated in the first round because we were too small,” said Streisand. The collective was version 3.0 of The Mixx.

Agencies are certified-diverse with Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), or National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), and any spend counts towards a corporation’s supplier-diversity objectives. Capabilities include consulting, strategy, marketing, communications, creative, execution, media, engagement, technology, and analytics. Each agency operates with a shared mindset and a common way of working together.

“For the first three or four years, we were the shiny toy,” said Streisand. “RFPs were coming in left and right.” Brands were focused on multicultural marketing. Before you knew it, Titanium had under its umbrella 23 agencies that are all independently owned and operated. A few years later, Titanium won its first agency of record (AOR).

Now corporations want their agencies to be streamlined, more cost-effective, agile, and nimble. From an operations perspective, doing this with independent companies took much work. Streisand began to understand why creative agencies buy other agencies.

Version 4.0 of The Mixx: Growth Through Acquisition

The Mixx and Captain Creative Group were doing a ton of work together. “We are two agencies that put relationships first,” said Streisand. “For 26 years, The Mixx has been working to help create the world we want to live in–to help brands realize that DEI isn’t just a moment in time, but a movement. Captain Creative’s founder and CEO Lisa Foti and I have been lifelong friends and collaborators in inclusivity and creativity.”

Captain Creative brings industry experience in experiential events, marketing communications, and production design for life sciences, technology, and consumer brands. Both agencies take an audience-centric, human-focused approach to marketing.

Streisand is the visionary. Her talent is seeing what’s down the road. Foti’s core competencies are operations, resourcing, setting up teams, and scaling. “We were doing so much work together, and it just became the natural evolution of our relationship.”

“Robyn came to me at the end of last year and said it just makes sense for us to work more closely together,” said Foti. “I was basically working half-time for my company and half-time for Titanium and The Mixx. It is an opportunity to work together to create something bigger.”

“I love working with the Mixx team and Titanium members,” said Foti. “It is a match made in heaven.” They each get to do what they love doing and are good at. And the icing on the cake is that it is an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded people, people you know and trust. “I trusted bringing my clients and team to The Mixx,” she said.

Integrating the systems and technology of two different companies takes work. But they are not even six months into the merger and are about 85% there.

How are you growing your business?

So, the day has come to finally figure out how much your rental property income will affect your child support payment. You won’t be surprised that many states consider that pretty penny a critical component when calculating these payments.

As with any financial analysis, it’s essential to understand how to break down the numbers, especially regarding child support. In most cases, parental income is calculated in its entirety. You’re going to have to provide proof of all of your finances. For rental property owners, the court will pay particular attention to the total net income of your rental.

So, how is rental income calculated, and how does that play into child support payments? We’ll give you the low-down on figuring out your rental income so that you can prepare yourself somewhat for the road ahead.

What Gets Calculated in Child Support Payments

The main factor that gets calculated in child support payments is parental income—the total amount of any salary or wages. This salary includes both taxable and non-taxable income.

The formula for calculating child support payments can vary depending on your state. When determining gross income, many factors can come into play besides salary. These factors may include:

• Rental income
• Business income
• Work bonuses
• Pensions
• Investments

One thing to note is that many states allow for deductions from gross income for things like:

• Property taxes
• Union dues

Aside from monetary obligations, some states also factor in the following:

• How much time the child spends with each parent
• Costs associated with health insurance
• The age of the child
• Childcare costs

How To Calculate Rental Income For Child Support

If you’re wondering how to calculate total rental income for child support purposes, the payments are based on several factors, but in a nutshell, here are the top three steps that should take place.

Determine gross income

First, how much cash is the rental property bringing in? Let’s use $1,000 in rent for each month as an example. At the end of the year, we have a total of $12,000 in gross rental income. We’ll remember this number as we move on to the next step.

