Just Start Real Estate with Mike Simmons: Recent Episodes
Inspiring interviews with today's most successful real estate investors!
New Shows twice per week! Exciting interview with top entrepreneurs. I get to the bottom of their business to discover the secret to how they became successful. Every episode is full of actionable advice and tips that you can use in your business to immediately help you further your success in real estate.
Today's Guest: Paul Wakim Paul is the co-founder of TwnSqr, a real estate technology startup devoted to breaking down the barriers of the real estate industry by providing homeowners and real estate professionals full control over the connections they make for their next real estate transaction. Paul started TwnSqr as a project to create an algorithm to predict who was going to sell their house next so he could buy more deals. Today, TwnSqr has reimagined how the real estate process works for buyers, sellers, agents, and investors, and it’s the most secure and fastest way to connect with the best person for your next real estate transaction on your own terms.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Paul sharing the evolution of TwnSqr since its inception right before COVID and how it currently works. Paul details how it has changed from being a real estate tool to a service that is one aspect of a real estate investor’s process.
Paul detailed a new program that they just launched called TwnSqr Enterprise that caters to investors that have a significant amount of properties to sell to form a direct integration with their Boost service, or their dispositions marketing service. Paul also gives a ton of credit to his partner Mitch that does most of the coding, and who he says is brilliant. Some customizations occur for each individual client, so Paul details this process.
I asked Paul to describe their avatar, or ideal client, and also to describe how the pricing works for their service. It is a monthly subscription service, but Paul goes into detail on how it actually works. He also goes into the integration of AI into their services.
This was a super detailed interview where I asked a lot of nitty-gritty kinds of questions so you want don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Wakim and get valuable information on how to unlock the potential of your dispositions process with TwnSqr!
Notable Quotes: “All TwnSqr is as of August 7th is a way for you to interface your existing systems and processes, your CRM, with our Boost service. There is no more seller-facing aspect to the platform.”
- Paul Wakim
“We have simplified things quite a bit to just being a plug-in for your CRM with the sole purpose of getting you interest in the properties that you have for sale.”
- Paul Wakim
“Any investor that has at least two properties to sell per month is our target market.”
- Paul Wakim
“You are using the existing client’s buyers list in addition to going out and getting more people to opt into TwnSqr to maximize who is seeing the properties - more eyeballs.”
- Mike Simmons
“Tell me why I would want to utilize your done-for-you service when I already have a fully operational, successful, talented dispositions team and/or person and/or process. Like why would I hand over the reins to something that is working really well?”
- Mike Simmons
“We found out not only was that sales pitch incorrect but also the execution was incorrect.”
- Paul Wakim
“It is worth combining your existing systems and processes with our boosting system because it is a supplement - it is like a turbocharger for an engine.”
- Paul Wakim
“Once the integration is built, we are off to the races together.”
- Paul Wakim
“Simplicity is where the actual value is.”
- Paul Wakim
“Simple is scalable.”
- Mike Simmons
“TwnSqr today is as bad as it is ever going to get. It is only going to get better.”
- Paul Wakim
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Mike’s Email
TwnSqr
Paul Email
Paul on LinkedIn
Paul on Instagram
Paul on Twitter
Paul on Youtube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail!
Today's Guest: Erin Helle In this episode, I interview fellow real estate investor and return guest, Erin Helle. Erin begins by giving us her background and what brought her to real estate investing. She began her career in the military, first attending West Point Academy and then serving on active duty. Because her husband was also in the service, they knew that both of them being on active duty would be short-lived as they planned to start a family. She resigned her commission after about eight years of active duty and she began to explore real estate as a way to earn an income and be present for her family.
Highlights From The Show: We go back over Erin’s story because it is so inspirational! Her business has just exploded since we last talked on the podcast in 2020. We discuss all of the different types of investing she is involved in and the various markets, as well. She related that she has invested in short-term rentals, but doesn’t like it as an investment model because it isn’t passive at all.
We then talk about the event that Erin is hosting called Financial Freedom Summit. It is being held at the Wynn Las Vegas on September 2nd & 3rd, 2023. It is an exclusive event to inspire personal, professional, and financial development. Military veteran leaders in the real estate investing industry will guide the participants to build their blueprint for total financial freedom. But Erin wanted me to understand that it was the community of veterans that gave her the courage to get started in real estate investing, which is why she decided to give back to veterans through her summit. Erin went over the different topics, speakers, and breakout sessions that will happen throughout the weekend. Erin also detailed how some of the sponsors backing the event are providing scholarships to the event for service members that may not otherwise be able to afford to attend.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Erin Helle and learn about everything she has been up to since the last time she was on the show!
Notable Quotes: “This is a great industry and there is a lot of opportunity, but it isn’t necessarily for everyone.”
- Mike Simmons
“I hate the short-term rental game. I hate everything about it.”
- Erin Helle
“We use any cash we can come up with to build our portfolio.”
- Erin Helle
“I am a very left-brain, logical decision-maker.”
- Erin Helle
“I don’t really have the personality to talk to STR guests.”
- Mike Simmons
“It was the network of other West Point grads, and other veterans, in the space that helped me get my start and help me take that first step and then scale.”
- Erin Helle
“There is a lot of value in networking events.”
- Mike Simmons
“I have been amazed at the generosity of the people speaking and putting on this event.”
- Erin Helle
“The value of being in a room with these investors is like an education on steroids.”
- Mike Simmons
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Previous Episode with Erin
Financial Freedom Summit
Erin’s Website
Erin on Facebook
Erin on Instagram
Erin on YouTube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail!
Today's Guest: Chris Logan I am excited to have my friend and fellow investor, Chris, on the show today! He is a super smart investor that is passionate about teaching people how to invest outside of their home market.
Highlights From The Show: We start the interview as we always do by getting some of Chris’ background and how he got started in real estate investing. He was introduced to real estate (like so many others) by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and then signed up for an investing course with his wife, Heather. They began their business by wholesaling properties and Chris said during that time they tried fix and flipping, but that strategy did not appeal to them. They built their wholesaling business into a 7 figure business and wanted to focus on the one thing that they were really good at.
We then discuss wholesaling in markets other than where one lives, which is what Chris primarily does. He said when he is picking a new market, he looks at the population and median home prices. I asked him what specifically he is looking at regarding the population and he said they look for a population between 250,000 and 500,000 people because you know that many houses will be bought and sold and also that it is an area that people want to be in. Chris also recommends using the power of local Facebook groups to build your buyers list and network.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Chris Logan to learn the ins and outs of virtual wholesaling!
Notable Quotes: “You are just going to drop value, I know it.”
- Mike Simmons
“Rich Dad Poor Dad is like the gateway drug for real estate investing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Flipping is more of a construction business and wholesaling is a sales and marketing business.”
- Chris Logan
“I am not the biggest fan of flipping, either. I get burned out with the contractor situation.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is not like you take a wholesaling course and then money starts falling from the sky.”
- Chris Logan
“We don’t start investing in a market because we want to be there - we follow the money.”
- Chris Logan
“I like starting in an area where I have a runway to scale.”
- Chris Logan
“I think you should build your buyers list before you market for sellers, especially if you are a brand new investor.”
- Chris Logan
“Massive and perfect action is what you want to focus on.”
- Chris Logan
“Our mentality is ‘keep it small, keep it all.’”
- Chris Logan
“Let’s do deals together!”
- Chris Logan
“Massive action is the cure for most things.”
- Mike Simmons
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Rich Dad Poor Dad
The ONE Thing
Mailchimp
Aweber
PropStream
Chris on Facebook
Virtual Wholesaling Made Simple
Mike on Facebook
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 16th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Do not apologize! That is why I do these Lives. I prefer when people jump on and ask questions.”
“My company does not wholesale anything that is listed on the MLS.”
“It is infinitely easier to get a property off the MLS first before wholesaling it.”
“If the realtor is the one that brought us that seller, they will be compensated.”
“I am not trying to avoid the realtor’s commission, I am trying to avoid the realtor’s involvement.”
“One of the main things you want to look at is time on market.”
“We use ListSource as investors for finding houses to buy.”
“You want to make sure you are going into a market where houses are moving.”
“You definitely want pictures or a video walkthrough of a property before you buy out-of-state.”
“You have to start with good numbers.”
“It just doesn’t make sense to try to figure it out on your own.”
“I think coaching and masterminds are the best way to grow your business. The information you get is curated - what you need when you need it.”
“My goal is to do way more in 2023 than I originally planned because the opportunities are tremendous.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Gary Beasley In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Roofstock CEO, Gary Beasley. Roofstock is a leading real estate investment marketplace that he co-founded in 2015. Gary caught the entrepreneurial bug while earning an MBA at Stanford, and spent most of his career building businesses in the real estate, hospitality, and tech sectors.
Highlights From The Show: We began as we often do by diving into Gary’s background. He talked about growing up in small midwestern towns learning a bit about the business from his dad who owned a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Gary said things really changed for him when he went to school at Northwestern and how the environment really opened his eyes to the different possibilities available to him. He decided to go to business school after working a couple of years in real estate, thinking that he wanted to do something different but ended up right back in real estate after earning his MBA from Stanford.
Gary talked about his early work experience and his different roles. He talked about how much he learned and how his confidence grew when he was able to perform duties that he had not done previously. After several years as a CFO and president for ZipRealty, he decided to take a year off to work on various projects. He took some time to teach some entrepreneur courses at Stanford and ended up making a proposal to a solar panel technology company that led to another leadership role.
Gary took some time to explain the circumstances that led him to start Roofstock and the advantages of their platform. Some of these include fast sales, costs associated with selling homes are lower than through traditional means, there is no downtime for the investment and very little disruption to the tenant. As part of this discussion, I talked a lot about why using Roofstock is desirable for an investor in my situation. Gary outlined several of the benefits and guarantees that are integral to the Roofstock marketplace.
We then discussed where Gary thinks the housing market is headed. He said that it is so hard to predict the future because there are so many variables, but it is very interesting that the housing market is still so hot after several months of the pandemic. He stressed that because of the pandemic, people are valuing their homesteads more than ever and that is having an interesting impact on the market.
Gary has an incredibly interesting background and was a great guest, so please join us for this uber-informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “One of the best things about college is how it expands your horizons and your viewpoint of what is possible.”
- Mike Simmons
“I encourage people to view college as a time of exploration and not necessarily as a practical, pre-professional period.”
- Gary Beasley
“College really teaches you how to think.”
- Gary Beasley
“Early in your career, do things for the experience, not for the money.”
- Gary Beasley
“The more difficult the decision, the less it matters what you decide.”
- Gary Beasley
“You lean on experts that can help you.”
- Gary Beasley
“Make sure you are surrounded by the right people.”
- Gary Beasley
“Embrace the process and everything will be okay.”
- Gary Beasley
“If you stay where you are comfortable, I hope you are comfortable where you currently are because that is where you will remain.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to break down the geographic barriers to real estate investing.”
- Gary Beasley
“When you are building a marketplace, it has to be on a foundation of trust.”
- Gary Beasley
“It has to be trust first, then growth, and then profitability.”
- Gary Beasley
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Roofstock
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Gary Beasley In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Roofstock CEO, Gary Beasley. Roofstock is a leading real estate investment marketplace that he co-founded in 2015. Gary caught the entrepreneurial bug while earning an MBA at Stanford, and spent most of his career building businesses in the real estate, hospitality, and tech sectors.
Highlights From The Show: We began as we often do by diving into Gary’s background. He talked about growing up in small midwestern towns learning a bit about the business from his dad who owned a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Gary said things really changed for him when he went to school at Northwestern and how the environment really opened his eyes to the different possibilities available to him. He decided to go to business school after working a couple of years in real estate, thinking that he wanted to do something different but ended up right back in real estate after earning his MBA from Stanford.
Gary talked about his early work experience and his different roles. He talked about how much he learned and how his confidence grew when he was able to perform duties that he had not done previously. After several years as a CFO and president for ZipRealty, he decided to take a year off to work on various projects. He took some time to teach some entrepreneur courses at Stanford and ended up making a proposal to a solar panel technology company that led to another leadership role.
Gary took some time to explain the circumstances that led him to start Roofstock and the advantages of their platform. Some of these include fast sales, costs associated with selling homes are lower than through traditional means, there is no downtime for the investment and very little disruption to the tenant. As part of this discussion, I talked a lot about why using Roofstock is desirable for an investor in my situation. Gary outlined several of the benefits and guarantees that are integral to the Roofstock marketplace.
We then discussed where Gary thinks the housing market is headed. He said that it is so hard to predict the future because there are so many variables, but it is very interesting that the housing market is still so hot after several months of the pandemic. He stressed that because of the pandemic, people are valuing their homesteads more than ever and that is having an interesting impact on the market.
Gary has an incredibly interesting background and was a great guest, so please join us for this uber-informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “One of the best things about college is how it expands your horizons and your viewpoint of what is possible.”
- Mike Simmons
“I encourage people to view college as a time of exploration and not necessarily as a practical, pre-professional period.”
- Gary Beasley
“College really teaches you how to think.”
- Gary Beasley
“Early in your career, do things for the experience, not for the money.”
- Gary Beasley
“The more difficult the decision, the less it matters what you decide.”
- Gary Beasley
“You lean on experts that can help you.”
- Gary Beasley
“Make sure you are surrounded by the right people.”
- Gary Beasley
“Embrace the process and everything will be okay.”
- Gary Beasley
“If you stay where you are comfortable, I hope you are comfortable where you currently are because that is where you will remain.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to break down the geographic barriers to real estate investing.”
- Gary Beasley
“When you are building a marketplace, it has to be on a foundation of trust.”
- Gary Beasley
“It has to be trust first, then growth, and then profitability.”
- Gary Beasley
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Roofstock
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Gary Beasley In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Roofstock CEO, Gary Beasley. Roofstock is a leading real estate investment marketplace that he co-founded in 2015. Gary caught the entrepreneurial bug while earning an MBA at Stanford, and spent most of his career building businesses in the real estate, hospitality, and tech sectors.
Highlights From The Show: We began as we often do by diving into Gary’s background. He talked about growing up in small midwestern towns learning a bit about the business from his dad who owned a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Gary said things really changed for him when he went to school at Northwestern and how the environment really opened his eyes to the different possibilities available to him. He decided to go to business school after working a couple of years in real estate, thinking that he wanted to do something different but ended up right back in real estate after earning his MBA from Stanford.
Gary talked about his early work experience and his different roles. He talked about how much he learned and how his confidence grew when he was able to perform duties that he had not done previously. After several years as a CFO and president for ZipRealty, he decided to take a year off to work on various projects. He took some time to teach some entrepreneur courses at Stanford and ended up making a proposal to a solar panel technology company that led to another leadership role.
Gary took some time to explain the circumstances that led him to start Roofstock and the advantages of their platform. Some of these include fast sales, costs associated with selling homes are lower than through traditional means, there is no downtime for the investment and very little disruption to the tenant. As part of this discussion, I talked a lot about why using Roofstock is desirable for an investor in my situation. Gary outlined several of the benefits and guarantees that are integral to the Roofstock marketplace.
We then discussed where Gary thinks the housing market is headed. He said that it is so hard to predict the future because there are so many variables, but it is very interesting that the housing market is still so hot after several months of the pandemic. He stressed that because of the pandemic, people are valuing their homesteads more than ever and that is having an interesting impact on the market.
Gary has an incredibly interesting background and was a great guest, so please join us for this uber-informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “One of the best things about college is how it expands your horizons and your viewpoint of what is possible.”
- Mike Simmons
“I encourage people to view college as a time of exploration and not necessarily as a practical, pre-professional period.”
- Gary Beasley
“College really teaches you how to think.”
- Gary Beasley
“Early in your career, do things for the experience, not for the money.”
- Gary Beasley
“The more difficult the decision, the less it matters what you decide.”
- Gary Beasley
“You lean on experts that can help you.”
- Gary Beasley
“Make sure you are surrounded by the right people.”
- Gary Beasley
“Embrace the process and everything will be okay.”
- Gary Beasley
“If you stay where you are comfortable, I hope you are comfortable where you currently are because that is where you will remain.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to break down the geographic barriers to real estate investing.”
- Gary Beasley
“When you are building a marketplace, it has to be on a foundation of trust.”
- Gary Beasley
“It has to be trust first, then growth, and then profitability.”
- Gary Beasley
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Roofstock
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 9th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “The opportunities are just off the charts on what we can accomplish in this market.”
“I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
“I think we are going to look back at this time 10 years from now and think we missed some opportunities just because we were scared of the market changes.”
“The targets and numbers you use to calculate profit for a flip are probably going to stay the same even when you have some experience.”
“Your profit margin isn’t always a representation of what will make you happy, but also a built-in margin of error.”
“Build in at least a $20k profit margin on the first $100k so that you have some wiggle room if you run into issues with the rehab.”
“You don’t want to be on a high wire without a safety net.”
“Shoot for a profit margin of at least 15% on the retail price.”
“You want to look at what house prices have done in your market since May, since that is really when the market started to decline.”
“We don’t put inspection contingencies in our contracts. What we have are funding contingencies.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Jay Conner Jay is a “real estate magician,” a proven expert in the private money space, and has been a full-time real estate entrepreneur for 14 years. Since his encounter with private money in 2009 after losing his line of credit, he has never asked anyone for money. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties and works seemingly magical deals for buyers and sellers alike. From his experience raising private money over the years, Jay has developed new, easy and simple techniques for raising all the private money you will ever want for your real estate deals.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Jay sharing his background story and how he ended up specializing in private money. He shares that he got into private money as a result of a need, and all his quantum leaps in business and finances came out of big problems and challenges that he had to push through. For his first six years in real estate, Jay was primarily devoted to investing in single-family houses and relied on the local bank to finance his deals. He had one lender that he relied on for six years, but in January 2009, he learned a lesson the hard way. Jay had two houses under contract that he needed the bank to fund, but he learned he had lost his line of credit as the banks had stopped lending to real estate investors. Jay was not the only one, but he had to figure it out and landed on private money as a solution through a friend. He learned what private money was and how it works and put his program together, and since 2009, he has never asked anyone for money. Jay started teaching people he knew and had a relationship with, and from just being a teacher, he was able to attract over $2M in less than 90 days, and his business tripled.
We then talk about what private money is and what Jay teaches people about it. Jay shares that private money is not commercial money. It’s not getting money from the bank. It’s not getting money from an institution and does not equal hard money. Private money is when we, as real estate investors, borrow money to fund deals from individuals just like us, and they loan us their money from their liquid funds, investment funds, or retirement funds. Jay shares that right now, he has 44 private lenders that are funding his deals, and he has 20 projects going on simultaneously. Over 50% of his private lenders who are funding his deals are doing it from their retirement funds, and none of them had ever heard about private money, but he was able to educate them. According to him, when you are able to educate other people about private money, there is no chasing, there is no begging, and there is no selling. Instead, the lenders are chasing you.
Next, we talk about why private lenders would lend you their money even when you have done just a couple of deals. Jay explains that if you don’t pay the private lender, the property does. When borrowing private money, you are not borrowing unsecured money. You give the lender the collateralized note. That gives them the legal right to foreclose on you if you don’t pay them. Sometimes as investors, we fear screwing our private lenders when the deals go sour. Still, Jay stresses that that will not happen if we buy right, know what our formula is for your maximum offers when we are playing on cash, estimate repairs correctly when renovations are involved, and protect ourselves and our private lender by not borrowing too much money for a property. Don’t overleverage a property, and don’t borrow more than 75% of the after-repair value.
We then talk about how to find people who have money who might want to lend it to you. Jay shares that there are three primary categories of private lenders and where you can find them. The first category is a warm market; family, friends, and connections in your phone, email list, and social connections. The second category is your expanded warm market. Whether you are well connected or not, you have to grow your network intentionally by getting involved with your community by giving, not getting first. Get involved in the local city groups, chamber of commerce, lottery club, and church to grow your local network. Networking is a big part of attracting private money. The better quality and bigger your network is, the better. Your network is the foundation of your net worth. The third category is existing private lenders. These are people that are already lending money out individually to real estate investors.
Lastly, we talk about five steps to use when teaching a warm market what private money is. Jay shares that the first step is making your list. The first people to put on your list are people who are retired because there is a good chance they have a retirement fund that is not giving them high-rate returns safely and securely. The second step is to have a very casual, simple, no-pressure, no-selling, and no-chasing conversation over the phone or in person. Step three is arousing their curiosity by teaching them what private money is. Step four is teaching them your private money program, where you set the parameters, interest rate, maximum value, length of the note, and frequency of the payment. Step five is where they give you a verbal pledge, and then you find a deal. Jay advises to not present a deal that you need to be funded by a private lender in the same initial conversation when teaching the private lender program. You definitely want to avoid sounding desperate!
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jay Conner and get valuable information on how to raise all the private money you'll ever need!
Notable Quotes: “When you are able to educate other people about private money, there is no chasing, there is no begging, there is no selling. Instead, the lenders will be chasing you.”
- Jay Conner
“Don’t overleverage properties. Protect yourself and your private lenders by not borrowing too much money for a property. Don’t borrow more than 75% of the ARV.“
- Jay Conner
“Networking is a big part of attracting private money. The better quality and bigger your network is the better. Your network is the foundation of your net worth.”
- Jay Conner
“Private money is where you want to end up because of the volatility of the hard money world and how the rules are changing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Leveraging private money is easy - you just need to follow the right steps, don’t overthink and over talk, when someone says yes, your job is done.”
- Mike Simmons
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Money Guide
Omni on LinkedIn
Omni on Facebook
Omni on Instagram
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 2nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “The deals are out there.”
“There is nothing like getting something for free that normally costs money.”
“Your business is dying, and will be dead soon, if you don’t get more leads.”
“Direct mail is one of the very best lead sources you will ever find.”
“If you have a long-term rental that someone occupies for a year or two, you can almost guarantee that the carpeting is going to be a disaster at that point.”
“You can fortify the materials in your rentals against getting destroyed or you or your property manager can do regular inspections.”
“If you want to reduce your turnover costs, inspect the property on a regular basis.”
“That is absolutely happening a ton all over the place.”
“The BRRRR strategy is not dead.”
“This is the time that it becomes easier to buy a house at 50% of ARV.”
“Some people want a unique, Instagrammable property for short-term rentals.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Karen Briscoe Karen is the principal owner of the Huckaby Briscoe Conroy Group (HBC) with Keller Williams. The HBC Group has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 250 Top Realtor® teams in the United States. Since 1977, HBC Group has sold over 1,500 homes valued at over $1.5 billion. The team consistently sells over 100 residential properties annually ranging from multi-million dollar luxury estates to condominiums and townhomes. Primary market areas include Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and Washington, DC.
Highlights From The Show: Karen is the creator of the transformative "5 Minute Success" concept. Her books Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed and Commit to Get Leads: 66 Day Challenge offer a combination of information and inspiration delivered through memorable stories. Her most recent book, Flip Time / Love Life is a heroine’s journey tale about loving the life you have while you create and co-create the life of your dreams. Karen also hosts the highly-rated and immensely popular show 5 Minute Success - The Podcast.
Karen starts by telling us how she got into real estate and what led her to author books and become a podcaster. She initially got started in property developments, but then switched to the residential side of real estate after staying home with her children for many years. Her success in re-building her business after the housing market crisis in 2008 led her to share her methods through her books and podcast.
I asked Karen what she thought helped her to be so successful so early and she said it was her primary strategy of lead generation that she covers in her Commit to Get Leads book. She said she consistently took a plain notebook, numbered a page from one to twenty-five, and when she had filled that up with people she had reached out to that week, she knew her work was done. She is a firm believer that this consistent effort and commitment is what has led to her continued success.
Karen then walks us through the 5 Minute Success principles. She is convinced success is achieved by getting into action immediately and applying lessons learned. Karen talks about how spending five minutes each day, especially attaching the reading of these principles coupled with an existing habit, like having your morning coffee, is very effective and makes the new habit effortless.
I then asked Karen to explain her 66 Day Challenge so we could dive a little deeper into lead generation because it is so vital to a profitable business. She pointed out that there has been a lot of research done on how long it actually takes to form a new habit. Many people say it takes 21 days, but during that period the person is really excited and, when that wears off, the habit can fail to fully form. If they continue, in the second 21 days, the person goes through a period of evaluation, determining whether they really want to continue developing this new habit. The remaining days in the 66-day period are when people actually start to experience the benefits, so it is important to power through and create the energy for persistence. And then, of course, this is just the challenge to get you jump-started for forming a life-long habit.
Because Karen has had so much success for a long period of time in real estate, I asked her where she thought the market would be headed because of the impact of COVID-19. She said she thought the concept of home has actually changed because of the shelter-in-place directives, and people are going to be more mindful of their living space because of it. Karen described how where they were seeing a trend toward urbanization, it now seems to be shifting toward suburbanization, because people want more space and land. She said many agents around the country are seeing demand, but many sellers are unsure about the ongoing situation and not pulling the trigger.
Karen then talked about her partnership with the Front Row Foundation which helps individuals and families braving critical health challenges live life in the Front Row. The hope of the foundation is to provide a Front Row experience that will allow the recipient to set aside any physical or emotional challenges while they attend the event of their dreams and create memories that last a lifetime.
Karen is an ultra-successful business person, but much more importantly, an incredibly generous and kind one as well, so you will definitely miss out if you don’t listen to this week’s episode!
Notable Quotes: “The best system is the one you use.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t overthink it - it is the consistency and the work that matters.”
- Mike Simmons
“Preparing to do the work is an excuse for not actually doing the work.”
- Mike Simmons
“I call it activity blocking rather than time blocking.”
- Karen Briscoe
“The delivery system of these principles for 5 minutes a day is very powerful.”
- Karen Briscoe
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time' is like saying ‘I don’t want to.’”
- Lao Tzu
“If somebody doesn’t want to invest 5 minutes a day into their personal or business development, then they don’t really want to be successful.”
- Karen Briscoe
“Leads are oxygen to your business.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are living life on the front row, you can have a front-row moment wherever you are.”