Factor In deductible expenses

Yes, you can factor expenses into the equation. To make things simple, let’s consider the following expenses:

• Rental property taxes: $500
• Repairs and maintenance costs: $1,000
• Utilities: $1,200
• Property management fees: $2,500

In this case, the total allowable expenses are $5,200. However, there are still some expenses associated with the property that you can deduct from your gross income, such as your mortgage’s tax and interest. Let’s hold on to that $5,200 as we move on to the next step.

Calculate net rental income

You want to deduct the total allowable expenses from the gross rental income to determine your net rental income. Based on the examples above, we would use the $12,000 gross rental income minus $5,200 of total allowable expenses, equaling $6,800 in net rental income. So, the $6,800 would be used in the calculation to determine the child support amount.

Remember that the amount of child support will vary based on your state. It’s always a good idea to consult with a family law attorney or child support professional for guidance on accurately calculating rental income and child support payments.

Check Your Local And State Laws

Child support will be calculated differently depending on the state where you live. Often, states will provide child support calculators, which are a great starting tool for those strictly looking for an estimation; these calculators tend not to get into the nitty-gritty of finances, however, as they don’t factor in your specific circumstances. When looking into your local and state laws, here are a few formulas or models that you might see:

The Income Shares Model

Forty-one states use the income shares model. So, think of this model as the financial life a child would receive had the parents stayed together. For this, you’ll use both parents’ incomes.

The Melson Formula

Three states use this model: Delaware, Hawaii, and Montana. Think of this as a more extreme version of the income shares model. This formula incorporates additional factors and expenses, many designed to consider parents’ financial needs.

The Percentage of Income Model

Last but not least, six states (Alaska, Mississippi, Nevada, North Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin) use the percentage of income model. This is a flat or adjusted percentage of the non-custodial parent’s income.

Rental Income And Child Support Payments FAQs

Here are people’s top questions when calculating rental income and child support payments.

Does child support count as income for renting?

It depends. This is an ongoing debate amongst landlords because there is a risk of the recipient of the child support not being paid at all—it happens quite a bit.

If you are a landlord considering counting child support as income, you want to look at the things like the court order and when payments are received. When it comes down to it, let’s say that the child support income is less reliable than you initially thought, and you decide to evict a tenant and collect the balance due. Will the state allow you to garnish the amount as normal income?

Since the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t consider child support taxable income, I would not consider it in the rent calculation unless you have a HUD-specific home.

According to hud.gov, “[rental property] owners must count alimony or child support amounts awarded by the court unless the applicant certifies that payments are not being made and that he or she has taken all reasonable legal actions to collect amounts due, including filing with the appropriate courts or agencies responsible for enforcing payment.”

So, does child support count as income for renting? It depends on the situation and, if not required, the risk the landlord is willing to take.

What income is counted for child support?

The income counted toward child support can exceed just your salary. In some cases, gross income can include recurring capital gains or unrealized income, winnings from a day of gambling, rental income, and sometimes even interest earned on retirement accounts. Typically, any additional income outside of salary is considered.

Sometimes if C-corporations or S-corporations hold your rental properties, the court may even decide that the retained earnings are subject to child support calculations. If, for some reason, you disagree with the court’s order, perhaps you think an income source shouldn’t have been included, you can elect to go to the court of appeals to review the record. The review is to see if a legal mistake was made and if that mistake affected the overall outcome of the trial court case.

Is money from rental properties considered income?

Sure is, but only the net income from a rental property. So, what does that mean? The term “rental income” doesn’t necessarily mean you go off the total amount of rent payments coming in. You can deduct allowable property expenses from that amount, which will help you calculate net rental income.

This is because the “cash flow” is the amount received in rent minus what is being paid out, including the interest part of the mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs. Not all things you consider an expense are honored by the court.

For example, in a Colorado Court of Appeals case, “the trial court found that the principal portion of the mortgage payments did not qualify as ordinary and necessary expenses for purposes of calculating child support.”