- Karen Briscoe
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed
Commit to Get Leads: 66 Day Challenge
Flip Time / Love Life
5 Minute Success Website
5 Minute Success - The Podcast
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 26th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “What I really want to know is what kind of business you want.”
“The big thing in real estate will always be finding deals.”
“That category of real estate - wholesaling - exists to serve you.”
“I don’t know if wholesaling is the way to go if you don’t have a lot of time, especially in the beginning.”
“Doing the actual flipping process - working with contractors, working with banks, taking an ugly duckling and turning it into a swan - I didn’t love it.”
“I switched to wholesaling and it was much more in line with my personality and what I wanted for my business.”
“We are going to have a long conversation before we get to the investing strategy and how to do it.”
“Traveling a lot and buying two rentals a year - no big deal.”
“No matter what investing strategy you are in, you should be developing relationships with realtors because they have access to the vast majority of properties that are for sale.”
“Realtors want leads and they want sales, just like we do as investors.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Dave Dubeau Dave is a real estate investor and the founder of The Money Partner Formula, which has helped 100's of real estate investors across North America (and even as far away as Australia, the U.K., and Korea) to quickly launch their capital-raising processes. His proprietary process lets you focus on taking care of your portfolio, finding great new deals, and meeting prospective investors while he works behind the scenes with his team as your capital-raising marketing department. Dave has shared the stage with people like Robert Kiyosaki, George Foreman, Robert Herjavek, Arlene Dickinson, Ted Thomas, and many more. He has been interviewed on over 50 different podcasts, including: "The Best Ever Real Estate Show" with Joe Fairless, and many others. Dave has also spoken for numerous Real Estate Investment Clubs, organizations, and groups.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Dave sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Dave shares that he is a Canadian but lived in Costa Rica for a decade, and that's where he started real estate investing with a couple of pre-foreclosure deals. However, Dave moved his family to Canada and sold his businesses in Costa Rica. He didn't have a lot of capital, had zero credit because he had been out of the country for so long, and had zero job opportunities because he had been self-employed for so long. Dave got into a course that assured him that he, too, could get rich with little or no money down. He did 18 deals for his first 18 months and got good at tracking motivated sellers. Dave shares that the strategy didn’t require much capital, but about 8 years later, when he was doing a different strategy that required coming up with a downpayment, he realized he really sucked at raising capital. He came up with The Money Partner Formula, which worked well for him.
We then discuss the common mistakes that people make when raising capital. Dave shares that the first mistake he made was following the guru saying, ‘find a good deal, and then money will find you.’ According to Dave, that is only true if you have a platform with a thousand followers. If you are a regular mom-and-pop investor, this is the worst advice. For Dave, when he first crashed and burned, he had self-financed his first few deals that required a downpayment and, like everybody else, ran out of cash and credit, and that was when the perfect deal landed on his lap. He had two weeks to find an investor. Dave was under a time crunch, desperate, and out of that, he repelled people with his capital-raising strategy. From his experience, Dave recommends that you get your money lined up first and then look for deals or, at the very least, do them at the same time. Don’t wait until you get a deal on the go to scramble trying to raise capital.
Dave shares that the second big mistake he sees people making all the time is when they are desperate, they figure that anybody with a checkbook could make a good potential investor. The big problem with going after strangers as investors is that it will be very challenging. If you are trying to get somebody to invest 50, 70, or 100 thousand with you, that person needs to know you, like you, and trust you with their money. Also, it is illegal for mom-and-pop investors to raise capital from the general public unless we’re licensed or set up with expensive entities or exemptions. Thinking of strangers as potential investors is a big mistake. Instead, focus on people that you already have a pre-existing relationship with.
Dave shares that the third big mistake most people make is rushing in like the proverbial bull in a china shop. He shares that when he was trying to raise capital, he had an amazing deal with a two weeks time frame to close on it. Dave tried cold calling, but it didn't work for him. Networking also didn’t work for him because he was trying to raise money from strangers. The other thing that Dave did was to put together a list of 200 people and a one-page pdf overview of the deal. He thought the deal would sell itself if enough people saw it because it was awesome. Dave sent the pdf to all the 200 people on his list, and the response he got from people he had not talked to for even 18 years was not cool. The deal crashed and burned, but he had to figure out a better way to raise capital for his future deals. He knew there was a better way, and he was right.
Lastly, we talk about the right way to raise money for your deals and get people to pay attention to your deals and write checks. Dave shares that you have to be a little bit more strategic about things. You don’t want to wait until you desperately need the capital to start the whole process. Start by coming up with a large list of potential investors you have a connection with, and instead of charging in and trying to get money out of them, be a little classier about it. Reconnect with them on a personal level first before you start talking about business. This is a warm-up campaign, and it’s very simple. Start by sending out three emails over a week-long period, such as on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The goal of the warm-up campaign is to reconnect, catch up with people, get some back and forth, and set the stage to prime the pump for what will be coming down the pipeline with your regular marketing.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Dave Dubeau and get valuable information on the three things that are keeping you from raising private money!
Notable Quotes: “Get your money lined up first, and then look for deals. Don’t wait until you get a deal and have to scramble to raise capital.”
- Dave Dubeau
“Crashing and burning is a great way to learn but hearing about people's mistakes allows you not to crash and burn and also shortens your learning curve.”
- Mike Simmons
“Thinking of strangers as potential investors is a big mistake. Instead, leverage your network, get the low-hanging fruit, and squeeze all the juice out of the contacts you already have.”
- Dave Dubeau
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Money Partner Formula.
Dave on LinkedIn
Dave YouTube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 19th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Let’s build your company, scale it, and automate it in any market.”
“Everyone is freaking out and wondering if they can do real estate in a recession, with the interest rates rising and property values going down.”
“This market that we are going into is as good as the one we just left, just in different ways.”
“I prefer the market that we are going into and I think it works to our favor as investors.”
“Get back to blocking and tackling, get back to the fundamentals.”
“Its acquisitions… it is almost always acquisitions that is the hardest seat to fill.”
“There is an opportunity cost with acquisitions.”
“Your ARV has to reflect a declining market.”
“I like acquisition people who have a strong work ethic and are competitive.”
“How often does anyone really go through and clean their house really well? Probably when you have a party.”
“I would not give anyone a discount in the peak season of your short-term rental.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Avery Carl Avery bought her first rental property at age 26 on a $37,000 salary. Through strategically investing in short-term rental properties in mature vacation rental markets, she was a millionaire by the age of 31. She now owns a portfolio of 28 properties and is the CEO and founder of The Short Term Shop, a real estate team that helps investors acquire short-term rental properties in the most recession-resistant markets, and trains them on the same methods that led her out of the corporate rat race and into financial freedom.
Highlights From The Show: Avery begins by telling us about her background in which she worked as a marketing manager in the music industry. Completely uneducated in real estate investing, she and her husband decided to purchase a home for a long-term rental in the hopes of selling it to pay for college for their future kids. Quickly, they realized that they should do more investing and came across the idea of short-term rentals. They have now grown their portfolio into 28 properties, split between short and long-term rentals. Avery’s business, The Short Term Shop, grew from the necessity of having to become an expert in this type of investing as so few people are and she found very little support.
Avery talks about how her focus has been regional, driveable, vacation-rental markets because they are more recession-proof. Very applicable currently, as we are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, these types of rentals are very attractive when people are unable to or cannot afford to get on a plane, but still want to get away from home. She said that an easy way to think of areas that might be attractive to have short-term rentals are places you may have visited as a child when you rented a house rather than stayed in a hotel. Avery also said that metro markets can be undesirable because of regulations imposed stemming from the competition of nearby hotel markets.
I asked Avery to talk about what I perceived as the downside of short-term rentals, primarily having to deal with people and answer questions very frequently. She said that many different software platforms have risen out of this fairly new type of investing called channel managers that automate a lot of this process. Avery also said that providing as much information as possible in your Airbnb or VRBO listing to try to answer as many questions ahead of time as possible. She also explained all of the technology they have in place for monitoring their rentals.
I wanted Avery to explain the finances involved in the different markets that she is in. She went through the numbers she has seen in her experience and some possible expenses, such as property management, which she does herself. Avery said that more bedrooms make for a higher return on investment, so we talked about this and other details a bit.
I wanted Avery to talk about some of the mistakes she had experienced herself or seen with her clients that new investors should be aware of. Evaluating properties to buy is different in that you want to look at asking price versus what you can make in rentals, instead of what you would make when you sell it. As far as management, she said you have to be aware that because the renters are on vacation, they may not be on their best behavior, but that doesn’t mean they are trashing your place and you have to be careful about calling them out on it. Avery also talked about some of the software tools available to short-term rental investors for management.
I then asked Avery to explain to our listeners the service that The Short Term Shop provides. She said that she is a realtor and has teams in three different markets in Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. They help investors make sure that the properties they are evaluating would make profitable short-term rentals and walk them through the whole process to run a vacation rental.
Even though Avery owns and runs a business to help people get started in this kind of investing, she was completely transparent and gave us all the tips and tools she uses for her own properties! Don’t miss this fast-paced interview, chock-full of great information with Avery Carl!
Notable Quotes: “Short-term rentals provide turbo-charged income.”
- Avery Carl
“You definitely want to treat your cleaners like gold because they are your eyes and ears.”
- Avery Carl
“Don’t micromanage.”
- Avery Carl
“The more people you can sleep, the more money you can make, and the higher the cash-on-cash return.”
- Avery Carl
“It’s better than sitting in an office every day.”
- Avery Carl
“Normal real estate investors are looking for super deals all of the time.”
- Mike Simmons
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: The Short Term Shop
AirDNA
Mashvisor
KeyData
YourPorter
IGMS
TurnoverBnB
Beyond Pricing
PriceLabs
Wheelhouse
Airbnb
VRBO
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 12th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “1000% YES. Buyers are still buying from us.”
“It is a big fallacy that people are pulling back and holding off because we are in a changing market.”
“Our job as investors right now is to point the sellers to the facts.”
“Our buyers are asking for reduced pricing.”
“The job of the house flipper is to dial in their process and not let a renovation take 6 or 9 months.”
“I know a lot of people that have been trying to figure out wholesaling for months or years and they still don’t 100% get it.”
“If you try to explain the entire wholesaling process to a seller in a 30-minute conversion, you are not going to get a lot of deals.”
“When you give people too many options or too much information, usually the result is they do nothing. And by doing nothing, they are essentially saying no.”
“We set the expectations right up front.”
“When selecting a property manager, I want to know they have a pretty good-sized portfolio of properties that they manage. I don’t want to be their first.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Stefan Tsvetkov Stefan is a financial engineer turned multifamily investor, analytics speaker, live webinar host, and the founder of RealtyQuant - a company that brings data-driven and quantitative techniques to the real estate industry. They utilize a data-driven approach to seek inefficiencies in the U.S. multifamily market. RealtyQuant Analytics uses a collection of state-level and county-level reports and data to assist investors in best gauging overvalued real estate markets and their appreciation potential. They have also developed statistical predictors for market appreciation and a valuation metric to gauge market downside risk. With RealtyQuant, Stefan is on a mission to add industry value through education, investment, technology, and analytics.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Stefan sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Stefan shares that he’s from Europe. He came to the States at 22 years old to pursue his master's in financial engineering in New York City and worked in finance for about a decade. Stefan shares that for the last couple of years, he has been investing in commercial real estate in the Midwest. Stefan is also the founder of RealtyQuant, a data analytic industry in real estate, where he does different property and market analytics. He has done studies on prior market recessions and published market evaluation metrics for every single county in the country.
We then discuss what is happening and Stefan's outlook on what will come in the next 18-24 months. He shares that the most distinctive thing he has seen that shows we’re not yet in a recession is that inflation is high, and it goes heavily down in recessions. The second distinctive factor he shares is that the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) metrics that show whether we are in a recession or not are very subjective to factors such as personal expenditure. According to Stefan, what he is interested in as a marketer and investor is the market he’s investing in and understanding if he will be able to carry down the risk if it hits a recession at some point. They do studies in these areas, and they have appreciation predictors which account for population growth, income growth, and so forth to show the kind of appreciation to expect in different markets. According to Stefan, understanding market relations is key. It’s not about having a doomsday perspective if you have negative exposure in a recession but more about what will be your relative performance.
Next, we talk about how the politics of a state can affect the over and undervaluation of properties in real estate. Stefan shares that politics have an effect on the population, demographics, and migration shifts. Stefan also explains that being protected in a recession is not about investing in strong markets which decline at a higher rate. For instance, during the previous recession, very desired markets like California, Arizona, and Florida declined, while undesired markets like West Virginia and Mississippi had no decline in the real estate crisis. Stefan shares that strong markets are generally riskier when it comes to property depreciation during recessions because they tend to become overheated.
Lastly, we talk about how states and regions are overvalued, and those that should look out for that are undervalued right now. Stefan shares that the undervalued regions tend to decline very little. Normally the drop is 10 to 12%, but in the undervalued states, the average decline was only 4%. For instance, if you had a property in North Dakota, it had 0% depreciation because it was very undervalued at the time. According to him, with evaluation, you can invest at any time in a very educated way, and the best top ten states, which are also the best markets, are the western and southern states. In terms of undervalued, he recommends you look for poorly performing states like Illinois, North Dakota, Louisiana, and Connecticut.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Stefan Tsvetkov and get valuable information on the most undervalued markets you should be investing in now!
Notable Quotes: “We’re not yet in a recession, inflation is high, and it goes down heavily in recessions.”
- Stefan Tsvetkov
“Strong markets are generally riskier when it comes to property depreciation during recessions because they tend to become overheated.”
- Stefan Tsvetkov
“Having comprehensive data is important when things are moving; you need to know what is happening and look ahead, but you can’t just look a year behind you to know what will happen a year ahead of you.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you stay under the same market cycle, you will continue to appreciate.“
- Stefan Tsvetkov
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: RealtyQuant
Finance Meet Real Estate
Stefan on LinkedIn
Stefan on Facebook
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 10th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “1000% YES. Buyers are still buying from us.”
“It is a big fallacy that people are pulling back and holding off because we are in a changing market.”
“Our job as investors right now is to point the sellers to the facts.”
“Our buyers are asking for reduced pricing.”
“The job of the house flipper is to dial in their process and not let a renovation take 6 or 9 months.”
“I know a lot of people that have been trying to figure out wholesaling for months or years and they still don’t 100% get it.”
“If you try to explain the entire wholesaling process to a seller in a 30-minute conversion, you are not going to get a lot of deals.”
“When you give people too many options or too much information, usually the result is they do nothing. And by doing nothing, they are essentially saying no.”
“We set the expectations right up front.”
“When selecting a property manager, I want to know they have a pretty good-sized portfolio of properties that they manage. I don’t want to be their first.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Mark Podolsky Mark, who, armed with only $3,000, gut-wrenching fear, and absolutely no real estate experience, bought his first few parcels of raw land in 2001. Today, Mark is the author of Dirt Rich, the ultimate guide to helping you build a passive income, and owner of Frontier Properties, a very reputable and successful land investing company. He is also the host of two popular podcasts, The Art of Passive Income and The Best Passive Income Model. By focusing on working smart, not hard, he has completed over 5,500 land deals with an average ROI of over 300% on cash flips, and over 1,000% on the deals he sells with financing terms.
Highlights From The Show: Mark begins by giving us a little detail on how he got into land investing. He was working as an investment banker in mergers and acquisitions and had a co-worker achieving incredibly high ROI by investing in raw land. Mark couldn’t believe the numbers, so he tried it himself. After about 18 months, he was able to exceed his corporate job income and was able to quit in order to invest full-time.
I asked Mark to walk us through his investing model. He starts by going to the county treasurer in a particular area and gets the list of everyone who owes back taxes on land. He said that this advertises two things to him: the owner is not emotionally attached to the land and he is financially distressed in some way. Mark then looks at comparable sales, takes the lowest comparable sale, divides by 4, and offers that fraction to the owner of the land. Because this is cash, and better than nothing, 3-5% of the people will accept it. Once bought, Mark wants to make the property cash-flow, just like if he had a rental home, and he usually has guaranteed buyers in the neighbors. If they have no interest in the property, he has an extensive list of buyers and sites to sell it.
Mark talked a lot about selling to his buyer’s list, so I asked him how you build a list for land. He commented that he has a huge raw land market and explained some of his marketing strategies. He also employs a 90-day return or exchange and 365-day exchange program so it removes the risk for his customers. He then explained how he has automated both the front-end and back-end systems. He says he only has one hour in this business a week when he conducts his team meeting.
I asked Mark to lay out what his team looks like. He has an Acquisitions Manager who decides on a market after extensive research, gets the delinquent tax list from the county, and then works with a guy on Fiverr, who Mark says is an “excel ninja.” He scrubs the list and uploads it to The Land Geek’s proprietary software LGPASS, which sends out direct mail offers. Then the Intake Manager takes over as the offers come back, to ensure they are actual deals, and to try to negotiate a lower selling price, in addition to the actual closing. The property due diligence is performed by a group in the Philippines associated with an American title company, and then they have ad writers for major selling outlets like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. Mark also employs Virtual Assistants (VAs) to work with the Acquisition Manager handling administrative duties.
This episode is about so much more than land investing! Mark walks us through his entire process, which is such valuable information for any investor! Join us for this powerful episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Now we are working because we want to, not because we have to.”
- Mark Podolsky
“No renters, no rehabs, no renovations, no rodents.”
- Mark Podolsky
“The game that we play is can we create enough of these land notes so that our passive income exceeds our fixed expenses.”
- Mark Podolsky
“Happy customers guaranteed.”
- Mark Podolsky’s business philosophy
“What used to take me hours and hours, now takes me one second because of automation.”
- Mark Podolsky
“You just have to show up - it is a consistency game.”
- Mark Podolsky
“COVID is definitely changing the way we do business. We might not have the same success rate closing deals over the phone, but it is dwarfed by the volume of deals when you are doing it virtually.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are learning how to do things faster and better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Owning land is kind of like man-jewelry.”
- Mark Podolsky
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Mark’s Website
Tax Title Services
GeekPay
LGPASS
DataTree
ListSource
Dirt Rich
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of September 28th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “I’m using ‘data-nerd’ as a term of endearment.”
“It is vital for you to know what type of market you are in, not necessarily all of the details and numbers.”
“High-level metrics and high-level data you should know.”
“You have to know what to say to the sellers when you are in their home and knowing the market is key.”
“You should have a one or two-week due diligence period if you can negotiate it in.”
“I don’t like doing flips after fires because smoke damage is real, man. It gets into everything.”
“It is homeowners insurance for sure, but you need to get a vacant policy”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Get Your Tickets to Flip Hacking Live Today! * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Jake Clopton Jake is the Founder and CEO at Clopton Capital, a serial entrepreneur, author, and economist. He founded Clopton Capital in 2009 as a way for property owners and operators to efficiently access both debt and JV equity for commercial property deals. The company focuses on small to middle-market space and all asset classes. Since its inception, Jake has arranged billions of dollars in financing for borrowers across the country. Jake is also the owner and operator of several apartment communities serving residents across the Chicagoland area. He also manages Clopton Insurance Services, a national insurance agency focusing solely on commercial property and business insurance.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Jake sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Jake shares that before he got into real estate, he traded product features in Chicago. However, with the financial crisis in 2008, the interest rates went to zero, all the markets dried up, and it was hard to make money. Jake's idea in the crisis was to help people find capital for deals, even though he didn’t have a background in banking. He started making calls to banks, lenders, and anybody he could find to help him put the money out there. That was 15 years ago, and now he has a capital-raising company that has evolved over time, and Jake fell into the real estate side of it.
We then talk about how Jake’s company helps people raise money for deals. He shares that his company is a liquidity provider in real estate. They do straightforward mortgages for commercial properties, bridge loans, and creative capital. He shares that their typical clients are small market real estate operators, but they also get involved with institutions to help them raise JV equity. However, according to Jake, you will need more as you scale the different types of deals and assets, and how you raise money will change. He also shares that when you start getting bigger, your ability to look for more deals will be taken away as you service the properties you already have in your portfolio, especially when you have multiple investors.
Next, we talk about the interest rates, where they are going, and what you can expect. Jake shares that the market is a little different now, and a lot of what is going on is just uncertainty in the system. Uncertain risk makes people pull back and question their decisions. According to Jake, the volatility and the higher risk are based on the credit spread, and we’re not in a recession as many people presume. Banks are very solid, and there is an enormous amount of liquidity out there. He shares that you should not listen so much to what people are saying about the market crashing because they have been jolted so much into that, and it’s creating a lot of uncertainty. Jake’s perspective is that when you finally get clarity on how far the Fed is going to move the interest rates and understand where it’s going to stop, it will solidify your certainty and stability in the market.
We then talk about what is coming up in the market and how Jake is bracing his company. Jake shares that they provide capital, and in times like this, when things are a little bit trickier, they do a lot better. According to him, asset prices didn't go down when the entire economy shut down during the pandemic. There are more debts, but there is a lot more liquidity, and we are starting from a much better place. Jake also touches on the residential market, and he shares that what happened is that it got ahead of itself and became hypercompetitive. There was a surge of demand from investors for residential housing, and 20% of all homes sold were sold to investors. This was an abnormal amount of this year's demand. Jake argues that it was not necessarily that the market was losing value but had a demand problem.
Lastly, we discuss the commercial real estate market and why you might want to look into it. Jake shares that the reason people go from residential to commercial is all about scale and doing bigger deals. According to him, moving from different classes of residential properties, single-family, duplexes to multi-family and then transitioning to commercial real estate space can happen very fast, but not everybody does it. In his books, Jake helps people understand that the residential and commercial markets are very different in terms of finances, equity, and capital raising in order to make a great transition.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jake Clopton and get valuable information on the state of the market and where interest rates will go in the coming months!
Notable Quotes: “Every deal is different, and raising money for every deal is different.”
- Jake Clopton
“Sometimes we tend to wait so long to peel off some responsibilities in our business that by the time we’re hiring, we should have done it a long time ago.”
- Mike Simmons
“Residential and commercial markets are very different in terms of financing, equity and capital raising.“
- Jake Clopton
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Jakes on LinkedIn
Jakes on Instagram
Jakes on Facebook
Jakes On Twitter
Jakes on YouTube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7-Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of September 21st and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Good news for you - I wasted my money and not yours.”
“I would go to the lending institution first because they are going to have some hoops you need to jump through and you might as well know that upfront.”
“Multifamily properties have a much longer due diligence period than single-family homes.”
“If you are a serious multifamily investor for the long term, eventually you will be trying to raise money.”
“It is unlikely that your tenants were awesome for the last owner and terrible for you.”
“It doesn’t sell a house quickly if you tell a potential buyer that the tenant doesn’t pay and is a total pain in the butt.”
“My suggestion is to give them a seven-day eviction notice and tell them that if they are not current with their rent by that seventh day, you will proceed with eviction proceedings and will not stop. Even if they become current on day eight.”
“It sounds harsh, but you must follow through with your proposed consequences. You tell them what you are going to do and then you do it.”
“Insert crazy, random - probably - lie.”
“Sounds to me like you may have done poor due diligence.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Get Your Tickets to Flip Hacking Live Today! * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Michael J. Maher Michael is CEO of REFERCO, the world's foremost authority in business referrals. In just his third year in real estate, he did 187 transactions and over $40 million, entirely from referrals. For the next 8 years, he received over 500 referrals every single year and netted over $1 million. Michael is an internationally bestselling author and his book (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals has been the #1 book in Real Estate Sales on Amazon for over 9 straight years. In addition to these impressive accomplishments, he has shared the stage with George W. Bush, Tony Robbins, Barbara Corcoran, and John Maxwell.
Highlights From The Show: As we often do on the show, we started by talking about Michael’s background. He began his working career as a high school math teacher and coach of three sports: football, basketball, and baseball. He spoke about how dedicated he was and earned District Teacher of the Year in his first year teaching. Michael had an interest in real estate so he got licensed as an agent at the same time he bought his first home. He talks about how he built his business almost entirely through word of mouth and referrals.
Because Michael became an agent in 1999, I asked him how he weathered the housing market crash years. He said that because they were getting almost all their business through referrals, they ended up having record years during that period. This is when Michael first knew he was going to have to write a book because he had discovered a system of doing business that worked well in good markets, but even better in depressed times. He spoke about how the 7L system is basically tailor-made for a challenging time like we are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We talked about specific marketing and deal-generating strategies based on his 7L principles, going into detail about making your marketing as personal as possible.
I then asked Michael about his book, (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals. He walked us through the levels and their amount of influence in relationships with people. The second-most powerful level involves events and seminars, and Michael explained some of the programs that they offer. That led to a conversation on the necessity of some structure to your day to increase productivity. He used the example of going to school and having an intense focus on a particular subject for a predetermined amount of time every day. Michael also walked us through the morning and evening rituals, which he imparts in his book and classes through acronyms.
Michael then told us about how he helps business owners build their businesses on a foundation of love, generosity, and appreciation. He went into great detail about the personal and professional benefits of choosing to live and conduct yourself this way. Michael described love as our superpower, and generosity is that love in action. He also explained that it is vital for us to appreciate everything that happens in our lives, good or bad.
I can’t tell you how powerful and wisdom-packed this episode is! You would be crazy not to join me as I interview super-successful entrepreneur, Michael J. Maher!
Notable Quotes: “Good market - referrals are really good. Bad market - referrals are everything.”
- Michael J. Maher
“When people think they are going to lose their home, they want to talk to someone they trust.”
- Michael J. Maher
“I’m big into personalized and customized service.”
- Michael J. Maher
“What is the most important currency in today’s world? It’s not money - it’s trust.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Love is your superpower.”
- Michael J. Maher
“What I’m really excited about now is helping people get structure in a world of chaos.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Why do we charge for them? So people show up. If they have skin in the game, they come.”
- Michael J. Maher
“There are a lot of people that would trade their wealth for health and happiness right now.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Energy is the most precious resource known to man.”
- Michael J. Maher
“You can change your life by changing your strategy.”
- Michael J. Maher
“We are going to have a day - why not structure it in the most effective way you can possibly structure it?”