It’s All In The Numbers

According to the Census Bureau, “Parents who received regular child support payments received a monthly average of $604 and a monthly median of $396 in 2017.” Although there hasn’t been substantial growth in the average year after year, the number does seem to increase continuously.

If you own a rental property and, for whatever reason, are going your separate ways with a spouse, make sure you truly pay attention to all of the numbers, especially your total allowable expenses. Those expenses are crucial in determining your overall rental income and the amount calculated into a child support payment.

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When asked about the source of his genius, Albert Einstein had no doubts. ‘I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am,’ he told The Saturday Evening Post in 1929. As entrepreneurs, a lot of what you deal with is unknown. You need to make hundreds of small decisions every day and every now and then, big decisions. Sometimes, the research data, although insightful, does not provide the exact answer on which decision to make. So, how do you decide? Well, you need to trust your ‘gut feeling’ or intuition. So, what is that and can you develop your intuition?

The scientific understanding of intuition begins with a laboratory game known as the Iowa Gambling Task. Participants were presented with four stacks of cards on a computer screen. Each time they turned a card, they would receive either a monetary reward or a penalty. Two of the decks tended to offer relatively large rewards, but even bigger penalties – meaning that, over many turns, they will lead to a loss. The other two decks provided relatively small rewards but even smaller penalties, meaning that they are the safer option. The participants aren’t told which decks are going to be profitable, but after about 40 attempts, many people start to form a hunch of which ones will lead to bigger wins. This ‘hunch’ is actually happening on a subconscious level. How?

Researchers at Leeds University analyzed a quite a few studies and research papers on intuition. They concluded that intuition is a very real psychological process where the brain uses past experiences and cues from the self and the environment to make a decision. The decision happens so quickly that it doesn’t register on a conscious level. The human brain has two ‘operating systems when it comes to making decisions.’ The first is quick, instinctual and effortless. This is where our intuition lies. Intuition works by drawing on patterns collected by our experience and when we have to make a quick decision about whether something is real, fake, feels good, feels bad, right or wrong, we draw on these patterns. It all happens ‘offline’, outside our conscious awareness. The second operating system is slower to respond. It’s more analytical and deliberate and it’s conscious.

So, the good news is that every person on the planet has intuition but not every person chooses to develop or even listen to it. Here are some insights to better develop your intuition as an entrepreneur.

Listen quietly. It’s sounds simple enough and it is. No tricks here. Your intuition can’t talk to you if you’re not listening. When you start to take notice, good things will happen. Just try it and listen quietly to your own instinct about a potential decision.

Trust your gut. When a word like ‘gut’ teams up with a word like ‘feeling’, you know there has to be a good reason. And there is. Research suggests that emotion and intuition have a physical presence in our gut. The gut is lined with a network of neurons and is often referred to as the ‘second brain.’ It’s known as the enteric nervous system (ENS) and it contains about 100 million neurons, which is more than the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system but less than the brain. This is why we get ‘sick’ about having to make a tough decision or knowing we’ve made a bad one.

Train your intuition. It’s hard to make big decisions without the practice of making little ones to hone your gut instinct. So, trust yourself on little decisions, try and predict little things, like the car ahead is going to turn left, the person next to will order dessert and so on. As you start making small decisions in your company based on your gut instinct, it will help you make the bigger decisions with confidence.

Trust the Feeling. You’ll know your intuition is there because you’ll be able to feel it. You’ll feel it in your belly and it will goosebump your skin, send a shiver down your spine, race your heart and quicken your breath. Sometimes it’s even more subtle and the only way to describe it is as a ‘knowing’. You’ll feel when something is right and you’ll feel when something is off. Start trusting the feeling.

Lose negative thoughts quickly. Negative emotions will cloud your intuition, which is why when you’re angry or depressed, bad decisions can happen so easily. Research has backed this, finding that people made better intuitive choices when they were in a positive mood as compared to when they were in a negative mood.