- Mike Simmons
“It mixes the best of ‘go with the flow’ with ‘get in the flow.’”
- Michael J. Maher
“Your purpose in life is to be referable.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Picking and choosing the opportunity is a lot better than chasing opportunity.”
- Michael J. Maher
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals
Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents
Matt Walker: Sleep is your superpower | TED Talk - TED Talks
Michael’s Website
Sweet Dreams Class
30 Mornings Class
Referrals Podcast
More Resources From Mike: * Flip Hacking Live Tickets - Get them today! * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7-Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of September 14th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “You need to make sure, above all else, that you are getting consistent lead flow in your business.”
“You can always use more and better leads.”
“In my opinion, the MLS is unrivaled, unbeatable, and unmatched for comping properties.”
“If you don’t have access to the MLS, that should be one of your goals.”
“I really think having MLS access is non-negotiable long-term.”
“There are certain tools you need in any industry.”
“When we are talking to sellers, we are instilling a sense of urgency because house prices are dropping.”
“We don’t start talking about market declining strategies until there is an objection about the price.”
“I don’t typically go to a lot of real estate events because they don’t give you end-to-end answers.”
“The direction to the speakers at Flip Hacking Live is to give the people in attendance all the goods, all the tools pertaining to whatever subject they are presenting on.”
“You REALLY need to be at Flip Hacking Live.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Paul Wakim Paul is the co-founder of TwnSqr, a real estate technology startup devoted to breaking down the barriers of the real estate industry by providing homeowners and real estate professionals full control over the connections they make for their next real estate transaction. Paul started TwnSqr as a project to create an algorithm to predict who would sell their house next so he could buy more deals. Today, TwnSqr has reimagined how the real estate process works for buyers, sellers, agents, and investors, and it’s the most secure and fastest way to connect with the best person for your next real estate transaction on your own terms.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Paul sharing why you need TwnSqr software and how it works. Paul shares that they have broken the real estate investors' transactions into three parts. The first is data gathering and marketing to find the property, the second is the acquisition and management of the lead through CRM, and the third is disposition. According to Paul, big successful companies predict who will sell their house next, and they have all the tools in place for data gathering, marketing, and organization of leads into a CRM. However, there is no real estate-specific software for disposition. With this in mind, Paul shares that TwnSqr is focused on being the go-to deposition platform for real estate investors.
We then talk about how TwnSqr focuses on large investors and individual investors. Paul shares that they recently started focusing more on individual buyers because they have invested a lot of time focusing on big institutional buyers. He shares that whenever they were pivoting from retail and back to off-market real estate, they had some institutional hedge fund private equity firms come to them for a platform like they had but for off-market properties. They had an itch that there were properties that existed off-market and sold among small real estate investors, but nobody had created a door they could easily open and peer into the market of off-market and investor properties. However, according to Paul, they are creating technology at TwnSqr for the small real estate investor to support their business.
Next, we discuss TwnSqr’s focus on individual investors and its goal of creating something that works with what they are currently doing, the people they serve, and the larger market. Paul shares that they are doing a lot for smaller real estate transactions in addition to helping real estate investors connect with giant institutional buyers. Paul explains that everything in TwnSqr comes in threes - transaction, marketing, and disposition. With these three foci, they realized that if they supported the activities of the everyday investor, they would be able to get more properties on their platform. To achieve that, they incorporated two more pieces: sending your deal to your buyers and JV with another user to expand their buyers' network. So as a user, the first thing you can do on TwnSqr is to post your property to the market to hit institutional buyers. Second, send your deal to your buyers directly through the platform. Third, knock on the door of other investors in your market, ask them to send your deal to your buyers, and sign an agreement with them to make sales and help them monetize their buyers’ list.
Lastly, we talk about what you should expect from TwnSqr in the coming months. Paul shares that their mantra is giving their users the ability to maintain control over their entire process on TwnSqr. They have built their platform to give their users complete discretion and flexibility to do whatever they want while maintaining control over their buyers and deals the entire time. In light of that, some of the things they are building are in line with trust and more control. So, if you bring a deal to TwnSqr, you can see all the people that are available to share your deal with. Paul also shares that what they want rolled out in the next couple of months is a kind of google search result of people to work with, where people performing best will rank at the top of search results.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Wakim and get valuable information on how to unlock the potential of your dispositions process with TwnSqr!
Notable Quotes: “Not everyone knows how to professionally contact their buyers and other investors in their market to JV with, and TwnSqr brings all that online to add structure to investors' businesses.”
- Paul Wakim
“The TwnSqr software is coming at a great time in the market where investors need access to a wider world and list of people interested in buying properties.”
- Mike Simmons
“Anybody can go to TwnSqr, create a free account, manually upload their property and send it to the marketplace where big institutional buyers have buy boxes set up to test against the properties being posted.“
- Paul Wakim
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: TwnSqr
Paul Email
Paul on LinkedIn
Paul on Instagram
Paul on Twitter
Paul on Youtube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7-Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of September 7th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “With my Winning Direct Mail program, there is a million dollars of learning I am giving you for free!”
“You can use my wheel and not reinvent your own.”
“There are a lot of variables to consider when comp-ing a house.”
“Considering price per square foot is another way to get an accurate comp.”
“You could definitely get more for your house six months ago than you can right now.”
“I would have to dislike money and success to stop spending money on marketing if I was getting $3.56 back from every $1 I spent.”
“Most people throttle back their marketing when their returns begin diminishing.”
“In the analogy I gave you, I did in fact invent the wheel.”
“I will keep up that good work if you keep coming back and asking questions.”
“When I find a company that does great work with a lot of integrity, I don’t move. The only skip tracing company I use is LeadFuzion.”
“I started my podcast, Just Start Real Estate, because I know the biggest hurdle to overcome in any endeavor is just getting started.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Stephanie Cabral For this episode, I am excited to welcome Stephanie Cabral, who is a buy-and-hold real estate investor and former attorney from Connecticut. Stephanie has built a portfolio of over $2.25m and began investing while working at a law firm as the sole member of the probate department and also working at one of the top commercial real estate firms in the world. Stephanie now owns and operates 15 units plus multiple active flips and is responsible for all aspects of the business including marketing, acquisition, construction management, operations, and property management. She specializes in the BRRRR strategy and was able to scale her business using a detailed network of systems, standard operating procedures, automation, and virtual assistants.
Highlights From The Show: Stephanie shares her background with us, pointing out that she is a lawyer by trade. While she loved and thrived in law school, once she got out, she found that she didn’t love practicing as a lawyer. As much as she appreciated her clients, she did not like how adversarial the work was and didn’t like being in an office all day. She ended up buying a duplex in order to use the rental income to qualify for a personal home loan and she fell in love with the idea of house-hacking. She worked as an agent, too, while she was working as a lawyer and continues to since retiring from her firm in December 2019.
Stephanie got a 203K loan for her first property so we explored that topic a bit. Because the brokers are looking at the ARV, you can get a larger value loan to cover both the purchase price and the rehab estimate. The contractor gets paid directly from the lender in this type of loan. Also, the 203K loan does not require you to have experience in investing and rehabilitation work, which can be a huge obstacle for newer investors with traditional hard money lenders. You also get a consultant that helps you manage the project and ensure the quality of the contractors’ work.
I asked Stephanie to describe the team of people she is working with to us. She said she is very involved herself, but her right hand is a virtual assistant in the Philippines who handles all of the administrative tasks, including social media and many of the property management tasks, including interfacing with the tenants. Stephanie also has a leasing assistant who directly connects with potential tenants and shows them around and screens them for rentability. She also has a bookkeeper who she hired through Upwork that has been working with her for years, but Stephanie did talk about the need to go through the trial and error process to find some people that are really good. Stephanie talked about the need to have great systems and processes in place, including training videos and templates, in order to simplify the training procedure.
I asked Stephanie why she self-manages her properties versus hiring a property management company. She said that it is financially beneficial for her to self-manage, mostly because she has very little turnover in tenants. She attributes this to the constant communication she has with her tenants, which is largely automated but maintains a great connection. I asked how she handles any required repairs, and since she is having a VA handle the maintenance requests, how she is sure she is not getting over-charged. Stephanie explained that because she also does house flipping, she has a pool of contractors, and in particular, a go-to handyman who is always the first maintenance call.
We talked about mid-term rentals, the effects of COVID on Stephanie’s business, the BRRRR strategy, private money versus hard money lenders, the technology Stephanie uses to run her business, Facebook ads, and so much more! Don’t miss this honest, fun, and hard-core real estate episode with lawyer-turned-investor, Stephanie Cabral!
Notable Quotes: “Being in an office environment was not the life I wanted to live.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“What was one of the greatest frustrations at the time ended up being the greatest gift.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I didn’t even know that I was investing - I thought I was living cheaply and being resourceful.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Being resourceful is certainly one of my superpowers.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“The power of real estate as an investment really opened up for me.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“So the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
- Desmond Tutu, quoted by Stephanie Cabral
“It requires some administrative stamina to get through the paperwork for a 203K loan.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I do make it a priority to automate and delegate as much as humanly possible.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Find somebody with a natural skill set that you are looking for and then you train the rest.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“As far as delegating work, start with the task that is most repetitive that is causing the most brain damage.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Put yourself out there so people know what you are doing and that you are involved.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I have been raising private money since 2008 and I think ‘talk about what you are doing’ is the number one advice.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you ask for money, you are going to get advice. If you ask for advice, you will get money.”
- Mike Simmons
“I’m tech heavy, but not tech savvy.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“The concept of ‘Just Start’ is so important. You don’t have to be super knowledgeable, but you have to be action-oriented.”
- Stephanie Cabral
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Upwork
CoreAssist
Podio
PayYourRent
Google Drive
SoapBox
Docusign
Fiverr
Stephanie’s Website
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of August 31st and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “There is a lot going on right now in the real estate market.”
“Change makes people nervous.”
“We are moving into a market where it will be much, much easier to buy houses at a discount, but they will be harder to sell.”
“I am here to help you navigate all of the questions you have about your business.”
“You need to be at any real estate event, networking and shaking hands, to build your buyers list.”
“You can get all of your competitors' active buyers by skip tracing their deals.”
“My problem when we started working remotely was worrying about people actually working. I had to let go of that.”
“You are training you to continue to ask you questions, rather than solving the problem themselves.”
“Start developing that muscle.”
“If you are going to tell them the answer, always give them the reasoning behind it, so they can use that reasoning in the future to solve the problem themselves.”
“We use Whatsapp to constantly stay in contact and get problems solved right away.”
“If you are a new investor and you have never done a rehab before, taking on a project with a big ticket item can be a little daunting.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Rich Fettke Rich is a co-founder of RealWealth, a company that has helped over 60,000 members improve their financial intelligence and acquire cash-flowing income properties so they can live life on their own terms. He is a former vice president of the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a former owner of a large health club franchise with over 35 years of experience in business start-ups, management, and training. As a licensed real estate broker and an active investor, Rich was selected as a Rich Dad Author for his expertise as a Wealth Mindset Expert. He is passionate about helping people build real wealth and has authored the book, The Wise Investor: A Modern Parable About Creating Financial Freedom and Living Your Best Life. As an adventure athlete, Rich lives in Malibu, California, with his wife Kathy, where they invest, work, and play together.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Rich sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Rich shares that 20 years ago, he was a business coach and was in a thriving practice and was on top of the world until he was diagnosed with melanoma and had about 6 months to live. He went through more tests to eventually find out it was a misdiagnosis, and after surgery and treatment, he was declared cancer free. Rich shares that his experience led to real estate with his wife, who was a stay-at-home mom. They connected with a mortgage broker who was also a successful investor who helped them set on the path of real estate investing. To get started, they cashed out a property they had in Dallas, Texas, which had appreciated, and bought five investment properties with good cash flow. That was the beginning of their journey to financial freedom, and they have created a group, Real Wealth, which has grown to over 64,000 members.
We then talk about Rich’s book, The Wise Investor, and the purpose behind it. He shares that his first book was Extreme Success and this second book came 20 years later. That was because he was running their company, Real Wealth, helping people invest in real estate while growing the company. He shares that the reason he wrote The Wise Investor was that he wanted to share investment lessons in a story or parable form to be more impactful. His coach planted the seed and was obsessed with the whole idea from the beginning. Rich started reading and listening to books and parables to create a story with which people would be engaged to emotionalize the information to create change. The book is more powerful than just a non-fiction factual book, and it conveys the lessons in a way that they sink in and lead to change in the rhythm.
Next, we talk about real wealth and what it means. Rich shares that real wealth is having both the money and freedom to live life on your own terms. According to him, real wealth goes beyond money. They don’t focus on just creating money but also on helping people use the money to live a fulfilling life, have the freedom of time, and be able to do what they want when they want to, and with the people they want to be with. Real wealth is a combination of money and time. It’s all about having enough monthly cash flow, especially on passive income, that supports your lifestyle so you can have the freedom to live and get the most out of every day. He also shares that their company and network are built on a culture that focuses on living life now, living on your own terms, and having the finances to do that. They use real estate as a wealth-building instrument and clients' definition of what their best life looks like to lead them to real wealth-building and financial freedom.
We then talk about Rich’s investment strategy in reals estate. He shares that they started with single-family investing and went up to four-unit properties. They have also been doing short-term rentals lately to increase their cash flow. According to him, it’s hard to get cash flow nowadays with a regular single family with the interest rates and the prices in the market. In addition to that, they started syndicating in 2010 for residential development, which allows investors to pool their funds, buy units together and invest in residential subdivisions, and everyone profits from that. He shares that their members also acquire multifamily properties from their property teams.
Lastly, we talk about the mentor in Rich’s book who compares wealthy people and poor people. Rich shares that this is big to him. Living in Malibu, California, he sees many rich people, but not all of them are wealthy. Wealthy people focus on a few things, and time is the most important asset that they focus on. They also value education over entertainment and put more effort into learning, becoming better, and growing. Entertainment is fine, but don’t let it get in the way of your education and growth. The mentor defines an asset as something that provides income, better health, more happiness, or more time, and liability is the opposite. It takes away from your income, health, happiness, and time. Rich also shares a lesson on how poor people operate on envy while truly wealthy people operate on inspiration from seeing others' success. According to Rich, when you turn your mindset from envy to inspiration, you start to birth what you want in life.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Rich Fettke and get valuable information on how to create REAL wealth and live life on your own terms!
Notable Quotes: “Real wealth goes beyond money. It is having both the money and freedom to live life on your own terms.”
- Rich Fettke
“Real estate is a wealth-building instrument, and it can help you create real wealth and get to financial freedom.”
- Rich Fettke
“A true asset is something that provides income, better health, more happiness or more time while a liability is the opposite.”
- Rich Fettke
“When you turn your mindset from envy to inspiration, you start to birth what you want in life.”
- Rich Fettke
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: The Wise Investor Book
Real Wealth Website
Rich’s Website
Rich on LinkedIn
Rich on Instagram
Rich on Facebook
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of August 24th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Learn from my mistakes.”
“If you show up live to these Q&As, we can have a dialogue and I can answer your questions really effectively.”
“What is fast? Fast is a relative term.”
“If you need money right away, like yesterday, wholesaling is absolutely what you should be doing.”
“With flipping, the payday will be bigger, but it isn’t going to happen in a couple of weeks.”
“Direct mail is the single best marketing channel that you can use for reliable results.”
“Other forms of marketing may be less expensive but they are also less predictable.”
“Most people think of AirBNBs when they hear ‘short term rental.’”
“How badly have your tenants wrecked your place?”
“You could spend $6,000 to $10,000 to outfit your rental with furniture and bathroom and kitchen supplies.”
“In many cases, the short term rentals, by a large margin, outperform the LTRs, which is why they are so popular right now.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Jake Marmulstein Jake is the co-founder and CEO of Groundbreaker, an all-in-one investment management software built for real estate investment firms, fundraising automation software, an investor Portal, and investor reporting software. They exist to advance each customer’s syndication business. They envision a world where real estate investments are made accessible and efficient by digital evolution in real estate syndication. Preparing investment materials can be cumbersome, and handling investor relations has been done with cobbled-together solutions like spreadsheets, decks, file storage for documents, and email to help remove the pain points and allow investors to focus more on raising capital and finding deals. Managing data and answering to investors is a time-intensive, manual process. There has to be a better way, and Groundbreaker has it.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Jake sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Jakes shares that he was first interested in real estate development when he worked overseas in Brazil with the city government. Jake saw how the international companies were coming and installing research facilities and how the cityscape was changing rapidly. The country that had the highest GDP at the time and the process was very intriguing to Jake. He discovered that real estate and development meant more job opportunities and popularity. Jake started to work with a real estate investment trust, and that is where he got most of his real estate knowledge.
We then talk about Jake’s transition from underwriting to real estate syndication. He shares that his frustration came because he was handling administrative tasks that didn’t require much creativity. Jake had friends who were always looking at the next big opportunities in real estate. His focus was on how real estate companies could raise capital online and advertise opportunities to investors. At the time, few companies were offering portals where you could evaluate deals as an investor. From his analysis, Jake realized that there were independent real estate investors that wanted to raise capital, but they didn’t want to give investors their data through a single portal. They want to maintain the ownership of the intellectual property, and his goal was to provide them with processes and systems.
Next, we talk about Jake's software, Groundbreaker, and how it helps investors to raise money automatically. According to Jake, you create a deal in the system and send it out to your investors with Groundbreaker. They get to a private and secure portal where they can access and see your deal and download any document. Additionally, if you need to update anything, you can do it within the system as the deal changes. When an investor wants to invest, they put down the amount and can go immediately to investor verification questions and compliance. After verification, they can view the subscription remits, sign in electronically and then move on to funding either by getting wire instructions or linking their bank account to make payment. Jake shares that Groundbreaker is very safe. They record every single activity, and it automates every step to remove restriction points.
We then talk about the price of using Groundbreaker. Jake shares that they are still experimenting with different markets. However, the typical customer that uses Groundbreaker with at least one deal in their portfolio can build the cost of the software into their deals. They can spread it across their operating budget to cover it in their acquisition fee and returns. Jake shares that it’s only $4000 a year to be able to have Groundbreaker for your entire real estate portfolio. For people who are starting out and don’t have a deal that they have done, they are offering promotional pricing of $50 per month, and once they graduate to having a deal closed and a portfolio, they increase the price from there.
Next, we discuss what you should know and expect from Groundbreaker's services and offers as an investor. Jake shares that the software and the automation behind the workflow are just the beginning. They are in a continuous process of developing the capability of the software and service to be able to meet the needs of the market. A lot of people are looking for solutions for deal flow, underwriting, data, capital, property management, leads, accounting, and legal service. Their goal is to continue to analyze the needs of their customers and add the next component that is going to save people time. Groundbreaker is dedicated to continuous improvement and evolution.
Lastly, we talk about the real estate market we’re in and what it means to investors over the next 12 to 24 months. Jake shares that there are a lot of opportunities in the multifamily space. Most of his clients concentrate there, and there is so much demand for multifamily housing. According to him, deals will continue to happen, and the right operators that have good relationships with their Investors will be able to raise capital in this environment because they have the trust and the deal flow. However, operators relying on one or two large investors might have problems because that capital source might be waiting to see what happens in the market.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jake Marmulstein and get valuable information on how to automate raising money and management!
Notable Quotes: “If you build a large investor base, you will be able to control your outcome in downcycles because you can raise capital from different sources.”
- Jake Marmulstein
“Listen to your customers' needs and figure out what people want. Don’t just create a product that you think they want and push it to them.”
- Mie Simmons
“As an investor, your best use of time is raising capital and going out to find deals. Using a software solution will help manage data and tasks that aren’t the best use of your time.”
- Jake Marmulstein
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Groundbreaker
Groundbreaker on LinkedIn
Groundbreaker on Instagram
Groundbreaker on Facebook
Groundbreaker on Twitter
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of August 17th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “I know a lot of people are worried about the market right now and I want to be a resource for you. I want to help you navigate those waters.”
“I don’t know what the shift will look like exactly at the end of the day, but it is going to go in the other direction.”
“It is going to be easier for us as investors to buy houses.”
“The market coming up isn’t anything to be afraid of.”
“Marketing done consistently will win over marketing done inconsistently.”
“Hiring is a whole other can of worms.”
“Taking those profits and putting them back into your company in the form of marketing and hiring takes discipline.”
“The coming market will impact your business more significantly in the way you look at sales, both on the front and back end.”
“You have to adjust.”
“Stop trying to get your husband excited about helping you. Get him excited about supporting you.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Evan Ungar & Jordan King: Evan and Jordan are two millennials who have been investing in real estate for four years and have grown most of their portfolio within the last two years. They have grown to $15M in current holdings and have transacted over 65 units. Evan and Jordan love to teach people how they too can be real estate investors and get into the market. Their short-term goal is to have over $100M in holdings and build a network of investors that they can teach and help. They are partners at Tuk Capital, Tuk Developments, and Choice Renovations Canada and certified mortgage agents with multi-million-dollar holdings in the Greater Toledo area. Evan and Jordan are considered passionate entrepreneurs and business strategists.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Evan and Jordan sharing their background stories and how they ended up in real estate. Evan shares that they have been working together in multiple businesses, but they have been in the estate business for four years now and aggressively pursuing it for the last two years. Evans was in athletics, and has always been in the gym, in the numbers game, and is very competitively driven. On the other hand, Jordan comes from an entertainment and sports background. He played sports, and was involved in music and production, large shows, and concerts, including trade shows. For Jordan, the excitement is still there, and he finds a lot of similarity in the thrill of chasing the deals, acquisition processes, turning over the properties, and organizing contracts. Their motivation keeps them moving and resilient and moving no matter what comes their way.
We then talk about what Evan and Jordan have been doing, where they are, and the real estate market in Canada. Evan shares that they have completed over 100 deals in multiple avenues, including fix and flips, buy and hold, and BRRRRs. According to Evan, they had some really good timing, and now they are back to an aggressive acquisition phase. He also shares that the market has been taking a turn, they have seen a massive decrease in pricing, and it’s becoming a buyers' market. From his perspective, you can’t time the market, but you can change your investment strategy as the market changes. Right now, Jordan and Evan are more focused on cash-flowing properties because of the uncertainty in the market pricing.
Next, we talk about the availability of capital over the next 24 to 36 months. According to Jordan, capital is getting tighter. Many lenders, especially private lenders, are tightening their grip on certain requirements compared to 6 to 8 months ago when everything was going up. They are more cautious but still doing the deals and putting money out there in the market. Overall, Jordan emphasizes that money will not come by as easily as it was a year ago. He also shares that the pinch in the market is also coming from people who are sitting on cash reserves and buying whatever makes sense to them. The overleveraging of deals is due to worry about where the market is going and what their investment and equity are going to be.
We then talk about Jordan and Evan's sweet spot right now and why. Evan shares that they have a couple of different models, and they use them depending on what fits what criteria. They love the multifamily space, something they got into more recently, and have found long-term value. According to him, it is easier to increase the value of multifamily based on how they are valued and calculated in the market. Evan also shares that they have seen a trajectory with single-family and small multifamily homes becoming valuable rental spaces. Considering that information about homeowners is hard to acquire in Canada, Jordan and Evan do it through in-person and branding techniques such as networking, building credibility in the market, advertising, and driving for dollars.
Next, we discuss what’s next for Jordan and Evan and where they want to be in the next five to ten years. Evan shares that they will be diversifying to the United States to invest in more geographical locations. According to Evan, the landlord-to-tenant laws in Canada are fully in favor of the tenants. The landlord has no control, and some tenants take advantage of the laws because they can’t be kicked out. This increases the risk of investing in rental properties for mom-and-pops and investors without multiple income streams. They want to diversify to areas where the landlord-to-tenant laws are favorable to help them provide top-notch places to live and be paid appropriately and on time.
Lastly, we talk about how Jordan and Evan help people raise capital in Canada. They have worked as brokers in multi-million-dollar deals where clients are looking for extensive capital. At the same time, they also help people get a $20,000 or $50,000 loan. So depending on what you want, they will guide you on what you should look for. Jordan explains that they don’t take on private loans because the fees are so expensive. Instead, they get the money from friends, family, and people looking to earn income on their money.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Evan Ungar and Jordan King and get valuable information on how to build a real estate empire through honesty and integrity!
Notable Quotes: “Your investment strategy changes as the market changes.”
- Evan Ungar
“Don’t stop investing when the market changes. Just be flexible with your investment strategy.”
- Evan Ungar
“Don’t get discouraged with the market; what goes up always comes down, and what comes down always goes up. Get as much knowledge as you can.“
- Jordan King
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: TUK Capital
Jordan on Facebook
Evan on Instagram
Evan’s book
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of August 10th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “My guess is that you know if you blew the budget in the original estimate or during the project itself.”
“It isn’t enough to have an itemized budget without a detailed timeline for your project.”
“Managing, or mismanaging, the renovation and the contractors is probably where the issue in going over budget lies.”
“I would hit them immediately and then again in 90 days.”
“I would reach out to leadfuzion.com and tell them you are interested in marketing to probate and foreclosure lists and ask them the best strategy.”
“You should go grab the book, Extreme Ownership.”
“As you grow, you can bring someone in to manage your people, but in the short-term, you just have to do it.”
“There are services out there that will play HR for you, both hiring and firing employees.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Brandon Bateman Brandon started a digital marketing company as a sophomore in college and never looked back. After volunteering to do digital marketing for companies, he started the Bateman Collective, which is now the premier digital marketing company for wholesalers across the country. His company handles all digital marketing, from SEO to PPC to Facebook and Instagram ads, as well as designing and creating content for those platforms. He is currently helping real estate investors target motivated sellers in over 90 markets across the United States, Canada, and Australia. Brandon has been a recent podcast guest on Real Estate Disruptors, Wholesaling, Inc., and The Real Estate Jam, among others.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Brandon sharing his background story and how he got into the lead generation space and real estate. Brandon shares that he’s a marketer and started out in digital marketing. He partnered with a company that was doing wholesaling in real estate in 2017, and they went from hardly breaking even on digital marketing to doing over a million gross profit in a few years. According to Brandon, there were profits from various channels, but consistently, the highest return on investments, largest single lead generation source and lowest number of leads to a deal were best in digital marketing compared to other marketing channels.