Surround yourself with great people. If you have people around you that just drain your energy, they will add to the noise and make it more difficult to hear what your intuition wants you to hear. Chances are that you already know who they are. Keep people who enrich and empower you and walk away from those who drain you.

Pay attention. Start being more aware of your surroundings. Go for walks with no headset or Air Pods. Really talk to people. Have open interesting conversations. Read more. Be more curious. The more information you are able to gather from the world around you, the more the intuitive, subconscious part of your brain has to work with, the more accurately it will inform your decisions.

Connect with experts. You will never know everything. A better approach to learning is to acquire the knowledge and experience that experts can provide. Experts have also had to make lots of decisions and can share their failures and wins. They can tell you the little things they learned to trust their gut. All of that information can be synthesized into your ‘intuition’ to help fine tune your future decision making.

Sleep well. We all need to dream. Dreams are the brain’s way of processing information that’s left over from the day or even our aspirations. They are rich with valuable data, experiences, memories, and learnings so they can work hard if we let them. Paying attention to dreams can provide information that we may not have access to when we are awake. Before you fall asleep, turn your thoughts to any unresolved issues or problems but in a positive way. Think about possible options or resolutions as you’re falling asleep. You might be surprised what you remember when you wake up.

Custom building a home is a dream many homeowners share. Being able to design your home exactly to your preferences is an exciting but time-consuming endeavor. 

So, how long does it take to build a home? Building a custom home can take as little as a year to upwards of three years. The reason it’s so hard to nail down an average time estimate for completion? The average time for how long it takes to build a house can vary widely due to the scope of the project, weather-related delays, and how readily available supplies and labor are. Getting permits and completing inspections can also extend this timeline if those processes are difficult to schedule. 

The Average Time Building a House Takes

The timeline of building a home is influenced by the type of home you choose to build. Custom builds require more build time as they are designed and built to your precise specifications. A non-custom build, on the other hand, is generally faster as it uses pre-designed plans and standard layouts. According to the 2019 Survey of Construction (SOC) from the Census Bureau, it takes around eight months to build a single-family home on average. 

How Long Each Type of Home Takes to Build

How long it takes to build a house can vary depending on several factors, including the type of home, the size, the complexity of the design, the availability of labor and materials, and the efficiency of the construction process. 

• Prefabricated or modular homes: Workers construct these homes off-site in a factory and then transport the home to the building site for assembly. Typically, you can build prefabricated or modular homes in a shorter time than traditional construction methods. The on-site assembly can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the complexity and size of the home.
• Custom or traditional stick-built homes: A construction team builds this style of home on-site using traditional construction methods, where they assemble the structure piece by piece. Building a custom or stick-built home generally takes longer compared to prefabricated homes. The construction process can take several months to a year, depending on the size and complexity of the home, weather conditions, and availability of labor and materials.
• Production or tract homes: Large-scale builders construct these homes using standardized designs and materials, often in a planned community or subdivision. Production of tract homes is generally efficient, and the building process is relatively quick. Construction timeframes can range from a few months to six months, depending on the home’s size and features.

Are Custom Builds Slower? Why Is This?

Custom-built houses often take longer than buying a pre-designed home in a planned community because of the additional planning and customization required. The project’s scope and unique features, fixtures, and finishes affect how long it takes to complete. Because custom homes are built to the client’s specifications, you may need additional time to finalize plans and design elements. It’s common to see delays during the building process due to design changes or unexpected issues. 

Non-Custom Builds May Be Faster Than Custom

If you’re looking to build a house that falls within the standard range of production homes, you can expect the construction process to go much faster. These types of homes often have pre-set plans, limiting your customization. Most homes are still customizable (tile, flooring, and paint colors), but planning is easier since you work within given boundaries.

What You Need to Know Before You Start Building That House

Before embarking on your construction journey, you need to consider several factors. The first thing to decide is the type of home you want to build. Will it be a custom or production home? You should also incorporate your family’s unique needs into your home’s design and layout.