We then discuss what platform to pick and where to invest your money in marketing if your goal is to grow as fast as possible. Brandon shares that google is the best because it is a volume platform. They put the activities they do for their clients into three categories; page search, organic search, and socials. He shares that for social media, they don’t use TikTok. It has a lot of motivated sellers as of now, but the future could change. According to him, Facebook is completely stable, then Instagram is secondary, and it doesn’t have much going on in the real estate industry yet. Google is more scalable from a budget standpoint. On average, the organic side of google has a 3 to 4 higher return on investments from the page site. However, it’s a long game compared to paid ads, which can be short-term.
Next, we talk about the budget you should be willing to spend minimally if you want to get into google ads. According to Brandon, there are some key factors that will put someone's budget higher or lower. The first one is sustainability. You have to make sure that whatever budget you use, you can afford to spend that consistently for a period of time. Brandon recommends six months. This is sufficient time to follow up on the ads and see what is happening. Pay-per-click can work with any budget, but execution can be tough. If you are working with a small budget, you might pay an agency a lot of money to manage your small amount of money to work miracles.
We then talk about the chasm between incoming leads and deals getting signed. Brandon shares that you can drive good leads, but your sales strategy, phone calls, and acquisition can be problematic. Brandon shares that one of the things that they do differently from other agents is that they track things closely with their clients. They interview clients with a high closure rate in the top 10% and those in the bottom 50%. They look for things those people do that are in the top 10% that none of those who are in the bottom 50% and have found three core things. The first one is urgency. When you get leads, urgency is key. The second one is assuming motivation. Being delusionally optimistic about every lead that comes in even though 90% of the time it is not the one will help you not to miss it when it is the one in the 10% chance. The last one is who potential clients talk to matters a lot. You get the contract when it’s time, but you win the contract when you establish trust. According to Brandon, most sellers go to the internet to search because they have a problem, and if you can make them feel like their problem is solved, they don’t need to talk to anybody else. However, if you set an appointment to solve their problem later, they will still have the pain and keep looking.
Lastly, we talk about the best practice for handling inbound calls. Brandon shares that the best practice is having the acquisition team receive, make the calls and set appointments. According to Brandon, the reality of lead marketing is that over time there are fewer leads and those leads are more valuable. There are also a few jobs in wholesaling that are more valuable than the first phone call to an inbound PPC lead. However, most people pay lead generators more money than the person making the calls and driving the conversation, which is potentially the highest value interaction in your entire business. People answering your phones and getting appointments are your ambassadors. If they are not good, they will not represent you well, no matter how good your solution is.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Brandon Bateman and get valuable information on how to use paid ads to find motivated seller leads!
Notable Quotes: “The most expensive marketing is marketing that doesn’t work. You would rather spend your $10K well than waste your $50.”
- Brandon Bateman
“When you hire a marketing expert, trust their experts and let them guide you through the process to become better. They have done it a hundred times in hundreds of markets.”
- Brandon Bateman
“When someone searches your keyword, google greets them with massive results, and if you're quick, you have a greater likelihood of getting the deal.”
- Brandon Bateman
“People lose motivation when they find a solution and when they find it somewhere else, they don’t care about you.“
- Brandon Bateman
“Unless you assume that every lead is golden, you will miss the one that actually is.”
- Brandon Bateman
“Marketing is an attitude thing, and your outcome is a little dependent on you.”
- Brandon Bateman
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Bateman Collective
Brandon on LinkedIn
Brandon on Instagram
Brandon on Facebook
Previous Interviews & Articles:
- Real Estate Disruptors
- Wholesaling Inc
- The Real Estate JAM
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of August 3rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Don’t let anybody talk you out of real estate.”
“I quit my job and never looked back.”
“I make like twenty times more money each year than I did at my 9-to-5 job.”
“You need to define your buy box - figure out what a good deal looks like to you and stick to it.”
“I am excited about the upcoming market changes and every investor should be, too.”
“Because we are moving into more of a buyer’s market, your disposition process needs to be completely dialed in.”
“Even in my company, we got a little lazy because things got easy.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Michael Albaum Michael has been investing in real estate for the last decade. He has done a variety of deals ranging from single-family homes to longer-term NNN (stands for the net net net which is the property's operating expenses) lease properties with national chain tenants. After years of investing, he found his niche in long-distance, value-add multifamily investing. Michael left the 9-5 world and, prior to the pandemic, was traveling around the world with his wife, who is also able to work remotely. Michael is also the Program Manager and Head Coach of Roofstock Academy and the host of The Remote Real Estate Investor Podcast, which interviews RE industry professionals about remote real estate investing. He is currently investing in short-term rentals and small multi-family real estate remotely while embodying the nomadic lifestyle of living in a van and traveling with his wife full time.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Michael sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Michael shares that he is just a regular guy who grew up in California and did the things most of us were told to do. Go to school, get good grades and get a good job, and then you will be set out for life. Michael loved his engineering job, but he realized that it was not going to get him where he wanted to go fast enough. He got his hand on Rich Dad Poor Dad, which transformed his perspective about money. Being an engineer, real estate investing really resonated with him. Michael played with some spreadsheets, self-educated for about two years, and eventually got his first property. When the first rent showed up, he knew he had solved the Rubik's Cube. Michael set himself bigger goals and bought properties in different markets. However, things started becoming overwhelming. He was chasing down 60 property managers for 60 different properties, which was a pain. So he decided to narrow down and be laser-focused on two markets, which he says has been amazing.
We then talk about Michael's nomadic investing experience, how it came about and how it works. Michael shares that in 2018 his father passed away, and he requested a completely remote plan to work from home, and it was accepted. He wanted to support his mom for about 3 to 4 months, and when he returned to work, he felt he needed a mental break. He asked for a six-month break to unplug and do a mental reset but was denied. The next step was quitting his 9-5 in 2019, after which his wife suggested they travel for a year to explore and live in other countries. Michael shares that it was a perfect time to do it, they had the real estate backing them up, and his wife had a totally remote job. They went all over the place, had amazing experiences, and in the process, Michael picked up remote freelance work to make more money. However, during the pandemic, they were forced back home as flights were closing down. They were not yet done traveling, so they bought a van, designed it, moved into the van full-time, and rented out the house they were living in.
Next, we talk about Michael’s business and his current goals. Michael shares that as he was evolving in his career, he went out of state and got involved in multifamily fairly quickly. He was in growth mode for a long time, and he started by buying various sized multifamily properties to get to 100 units portfolio, and again he hit the inflection point. Things started getting heavy, and he realized this was not his goal. Michael started scaling back on the acquisition and the value he had on projects to focus on doing more with less. Now he’s at 61 units after selling off some of the properties to get leaner and easier in managing properties. Michael believes that if it doesn’t feel easier, takes up more mental bandwidth, or takes you away from the things you want to do, it’s pulling you in the wrong direction, it’s not worth it.
We then talk about how doing short-term and long-term works for Michael. Michael shares that doing both short-term and long-term is totally counter-intuitive, but management is the silver bullet. For him, he doesn’t manage 99% of his portfolio of short-term rental properties, and from a remote perspective, he has handed everything to property managers. According to him, you have to run your numbers and be super diligent. Michael also shares that he always tries to learn from the past and not to make the same mistakes again. For the same reason, he’s not investing in short-term rentals all over. His focus is on the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, a super hot market, very easy to plug and play, and the experience is great.
Next, we discuss how you can build a side hustle and eventually escape from your 9-5. Michael shares that it’s super important to plan it out. You also have to analyze how much you earn in your job, your real estate investments, and your expenditure before quitting your job. Michael also shares that he was willing to prioritize his mental health over the financial security that he wanted. He knew he could always get another job if everything crashed down and his plan didn’t work. After quitting his job, Michael was also doing supplemental work as a freelancer to be on the safe side if things went sideways. He recommends that you get something going on the side you can quickly grab on to if need be.
Lastly, we talk about small multifamily properties and why Michael chose to focus on this range of properties that are often overlooked. Michael shares that he didn’t know that small multifamily was no man’s land when he got involved. He went to a new market and found an 8-unit property valued the same as a single family, a niche he was investing in at the time. Michael was working with an agent, and there were other properties, but the price points of the property resonated with him. It only pushed him a little outside his comfort zone, and getting his head around the value addition through physical renovation was easier. People like him who were doing single-family thought this was too big for them, and for those who were doing multifamily, this was too small for them.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Michael Albaum and get valuable information on how to start investing in real estate on your own terms to support the lifestyle you want!
Notable Quotes: “When investing in properties, diversity of scale can make you lose economy of scale and efficiency by being so spread out.”
- Michael Albaum
“If it doesn’t feel easier, takes up more mental bandwidth, or takes you away from the things you want to do, it’s pulling you in the wrong direction, and it’s not worth it.”
- Michael Albaum
“Investing in both short-term and long-term rentals is totally counter-intuitive, but the silver bullet is management.”
- Michael Albaum
“The best time to invest in real estate was 10 years ago, but the next best time is today.”
- Michael Albaum
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: The Remote Real Estate Investor Podcast
Michael on LinkedIn
Roofstock on LinkedIn
Michael on Twitter
Roofstock Instagram
Roofstock Youtube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Michael Albaum Michael has been investing in real estate for the last decade. He has done a variety of deals ranging from single-family homes to longer-term NNN (stands for the net net net which is the property's operating expenses) lease properties with national chain tenants. After years of investing, he found his niche in long-distance, value-add multifamily investing. Michael left the 9-5 world and, prior to the pandemic, was traveling around the world with his wife, who is also able to work remotely. Michael is also the Program Manager and Head Coach of Roofstock Academy and the host of The Remote Real Estate Investor Podcast, which interviews RE industry professionals about remote real estate investing. He is currently investing in short-term rentals and small multi-family real estate remotely while embodying the nomadic lifestyle of living in a van and traveling with his wife full time.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Michael sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Michael shares that he is just a regular guy who grew up in California and did the things most of us were told to do. Go to school, get good grades and get a good job, and then you will be set out for life. Michael loved his engineering job, but he realized that it was not going to get him where he wanted to go fast enough. He got his hand on Rich Dad Poor Dad, which transformed his perspective about money. Being an engineer, real estate investing really resonated with him. Michael played with some spreadsheets, self-educated for about two years, and eventually got his first property. When the first rent showed up, he knew he had solved the Rubik's Cube. Michael set himself bigger goals and bought properties in different markets. However, things started becoming overwhelming. He was chasing down 60 property managers for 60 different properties, which was a pain. So he decided to narrow down and be laser-focused on two markets, which he says has been amazing.
We then talk about Michael's nomadic investing experience, how it came about and how it works. Michael shares that in 2018 his father passed away, and he requested a completely remote plan to work from home, and it was accepted. He wanted to support his mom for about 3 to 4 months, and when he returned to work, he felt he needed a mental break. He asked for a six-month break to unplug and do a mental reset but was denied. The next step was quitting his 9-5 in 2019, after which his wife suggested they travel for a year to explore and live in other countries. Michael shares that it was a perfect time to do it, they had the real estate backing them up, and his wife had a totally remote job. They went all over the place, had amazing experiences, and in the process, Michael picked up remote freelance work to make more money. However, during the pandemic, they were forced back home as flights were closing down. They were not yet done traveling, so they bought a van, designed it, moved into the van full-time, and rented out the house they were living in.
Next, we talk about Michael’s business and his current goals. Michael shares that as he was evolving in his career, he went out of state and got involved in multifamily fairly quickly. He was in growth mode for a long time, and he started by buying various sized multifamily properties to get to 100 units portfolio, and again he hit the inflection point. Things started getting heavy, and he realized this was not his goal. Michael started scaling back on the acquisition and the value he had on projects to focus on doing more with less. Now he’s at 61 units after selling off some of the properties to get leaner and easier in managing properties. Michael believes that if it doesn’t feel easier, takes up more mental bandwidth, or takes you away from the things you want to do, it’s pulling you in the wrong direction, it’s not worth it.
We then talk about how doing short-term and long-term works for Michael. Michael shares that doing both short-term and long-term is totally counter-intuitive, but management is the silver bullet. For him, he doesn’t manage 99% of his portfolio of short-term rental properties, and from a remote perspective, he has handed everything to property managers. According to him, you have to run your numbers and be super diligent. Michael also shares that he always tries to learn from the past and not to make the same mistakes again. For the same reason, he’s not investing in short-term rentals all over. His focus is on the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, a super hot market, very easy to plug and play, and the experience is great.
Next, we discuss how you can build a side hustle and eventually escape from your 9-5. Michael shares that it’s super important to plan it out. You also have to analyze how much you earn in your job, your real estate investments, and your expenditure before quitting your job. Michael also shares that he was willing to prioritize his mental health over the financial security that he wanted. He knew he could always get another job if everything crashed down and his plan didn’t work. After quitting his job, Michael was also doing supplemental work as a freelancer to be on the safe side if things went sideways. He recommends that you get something going on the side you can quickly grab on to if need be.
Lastly, we talk about small multifamily properties and why Michael chose to focus on this range of properties that are often overlooked. Michael shares that he didn’t know that small multifamily was no man’s land when he got involved. He went to a new market and found an 8-unit property valued the same as a single family, a niche he was investing in at the time. Michael was working with an agent, and there were other properties, but the price points of the property resonated with him. It only pushed him a little outside his comfort zone, and getting his head around the value addition through physical renovation was easier. People like him who were doing single-family thought this was too big for them, and for those who were doing multifamily, this was too small for them.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Michael Albaum and get valuable information on how to start investing in real estate on your own terms to support the lifestyle you want!
Notable Quotes: “When investing in properties, diversity of scale can make you lose economy of scale and efficiency by being so spread out.”
- Michael Albaum
“If it doesn’t feel easier, takes up more mental bandwidth, or takes you away from the things you want to do, it’s pulling you in the wrong direction, and it’s not worth it.”
- Michael Albaum
“Investing in both short-term and long-term rentals is totally counter-intuitive, but the silver bullet is management.”
- Michael Albaum
“The best time to invest in real estate was 10 years ago, but the next best time is today.”
- Michael Albaum
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: The Remote Real Estate Investor Podcast
Michael on LinkedIn
Roofstock on LinkedIn
Michael on Twitter
Roofstock Instagram
Roofstock Youtube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of July 27th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “The kind of housing crash we are headed toward will do some damage, to be sure, if you are not prepared.”
“Back in 2008, we were going 100 miles an hour and hit a wall. That was a crash.”
“People in my world are calling it a dip or correction, not a crash.”
“If anyone tells you that they know what is going to happen with the market, stop listening to them.”
“Whether you wholesale a property or fix and flip it is a business decision that is unique to you.”
“What is your goal? It is all about that.”
“If you need big chunks of cash, you are probably going to fix and flip houses.”
“Over the years, my decision-making process was driven more by the market and the cash-flow needs of my business than anything else.”
“It is all about your business model and what you want to accomplish.”
“I started the podcast and called it Just Start Real Estate because one of the biggest hurdles in life is just getting started.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Scott Krone Scott has been in self-storage for the last 9 years after transitioning from real estate to multifamily investments. Scott is a Chicago native whose career in architecture began in 1991 after pursuing his Master of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 2012, Scott founded Coda Management Group, a firm that specializes in managing real estate assets. Scott is also a co-founder of One Stop Self Storage with facilities across the Midwest and the founder of Coda, an award-winning design and build consulting firm. Coda has won numerous design/build awards, including the international Green GOOD Design, Best of Houzz, and Design Evanston Award. Their work has also been featured in notable publications such as Storing Up Profits by Paul Moore, Dream Homes, Midwest Luxury Homes, NBC TV Show Taste, and more.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Scott sharing his background story and how he ended up in the self-storage space. Scott shares that he grew up as a creative kid involved in various sports but was fortunate to study architecture in high school. However, Scott gave up architecture to play sports and do normal college things rather than being dedicated to a studio. Scott wanted to get into their family business after graduating from college, which was not possible, so he had to go back to architecture. Fortunately, at that time, they had new programs that allowed him to earn a Masters in architecture. He jumped into it and was again fortunate to get connected to a professor who owned a real estate development architecture company and got right in multifamily. Scott started his own company in 1998, with single-family, multifamily, mixed-use, and institutional properties, and then the market crashed. Scott started exploring other options because it was difficult in the residential market except for apartments. This led him to self-storage, which had a lot of similarities to multifamily, but it was more resilient, especially in recession and massive downturn markets.
We then talk about why self-storage is more resilient than other real estate investments, including multifamily. Scott shares that it is difficult in the market, and self-storage gives viable options to address these problems and overcome the challenges. Scott went back and analyzed every recession since 1979 and compared self-storage occupancy in each of them. Scott shares that no other class of real assets has a natural resilience like self-storage, even the housing market. In recession markets, housing slows down, renovation slows down, and construction stops, but self-storage will always continue to thrive.
Next, we discuss how you can break into the self-storage world of investing as a new investor. Scott shares that there are three asset classes within self-storage, and they all differ from multi-family. They include class A, B, and C assets. According to Scott, Class C assets include first-generation self-storage (small under 200 units from mom and pops), and they give a nice return on a regular basis. The next one is class B which is a more suburban, larger driver facility and sometimes with primary control. At the top is class A, a property with both appreciation and cash flow, which comprises large institutions in the city. According to Scott, the three assets represent different strategies, and the easiest way to get into self-storage is by buying class C properties. However, if you want to do a B or A, he recommends joining a venture or partnership group.
We then talk about how to find opportunities and people who own self-storage and want to sell. He shares that you get more opportunities by driving for dollars. Scott tells me that if you are looking for class C, it’s pretty hard to find them because they are not corporate, and the properties might be under their own name. They also use them as bank accounts with cash flow coming in to pay their bills. According to Scott, there are similar institutions for self-storage as there are on the residential side, and the larger ones, classes B and A, are predominantly done by brokers.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Scott Krone and get valuable information on how to invest successfully in self-storage!
Notable Quotes: “In self-storage, you can alter the unit's configuration to match the market condition, but you don’t have that flexibility in multifamily.”
- Scott Krone
“Self-storage unit portfolios are valued exactly the same way multifamily houses are done using CAP rate and ROI.”
- Scott Krone
“During recessions, housing and renovation often slow down, and construction stops, but self-storage always continues to thrive.”
- Scott Krone
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Coda Management Group
Onestop Self-Storage
Coda Design and Build
Scott on LinkedIn
Scott’s Email
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of July 20th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Ask them if you can work for them for free and learn the business.”
“Internships are a vastly underutilized and underestimated path to success.”
“Too many people want to go straight for the gold and I get that because I am impatient.”
“Get busy learning from the inside of a successful business.”
“Age is just a number. Whether you are old or young, it just doesn’t matter. Go after what you want.”
“Seller financing is under the umbrella of creative financing.”
“Let’s say you buy the house for $120,000 so I can do easy public math here.”
“Seller financing poses the exact same risks to you as the buyer as any other type of financing.”
“Send out a letter or postcard to your list once a month for six months before you even consider they are not interested, but in the meantime, build up your list.”
“When I say drama I mean almost Jerry Springer-level drama.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Doug Lodmell Doug Lodmell is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Lodmell & Lodmell, one of the nation’s leading Asset Protection Law Firms. Today, Doug’s law firm is responsible for protecting over $4 billion in client assets. He is originally from Geneva, Switzerland, and he stood out at an early age as one of the brightest minds of his generation. Doug spends much of his time teaching, speaking, and leading thousands of professionals in business in Scottsdale, AZ. He is also the author of The Lawsuit Lottery: The Hijacking of Justice in America and was recently featured in BiggerPockets.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Doug sharing his background story and what he does as an attorney. Doug shares that he started practicing with his father. His father was an attorney for many years but didn’t practice law. He was in real estate syndications, but the 1986 real estate crash steered him toward asset protection after the banks failed to reach him even though he had assets in the syndication. When Doug graduated from law school in 1997, he joined him, and they grew the practice along with his brother, which is also their foundation as real estate investors. They all have a deep understanding of real estate and asset protection and how it all works together.
We then talk about what you can do in asset protection to ensure you are doing the right thing. According to Doug, when you start investing, you should keep one concept in mind. The safe part of your life and the risk part of your life should be as separate as possible. The safe part of your life is simply the safe assets you hold. They include your cash in the bank, stocks, bonds, cryptocurrency, etc. You have to keep them in a separate legal entity from assets that can create liability. A home you are flipping can create liability; you have workers, equipment, and a house that can fall or burn down. Doug says the first legal entity you should understand is a Limited Liability Company or LLC. Its purpose is to help you limit liabilities.
Next, we discuss why you should buy your first property in an LLC and not in C-corp or S-Corp. Doug shares that an LLC and a corporation are two different legal entities, but you can have an LLC taxed as a C-corp, S-corp, partnership, or disregarded entities. According to Doug, the reason it’s always going to be an LLC for asset protection is that LLC has members, and they can create restrictions on who can be a member, which can help eliminate entire classes of people from ever becoming a member. Corporations, on the other hand, are not membership entities. They are shareholder entities and have no way to exclude anybody from becoming a shareholder.
We then talk about the volume of properties you can hold in one LLC. Doug shares that when you are flipping, you get your property in LLC, but after flipping, it’s out of the LLC, and the LLC is empty again. According to Doug, you can use that LLC as many times as you want, but as long as that LLC is alive, it has all the hangover liability from any deal it ever did. Doug advises that you should always pick a number that you are comfortable with, such as 10, do the 10 flips in that LLC and then let the LLC die a natural death to start a new one. Why? If a deal goes bad and they come to you years later, you want the lawsuits to be on an LLC that is empty, not in use, and dying its natural death as opposed to your current LLC with properties in it. LLCs are easy and inexpensive to form, so you should often kill your LLCs if you are in high-risk activities such as flipping houses.
Next, we talk about a holding company and the importance of having one from a legal standpoint. Doug shares that a holding company can be an LLC, but Doug recommends using a limited partnership, and a lot of syndication deals use limited partnerships instead of LLCs. You should also select a favorable state, and he recommends Arizona. It has incredible laws, inclusive charging for asset protection, great case laws, and their registration is perpetual. According to him, little things like fewer moving parts matter a lot. So, if you are flipping and get a property you want to hold, you have to take it out of the flipping LLC and into a long-term holding company. Doug emphasizes that as you take assets for long-term holding to build your property portfolio, they should be in the long-term holding company structure. Also, don’t put your flipping entity in the holding company because it will increase your exposure to risks, and it’s transient.
We then talk about the market and some of the risks associated with the market cycle that we are in right now. Doug shares that the biggest risk is over-leverage. Doug advises that we slow down on anything that makes us overleveraged by doing fewer deals, carrying more cash, and putting more cash down on the deals we are doing. According to him, the risk is bigger for the flippers than the portfolio because if you have tenants, they will still pay the mortgage if the market goes down. However, if you’re relying on properties to go up to make money, you will be stuck with the deals in your pipeline, and you might have to sell them for less.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Doug Lodmell and get valuable information on real estate asset protection, managing cash flow, and the dangers of the current market!
Notable Quotes: “When you start investing, you should keep the safe assets in your life and the risk assets in your life as separate as possible.”
- Doug Lodmell
“The first legal entity you should understand is a Limited Liability Company, LLC. It will help you limit liabilities.”
- Doug Lodmell
“LLCs are membership entities and are the best for asset protection. Corporations are shareholder entities and have no way to exclude anybody from becoming a shareholder.”
- Doug Lodmell
“You can use your flipping LLC as many times as you want, but as long as that LLC is alive, it has the hangover liability trailing from any deal it ever did.
- Doug Lodmell
“Your LLC is a sub-entity of the holding company, and that is why your LLC should not be an S-corp as it makes it possible for the holding company to own it.
- Doug Lodmell
“Just because you have LLCs set up for a set of properties doesn’t mean that you need bank accounts or to have all the income and expenses go out to those LLCs.”
- Doug Lodmell
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Get Doug’s Guide on how to manage your LLCs cashflow: support@lodmell.com
Lodmell &Lodmell
Doug on LinkedIn
Doug on Facebook
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of July 13th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Market cycles always change.”
“Your cold calling software should give you feedback and analytics on what times are most effective.”
“Traditionally, the best time to get a hold of clients is in the afternoon.”
“There is a lot that I would change if I was starting my business over again.”
“Use other people’s hindsight as your foresight.”
“When you are scaling, generally speaking, you are going to have to build your team.”
“When I first built my team, I didn’t take the training aspect seriously enough.”
“When you hire people, you can’t expect them to be incentivized as you are as the business owner.”
“A huge mistake that I made was to hire people and give them too much responsibility too quickly, with little to no management or oversight.”
“I am really good at execution.”
“Execution is a skill set of action, not of learning.”
“Trustworthy is a little different than ethical.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Dominique Gunderson Dominique is co-founder with her husband Mitch of Gunderson Homes and has been involved in real estate since graduating high school at age 17. She started her career as an agent and then transitioned into wholesaling to build experience and capital, but her main interest was always in owning and investing in fix and flip properties. After building the right relationships and doing a lot of deals through wholesaling, Dominique was able to start her own fix and flip business at age 21. Today she still runs that house flipping business in New Orleans, all while living in Colorado. Her mission is to transform houses into beautiful and affordable spaces for new buyers and tenants and help as many families as possible to solve problems such as foreclosure, large repairs or structural damage, unpaid liens, bankruptcy, and problem tenants.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Dominique sharing her background story and how she ended up in real estate. Dominique shares she is currently 24 years old and has been investing in real estate since she was able to work. She started investing in her teens after graduating from high school. Dominique started by learning about real estate, contracts, and what it meant to buy and sell houses to get her feet on the ground. She became an agent as soon as she could, at 18 years, to get some experience and one year later jumped into wholesaling. She did that for a couple of years before transitioning into what she is doing today, flipping houses to revitalize neighborhoods and add value.
We then talk about what inspired Dominique into real estate at an early age. She shares that neither of her parents was in real estate, they didn’t own a home, and she didn’t know what real estate was until she started learning about it in high school. Seeing her parents struggling while growing up, always in debt, trying to figure out their finances, and working 9-5 jobs, Dominique wanted to do something different. She shares that she heard about real estate at fourteen when her mom finally figured out how to save up and qualify for a loan to purchase a townhome. This was in 2012, and the market was very low, but they bought a home that needed renovation. The whole process of buying and renovating the house was fascinating, and it sparked her interest in real estate investing and value addition.
Next, we talk about Dominique's experience as an agent and her perspective on the real estate agent track. Dominique shares that after her first day working for the most successful agent in their area, she knew she did not want to be an agent. It was so transactional, had a lot of paperwork, and had nothing to do with buying and selling real estate. According to Dominique, that was 0% of the work she wanted, but she knew it would be a pivotal part of her journey.
We then talk about why Dominique started with wholesaling first. She shares that she knew from the beginning that house flipping was her goal but felt like she didn’t know enough yet. Dominique was 19 years old, had no money, and had never done an investment deal. As an agent, there were many things she didn’t know from the buyer and seller standpoint, such as going through the escrow or title search, and she wanted to learn all that. Dominique also shares that she wanted to have her own money and not depend on other people all the time. According to her, being young was the hardest thing when she was starting out because people immediately didn't trust her because they thought she didn’t know what she was doing.
Next, we talk about Dominique's strategy of finding deals. Dominique shares that back in 2016/2017, when she started investing, she was part of a wholesale team, which was the key to her success in different ways. First, it was working with a small team of people. The team was similar to the real estate agent, where everyone was on their own, doing their own deals. Being in an office surrounded by people doing the same thing enabled her to learn very quickly what was working and what wasn’t. She was also able to do JV deals and work together with others on contracts to split the fee. Second, it was getting creative and trying everything to see what worked.
Lastly, we talk about how she went from wholesaling in LA to flipping in Louisiana and how she finds deals. Dominique shares that the transition from Los Angeles to New Orleans was based on affordability. After doing a range of 40 to 45 wholesale transaction deals in a year and a half, she had the experience, was able to save up, and was ready to follow her passion in flipping. Dominique could have done it in LA because she already had her network, but her savings were just enough for a downpayment. She had two options: bring in hard money and get investors involved, or take what she had and go to a different market where she could pay for the rental, purchase, and fee costs without risking owing somebody a lot of money if anything goes wrong. Dominique chose a cheaper and more affordable market to start out, which turned out to be New Orleans. She also shares that her strategy of finding deals there is through relationships, networking with wholesalers, foreclosures, and direct sale marketing.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Dominique Gunderson and get valuable information on how to flip houses remotely full-time!
Notable Quotes: “Sometimes, when you are the one putting your money at risk, you want to know everything that is going on.”
- Dominique Gunderson
“Finding and building a loyal team is critical to success in any investment in real estate.”
- Dominique Gunderson
“Real estate is a career, and just like anything else you go to school to learn. It takes time and requires work and effort, but it will pay off.“
- Dominique Gunderson
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help, and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Gunderson Homes
Dominique on LinkedIn
Dominique on Instagram
Dominique on Facebook
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of July 6th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Learning what works, learning what doesn’t, all on my dime.”
“Wholetail is a hybrid term coming from wholesale and retail.”
“Sometimes in a wholetail situation, you might replace the carpeting and paint, but not refurbish the kitchen.”
“You may spend $5k doing that but you can ask $20k more than you could before.”
“I think a good real estate investor, for the most part, will do whatever they need to do to get the deal.”
“Wholetailing in this market is great.”
“We take a lot of properties and put them on the market right away just to see what will happen.”
“The spirit of a wholetail deal is not to go the extra mile to provide appliances and stage it.”
“If you want steady rent checks all year long, I would suggest a single-family rental.”
“Realize there is a big difference between a long-term and short-term rental.”
“Short-term rentals can be more profitable and produce more revenue, to be sure, but they also require more work.”
“Either the deal isn’t as good as you think it is or your buyers’ list isn’t as strong as it should be.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how! * Simon Sinek: On Millennials in the Workplace
Today's Guest: Andre Haynes Andre, also known as “Renaissance” is a real estate investor, author, content creator, and entrepreneur from the Ida B Wells projects on the south side of Chicago. Andre was adopted at age 6, and from 18 to 27 years old he was a struggling parent and hip-hop artist with no knowledge of credit and money. The only thing he knew was how to write songs and survive on the bare minimum. Andre stepped away from music, got a job in sales and marketing, and shortly found his way into real estate. He is a self-educated investor with a portfolio valued at over $1M and has recently been featured as a guest on BiggerPockets.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Andre sharing his background story. Andre told me that he doesn't come from money and financial literacy. However, he couldn’t use that as an excuse not to be successful. After high school, he started pursuing his career in music as a rapper, but after 10 years in the game, Andre realized that it wasn’t what he wanted to do. He was living a fake lifestyle and struggling to take care of his family. He had not given up on his goal of being successful, but he had to pivot to find a different path. Andre stepped out of the music industry, got a job in sales making cold calls, and earned a regular income. This was not going to make him successful- Andre wanted more. He started researching how regular people could become wealthy, and this led him to read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Money Master The Game by Tommy Robbins, which changed his life.
Next, we talk about how Andre started his career in real estate. According to Andre, once your mind is opened to the world of financial literacy and investments, your opportunities explode. When Andre discovered that he could use the money he was earning to leverage stock, real estate properties, and other investments, he became untouchable. The average person is not an athlete or on TV, but is one who is working in a job and investing their money to get wealthy. Once Andre discovered this, it gave him a purpose to get up each morning to change his life and help others change their lives with the same information. He started investing in real estate by giving up unnecessary expenditures and working overtime to save money for investment. When it was time, all the right doors opened, and he was connected to the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) program, which helped him to make his first investment in a multifamily house.
We then discuss Andre's first multifamily investment and how he found the property. He shares that he went on the MLS and worked with an agent. This was back in 2015, and things weren’t as easy as they are today. Multi-units were a hot commodity, and they sold faster than single-family homes as many people are looking for cash flow. It took time for him to find it, and it came at a moment when he wanted to take a mental break. He was frustrated because he had pursued 10 to 20 properties and none worked out. The evening after speaking with his agent about taking a break, he found a great deal on the MLS, a multifamily house that was fully occupied, renovated, and with one unit for him to move into. Someone had listed it in the middle of the night. Andre called his agent, who wrote the offer for him, and he finally had his first investment property.
Next, we talk about Andre's book 5 Step Guide on Getting Your Shit Together. Andre shares that he wanted to give people the personal blueprint he used to get his life in order. The book is direct and to the point, and an easy read. It aims to spread knowledge on the benefits of a healthy mentality, personal financial responsibility, business, self-help, and most importantly, the help of others. According to Andre, writing a book is not easy, but you have to go through the process to get the results. It’s never going to be a straight line, and you’ve to sacrifice to succeed.
Lastly, we talk about how Andre makes money in real estate. He shares that he makes money through Peerspace and multifamily rental income. Peerspace is similar to Airbnb, but people don’t spend a night on the property. He has done it with his house, where he rents out space to people who want to shoot movies, throw dinner parties, and for entertainment. He also teaches various courses in real estate and has a ton of resources, including videos to help people get it right in real estate investing.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Andre Haynes and get valuable information on how you can start investing in real estate!
Notable Quotes: “Once your mind is opened to the world of financial literacy and investments, they become addictive.”
- Andre Haynes
“Don’t use your background as an excuse not to be successful. There are others who have risen from the worst.”
- Andre Haynes
“Success in real estate is achieved through delayed gratification.”
- Andre Haynes
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Andre on Linktree
Andre on Instagram
Andre on Facebook
Andre on TikTok
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of June 29th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “Learning what works, learning what doesn’t, all on my dime.”
“Wholetail is a hybrid term coming from wholesale and retail.”
“Sometimes in a wholetail situation, you might replace the carpeting and paint, but not refurbish the kitchen.”
“You may spend $5k doing that but you can ask $20k more than you could before.”
“I think a good real estate investor, for the most part, will do whatever they need to do to get the deal.”
“Wholetailing in this market is great.”
“We take a lot of properties and put them on the market right away just to see what will happen.”
“The spirit of a wholetail deal is not to go the extra mile to provide appliances and stage it.”
“If you want steady rent checks all year long, I would suggest a single-family rental.”
“Realize there is a big difference between a long-term and short-term rental.”
“Short-term rentals can be more profitable and produce more revenue, to be sure, but they also require more work.”
“Either the deal isn’t as good as you think it is or your buyers’ list isn’t as strong as it should be.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Rafael Cortez Rafael has been wholesaling for over a decade and he now owns several companies, including a wholesaling and consulting company. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ, Rafael is a second-generation entrepreneur. He began his career in corporate before transitioning to entrepreneurship. Rafael saw an opportunity and began working on his first entrepreneurial project, a non-emergency medical transportation business, at age 21 but later sold the company and dove into real estate. He is currently an organizational psychologist and real estate professional holding ownership in multiple companies in various verticals, whose base of operations is in Phoenix, AZ.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Rafael sharing his background story and how he started his journey in real estate. He shares that he started as a firefighter before getting to the business space. Rafael's first business was a medical transportation company that he sold a few years later. He also invested in industrial psychology to become a better entrepreneur before diving into real estate, which has been rewarding in his journey. He owns multiple companies, including a consulting company, a wholesale company where they do flips, and a real estate brokerage firm. He is an organizational psychologist and does business coaching and consulting to help people build profitable businesses and scale to the next level of growth.
We then talk about Rafael’s first company and what inspired him to sell it. Rafael shares that he went through a lot in his 20s trying to figure out how to build a company. Rafael was so much in the hustle stage that he didn’t have the brain bandwidth to think of his business five or ten years down the road. His company was expanding, and he was more focused on how to make payrolls, hire people, buy vehicles, and how to scale. When Rafael realized that he was suffering from burnout and that what he was doing was not enjoyable, the thought of selling the company seemed ideal. He started planning his exit strategy by running the business in a way it could eventually sell.
Next, we talk about how you can build systems and processes to help you create wealth and time freedom in your business. According to Rafael, as entrepreneurs, we have the ability to empower, and we can assign the right people within our team to offer value in things that we're not interested in becoming experts. In his company, Rafael has three managers, a lead manager, acquisition manager, and disposition manager, and each has their own team. They keep everything on track through different checks and measures to keep the level of accountability and performance high. Rafael shares that as an entrepreneur seeing the result of an empowered team is very satisfying.
We then talk about systems that Rafael has found to be most valuable and holds as the reason for his success. He shares that understanding the stages of deals and being able to create a systematic approach is what has helped him stay ahead. According to him, psychologically, we are not wired to think linearly but developing the ability to put things together in a linear fashion is a game-changer. When this hit him, he changed the way he ran his business into six stages: outsourcing, converting, acquisition, disposition, measuring, and improvement sessions. This strategy has helped him level up in delegation, hiring, accountability, and finding the bottleneck for the business.
Lastly, we discuss the wholesale market and why it’s easy to find deals. Rafael shares that he is in the most competitive market in Phoenix and they still get an average of twelve deals a month. The deals are out there, and you can get them in any market. It’s all about taking action and giving it enough time to work. Raphael says that real estate is not a get-rich-quick scheme.
Make sure you don’t miss another fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Rafael Cortez and get valuable information on how you can create wealth and time freedom through systems and processes in your business!
Notable Quotes: “We have to build systems in our businesses to get to a point where it’s delegatable. We can’t hustle forever.”
- Rafael Cortez
“As entrepreneurs, we have the ability to empower, and we can empower the right people within our team to offer value in things that we're not interested in becoming experts.”
- Rafael Cortez
“Investing in real estate is all about taking action and giving it enough time to work. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme.“
- Rafael Cortez
“You can invest in any market. Stop using the market as an excuse.”
- Mike Simmons
“Wholesaling can be passive just like any other form of investing if you build your team.”
- Mike Simmons
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: REI Wholesaling
Rafael on Instagram
Rafael on Facebook
Rafael on YouTube
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Highlights From The Show: Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of June 22nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes: “It is not theory - it is all actionable stuff.”
“The first thing you need to do is buy my book, Level Jumping, because I have an entire chapter on partnering.”
“The hard worker is always driven crazy by the not-so-hard worker.”
“I hate beating around the bush and passive-aggressive actions.”
“What kind of business do you ultimately want?”
“It is pretty safe to say your rental will be vacant one month of the year.”
“At 20 doors I would definitely be hiring a property management firm, but that is because I don’t want to manage properties.”
“Just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.”
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Today's Guest: Omni Casey Omni is a real estate investor, broker, and coach who has been in real estate for nearly 20 years. He is also a co-owner of New Leaf Redevelopers, with his wife and three kids, and Co-Author of THE CASH-FLOW BREAKFAST CLUB. His real estate career started in Hawaii, where he grew up, but for the last 10+ years, he and his family have been living in Northern Virginia, where he has actively been growing their real estate investment portfolio and a top-performing real estate team. His mission is to help others achieve their financial freedom, and he has coached hundreds of real estate investors and agents to create and execute a plan to grow their investment portfolios. Omni has recently been featured as a guest on the BiggerPockets Podcast, along with many other popular shows.
Highlights From The Show: We begin the episode with Omni sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Omni shares that he grew up in a very entrepreneurial family that had a few companies in construction. He knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur but didn’t know it would be in real estate. He ran several retail businesses prior to real estate, and just like many in the game, he was inspired to go down this path by the Rich Dad Poor Dad book. He sought mentors, coaches, and masterminds’ guidance and started his real estate career in Waikiki as an investor and later became an agent. For the last 20 years, Omni has been pouring himself into real estate as an investor and broker. He is now located on the East coast, where his wife comes from, and they are investing all over the country.
We then talk about how Omni got his mentor and developed his learning processes to a point where he was ready to launch his business. He was looking for someone in real estate to be his mentor, and he found one of his customers who happened to be an experienced investor. The mentor looked for the pain points in his business and Omni offered to help and provided value by doing a lot of groundwork until he had enough experience and money to start his own investing. His mentor was doing multi-family, residential, and commercial investing, but he backtracked to smaller deals so that Omni could be involved. When it was time to do his own thing, he started with a realtor license to remove the roadblock of getting the right agent.
Next, we talk about how Omni started his investment journey. Omni shares that he and his mentor were investing heavily in condos and lightly in single-family homes in Waikiki. Once he had enough money and wanted to branch out to do his own thing, he couldn’t afford anything in Hawaii, so he had to find other markets. He started investing in single families and duplexes throughout the United States in the markets that met his budget. Omni tested many markets and bought properties in low-profile areas. He learned, and now he is in great areas and has been able to assemble good teams that are making his investments more passive for him.
We then talk about Omni's strategy of finding and acquiring deals. According to Omni, his primary real estate strategy is buying and holding for the long term. They do the BRRRR strategy, but sometimes they do flips and wholesale properties they don’t want to keep in their portfolio. Omni shares that they rely heavily on wholesalers to find deals, and he has been overly committed to becoming their number one client. Last year turned out to be their best year. They do cash purchases, then refinance and use the BRRRR method to reposition financially to fix and wholesale properties they don’t like.
Lastly, we talk about how he was able to purchase so many properties last year in a strong seller’s market and his plan for the next five to ten years. He started coaching people on how to invest, and the number one complaint was that there were no deals, and he wanted to prove to them that there were deals. According to Omni, when people start to get nervous about buying, that is when he goes all in and makes his offers. Real estate has never let him down in his strategy of buying and holding long-term because it works in any market. Omni also shares that everything he is doing now is to educate his kids, the people he is coaching, and get into things that will stretch his comfort zone.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Omni Casey and get valuable information on how to utilize mentors to launch your business!
Notable Quotes: “It’s hard to find an agent that knows how to help an investor.”
- Omni Casey
“When you want to learn from someone who is doing it, don’t do it with a ‘tell me what I can do’ mindset. Look for their pain points and be a solution.”
- Omni Casey
“Taking action is the common denominator for every successful person in any industry. Stop waiting for everything to be perfect and just start.”
- Mike Simmons
“Buying and holding properties for long-term works on any market, even in a strong seller's market.“
- Omni Casey
Thank You for Listening! * Connect with Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Linkedin, Facebook
Help Out the Show: * Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. * Subscribe on iTunes.
Resources and Links From Today's Show: Omni Cash Flow Book
Omni on Instagram
Omni on Facebook
Omni on YouTube
Rich Dad Poor Dad
More Resources From Mike: * Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months * WINNING DIRECT MAIL - How to CRUSH IT with direct mail! * 7 Figure Investor Video Course - Scale your business to 7 figures. I'll show you how!
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of June 15th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Getting leads is #1.”
“Direct mail is how I have gotten the majority of my leads over the last seven years.”
“Take my hindsight and lessons learned and make them your foresight.”
“It is not typical to have every deal you evaluate look like a bad deal.”
“The biggest garbage excuse I hear is ‘there are no deals.’”
“You can get a deal in any market.”
“Just because it is doable doesn’t mean it should be done.”
“If I live in San Diego, I might buy rentals in Michigan.”
“You may have to leave your market to find deals that are profitable and cash-flowing.”
“I think following up a lead is something new investors underestimate or undervalue.”
“One of the drawbacks to investing in high crime areas is not being able to find consistent renters.”
“Google opportunity zones.”
Links:
WINNING Direct Mail
Roofstock
Incredible Wealth Strategies Using Opportunity Zones with Ashley Tison
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Nasar El Arabi. Nasar is known as @realestatedoru across social media and has been wholesaling, flipping, and landlording since 2007. After graduating from college, Nasar worked several jobs before leaving corporate life to go full-time in real estate. In 2010, he learned about creative RE and has been implementing this as his business plan since 2011. His goal is to build his rental portfolio through wholesaling and renovating properties and eventually investing in apartment buildings. Nasar is also the author of the popular book Flip Houses Like Burgers: With No Money Or Credit and has recently been featured as a guest on several podcasts, including BiggerPockets.
We begin the episode with Nasar sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. They started flipping after watching a house-flipping show but ended up losing over $7,000 on their first deal. Nasar also shares that he relocated from New Jersey in 2008 to South Carolina, where he bought a rental property the same year and another in 2009 using the traditional way. He learned about creative real estate investing in 2010 and has been doing things creatively since 2011.
We then talk about what Nasar did wrong that resulted in losing money in his first flip. He shares that he discovered his mistake after reading the Rich Dad Poor Dad book, where Robert Kiyosaki stresses that before investing in real estate, you have to take time to learn about real estate. For him, Nasar was motivated by a TV show that made investing seem very easy. He went to the MLS and bought the house without paying attention to the cap rate. The constructors and the realtors took advantage of them, and they ended up taking a loss. After his first flip, Nasar figured out that the declining real estate market, between 2008 and 2012, was not ideal for flipping, so he turned to rentals. However, according to him, he was wrong again. You can buy properties and flip in any market cycle at any interest rate.
Next, we talk about Nasa’s experience investing in rentals. He shares that he was working in his full-time job when he started investing in rental properties. According to Nasa, getting tenants that were consistent in making their payments helped him build his equity before selling them in 2018. These were the only two properties that Nasar bought before learning about creative real estate. According to him, with creative RE, he works with a strategy and a plan, and this has enabled him to build a strong cash flow and a great rental portfolio.
We then talk about creative financing and Nasa’s strategy of buying rental properties. Nasar shares that he finds deals for himself and is always looking for equity, cash flow, and potential appreciation. He often buys property in neighborhoods that are in the path of progress and those that can make an income of $6000 to $7000 after fixing. Nasar also shares that he doesn't use traditional banks. He uses other people's money and local financing with LLCs. According to Nasar, when you go to big banks, sometimes they only finance two properties, but the secondary market and local banks can allow you to own more properties.
Lastly, we talk about what Nasar has been doing to create multiple income streams in his real estate business. According to Nasar, in real estate, you can push up to 6, 7, or 8 figures income just in one niche. So, if you want to create multiple streams of income you don't have to be in multiple industries to achieve your goal. For him, he doesn't see the need to spread himself in different Industries while he barely reaches all the potential in real estate. Multiple streams of income can be multiple rental properties or multiple flip properties and it’s all about loving and being passionate about what you do.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Nasar El Arabi and get valuable information on how you can create a strong cash flow with a great rental portfolio!
Notable Quotes:
“Before investing in real estate, you have to take time to learn about real estate.”
- Nasar El Arabi
“You can buy properties, rent, or flip in any market cycle and at any interest rate.”
- Nasar El Arabi
“It’s easier to buy in a declining market as everyone is freaking out and can’t wait to give you their house at a discount.“
- Mike Simmons
“Realtors and brokers are salesmen. Take their advice, but tell them what to do .”
- Nasar El Arabi
Links:
Nasar on Instagram
Nasar on Facebook
Nasar on YouTube
Rich Dad Poor Dad
WINNING Direct Mail
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of June 8th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“As far in advance that you know you are going to have a vacancy, I would start marketing it.”
“I would still market the property 90 days out from it being vacant.”
“You want to have time to do all of your due diligence upfront.”
“There is a lot of competition for rentals right now.”
“You can usually vet a potential tenant in a week.”
“Maybe I am coldhearted, but other people have told me they have guilt over making money on flips and wholesales.”
“I am able to help other people, including my kids who are young and starting families, because of the profits I am making in my business.”
“There are not a lot of hard passes in wholesaling because what I say no to, there are plenty of buyers that would say yes.”
“The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.”
Links:
WINNING Direct Mail
Roofstock
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Daniel Barrett. Daniel is the founder and CEO of AdWords Nerds, a real estate marketing agency, and the host of the REI Marketing Nerds Podcast. Dan’s incredible success in the REI marketing space has seen him collaborate and work with top-notch investors and companies including, but not limited to, Joe McCall, Alex Youngblood, Tom Krool, and many more.
We begin the episode with Daniel sharing his background story and how he ended up in the real estate space. He shares that he originally was looking to become a teacher, and he went to college to get a master's degree in history and another in education. At some point, Daniel realized that he was not making enough money, and he started freelancing and marketing to boost his cash flow. In his freelancing career, Daniel was helping businesses with SEO and web design, along with supporting local businesses. He was making much more money than he would have made in a full-time teaching position, so he decided to go into freelancing full-time. Daniel spent a couple of years working with anybody until he landed a client in real estate who changed his perspective.
We then talk about how COVID affected Daniel’s business. He shares that he had zero ideas of what to expect in 2020, and it was the first time a significant economic event was occurring when he was self-employed and had kids. According to Daniel, there was a period of drought where sellers, buyers, and investors sat on their money for a while, but there was a very sharp increase after that. The year ended up strong, but in 2021 there was a retraction. The experience was not a big deal as Daniel had learned to be financially disciplined and conservative through the emotional experience in 2020. There were so many changes in the two-year period, the rise and drop of people searching online, brands getting major traction for the first time, google changing algorithms, and brands making more money from fewer leads.
Next, we talk about the real estate market and how the prices are leveling out. Daniel shares that real estate is a market like any other, and all markets operate in similar dynamics. It’s not about what you think the market is going to do, but what you think other people think the market is going to do. According to Daniel, a property's worth is all about perception, and the difference between the inherent economic value and the perceived value is profit. Knowing how you can take advantage of both is key.
We then talk about Daniel's business and how they offer their services. Daniel shares that everybody wants the silver bullet that is always going to work, but it doesn’t exist. All the solutions that investors need are contextual, and before working with any client, they should know about the client’s budget, closure, market, and risk tolerance. They realized that if all your eggs are in google ads or direct mail, there is a huge amount of risk that you take on if your business depends on it. Early on, their primary mode for getting new clients was Facebook. They did Google ads for clients, but Facebook was where they found investors.
Lastly, we talk about the future of pay-per-click and Facebook ads. Daniel shares that we are in a period of massive transition in the online advertising space. According to him, Facebook is bleeding out, and they are having trouble getting back to where they were. Online marketing has traditionally been split between Google and Facebook. On the other hand, the use of TikTok is increasing, and most agencies, digital media, and professional advertising are using it for their ads. The other transition that Daniel talks about is the move to machine learning and artificial intelligence that eliminates most human control. Using multiple channels can help you increase your leads.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Daniel Barrett and get valuable information on how to find motivated sellers through online marketing!
Notable Quotes:
“The motivated seller lead business is a fun ride. It is never boring as it has something new every day.”
- Daniel Barrett
“Worth is all about perception, and the difference between the inherent economic value and the perceived value is profit.“
- Daniel Barrett
“We need volatility in order to encourage evolution, agitation, and change. All resilience systems have some volatility in them.”
- Daniel Barrett
Links:
AdWords Nerds
Adword Nerds on LinkedIn
Adwords Nerds on Instagram
Adwords Nerds on Facebook
Adword Nerds on Twitter
Adword Nerds on YouTube
WINNING Direct Mail
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of June 1st and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You aren’t going to be dumber for watching it.”
“There are a million places you could live if you want to house hack.”
“If you want to build a rental portfolio, the good news is that you don’t have to live in the same city to do that.”
“Post-COVID, it is much more acceptable to not live in the same city as your business.”
“If you really want to build a successful rental portfolio in a new location, just avoid the coasts.”
“Just do your research.”
“Make sure you follow whatever the lease dictates when handling tenants.”
“This falls under the heading of ‘you can’t stop people from doing crazy things if they want to be crazy.’”
“There is nothing wrong with asking someone to leave your house when the lease is up.”
“The worst answer in the world is ‘it depends”, but it does.”
“Don’t wait for the problem to bite you when you are least expecting it.”
“I don’t want to try to be an expert where I am not an expert.”
Links:
WINNING Direct Mail
Roofstock
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guests today are Sam and Daniel Kwak. Sam and Daniel have an inspiring story of building a real estate empire from 0 to 83 deals beginning with no money and no credit. They currently run an online financial education company, along with a YouTube channel that currently has around 260k subscribers. Sam and Daniel are passionate about sharing and helping others in their journey to success and are frequent and popular podcast guests and keynote speakers. They are also the co-authors of the book 0 To 75 Units In 1 Year: Introducing the FORCE Strategy to Acquiring Rental Properties.