Another crucial detail is the type of lot you’ll build a house on. The terrain and size of the lot can directly impact build time, costs, and even the design and layout of your home. Securing financing and finding the right general contractor for the job should also be taken seriously. Choosing the right contractor is critical to achieving your desired outcome on build time and within budget, so do your due diligence.

Main Issues That Can Impact the Timeline

Numerous issues can impact the timeline of building a custom home, with the weather being one of the most significant to influence construction time. Various permits and authorizations, such as inspection and building permits, can also impact how long it takes to build a home. One way to ensure a smooth timeline is by carefully planning and scheduling each phase of the home-building process.

Saving Time During the Building Process

To save time during the construction of your new home, you first need to have a clear understanding of the next construction timeline itself. Ensure your desired schedule can be accommodated and planned, including any additional time required for permits, inspections, or other issues.

It’s also important to ensure that all materials required for your home are acquired beforehand, ensuring the construction period can continue without interruptions or delays.

Permits and Authorizations: What You Need to Know

To construct a new dream home, you must acquire permits from municipal departments such as the building or zoning department. These permits and authorizations help ensure that building construction adheres to standard building codes, restricting the possibility of home construction defects and related problems.

The Style and Scale of Your New House

The style and size of your new house can significantly impact the timeline of constructing your new home. Larger homes will often take longer to build than smaller homes due to the increased work required and the need to secure many more building materials.

The Timeline of a Typical Home Construction

The actual construction timeline for constructing a typical home can vary depending on the location and complexity of the building plans. Here is a rough construction timeline for building a typical home:

Week 1: Prepping and planning

To kick off a custom build, you must tackle site preparation, obtaining permits, setting up equipment, establishing a construction schedule, and planning the rigorous building process.

Weeks 2-5: Framing and home foundations

Once your contractor is ready to break ground on the home-building project, their team will need to complete the foundation and framing work, including framing the walls and roof of the first-floor plan and house. After framing, a structural inspection ensures all work is up to code.

Weeks 6-7: Mechanical elements

It’s time to get down to basics and start installing plumbing, electrical systems, ductwork, and heating and cooling systems.

Weeks 7-8: Drywall and other insulation

Usually, about seven to eight weeks in, you’ll install insulation to help regulate the temperature inside your home and drywall to close up the interior walls.

Weeks 9-11: Painting and flooring

Prepare for the fun stuff—painting the interior and installing floorings such as tile, hardwood, or carpet.

Weeks 12-13: Exterior elements and finishes

Once you complete a decent chunk of the interior work, it’s time to head outside and install exterior doors and garage doors, building walkways, roofing, and gutters.

Week 14: Finishing off the interior

After you finish the base of the home, the finishing touches occur, like installing cabinetry, appliances, and lighting fixtures.

Week 15: Finishing off your driveways and walkways

About four months in, the build team must complete exterior elements such as your driveway, walkways, and landscaping features.

Week 16: Final finishing touches and clean up

As the project starts to close, it’s necessary to clean up the construction site, check the building site for any remaining issues and ensure everything is up to code.

Week 17: Landscaping and gardening

During week 17, the home builders will start to finalize the exterior appearance of your new home, including planting trees and shrubs.

Week 18: Inspection of the finished home

If all goes well, you’ll complete a final inspection by a municipal inspector to ensure everything in the home is up to code. This is a key step for safety. 

Week 19: Final home walkthrough of property

The final home-walk through is a really exciting time in any custom build. The homeowner and builder conduct a final walkthrough to ensure everything is working.

Week 20: Closing on the new home construction

To wrap things up, at about week 20, the homeowner signs documents to complete the home purchase and officially takes ownership.

Some Final Elements to Consider When Building Your New House

Unfortunately, the costs don’t stop once you’re done building the home. You must also plan for mortgage and escrow costs to build a custom home. 