We begin the episode with Sam and Daniel sharing their background story and how they ended up in real estate. Daniel shares that they were immigrants to the US when they were very young and had very little money. They have always been entrepreneurial as Sam started a DJ company when he was 18, and Daniel was selling pokemon cards when he was a kid. They got into real estate in 2015 and Sam shares that they had no option but to figure out how to acquire rental properties in non-traditional ways since they had no money or credit. They tried everything that real estate offers, from fix and flip properties to wholesale deals before settling in with multifamily homes to create a continuous income stream no matter what happens in their lives.
We then talk about why Sam and Daniel decided to venture into multifamily and not single-family rental homes. Daniel shares that they got into multifamily because of the economies of scale. According to him, if you can buy one property with eight streams of income, it’s equivalent to buying eight properties simultaneously. Additionally, when you analyze multifamily deals, you do it from a much more numerical and analytical perspective. However, when analyzing single-family homes, you have to collect comps and consider the person living there, including their emotional attachment to the house. When learning how to invest and analyze multifamily deals you have to learn how to analyze an income stream, assess the risk, the market, and understand the present and future value. You can learn this in single-family but not at the level you can learn it in commercial real estate.
Next, we talk about why Sam and Daniel started their YouTube channel and how far they were into real estate when they got into it. Sam shares that it was a product of an accident. They love sharing, and when they learn something, it’s their nature to share it, teach it, and assume authority. When their real estate interest started to develop in 2014, they started sharing content on YouTube, and one video on how to pay off your mortgage took off. It qualified them for the partnership program so that they could be paid to put videos on YouTube. According to Sam, this wasn’t a strategic business move - they were just documenting what they were learning. However, people noticed, and they started building their authority. Having a YouTube channel has helped them raise capital, find more deals, and build more legitimacy behind what they do. They are now producing content with a very intentional approach and at a higher level.
We then talk about how Sam and Daniel raise capital and strategies that you can use to raise money for deals. He believes that once you find that universal law of success that works for you in business, you apply it to every single little thing, even with finding deals. When finding deals, you don’t look for property, you look for people, and the same thing applies to capital. When you are raising capital, you are looking to build relationships with people who have the capital. For Sam and Daniel, they have raised tens of millions of dollars since they started despite their age using this strategy. To implement it successfully, you have to know your product, who your ideal client is, and how the two jive with what is happening in the market. You can have a great product and strategy, but if they don’t align with what is happening in the market, then it will not be effective.
Lastly, we talk about what Sam and Daniel are doing in their business to prepare for the current market and some eventualities down the road. Daniel shares that 2022 is the greatest year and the best opportunity to raise capital because so many people are selling their stock and cryptocurrency and are moving towards real estate to buy assets that hedge inflation. However, according to Daniel, people underestimate the opportunities by betting based on optimism about increments in rents and a decrease in the cap rate. They believe that the rise in interest rates will make home affordability more severe, and people are going to be forced to rent because of it. On the other hand, the ratio of rent to income has significantly skyrocketed compared to the average mortgage and income. So, once the inventory resets in the housing market, it will push a lot of class A tenants back into home ownership. There are so many things that investors who are putting a lot of dollars into optimism are not considering.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Sam and Daniel Kwak and get valuable information on how to move from zero to multiple deals in multifamily properties without money and credit!
Notable Quotes:
“If you stop flipping, you lose your income, but money will always be flowing in with rentals.”
- Sam Kwak
“If you want to end up in multifamily investing, stop pursuing other avenues first and go straight towards what you want.”
- Sam Kwak
“Sibling partnership is like a double-edged sword and you need a great deal of self-awareness and humility to have to make it work.”
- Daniel Kwak
“Whether you are a young or old entrepreneur, the only power an obstacle has is what you give it.”
- Daniel Kwak
Links:
The Kwak Brothers Website
The Kwak Brother's YouTube
The Kwak Brother Instagram
WINNING Direct Mail
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of May 25th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It is very difficult to create a win-win situation with a tenant when their goals are not aligned with your goals.”
“You own the place. You don’t have an obligation to have a tenant live there forever.”
“You could do boots on the ground, roll up your sleeves, and go to the property and find out who owns it.”
“I trusted my property management company to establish rents and increases because they watched the market trends very closely.”
“It is fair to say that the average rent increases that have occurred over the last three years could be used to project rents in the future.”
“I didn’t get too deep in those weeds, because I trusted the people whose entire business was immersed in those issues.”
“My long-winded story was to point out that someone is always going to have something negative to say.”
“Personality profiles are very important in the hiring process.”
“Do I put all my eggs in the personality profile basket? NO!”
“Personality profiles are just one more tool in your toolbelt to make a better, more informed decision.”
Links:
WINNING Direct Mail
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Rachel Gainsbrugh. Rachel is the owner of Short-Term Gems, a Luxury Airbnb Coach, and has been investing in luxury short-term rentals for the past 2 years, resulting in a portfolio of over 18 cash-flowing properties, owned. She has also been seen on Netflix and BiggerPockets, and she is a contributing author to a new book, Hospitable Hosts, to be released in the Spring of 2022. Rachel is passionate about helping others find their way by making simple the complex process of investing.
We begin the episode with Rachel sharing her background story and how she got into short-term rentals. She shares that she loves numbers, but early on, financial literacy was not part of the equation. She learned some hard lessons after graduating from grad school with a crushing debt that she had to pay. After getting rid of it, she and her husband started out investing in real estate. They turned over all the stones, multifamily syndication, long-term rentals, industrial, and commercial, but when they found short-term rentals, they knew that was the real deal, and they got into this niche.
We then talk about how Rachel has created luxury short-term rentals while not in the market. She shares that a good portion of her portfolio is within communities where they see travelers not necessarily for vacation purposes but primarily for business purposes. According to Rachel, there are over seven uses of short-term rentals, and anyone can use them to generate income depending on the location of their property. For her properties in the suburbia market, most of her primary guests are individuals who have been displaced from their homes due to disasters such as house fires or floods. House repair can take from 6 to 12 months, and Rachel is a provider for insurance companies looking to place such families in a home similar to their normal standard of living. This situation is a huge use of short-term rentals outside the vacation market.
Next, we talk about how to find out short-term rental regulations and why you need regulations. Rachel says you can find them through a google search by searching for the short-term rentals ordinance of the area to get the government municipality code. According to Rachel, regulations come in so many shapes and sizes, and they depend on the zone for that particular property, and you have to read them to understand the requirements. It’s also important to note that HOAs often trump any regulations, and for Rachel, she follows two rules when investing in HOA communities. First, it must be a resort community, and the dollars she is spending on a monthly HOA are going towards perks such as swimming pools and boat slips. Second, 50% of the properties owned in that location must be short-term rentals; otherwise, she is not interested.
We then talk about what the word luxury means in Rachel's brand and her criteria for acquiring short-term rental properties. According to Rachel, each market is different, and night rates for luxury ranges from $700 to $2500 per night. Their purchase price for their properties from 2019 to 2021 was between 175k to 462K, and at the end of last year, they secured a property for 1.3M. Rachel also shares that she finds property through MLS, and she doesn’t look at anything less than five rooms. This has enabled her to stand out and pop out from the crowd, giving her leverage in dealing with a different demographic and avatars.
Lastly, we talk about the processes that Rachel has in place to minimize the amount of time she has to spend managing her rentals. Rachel shares that she uses a dynamic pricing tool, PriceLab, that prices her rentals day-to-day based on occupancy of other short-term rentals, occupancy of hotels, and events happening in the area. It uses AI, and she has to train it and tweak it from time to time to stop it from going too low. Pricing your property appropriately is really important, and the goal should not be 100% occupancy. For Rachel, her goal is around 65% to 75% occupancy, and that is where she makes more money. At 85% occupancy, she starts to lose money because her product diminishes. Other software includes a channel manager software to manage calendar conflicts, remote lock to provide codes to clients, noise monitoring software, and auxiliary cameras.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Rachel Gainsbrugh and get valuable information on how to dominate the luxury short-term rental market successfully!
Notable Quotes:
“Short-term rentals occupancy rate should be 50% or higher, if it’s 30%, that is a high-risk investment, and it tells you no one is coming to that area.”
- Rachel Gainsbrugh
“Occupancy rate gives you travel bureau information on how many travelers are really coming to that area.“
- Rachel Gainsbrugh
Links:
75 Gems
Rachel on LinkedIn
Rachel on Instagram
Rachel on Facebook
WINNING Direct Mail
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of May 18th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you have tried direct mail and it hasn’t worked for you, there may be very specific reasons why that is the case.”
“With the BRRRR strategy, you refinance to get your money out of the property so that you can invest in the next one.”
“Conventionally, you get the loan for a buy-and-hold first.”
“We got out of our office space and went remote before COVID ever hit.”
“If you are a local company, you should be doing some in-person activities to team build and stay connected.”
“The part of our business that does not make us excited is filling out government paperwork.”
“You are not a real estate investor unless you do at least one deal.”
“You will see the urgency of creating an LLC if you do a couple of deals.”
“Any advice? Yes, stop doing that.”
“The reality is that, in this market, you do not have time to get a contractor to walk through every property to evaluate rehab costs before you make a deal.”
Links:
WINNING Direct Mail
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome Dave Meyer to the show today! Dave has been investing in real estate for 12 years, primarily in Colorado. He is also the Vice President of Data and Analytics at BiggerPockets and the host of BiggerPockets' newest podcast, On The Market, where he and his co-hosts break down recent data and trends, to help investors craft their strategies and invest with confidence. They believe that the modern real estate investor doesn’t have time to research every headline and trend. That is why Dave Meyer and his expert panel do it for you!
We begin the episode with Dave sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he graduated during the great recession, and it was pretty tough to get a job. Dave started investing right after college in rental properties after a friend who was making good money doing the same introduced him to the space. Initially, he had no money, but he found some partners, and he was able to borrow some of the down payment from family members. After several years, his career outside the real estate started to evolve, so he went back to grad school and got his master's degree in data science and data analytics. He combined the two careers and got a job at BiggerPockets. Dave has had a lot of jobs there but what he does now is internal data analytics. During COVID, he started analyzing the housing market and real estate market trends because people were freaking out. Dave also started writing articles on market trends, and it has evolved into a new brand, On The Market, which is a podcast and YouTube channel.
We then talk about Dave’s first rental property investment in real estate. He shares that it was a four-flat multifamily property in Denver. He was just starting, and he didn’t know what a good deal he had found. Dave sold the property in 2018 at a triple the initial price. The property had a lot of deferred payments, and it needed serious work. He had just completed grad school and was working full-time in BiggerPockets, and he couldn’t get into it. He sold it in a 1031 exchange and got additional properties, so he didn’t take any equity out of the market. As an expert in the housing market, Dave doesn’t buy or sell properties at an exact moment. According to him, sticking with a strategy over the long term will help you do well in real estate.
Next, we discuss why inventories are low even when the prices are at an all-time high. Dave shares that since the great recession, investors have built very few houses in the US, and he believes that there is a housing supply shortage in the population. According to him, overall inventory is a function of how many houses get listed in the market and how many buyers there are. The number of houses listed in the market is pretty good, and it’s a common misconception that no one is selling their house, but people are. There is so much demand that they get snapped up so quickly that it feels that no houses are on the market because they don’t last more than a week. The market is also so competitive, and people don’t want to buy back in, and inventories will be low because of the interest rates. Selling a property now as a homeowner will give you a lot of equity, but you will be buying in a rising interest rate market where prices are still super high.
We then talk about predicting what will happen in the housing market. According to Dave, data science and data analytics is all about probability. You have to learn to think in probability when creating your market models. This makes it very important to divorce decisions from the outcome as an investor by taking the information that you have and making a good decision. A decline is a normal business cycle and not a bubble, but this is what gets the most attention when people are uncertain about what will happen. However, if you want to be a good investor, you just need to be honest about your uncertainty and invest more conservatively. It is always the right time to make a deal if the numbers work.
Lastly, we talk about the rental market and what to expect in the near future in the United States. Dave shares that he still believes in the long-term prospect of rental property investments. There will always be a subset of people in the population that can’t or don’t want to be a homeowner, and someone needs to supply housing to them. For Dave, he takes his role seriously, and he’s always trying to be a good landlord and provide a good product to people. Thinking of your rental as a product and finding a way to get a good property, low vacancy rate, and have people take care of your homes will make your business successful.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Dave Meyer and get valuable information on market trends and the future of the real estate market!
Notable Quotes:
“Understanding the housing market and macroeconomics will positively impact your strategy.”
- Dave Meyer
“Time in the market is more important than timing the market.”
- Dave Meyer
“It's always the right time to make a deal if the numbers work.“
- Dave Meyer
“If you have a good product and you are a good landlord, rental investment is a good business to be in.”
- Dave Meyer
Links:
BiggerPockets
On The Market Podcast
Dave’s on Instagram
Dave’s on TIKTOK
WINNING Direct Mail
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Show Notes:
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of May 11th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“This is the place to be.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know.”
“Unfortunately, most answers boil down to ‘it depends’.”
“We determine what we can profit on each different exit scenario.”
“We still want to give our buyers the feeling that they are a little bit special.”
“For our business, flipping a property is a last option, but it is an option.”
“I prefer to be Hans Solo or Luke Skywalker. Yoda is awesome, but he is short and kind of ugly.”
“If you have 100K and want your investment to be very passive, I would recommend a syndication.”
“I can tell you because I did it. I flipped houses for six years while I worked a full-time job.”
“Make snow removal the tenant’s responsibility. No need for you to take that on.”
Links:
WINNING Direct Mail
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome Tommy Christy to the podcast today! Tommy is the founder of iLoveHouses.com and has 20 years of experience in the buying, fixing, and selling of foreclosure properties. Having lived and worked through one of the most tumultuous housing markets, he has a ton of experience that has enabled him to thrive in remote investing and buy box strategy. He is at his peak of buying three houses every month each year and operating across five different states, including California, Nevada, Florida, Montana, and Missouri.
We begin the episode with Tommy sharing what he was doing before remote investing and what led him to real estate. Tommy shares that this is his 20th year in real estate, but prior to that, he was selling coupons door to door, which taught him how to sell. Selling is all attitude-driven, and one of the best skills that he learned is the SEE factors (Smile, Eye contact, and Enthusiasm). According to him, when you combine the SEE factors with interest, you are positioning yourself to win. Doing sales was not his ultimate goal, and when Tommy wanted to do something different, he was determined to build his real estate portfolio. This led him to iLoveHouses.com, which is his body to buy, fix and sell, and iLoveRentals.com, which is his buy and hold company.
We then talk about Tommy’s focus on remote investing. He speaks a lot about how to figure out your buy box. Tommy also shares that the assets have to be of high quality and match someone who does his volume. With this kind of buy box, he usually gets properties such as manufactured and mobile homes that still have life in them and are financeable.
We then talk about Tommy's process of verifying deals in areas that he has never operated on before. According to him, it actually changes depending on your volume. When you drive by a house, you can only see it from the outside, so get it checked before closing the deal. It’s a matter of confidence and comfort. Tommy gets his deals from wholesalers, referrals, and established relationships and has to figure out what, where, and why he’s buying.
Lastly, we talk about how you can find deals if you are new to the real estate market and have no relationships yet. Tommy shares that there is a foundation for who you are and what you want inside your buy box that you can always rely on. If you can tell someone precisely what you are looking for, you can tell ten people specifically what you are looking for. You can also commit to calling six brokers a week and then following up. The quality of the relationship and the leads that come through will grow a lot. Tommy also recommends that you always be aware of your debt coverage ratio when approaching your local credit union.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Tommy Christy and get valuable information on remote investing and how you can figure out your buy box investment strategy!
Notable Quotes:
“Your buy box is important, and knowing and understanding it shifts the quadrant on when to develop and buy rentals at different rates.”
- Tommy Christy
“There is so much loaded in the options on how you can do your deals even when you don’t have the money to flip a house.”
- Tommy Christy
“Your buy box is not just about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms; it’s your tolerance for aggravation of risks.“
- Mike Simmons
“Location matters, and it’s the greatest word in real estate terms.”
- Tommy Christy
Links:
Ilovehouse.com
Tommy on LinkedIn
Tommy’s Email
WINNING Direct Mail
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Live Question and Answer sessions. For those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more!
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of May 4th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I am going to start out by not answering the question, but by challenging the premise.”
“Not one person said, ‘There are no affordable properties in my city.’”
“Condos are actually really easy to comp.”
“You can find good deals in any city.”
“It really depends on your goals, right?”
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable mailing a thousand names for a year without adding to that list.”
“I have given presentations for over an hour on finding motivated sellers and I probably could have gone two or three hours easily.”
“I spent the first five years learning, making mistakes, and avoiding asking for help.”
“Postcards and letters are still an incredibly effective method for finding motivated sellers.”
“Driving for dollars is a great way to find leads and ultimately build your business because it is scalable and very inexpensive.”
“You don’t ever want to run your business in a transactional way. It is about building relationships.”
“You have to deliver or overdeliver.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Amanda Cruise. After growing increasingly wary of the stock market, she pivoted to commercial real estate investing. Her first strategy was in single-family homes, then mobile homes, and now she is focused on the mobile home park asset class. She also works with passive investors looking to diversify income out of traditional IRAs and into alternative real estate investments to create a stable cash flow without the uncertainty of the stock market.
We begin the episode with Amanda sharing her background, what she did before and how she ended up in real estate. She shares that she was brought up in a traditional manner as far as jobs, work, and money are involved. After college where she majored as a data analyst, she couldn’t get a job. Amanda eventually started working her way up the corporate ladder at a large credit card company. She was a hard worker, and the harder she worked, the richer she made other people that she hadn’t even met. She knew there was something more, and she started looking for an alternative to take care of her own time, and that thing was real estate.
We then talk about Amanda’s interest and transition from single-family homes to mobile homes and later mobile home parks. They wanted to do something different, go faster, and mobile homes were the answer. They looked for individual mobile homes from people who really needed to sell and purchased them just like any other real estate property. They did seller financing, which helped get people in a home they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get into because it is hard to get financing for pre-owned mobile homes. They were getting great returns, and they realized they wanted to do more affordable housing, and that was when they decided to start owning mobile home parks.
Next, we talk about Amanda’s criteria for finding mobile homes for sale. Amanda shares that if you’re really interested in single mobile homes, she recommends you drive to the parks looking for sales signs and ask people if they know anybody looking to sell. For them, they prefer the mobile homes to be in parks and have three bedrooms to make them easier to resell in today's market.
We then talk about how Amanda came to know that mobile homes were going to be a profitable venture. Amanda shares that they spent months educating themselves by listening to podcasts and reading books on mobile homes parks. According to her, mobile homes have better returns, and you can buy a mobile home park for a better cap rate than you can buy an apartment. Commercial real estate is valued based on the net operating income it brings in, and in mobile homes, this means more income. For the same amount of net income, you can buy a mobile home for less money than you would spend for an apartment complex. There are also many mom-and-pop sellers in mobile homes, which is not what you find when buying an apartment complex. Additionally, being able to get the deals straight from the people who created the parks themselves is really appealing.
Lastly, we talk about what to expect if you are looking for a business that will lead you to financial freedom in mobile home parks. Amanda shares that if you are looking for a good cash flow, you’re likely to go to multiple areas or states. They live in the central part of the state, and all their investments are three hours away from their home. There aren’t as many parks as there are single-family houses, so it takes a little more work and time to find one within your price range and location. Amanda and her husband's ultimate goal is 300 mobile home parks to get to their ideal target income.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Amanda Cruise and get valuable information on how to invest in mobile homes and mobile home parks in a profitable way!
Notable Quotes:
“Mobile homes have a title, not deeds and they are easy to transfer, there’s no closing with mobile homes, you just get it notarized and sign for it just like buying a car.”
- Amanda Cruise
“You can buy a mobile home park for a better cap rate than you can buy an apartment complex.”
- Amanda Cruise
“Like everything else, in mobile homes parks going straight to the seller will give you the best deal.”
- Amanda Cruise
“In mobile houses, buyers' expectations are much more manageable.”
- Amanda Cruise
“There aren’t as many parks as there are single-family houses, so it takes a little more work and time to find one within your price range and location.”
- Amanda Cruise
“When buying a mobile home park, the most important thing is due diligence on the infrastructure.”
- Amanda Cruise
Links:
Voyage Investing
JSS Financial
Amanda on LinkedIn
Amanda on Instagram
Amanda on YouTube
Mike's Email
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 27th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I started out getting my leads from the MLS. But remember, it was 2008.”
“Going on the MLS and buying foreclosures was really easy.”
“When I couldn’t find deals anymore on the MLS, I went to direct mail and it worked great.”
“Direct mail helped me blow up into a seven figure business.”
“My best source of leads now is Google AdWords, pay-per-click.”
“The great thing about a pay-per-click lead is that it is someone that is looking for you.”
“Make an offer on it. Hoarder homes are fantastic investments where you can make a ton of money.”
“The great thing about a hoarder home is that the clean out is really not a big deal.”
“I would only consider giving a contractor a 30% downpayment to get started if I had a ton of experience and background with them.”
“Nobody needs 30% to get started.”
“If materials need to be bought to get started on a job, have the contractor make a list at Home Depot and call and pay for it yourself.”
“I was never a fan of motivational videos and affirmations until the last couple of years.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Eric Thomas YouTube Channel
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Incredible Wealth Strategies Using Opportunity Zones with Ashley Tison
Ashley Tison
Interviewed 3/22/2022
My guest today is Ashley Tison. Ashley Tison is an attorney, founder of Opportunity Zone Professionals (OZPro), and strategy guru for OZPros. OZPros.com is a consulting firm that helps real estate investors, business owners, and other high net worth investors own qualified opportunity fund and qualified opportunity zone investments. They have invested in a number of products on their website to educate people on the complexities around Opportunity Zone strategy legislation so that they can implement it successfully. You can purchase the educational product and do it on your own or sign up for their Oz workgroups, a virtual working center where people interact with others and exclusive resources to learn about these exciting investment types.
We begin the episode with Ashley sharing his background story and why he chose his current profession. Ashley grew up in Indiana, played basketball, and ultimately ended up studying international business. After college, the job market wasn’t great, so he decided to go to law school to be an attorney. He practiced with big firms for five years and later got into in-house commercial real estate with a developer. When the commercial real estate market crashed, he went back to practice law and built up a mergers and acquisitions firm to help people buy and sell businesses. However, he sold the firm in 2017 because he got sick of seeing business owners who had built up big empires give almost 30% of it to the government. This led him to tax succession and mitigation planning, and along the way, he stumbled into opportunity zones. He loved it, and in 2018, he created a website, and within 2 weeks, he had 150 inbound inquiries and $75,000,000 worth of capital.
We then talk about how Ashley was able to build a successful business from a website without marketing. Ashley and his team were doing it as a test, and they didn't have videos on their first website, but they had done a little bit of a keyword search. The opportunity zone program aligned perfectly with his background, and he had to help people figure out how to do it and implement it themselves. To achieve his goal, he repurposed a software program that they had built for his law firm that allowed them to do a main street-level business transaction for a fixed fee. They launched it to work in the opportunity zone space and partnered up to become the legal zoom for this space. According to Ashley, for the legal zoom capability, you must have a fair knowledge of how to do the forms, which is a little bit complicated. So they ended up putting in robust products to teach people and walk them through on their website, which has been rewarding.
Next, we talk about what an opportunity zone is and the benefits that come with it. Ashley shares that Congress established opportunity funds and zone in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to allow governors to designate up to 25% of their low-income census tracts all across the United States. When you invest in an opportunity fund, the first benefit you get is that you get to defer taxes until December 31st, 2026. There used to be a second benefit, which was a step up on the base after investing for either seven years or five years prior to the December 31st, 2026 deadline, but it expired in 2021. The third benefit is a permanent exclusion of capital gains tax via a step-up in base to fair market value. According to Ashley, for someone planning to build generational wealth, this is significant because it not only eliminates capital gains taxes but also eliminates depreciation recapture. So as a real estate investor, you can take any capital gains and invest them in a qualified opportunity fund and hold it for 10 years, and whatever you gain is going to come out tax-free.
We then discuss how you can take advantage of opportunity zones in real estate. Ashley shares that you can do it on any of your properties that happen to be in an opportunity zone. However, there are some requirements. You must have a substantial improvement of the asset which means you’ve to double the value of the building. So, if you buy a piece of property for $200,000 and the building itself is worth 50% of that, then you have to put another $100,000 into improving it. What you spend for improvement depends on the breakdown of what the building is worth versus the land. The opportunity zone tax act wants to make sure that people are not land banking on the opportunity zone. They want real investments. The good thing about it is that you don’t have to ask for permission from anybody, and there is no governing body that comes to check up on you. However, according to Ashley, when you don’t ask for permission, you must be prepared to provide a good audit trail to qualify.
Lastly, we talk about how you can find out if your property is in an opportunity zone. Ashley recommends that you do this at opportunity.com/map by plugging in your address. If you’re in an opportunity zone, it will pop up as blue. According to Ashley, to start your equity, you must have capital gains (you cannot use regular cash) and it has to go into a fund within 180 days. He recommends that you create a separate structure called Qualified Opportunity Zone Business (QOZB).
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Ashley Tison and get valuable information on how you can build incredible wealth by investing in opportunity zones!
Notable Quotes:
“With a little bit of tax planning, intentionality, and foresight we can always reduce our tax bills when selling properties.”
- Ashley Tison
“A qualified opportunity zone fund is a powerful tool for any investor who wants to build generational wealth.”
- Ashley Tison
“When investing in opportunity zones, it doesn’t matter what the appraisal value ends up being. It matters what the building was worth at the time of purchase.”
- Ashley Tison
“The good thing about opportunity zone investment is that there’s no governing body that comes to check your property, but you must have a really good audit trail to qualify for tax benefits.”
- Ashley Tison
“Having a little barrier to entry is a smart way to do business.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
OZPros
OZPros on Facebook
OZPros on LinkedIn
OZPros on Youtube
Ashley on LinkedIn
Just Start Real Estate
7 Figure Investor
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 20th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Entrepreneurial loneliness is one of the biggest pitfalls of being an entrepreneur.”
“The absolute best remedy for entrepreneurial loneliness is joining a mastermind.”
“You have to surround yourself with people who are in the same relative situation as yourself.”
“The mistake people often make, and it can cost them a ton of money, when they are lonely is to partner with someone.”
“You feel like you have someone in the trenches with you - until it goes wrong.”
“Don’t feel like your acquisition manager needs to have real estate experience. They don’t.”
“MAO stands for Maximum Allowable Offer.”
“Mortgages and promissory notes are two documents that you must have when you have lenders involved in purchasing a property.”
“You should be buying properties inside of an entity, an LLC.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 20th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Entrepreneurial loneliness is one of the biggest pitfalls of being an entrepreneur.”
“The absolute best remedy for entrepreneurial loneliness is joining a mastermind.”
“You have to surround yourself with people who are in the same relative situation as yourself.”
“The mistake people often make, and it can cost them a ton of money, when they are lonely is to partner with someone.”
“You feel like you have someone in the trenches with you - until it goes wrong.”
“Don’t feel like your acquisition manager needs to have real estate experience. They don’t.”
“MAO stands for Maximum Allowable Offer.”
“Mortgages and promissory notes are two documents that you must have when you have lenders involved in purchasing a property.”
“You should be buying properties inside of an entity, an LLC.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Brian O'Neill. Brian has over 20 years in real estate. He has been leveraging his experience and proficiency in sales to help him maximize his selling, buying, and investing efforts. Brian is also a family man, and he has a wonderful wife, Katie, and a ten-year-old son named Will. Together they started BKW Property Solutions to provide flexible real estate solutions for buyers and sellers. They serve the people in the Chicagoland area to help buyers realize their dream of owning a home. We begin the episode with Brian sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he was conditioned early on in life to go to school, get a good job, save money, buy a house and hopefully retire at 75 years old. He was in sales for about 25 years and was interacting with business owners with a net worth that was ten times higher than his, which helped him in his real estate career. According to Brian, in sales, you can only make more money if you’re trading more time or moving up the corporate ladder, and this made him so nervous. This motivated him to stop the analysis paralysis and pursue his dream of real estate investing.
We then talk about Brian's model and end game with seller financing. He shares that there are two models he likes to use. First, you can have control of properties without ownership and create multiple exit strategies. Second, you can take the deeds with seller financing. Brain's preferred strategy that pays him the most money is finding buyers who cannot qualify for a bank loan and leasing the house to them until they qualify for a loan to cash out. Brian is a long-term thinker, and this works for him. However, you can also leverage other existing strategies such as short-term and long-term rentals. He also shares that he finds his properties primarily by looking for sellers who are actively trying to sell their house, through expired listings, for sale by owners, or rent by owners. This is all inexpensive public information.
Next, we discuss how Brian gets houses seller-financed and how he protects the transaction. Brian shares that before he sells a house, he likes the buyers to prove themselves using a lease option for a couple of years. After buying properties from a seller, Brian takes over their loan payment, and the house gets deeded to him. The loan stays in place until the end buyer gets their loan to cash out of the house. This can take 5 years, 10 years, or whatever the agreement is, but the longer you go, the better for you as an investor. To make the deal profitable, Brian sells the houses for more than the original loan payment. According to him, if you do this correctly, you will not be a landlord. The buyers are responsible for the utility, repairs, and maintenance because they act as owners of the house, which makes it more rewarding.
We then talk about how Brian frames the conversation to find suitable candidates for sellers' financing. According to Brian, it takes a while to get there. In the beginning, he was petrified simply because he didn’t know what to say, but he had to learn it. The fear of phones can be traumatizing but treating a seller like a neighbor who has a sale sign on their house makes the conversation easy and natural. For Brian, this helps him in understanding their situation, and there are four things that he desires to hear from a seller before they know if they are a candidate for seller financing or not: why they are selling their house, why they took their house off the market, the condition of the house, and whether they need to cash the house out to move on to the next thing.
Lastly, we talk about Brian's portfolio, plan, and how big he wants to get. Brain shares that he plans to get as many houses as possible on long-term financing contracts for deeds to have the cash flow coming in and never have to worry about cashing out. For Brian, the ideal number is 100, and he has a long-term plan to get there within five years. Deed contracts take time because not every seller is a candidate, but it’s a powerful investment channel if you do them right. Brian's goal is to get into more long-term financing, and he needs 10 to 15 such deals a year to achieve his goal of 100 before moving into other asset classes like multifamily.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Brian O'Neill and get valuable information on how to create long-term wealth through seller financing projects!
Notable Quotes:
“Fear of the phone can be traumatizing, but treating a seller like a neighbor who has a sale sign on their house makes the conversation easy and natural.”
- Brian O'Neill
“When there is a lot of fear and uncertainty in the market is when you need to double down.”
- Brian O'Neill
“The market doesn’t have bad or good feelings. The way you react and position your business has everything to do with your success.”
- Mike Simmons
“Deed contracts take time because not every seller is a candidate, but they are powerful investment channels if you do them right.”
- Brian O'Neill
“Sometimes there is a lot of emotional attachment in a house, and you’ve to let the seller go through that process, no matter how excited you are about the deal.”
- Brian O'Neill
Links:
BKW Property Solutions
Brian on LinkedIn
BKW on Instagram
BKW on Facebook
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Brian O'Neill. Brian has over 20 years in real estate. He has been leveraging his experience and proficiency in sales to help him maximize his selling, buying, and investing efforts. Brian is also a family man, and he has a wonderful wife, Katie, and a ten-year-old son named Will. Together they started BKW Property Solutions to provide flexible real estate solutions for buyers and sellers. They serve the people in the Chicagoland area to help buyers realize their dream of owning a home. We begin the episode with Brian sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he was conditioned early on in life to go to school, get a good job, save money, buy a house and hopefully retire at 75 years old. He was in sales for about 25 years and was interacting with business owners with a net worth that was ten times higher than his, which helped him in his real estate career. According to Brian, in sales, you can only make more money if you’re trading more time or moving up the corporate ladder, and this made him so nervous. This motivated him to stop the analysis paralysis and pursue his dream of real estate investing.
We then talk about Brian's model and end game with seller financing. He shares that there are two models he likes to use. First, you can have control of properties without ownership and create multiple exit strategies. Second, you can take the deeds with seller financing. Brain's preferred strategy that pays him the most money is finding buyers who cannot qualify for a bank loan and leasing the house to them until they qualify for a loan to cash out. Brian is a long-term thinker, and this works for him. However, you can also leverage other existing strategies such as short-term and long-term rentals. He also shares that he finds his properties primarily by looking for sellers who are actively trying to sell their house, through expired listings, for sale by owners, or rent by owners. This is all inexpensive public information.
Next, we discuss how Brian gets houses seller-financed and how he protects the transaction. Brian shares that before he sells a house, he likes the buyers to prove themselves using a lease option for a couple of years. After buying properties from a seller, Brian takes over their loan payment, and the house gets deeded to him. The loan stays in place until the end buyer gets their loan to cash out of the house. This can take 5 years, 10 years, or whatever the agreement is, but the longer you go, the better for you as an investor. To make the deal profitable, Brian sells the houses for more than the original loan payment. According to him, if you do this correctly, you will not be a landlord. The buyers are responsible for the utility, repairs, and maintenance because they act as owners of the house, which makes it more rewarding.
We then talk about how Brian frames the conversation to find suitable candidates for sellers' financing. According to Brian, it takes a while to get there. In the beginning, he was petrified simply because he didn’t know what to say, but he had to learn it. The fear of phones can be traumatizing but treating a seller like a neighbor who has a sale sign on their house makes the conversation easy and natural. For Brian, this helps him in understanding their situation, and there are four things that he desires to hear from a seller before they know if they are a candidate for seller financing or not: why they are selling their house, why they took their house off the market, the condition of the house, and whether they need to cash the house out to move on to the next thing.
Lastly, we talk about Brian's portfolio, plan, and how big he wants to get. Brain shares that he plans to get as many houses as possible on long-term financing contracts for deeds to have the cash flow coming in and never have to worry about cashing out. For Brian, the ideal number is 100, and he has a long-term plan to get there within five years. Deed contracts take time because not every seller is a candidate, but it’s a powerful investment channel if you do them right. Brian's goal is to get into more long-term financing, and he needs 10 to 15 such deals a year to achieve his goal of 100 before moving into other asset classes like multifamily.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Brian O'Neill and get valuable information on how to create long-term wealth through seller financing projects!
Notable Quotes:
“Fear of the phone can be traumatizing, but treating a seller like a neighbor who has a sale sign on their house makes the conversation easy and natural.”
- Brian O'Neill
“When there is a lot of fear and uncertainty in the market is when you need to double down.”
- Brian O'Neill
“The market doesn’t have bad or good feelings. The way you react and position your business has everything to do with your success.”
- Mike Simmons
“Deed contracts take time because not every seller is a candidate, but they are powerful investment channels if you do them right.”
- Brian O'Neill
“Sometimes there is a lot of emotional attachment in a house, and you’ve to let the seller go through that process, no matter how excited you are about the deal.”
- Brian O'Neill
Links:
BKW Property Solutions
Brian on LinkedIn
BKW on Instagram
BKW on Facebook
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 13th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“For a house flipper, you want there to be 250,000+ households in your market.”
“Do you hunt where there are 10 deer or 1000 deer?”
“When you are looking for markets, you need to straddle the line between small enough that it is not overly competitive but still big enough that it has plenty of deals and buyers.”
“If I were looking to break into a new market right now, it would be a secondary market.”
“Do not print out your marketing letters and send them yourself.”
“How do you build your business so that you are not doing activities that you could literally pay someone $5 an hour to do?”
“I recommend postcards for marketing.”
“By doing that, you are making a living by undercutting another investor. I don’t love it.”
“The worst thing about being a contractor is getting sucked into doing the work yourself.”
“Your time as the investor and business owner is much better spent raising money and finding deals.”
“You should not just use a property management company someone told you about. You should interview them just as you would with filling a position in your company.”
“This is not charity. This is business.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Evergreen Printing & Mailing
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 13th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“For a house flipper, you want there to be 250,000+ households in your market.”
“Do you hunt where there are 10 deer or 1000 deer?”
“When you are looking for markets, you need to straddle the line between small enough that it is not overly competitive but still big enough that it has plenty of deals and buyers.”
“If I were looking to break into a new market right now, it would be a secondary market.”
“Do not print out your marketing letters and send them yourself.”
“How do you build your business so that you are not doing activities that you could literally pay someone $5 an hour to do?”
“I recommend postcards for marketing.”
“By doing that, you are making a living by undercutting another investor. I don’t love it.”
“The worst thing about being a contractor is getting sucked into doing the work yourself.”
“Your time as the investor and business owner is much better spent raising money and finding deals.”
“You should not just use a property management company someone told you about. You should interview them just as you would with filling a position in your company.”
“This is not charity. This is business.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Evergreen Printing & Mailing
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Matt Pridemore. Matt is skilled in negotiation, operations management, coaching, retail, sales, and franchise building. Matt has a furniture business, and he was awarded 2021 Top 40 Under Forty Furniture Executive by Home Furniture Business. He purchased his first retail furniture store in 2016 from his parents and currently owns and operates 13 stores across Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Recently, Matt started the Franchise Builder podcast, and he is writing a book to help people understand how to go into business using franchises.
We begin the episode with Matt sharing his background story. Matt shares that his parents had one store for 35 years. They did a phenomenal job with it, but they worked all day long inside the store, which discouraged Matt from pursuing it. He was in a professional baseball career, but he got injured in 2009 and had to resign. After going back home, he started to double his parent's business using the skills that he had learned in his career. Matt worked for them for five years, moving from a store manager to a regional manager and later buying his first store (his parent's store) in 2016. A few months later, he started scaling, he bought a second store, and within six months, he had his third location. Today, Matt has created a system of adding a new store every four to five months, and now he’s in his 13th store in the southeast.
We then talk about practices that Matt uses that works well in hiring. He attributes his success to his regional manager role because when he was a store manager, he only had one location, and he did things his way. He was the smartest guy in the room every day and always on the front line. As a regional manager, he worked with store managers as part of his team, and he couldn’t be in every store every time. So in listening to them, Matt realized that they had so many great ideas, and hearing them out ensured they were on the same page at all times. According to Matt, this gave rise to culture, and he had to make sure everybody who came on his team understood that culture was going to be a big driver. Culture beats strategy, and in building a thriving culture, communication is key. So, if you’re a leader, you’re in charge of the people in your team, and you have to create a two-way communication to ensure you’re moving in the same direction.
Next, we talk about How Matt does his interviews. Matt shares that he often involves his high-level employees, including his store managers. He has three people who know him very well, and he leads his company with them, and they have a hand in every interview. Store managers are also part of the program, especially when hiring people to work in warehouse delivery, sales, or customer service at the store level. According to Matt, involving his employees in interviews and allowing them to duplicate what they do, ask questions, and share their ideas is a big part of scaling. He also believes that consistent training is key to building a successful team, and they have training systems in place to ensure they stay on top of this.
Lastly, we talk about Matt’s end goal for his business. Matt shares that when he first got into the business, the end goal was to sell the stores off to people who had added value to his company. However, his goals started evolving and changing as he realized that most of his employees didn’t want to be business owners. Most of them want to be part of the leadership team rather than buying a franchise store. Now, his focus is to keep scaling, training, and growing his business to build a culture of success. To Matt, business, in general, is infinite, and his end goal now is to give value back to the people who are adding value to his company.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Matt Pridemore and get valuable information on how to grow and scale your business to the next level!
Notable Quotes:
“Make sure everybody in your team understands your vision, beliefs, values, and the way you do things early on when hiring.”
- Matt Pridemore
“Building, scaling, profitability, and success are closely tied to the people that you hire.”
- Mike Simmons
“Culture eats strategy. Make sure you are on the same page with the people you are working with at all times.“
- Matt Pridemore
“If you don’t have a support system for continuous improvement and training in place, you are setting your company for a slow decline.”
- Mike Simmons
“Training is not something you did, it is something you constantly do.”
- Matt Pridemore
Links:
Franchise Builder Podcast
Matt on LinkedIn
Matt on Facebook
Just Start Real Estate
7 Figure Investor
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Matt Pridemore. Matt is skilled in negotiation, operations management, coaching, retail, sales, and franchise building. Matt has a furniture business, and he was awarded 2021 Top 40 Under Forty Furniture Executive by Home Furniture Business. He purchased his first retail furniture store in 2016 from his parents and currently owns and operates 13 stores across Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Recently, Matt started the Franchise Builder podcast, and he is writing a book to help people understand how to go into business using franchises.
We begin the episode with Matt sharing his background story. Matt shares that his parents had one store for 35 years. They did a phenomenal job with it, but they worked all day long inside the store, which discouraged Matt from pursuing it. He was in a professional baseball career, but he got injured in 2009 and had to resign. After going back home, he started to double his parent's business using the skills that he had learned in his career. Matt worked for them for five years, moving from a store manager to a regional manager and later buying his first store (his parent's store) in 2016. A few months later, he started scaling, he bought a second store, and within six months, he had his third location. Today, Matt has created a system of adding a new store every four to five months, and now he’s in his 13th store in the southeast.
We then talk about practices that Matt uses that works well in hiring. He attributes his success to his regional manager role because when he was a store manager, he only had one location, and he did things his way. He was the smartest guy in the room every day and always on the front line. As a regional manager, he worked with store managers as part of his team, and he couldn’t be in every store every time. So in listening to them, Matt realized that they had so many great ideas, and hearing them out ensured they were on the same page at all times. According to Matt, this gave rise to culture, and he had to make sure everybody who came on his team understood that culture was going to be a big driver. Culture beats strategy, and in building a thriving culture, communication is key. So, if you’re a leader, you’re in charge of the people in your team, and you have to create a two-way communication to ensure you’re moving in the same direction.
Next, we talk about How Matt does his interviews. Matt shares that he often involves his high-level employees, including his store managers. He has three people who know him very well, and he leads his company with them, and they have a hand in every interview. Store managers are also part of the program, especially when hiring people to work in warehouse delivery, sales, or customer service at the store level. According to Matt, involving his employees in interviews and allowing them to duplicate what they do, ask questions, and share their ideas is a big part of scaling. He also believes that consistent training is key to building a successful team, and they have training systems in place to ensure they stay on top of this.
Lastly, we talk about Matt’s end goal for his business. Matt shares that when he first got into the business, the end goal was to sell the stores off to people who had added value to his company. However, his goals started evolving and changing as he realized that most of his employees didn’t want to be business owners. Most of them want to be part of the leadership team rather than buying a franchise store. Now, his focus is to keep scaling, training, and growing his business to build a culture of success. To Matt, business, in general, is infinite, and his end goal now is to give value back to the people who are adding value to his company.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Matt Pridemore and get valuable information on how to grow and scale your business to the next level!
Notable Quotes:
“Make sure everybody in your team understands your vision, beliefs, values, and the way you do things early on when hiring.”
- Matt Pridemore
“Building, scaling, profitability, and success are closely tied to the people that you hire.”
- Mike Simmons
“Culture eats strategy. Make sure you are on the same page with the people you are working with at all times.“
- Matt Pridemore
“If you don’t have a support system for continuous improvement and training in place, you are setting your company for a slow decline.”
- Mike Simmons
“Training is not something you did, it is something you constantly do.”
- Matt Pridemore
Links:
Franchise Builder Podcast
Matt on LinkedIn
Matt on Facebook
Just Start Real Estate
7 Figure Investor
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 6th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Banks look at your credit and the investment you are trying to make. They don’t usually beat you up for lack of experience.”
“I will loan you that money all day long because my investment is very secure.”
“You need to look for hard money lenders.”
“The answer is painfully obvious… it is an emphatic, scream from the mountaintops, yes!”
“If you are averaging more than a 12% return on another investment vehicle, maybe you should stick with that.”
“In the spirit of telling it like it is, 500 postcards a month is not enough.”
“The bottom line is that postcards do work.”
“Day one when a tenant is late on rent, send them a seven-day eviction notice.”
“You can stop the proceedings anytime you want, but until you get that notice into their hands, the clock hasn’t started.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of April 6th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Banks look at your credit and the investment you are trying to make. They don’t usually beat you up for lack of experience.”
“I will loan you that money all day long because my investment is very secure.”
“You need to look for hard money lenders.”
“The answer is painfully obvious… it is an emphatic, scream from the mountaintops, yes!”
“If you are averaging more than a 12% return on another investment vehicle, maybe you should stick with that.”
“In the spirit of telling it like it is, 500 postcards a month is not enough.”
“The bottom line is that postcards do work.”
“Day one when a tenant is late on rent, send them a seven-day eviction notice.”
“You can stop the proceedings anytime you want, but until you get that notice into their hands, the clock hasn’t started.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Clay Hepler. Clay is the Chief Wealth Strategist and CEO of the Creative Capitalist, a multifamily investor, serial entrepreneur, podcast host, and cash flow specialist. He empowers entrepreneurs, executives, and real estate investors to create, protect and multiply their cash flow and maintain it no matter what happens in the market to get to financial freedom and abundance faster.
We begin the episode with Clay sharing his background story and how he ended up in the real estate. He shares that his goal in college was to be an ambassador, but he dropped out of college after working at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, which turned out to be a nightmare. Clay was very active, and being in an office was not what he dreamed of. It was so bureaucratic and the work was all mundane administrative work. His journey shifted from analytical and clerical work to marketing and sales in their family business. However, along the way, Clay met a successful real estate investor and developer in Washington, DC who started mentoring him in real estate. He taught him about insurance, taxes, and how to get equity in real estate. When he finally got into real estate, he leveraged his sales skill sets, and now he owns a wealth consulting company that works with entrepreneurs and real estate investors.
We then talk about how Clay managed to scale their family business from two to forty-two countries and why he shifted to real estate. He shares that he was living with his parents and working full time in the business, but he wanted to go out and do his own thing. Clay wanted to choose a path for himself, and he was on a mission to start something that not only made him successful but also brought the fulfillment he wanted. This led to the creation of Creative Capitalist, a firm that designs life insurance policies to help investors and business owners keep more of their cash flow by eliminating cash flow leaks, providing them with liquidity to grow, scale their business, and capitalize on opportunities for enormous growth. According to Clay, life insurance policies have enormous advantages.
Next, we talk about Clay’s plan for his business. Clay shares that the end game is to create a fractional family office. A family office is a structure that enables very wealthy people to access accounts of attorney advisers who work for them to ensure every dollar that enters their personal economy is used in the most efficient and effective way. Clay and his team are rolling out a fractional family office based on a subscription model where clients get access to hand-picked attorney advisers' accounts. The goal is to pull some of the greatest minds of attorney advisers together to help their clients get to financial freedom in abundance by preserving and increasing their wealth over their whole lives.
We then talk about the best strategies for scaling your real estate business. Clay shares that the most important thing in scaling your business is having the right people in the game. You can have all the tactics, strategies, and systems with KPIs, but without a team that aligns with your goals, you’re not likely to be in the game for long. According to Clay, most successful investors thrive because of their teams' effort.
Lastly, we talk about the things that Clay has found to be helpful in hiring the right people. Clay shares that he has not hired a lot because he looks for strategic partners rather than actual hires when scaling his business. There are many ways of partnering with other businesses, but Clay prefers giving a percentage of the profit rather than actually paying someone and training them. This has helped them to get people who have more aligned interests. In a flipping business, the same principle applies. You can partner with someone who can be an aggregator of distressed assets, such as an attorney or a CPA. For Clay, he has always scaled his businesses using exterior partnerships, and it has been very rewarding,
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Clay Hepler and get valuable information on how to optimize your cash flow, build more equity, and scale your business!
Notable Quotes:
“In real estate, you must have equity to become wealthy.”
- Clay Hepler
“Most wealthy people put 15-20% of their liquid savings in life insurance packages because of tax and collateral advantages.”
- Clay Hepler
“The way to scale your business is not by yourself - you need to have the right people in the game.”
- Clay Hepler
“Letting other people do the skill set and giving them a piece of the pie can be very rewarding.”
- Clay Hepler
“Most successful investors thrive because of team effort. You need a team that is aligned in the right seats to be successful.”
- Clay Hepler
Links:
Creative Capital
Clay on Facebook
Clay on LinkedIn
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Clay Hepler. Clay is the Chief Wealth Strategist and CEO of the Creative Capitalist, a multifamily investor, serial entrepreneur, podcast host, and cash flow specialist. He empowers entrepreneurs, executives, and real estate investors to create, protect and multiply their cash flow and maintain it no matter what happens in the market to get to financial freedom and abundance faster.
We begin the episode with Clay sharing his background story and how he ended up in the real estate. He shares that his goal in college was to be an ambassador, but he dropped out of college after working at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, which turned out to be a nightmare. Clay was very active, and being in an office was not what he dreamed of. It was so bureaucratic and the work was all mundane administrative work. His journey shifted from analytical and clerical work to marketing and sales in their family business. However, along the way, Clay met a successful real estate investor and developer in Washington, DC who started mentoring him in real estate. He taught him about insurance, taxes, and how to get equity in real estate. When he finally got into real estate, he leveraged his sales skill sets, and now he owns a wealth consulting company that works with entrepreneurs and real estate investors.
We then talk about how Clay managed to scale their family business from two to forty-two countries and why he shifted to real estate. He shares that he was living with his parents and working full time in the business, but he wanted to go out and do his own thing. Clay wanted to choose a path for himself, and he was on a mission to start something that not only made him successful but also brought the fulfillment he wanted. This led to the creation of Creative Capitalist, a firm that designs life insurance policies to help investors and business owners keep more of their cash flow by eliminating cash flow leaks, providing them with liquidity to grow, scale their business, and capitalize on opportunities for enormous growth. According to Clay, life insurance policies have enormous advantages.
Next, we talk about Clay’s plan for his business. Clay shares that the end game is to create a fractional family office. A family office is a structure that enables very wealthy people to access accounts of attorney advisers who work for them to ensure every dollar that enters their personal economy is used in the most efficient and effective way. Clay and his team are rolling out a fractional family office based on a subscription model where clients get access to hand-picked attorney advisers' accounts. The goal is to pull some of the greatest minds of attorney advisers together to help their clients get to financial freedom in abundance by preserving and increasing their wealth over their whole lives.
We then talk about the best strategies for scaling your real estate business. Clay shares that the most important thing in scaling your business is having the right people in the game. You can have all the tactics, strategies, and systems with KPIs, but without a team that aligns with your goals, you’re not likely to be in the game for long. According to Clay, most successful investors thrive because of their teams' effort.
Lastly, we talk about the things that Clay has found to be helpful in hiring the right people. Clay shares that he has not hired a lot because he looks for strategic partners rather than actual hires when scaling his business. There are many ways of partnering with other businesses, but Clay prefers giving a percentage of the profit rather than actually paying someone and training them. This has helped them to get people who have more aligned interests. In a flipping business, the same principle applies. You can partner with someone who can be an aggregator of distressed assets, such as an attorney or a CPA. For Clay, he has always scaled his businesses using exterior partnerships, and it has been very rewarding,
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Clay Hepler and get valuable information on how to optimize your cash flow, build more equity, and scale your business!
Notable Quotes:
“In real estate, you must have equity to become wealthy.”
- Clay Hepler
“Most wealthy people put 15-20% of their liquid savings in life insurance packages because of tax and collateral advantages.”
- Clay Hepler
“The way to scale your business is not by yourself - you need to have the right people in the game.”
- Clay Hepler
“Letting other people do the skill set and giving them a piece of the pie can be very rewarding.”
- Clay Hepler
“Most successful investors thrive because of team effort. You need a team that is aligned in the right seats to be successful.”