Costs, mortgage, and escrow

When it comes to building a new custom house, there are a few final elements to consider to ensure that you are fully prepared for everything the process entails. One of the most important things to keep in mind is the cost of a mortgage. While you may know what you can afford to spend each month, speaking with a mortgage broker or lender is essential before beginning your build to give you a clear idea of your budget and help you avoid surprises. Using a mortgage calculator can make it easier to determine what your monthly payments will look like. 

Additionally, it’s important to consider the costs of escrow—the money you will need to set aside for expenses such as property taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Create a separate account for these expenses and contribute a set amount each month to ensure that you are prepared for any unexpected expenses that may arise.

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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.

Douglas Elliman CEO Scott Durkin joins ‘Squawk on the Street’ to discuss the health of luxury real estate and more.

When you consider the challenges facing the world, the temptation to become depressed, apathetic, and cynical is great. These problems are so complicated, how can they possibly be solved? Who among us is daring enough to try? We need leaders who are unafraid to question the status quo.

The good news is, a pathway for nurturing these leaders exists and is already growing nationwide — it’s called invention education.

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Invention education is different from other educational frameworks that support innovation, like STEM, because it puts the student in the proverbial driver’s seat. Instead of being assigned a problem and instructed how to solve it, it’s up to the student to identify a problem they want to design a solution for. As they research the problem of their choice and begin developing potential solutions, the student is asked to consider the experiences of others, which focuses their empathy. As part of their curriculum, students hone their ability to communicate their ideas clearly and convincingly.

If all invention education did was teach students how to be inventive, that would be significant. But its benefits extend far beyond inventions. Learning how to identify and solve problems is an antidote to powerlessness. It embeds within young people the notion that problems are worthy of being solved and in fact can be solved. It teaches them how to approach others for help, expanding their capacity to make progress in every arena of their lives.

The teenage inventors I’ve had the privilege of interviewing are confident and highly capable. They’re leading now, not future leaders.

Here’s a snapshot into their lives as young inventors.

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Samaira Mehta

Samaira Mehta is a 15-year-old entrepreneur and STEM advocate from the Bay Area who designed and commercialized her first product — a board game that teaches coding concepts to children — before middle school.

The game was a solution to a problem she faced as a 6-year-old, which was that her friends didn’t think coding was fun or interesting. Could she convince them otherwise? Creating a physical game based on a digital process is unusual, Mehta points out.

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“As a child working in the space of innovation, one of the biggest advantages we have is that our brains are not confined to possibilities. We can think of stuff that may or may not be possible,” she explains.

She began thinking of herself as an inventor and a CEO when she realized she was creating a solution that was going to impact people. Today, she estimates that the three board games she’s brought to market — all of which simplify complex concepts — have reached more than 25,000 students. Now her goal is to help one billion kids learn to code, because she believes it’s an essential skill. To that end, she launched “Coding As Easy As 1234” last year, an online program that uses game play to introduce AI and coding.

As of late, she’s been applying her strengths as an innovator to the field of medical research. Her creation of a platform to aid in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer — which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning — won first place in the California state science fair in 2022.

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According to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, while ovarian cancer is the 11th most common cancer among women, it is the fifth-leading cause of all cancer-related death among women. Mehta was inspired to focus on this issue after the loss of her science teacher’s mother to ovarian cancer and her discovery that ovarian cancer has been overlooked among the medical community.

“When I saw a problem and that there was absolutely no good solution for it in the world today, I decided, well, what if I just create the solution?” Mehta explains. “Sometimes, the best solutions may come from children and from teens and from our generation. So, we should be taught how to save our ideas and really call them our own.”

Mehta encourages young inventors to start slow, build up momentum around their work, and then, when the timing is right, go big. She is currently working on a graphic novel for middle schoolers about a coding club with MIT Kids Press.

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Aum Dhruv and Nick Harty

As juniors enrolled in International Baccalaureate programs at Fort Myers High School in Florida and Harrison High School in New York, Aum Dhruv and Nick Harty co-invented Vision Bound, a low-cost tool for diagnosing diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy affects over 90 million people worldwide and can cause blindness when left undiagnosed and untreated, which is often the case in low-income and middle-income countries.

They describe their fully functioning prototype as “a solution to bridge the gap between preventable retinal diseases and technology.” Their invention, which capitalized on earlier experiences with FIRST Robotics, evolved out of a desire to develop medical software for a point-of-care device. Fleshing out their initial concept required them to conduct original research using the algorithms of neural networks, cold email local ophthalmologists and a university researcher, and learn how to 3D print.

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Last year, they teamed up to compete and ultimately win a first-place prize in the annual Invention Convention competition held at The Henry Ford Museum in part because their skills complimented each other. Harty had developed a background in computer science through robotics competitions, STEM educators, and MIT’s Scratch, whereas Dhruv has honed his interest in the sciences and business through HOSA and DECA. Their interest in STEM was sparked in middle school through competitions they thrived in, including math team and science fair.

Ultimately, Dhruv describes the experience of designing an entire research project by themselves, start to finish, as “life-changing.” They’re both confident they want to continue developing their own ideas into businesses.

“Inventing is what we love,” explained Dhruv simply.

Harty encourages teens who are interested in inventing to find a team of people they can work well with who have skills that are impactful towards the project they want to focus on.

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“If you want to make something but you don’t know how to use CAD or 3D print, you need to reach out to someone,” he said. “Try to find a schoolmate or a teacher who knows how to use CAD.”

Dhruv encourages young inventors to ask a lot of questions and be unafraid to approach adults.

“When you’re young, people don’t really judge you for making a mistake,” Dhruv explained. “And you need to make mistakes in order to learn and truly grow.”

Ways To Help Young People Embrace Their Inner Inventor

Inventing comes naturally to humans, stressed Britt Magneson during a Zoom interview. As the executive vice-president of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, she oversees educational programs for youth that merge creativity and play with STEM concepts. Parents don’t need to purchase a special kit or toy to spark the spirit of inventiveness within their children, because it already exists, she says. Instead, she recommends asking open-ended questions and providing a large volume of open-ended materials for children to experiment with as they explore the question, “What if?” These materials can be simple, everyday items.

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Juli Shively is a longtime invention education advocate who founded a quarterly, free 24-hour online event for young innovators to present their ideas in March of 2020. Since then, Global Innovation Field Trip has provided students from more than 60 countries with a platform to connect, share, and collaborate — an experience she has dubbed “world learning.” She describes her website, Innovation World, as a “one-shop stop” for resources related to the youth innovation space.

In a Zoom interview, she emphasized the importance of seeking out learner-directed programs instead of programs that teach a general process. It doesn’t matter what the program is centered around, per se, she said — it could be coding, art, music, or innovation. The important part is that the young person is actually excited about what they’re going to do because they have a hand in determining that. This teaches them that their direction is important, whilst giving them the support they need to thrive.

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Shively also recommended helping children meet people who can be role models. As an example, she told the story of a 9-year-old GIFT presenter who she and her cofounder encouraged to write to Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the student’s dream lunch date. The six-page handwritten letter ultimately turned into an invitation for the student to meet Tyson backstage at a local event happening later that year.

“These people want to inspire young people to follow in their footsteps or to do better than them and to go farther. It’s worth asking,” Shively explained. “It might not work, but it might, and how cool is that?”

In my experience, people who have succeeded creatively are very willing to help mentor the next generation.

An important final note. Invention education is particularly well-suited to engage at-risk youth, including neurodivergent children, for whom thinking differently is second nature.

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Looking for an invention education program for a student in your life this summer? Check out the National Inventor Hall of Fame’s Camp Invention — there are more than 1,000 programs running nationwide.