- Clay Hepler
Links:
Creative Capital
Clay on Facebook
Clay on LinkedIn
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 30th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“We have a leads manager that is really more of a data manager.”
“We send emails and text messages and also do automated and manual calls to potential clients if we don’t get the contract the first time around.”
“Maybe let a VA use a CRM that you like and figure it out for themselves.”
“You don’t have to have everything in place to start bringing people in to help.”
“The quickest way to not do things is to think all your ducks need to be in a row before you can take a step forward.”
“Bring help in and figure it out on the fly.”
“A lot of hard money lenders will write checks to the contractor directly.”
“If you are flipping or wholesaling a property, you are looking basically for the same things on a property tour.”
“When you go through these properties, you expect they are going to need cosmetic updates, but you need to take a hard look at all the big-ticket items.”
“If you have a buyer pressuring you before you have a chance to get other offers, it is because they know their offer isn’t good enough to get accepted with competition.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 30th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“We have a leads manager that is really more of a data manager.”
“We send emails and text messages and also do automated and manual calls to potential clients if we don’t get the contract the first time around.”
“Maybe let a VA use a CRM that you like and figure it out for themselves.”
“You don’t have to have everything in place to start bringing people in to help.”
“The quickest way to not do things is to think all your ducks need to be in a row before you can take a step forward.”
“Bring help in and figure it out on the fly.”
“A lot of hard money lenders will write checks to the contractor directly.”
“If you are flipping or wholesaling a property, you are looking basically for the same things on a property tour.”
“When you go through these properties, you expect they are going to need cosmetic updates, but you need to take a hard look at all the big-ticket items.”
“If you have a buyer pressuring you before you have a chance to get other offers, it is because they know their offer isn’t good enough to get accepted with competition.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome Nathan and Ryleigh Eckles to the show today! Many parents often wonder how to get their kids interested in their work. For Nathan, a real estate investor, it was relatively easy! He took his daughter, Ryleigh, to his projects when she was just an infant, and when she was ready, he allowed her to do various tasks. Over the years, it became second nature for her, and now as a teenager, she’s an active participant in their real estate business, Dad And Daughter Buy Houses. Ryleigh has also appeared on stage at 7 Figure Flipping’s Flip Hacking Live, and in magazines, and their story as father-daughter investors is very compelling! We begin the episode with Nathan sharing their background story and how he exposed Ryleigh to his work in real estate. He shares that he got his first rental when his wife was pregnant, and they closed the deal when Ryleigh was born. He has been a landlord his whole life, and he started taking Ryleigh to projects sometimes out of necessity and other times just to spend time with her. He was doing all the repairs, which took him away from their home, and he had to find ways to bring his family to him. When she was a little bit older, they would allow her to do things like painting the walls in the basement of rentals. Whatever she asked to do, he let her and he didn’t care how good it was because he would fix it. For Ryleigh, the experiences are fun to remember. She recalls painting the houses, the snacks that her mom would buy them, and the fun names that her dad gave to the houses so she could remember them.
We then talk about when Nathan discovered that it was less of a game and Ryleigh actually loved it. Nathan shares that it happened when he decided to go to Flip Hacking Live and she wanted to go with him. They spent time listening to podcasts together, and he realized that she was picking up and retaining the information. At that time, he was also doing flips alongside long-term rentals, and her interest showed him how much she wanted to be in the game. From Ryleigh's experience, she always connected with the people they listened to on podcasts. The fact that they were making millions of dollars a year fascinated her, and it sparked her interest in real estate.
Next, we talk about their business and what they are focusing on right now. Nathan shares that they are transitioning to midterm rentals for traveling nurses and business executives. Their focus is more on acquiring wealth and this niche is more profitable than long-term rentals. On the other side, flipping is quite the opposite, and he enjoys a lump sum paycheck. Their goal this year is to accumulate wealth by transforming some of their long-term rentals and holding furnished rental properties in the right locations.
We then talk about the economy and the work involved in long-term versus mid-term rentals. Nathan shares that they have one long-term rental that they rented for $1,600 a month. They did a complete rehab for it, which cost them around $10,000 for the furniture and the fixtures. They do everything, just like in an Airbnb residential property. They have to ensure everything is there for the mid-term clients, including WIFI and other utility services. This usually costs them an additional $500 to $600 in expenses every month while renting it for $2,700 a month. Nathan usually targets renting to traveling nurses and executives, but he’s looking into other options like working with insurance for floods and fires to host people whose houses have been destroyed. According to him, just like in anything else, the more options you have, the better.
Lastly, we talk about Ryleigh’s role in their mid-term rental business and their future goals. For Ryleigh, she is responsible for picking out most of the decorating items, such as the furniture, designs, and colors. She also makes a checklist of everything they need to ensure the whole process runs smoothly from the beginning to the end. Their goal is to acquire or transform their long-term rentals into furnished properties to have seven mid-term rentals by the end of the year. This will help Nathan to quit his job and dive fully into real estate, something he is looking forward to.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Nathan and Ryleigh Eckles and get valuable information on how to invest in mid-term rentals and how you can get your kids involved in real estate investing!
Notable Quotes:
“Mid-term rentals are more profitable than the long-term. They call for more work, but you get to keep the fruits of your labor.”
- Nathan Eckles
“Just like everything else, the more options you have in real estate the better.”
- Nathan Eckles
“It is hard as a young person to prioritize making money, learning a skill or building a business when there are so many things that you can focus on nowadays.”
- Mike Simmons
“The wear and tear in mid-term rentals is low compared to long-term rentals because most people treat it like a hotel.“
- Nathan Eckles
“When you start real estate at a younger age, things are going to be easier as time goes on. You will see the outcome and learn where things can go wrong.”
- Ryleigh Eckles
Kids will always experience the things other kids do, but exposing them to real estate at an early age will make everything easier.”
- Nathan Eckles
Links:
EDGE Magazine Dad and Daughter Duo
Dad And Daughter Buy Houses
Seven Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome Nathan and Ryleigh Eckles to the show today! Many parents often wonder how to get their kids interested in their work. For Nathan, a real estate investor, it was relatively easy! He took his daughter, Ryleigh, to his projects when she was just an infant, and when she was ready, he allowed her to do various tasks. Over the years, it became second nature for her, and now as a teenager, she’s an active participant in their real estate business, Dad And Daughter Buy Houses. Ryleigh has also appeared on stage at 7 Figure Flipping’s Flip Hacking Live, and in magazines, and their story as father-daughter investors is very compelling! We begin the episode with Nathan sharing their background story and how he exposed Ryleigh to his work in real estate. He shares that he got his first rental when his wife was pregnant, and they closed the deal when Ryleigh was born. He has been a landlord his whole life, and he started taking Ryleigh to projects sometimes out of necessity and other times just to spend time with her. He was doing all the repairs, which took him away from their home, and he had to find ways to bring his family to him. When she was a little bit older, they would allow her to do things like painting the walls in the basement of rentals. Whatever she asked to do, he let her and he didn’t care how good it was because he would fix it. For Ryleigh, the experiences are fun to remember. She recalls painting the houses, the snacks that her mom would buy them, and the fun names that her dad gave to the houses so she could remember them.
We then talk about when Nathan discovered that it was less of a game and Ryleigh actually loved it. Nathan shares that it happened when he decided to go to Flip Hacking Live and she wanted to go with him. They spent time listening to podcasts together, and he realized that she was picking up and retaining the information. At that time, he was also doing flips alongside long-term rentals, and her interest showed him how much she wanted to be in the game. From Ryleigh's experience, she always connected with the people they listened to on podcasts. The fact that they were making millions of dollars a year fascinated her, and it sparked her interest in real estate.
Next, we talk about their business and what they are focusing on right now. Nathan shares that they are transitioning to midterm rentals for traveling nurses and business executives. Their focus is more on acquiring wealth and this niche is more profitable than long-term rentals. On the other side, flipping is quite the opposite, and he enjoys a lump sum paycheck. Their goal this year is to accumulate wealth by transforming some of their long-term rentals and holding furnished rental properties in the right locations.
We then talk about the economy and the work involved in long-term versus mid-term rentals. Nathan shares that they have one long-term rental that they rented for $1,600 a month. They did a complete rehab for it, which cost them around $10,000 for the furniture and the fixtures. They do everything, just like in an Airbnb residential property. They have to ensure everything is there for the mid-term clients, including WIFI and other utility services. This usually costs them an additional $500 to $600 in expenses every month while renting it for $2,700 a month. Nathan usually targets renting to traveling nurses and executives, but he’s looking into other options like working with insurance for floods and fires to host people whose houses have been destroyed. According to him, just like in anything else, the more options you have, the better.
Lastly, we talk about Ryleigh’s role in their mid-term rental business and their future goals. For Ryleigh, she is responsible for picking out most of the decorating items, such as the furniture, designs, and colors. She also makes a checklist of everything they need to ensure the whole process runs smoothly from the beginning to the end. Their goal is to acquire or transform their long-term rentals into furnished properties to have seven mid-term rentals by the end of the year. This will help Nathan to quit his job and dive fully into real estate, something he is looking forward to.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Nathan and Ryleigh Eckles and get valuable information on how to invest in mid-term rentals and how you can get your kids involved in real estate investing!
Notable Quotes:
“Mid-term rentals are more profitable than the long-term. They call for more work, but you get to keep the fruits of your labor.”
- Nathan Eckles
“Just like everything else, the more options you have in real estate the better.”
- Nathan Eckles
“It is hard as a young person to prioritize making money, learning a skill or building a business when there are so many things that you can focus on nowadays.”
- Mike Simmons
“The wear and tear in mid-term rentals is low compared to long-term rentals because most people treat it like a hotel.“
- Nathan Eckles
“When you start real estate at a younger age, things are going to be easier as time goes on. You will see the outcome and learn where things can go wrong.”
- Ryleigh Eckles
Kids will always experience the things other kids do, but exposing them to real estate at an early age will make everything easier.”
- Nathan Eckles
Links:
EDGE Magazine Dad and Daughter Duo
Dad And Daughter Buy Houses
Seven Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 23rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You need to push on the pain point a little.”
“If a seller has motivation, it is another way of saying they have pain in their life and selling you their house is going to remove that pain.”
“You should always be trying to expedite everything you do.”
“If your short term rental tenant has nothing to complain about, you won’t be getting calls.”
“The reality is that right now contractors have more work than they know what to do with.”
“A lot of contractors have short term thinking.”
“With contractors, what is in your control is how you treat them.”
“Many times, contractors will grab the money at the expense of a relationship.”
“The 70% rule was designed to get you in the ballpark.”
“In this hot market, it is hard to make the 70% rule stick.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 23rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You need to push on the pain point a little.”
“If a seller has motivation, it is another way of saying they have pain in their life and selling you their house is going to remove that pain.”
“You should always be trying to expedite everything you do.”
“If your short term rental tenant has nothing to complain about, you won’t be getting calls.”
“The reality is that right now contractors have more work than they know what to do with.”
“A lot of contractors have short term thinking.”
“With contractors, what is in your control is how you treat them.”
“Many times, contractors will grab the money at the expense of a relationship.”
“The 70% rule was designed to get you in the ballpark.”
“In this hot market, it is hard to make the 70% rule stick.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Alicia Jarrett. Alicia is passionate about land investments and how to get the most effective deals. She and her partner Matt have been assisting buyers and sellers with wholesale land deals for over three years. They have been investing exclusively in the States, and their goal is to help make their customers’ dreams come true by providing access to great below-market deals. Their company, Super Charged Offers, has allowed people to own land, build more on their lot, add value by increasing their lot size, and add more affordable homes to their projects effectively. They can help you find your next perfect piece of land, too! We begin the episode with Alicia sharing her background story and how she got into real estate. Alicia told me that she has a background in human resources, leadership development, and training facilitation. She also had a consulting company in Australia for more than a decade, which she loved. A corporate job makes us live within our means, but for Alicia and her partner Matt, they wanted to do something bigger that aligned with their passion for travel. They started investing in the US by purchasing some fix and flip single-family homes in Florida, which worked well for them. However, the market was getting very competitive, and they shifted to land to keep their promise of doing business anywhere in the world. In the process, they also started their real estate marketing company, and right now, they have four businesses in the US and have built a team to work with them.
We then talk about why Alicia decided to invest in the States as opposed to where she lives, Australia. According to Alicia, Australia is a wonderful and beautiful country with amazing real estate, but it is very expensive. Where they live in Northern Australia, the average mansion costs $1.2M, while in Melbourne city, the houses range between $2.5 to 3.5M. From her perspective, people buy houses worth that much to get the land, and then they knock down the house to build a new one. The entry to the market is also very high, and the access to information is controlled by privacy laws that lock everything down. In the States, it is possible to access information about their customers, which is essential for effective marketing.
Next, we talk about the advantages and challenges of land investment and why investors should try it. Alicia shares that land investment is an open market when it comes to the type of land and the strategies you can use. We tend to see buildings more than we see a piece of land that is not attractive. According to Alicia, there are so many things that you can do with a piece of land to increase its value. You can turn it into recreational land, hunting land, building land, developer’s land, commercial land, or industrial land. Opening up to these different possibilities is what makes land investment profitable. On the other hand, the main challenges to expect can include bad taxes, financial encumbrances, probate, and title issues. Most of these problems can be solved except those that are cost-prohibitive.
We then talk about how you can know where to buy land and resell it effectively. Alicia shares that it is pretty much the same as acquiring houses. They look for areas where there are profitable buyers' activities going on using data reports for over 18 months. The data helps them to know what has been happening in that area, how many people say that the land has value, and the number of people who are paying above and below market value. If the majority of people are paying below the market value, this is not an area to invest in; however, if most people are paying above, it’s worth getting into the game. Always do your due diligence, by looking at the numbers and buyers' activity levels and the information can help you identify better and more profitable deals.
Lastly, we talk about finding deals and marketing for opportunities. According to Alicia, establishing a pipeline works if you got your business set up right and you’re consistent. An effective pipeline in any business is not about what you are doing today, it's about consistency in what you did three and six months ago. For them, they had to put in place systems to enable them to continue getting and closing deals. They automated their data in online marketing to mature their sales funnel from the moment they get the data to the time their customers ask for offers. This makes it easy for their ideal customers to do business with them, and that is how they built their marketing company Superchargedoffers.com. People can contact them and ask for deals online, via email sequencing, SMS, letters, Facebook, or through an Ad, which has increased their efficiency.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Alicia Jarrett and get valuable information on how to invest in the land and get perfect deals for your business!
Notable Quotes:
“We make money when we are doing deals, not when we are doing administration, marketing, or data cleansing.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“Every deal in real estate is driven by data. Data tells us everything.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“There are so many land investment strategies and opening up to different possibilities is what makes land investment profitable.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“Do your due diligence. Looking at the numbers and buyers' activity levels can help you identify better and more profitable deals.“
- Alicia Jarrett
“Pipeline marketing in any business is not about what you are doing today, it's about consistency in what you did three and six months ago.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“Do business in such a way that makes it easy for your ideal customer to do business with you.”
- Alicia Jarrett
Links:
Super Charged Offers
Alicia on LinkedIn
Alicia on Instagram
Alicia on Facebook
alicia@superchargedoffice.com
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Alicia Jarrett. Alicia is passionate about land investments and how to get the most effective deals. She and her partner Matt have been assisting buyers and sellers with wholesale land deals for over three years. They have been investing exclusively in the States, and their goal is to help make their customers’ dreams come true by providing access to great below-market deals. Their company, Super Charged Offers, has allowed people to own land, build more on their lot, add value by increasing their lot size, and add more affordable homes to their projects effectively. They can help you find your next perfect piece of land, too! We begin the episode with Alicia sharing her background story and how she got into real estate. Alicia told me that she has a background in human resources, leadership development, and training facilitation. She also had a consulting company in Australia for more than a decade, which she loved. A corporate job makes us live within our means, but for Alicia and her partner Matt, they wanted to do something bigger that aligned with their passion for travel. They started investing in the US by purchasing some fix and flip single-family homes in Florida, which worked well for them. However, the market was getting very competitive, and they shifted to land to keep their promise of doing business anywhere in the world. In the process, they also started their real estate marketing company, and right now, they have four businesses in the US and have built a team to work with them.
We then talk about why Alicia decided to invest in the States as opposed to where she lives, Australia. According to Alicia, Australia is a wonderful and beautiful country with amazing real estate, but it is very expensive. Where they live in Northern Australia, the average mansion costs $1.2M, while in Melbourne city, the houses range between $2.5 to 3.5M. From her perspective, people buy houses worth that much to get the land, and then they knock down the house to build a new one. The entry to the market is also very high, and the access to information is controlled by privacy laws that lock everything down. In the States, it is possible to access information about their customers, which is essential for effective marketing.
Next, we talk about the advantages and challenges of land investment and why investors should try it. Alicia shares that land investment is an open market when it comes to the type of land and the strategies you can use. We tend to see buildings more than we see a piece of land that is not attractive. According to Alicia, there are so many things that you can do with a piece of land to increase its value. You can turn it into recreational land, hunting land, building land, developer’s land, commercial land, or industrial land. Opening up to these different possibilities is what makes land investment profitable. On the other hand, the main challenges to expect can include bad taxes, financial encumbrances, probate, and title issues. Most of these problems can be solved except those that are cost-prohibitive.
We then talk about how you can know where to buy land and resell it effectively. Alicia shares that it is pretty much the same as acquiring houses. They look for areas where there are profitable buyers' activities going on using data reports for over 18 months. The data helps them to know what has been happening in that area, how many people say that the land has value, and the number of people who are paying above and below market value. If the majority of people are paying below the market value, this is not an area to invest in; however, if most people are paying above, it’s worth getting into the game. Always do your due diligence, by looking at the numbers and buyers' activity levels and the information can help you identify better and more profitable deals.
Lastly, we talk about finding deals and marketing for opportunities. According to Alicia, establishing a pipeline works if you got your business set up right and you’re consistent. An effective pipeline in any business is not about what you are doing today, it's about consistency in what you did three and six months ago. For them, they had to put in place systems to enable them to continue getting and closing deals. They automated their data in online marketing to mature their sales funnel from the moment they get the data to the time their customers ask for offers. This makes it easy for their ideal customers to do business with them, and that is how they built their marketing company Superchargedoffers.com. People can contact them and ask for deals online, via email sequencing, SMS, letters, Facebook, or through an Ad, which has increased their efficiency.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Alicia Jarrett and get valuable information on how to invest in the land and get perfect deals for your business!
Notable Quotes:
“We make money when we are doing deals, not when we are doing administration, marketing, or data cleansing.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“Every deal in real estate is driven by data. Data tells us everything.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“There are so many land investment strategies and opening up to different possibilities is what makes land investment profitable.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“Do your due diligence. Looking at the numbers and buyers' activity levels can help you identify better and more profitable deals.“
- Alicia Jarrett
“Pipeline marketing in any business is not about what you are doing today, it's about consistency in what you did three and six months ago.”
- Alicia Jarrett
“Do business in such a way that makes it easy for your ideal customer to do business with you.”
- Alicia Jarrett
Links:
Super Charged Offers
Alicia on LinkedIn
Alicia on Instagram
Alicia on Facebook
alicia@superchargedoffice.com
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 16th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“This isn’t supposed to be a break even business.”
“A short-term rental property in a northern state can be either feast or famine.”
“The reason you do short-term rentals is that generally they have a much higher rate of return.”
“One big mistake was rushing into a deal and not taking enough time to analyze the numbers.”
“Make sure you do the due diligence on every property you are considering buying.”
“When you are starting out, I think it is a great idea to start in secondary markets rather than metro areas.”
“Secondary markets are great because there is less competition.”
“Try to find a way to solve the seller’s problem through real estate.”
“Having a good company culture is probably more important for a small company.”
“If you don’t start with a good company culture with your first hire, you will just be building a fire of bad culture that is going to burn out of control and consume your business.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 16th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“This isn’t supposed to be a break even business.”
“A short-term rental property in a northern state can be either feast or famine.”
“The reason you do short-term rentals is that generally they have a much higher rate of return.”
“One big mistake was rushing into a deal and not taking enough time to analyze the numbers.”
“Make sure you do the due diligence on every property you are considering buying.”
“When you are starting out, I think it is a great idea to start in secondary markets rather than metro areas.”
“Secondary markets are great because there is less competition.”
“Try to find a way to solve the seller’s problem through real estate.”
“Having a good company culture is probably more important for a small company.”
“If you don’t start with a good company culture with your first hire, you will just be building a fire of bad culture that is going to burn out of control and consume your business.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Maria Fristrom, the founder and CEO of Home Acres Ltd, a real estate investing company in Finland. Their mission is to offer homes with a heart and landlording with love to provide tenants with a home they are proud of. Maria had an international career in marketing and communication, working for agencies in Stockholm and Silicon Valley before stepping out and getting into real estate. Since 2015 she has built a multi-million-dollar real estate portfolio while also going through her toughest challenges as a mother. Maria’s inspiring story is a testament to how real estate investing can pull you out of financial, emotional, and mental depths.
We begin the episode with Maria sharing her background story and how she ended up in real estate. She shares that her mission is to help women dare more in investing. Maria and her husband owned an investment club where they read books and talked about them. One of the books was Rich Dad Poor Dad, and it lit something in them. They started looking at apartments. However, life took over, they moved to Hong Kong, and it took a backseat. They had to focus more on their career. Later, while working in a company in Silicon Valley, Maria bought her first investment property and decided that she would purposely and intentionally continue doing things that gave her the freedom to own her time. This led to her biggest move.
We then talk about Maria's desire to leave a job that she loved. She shares that it was not 100% her decision to leave the job. She turned out to be pregnant again, and her husband had been headhunted for a job in Finland. They were going to have two kids, and paying $4000 for their care was not worth it. Maria gave up her job and decided to go full time into real estate investing. She saw an opportunity to build her real estate portfolio and make up for her lost income. Since then, Maria has grown, and she hopes to work creatively, more closely with others to teach and give back.
Next, we talk about how Maria started her investment journey. Maria bought her first property while working in the US instead of buying their own home. They then moved to Finland, and that is where she built the biggest part of her real estate portfolio. The principles are the same, but Maria says that she got into real estate in Finland when nobody was doing the BRRRR method. This is what led to her breakthrough. She could not compete with the large players as she didn’t have the capital, the contacts, and the economy of scale. However, she had a concept that nobody else was using, so she started staging her rentals to build her personal brand. Maria got a lot of press that led to other opportunities to collaborate with brands and do the same thing for them.
We then talk about Maria’s first investment in a single-family house in Colorado. Maria shares that she and her husband had a rough time growing up in Finland in the 80s, and neither of them was coming from money. They worked very hard, for a very long time, to be able to buy their first home. While in California, through her financial advisor, Maria got a good deal on a 2,300 sqft single-family home in Colorado. They did the math and she discovered that buying their home was a liability but investing in a rental property was an asset. They financed it through a conventional bank loan. She bought it for $285,000 with a $70,000 down payment, and they rented it out. They have had tenants there for six years, and it worked for them. Now they have been in the house for six months. They flipped it for sales and are looking to get $600,000 or more.
Lastly, we talk about Maria's biggest mistake while investing in real estate. Maria shares that it has to do with the desire to very quickly. She felt like she had to do it all, give birth to three babies, move around the world and build a multi-million dollar real estate portfolio. Initially, her goal was to substitute her income from her job by buying four properties in that year. By the end of the year, Maria had two, and she needed two more. So she bought new construction highlight apartments. These were co-op properties that she found on MLS, and they were $175,000 each. The co-op funded 70%, while they financed 30%. At the same time, an institutional investor bought 42 other apartments in the same satellite, and when the construction came up, there was no demand, so they started dropping their prices. New construction was new for Maria, but she had to do it differently by personalizing her strategy. From her experience, Maria learned that she had to stop following her goals blindly and stick to what she knew to avoid making another mistake.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Maria Fristrom and get valuable information on how you can build your portfolio creatively in real estate!
Notable Quotes:
“Instead of talking about where you’re coming from, talk about where you’re going.”
- Maria Fristrom
“Life is an experiment, and there are no failures, only regret, but they are scary because they are so final and you cannot turn back time.”
- Mike Simmons
“Looking for a strategy nobody else is doing can open up opportunities for you in the market that you are in.”
- Maria Fristrom
“Life is not perfect, things happen to all of us, but we don’t show the nasty parts.“
- Maria Fristrom
“It’s very smart to position yourself in a personable way - people want to buy from human beings.”
- Mike Simmons
“Stick to your criteria and what you know. Going for the next shiny object is setting yourself for failure.”
- Maria Fristrom
“Be careful not to follow your goals pridefully. Ego is an enemy, so make sure your goals fit into your long-term vision.”
- Maria Fristrom
Links:
Maria on Instagram
Maria on Facebook
Maria on LinkedIn
Maria on Twitter
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Maria Fristrom, the founder and CEO of Home Acres Ltd, a real estate investing company in Finland. Their mission is to offer homes with a heart and landlording with love to provide tenants with a home they are proud of. Maria had an international career in marketing and communication, working for agencies in Stockholm and Silicon Valley before stepping out and getting into real estate. Since 2015 she has built a multi-million-dollar real estate portfolio while also going through her toughest challenges as a mother. Maria’s inspiring story is a testament to how real estate investing can pull you out of financial, emotional, and mental depths.
We begin the episode with Maria sharing her background story and how she ended up in real estate. She shares that her mission is to help women dare more in investing. Maria and her husband owned an investment club where they read books and talked about them. One of the books was Rich Dad Poor Dad, and it lit something in them. They started looking at apartments. However, life took over, they moved to Hong Kong, and it took a backseat. They had to focus more on their career. Later, while working in a company in Silicon Valley, Maria bought her first investment property and decided that she would purposely and intentionally continue doing things that gave her the freedom to own her time. This led to her biggest move.
We then talk about Maria's desire to leave a job that she loved. She shares that it was not 100% her decision to leave the job. She turned out to be pregnant again, and her husband had been headhunted for a job in Finland. They were going to have two kids, and paying $4000 for their care was not worth it. Maria gave up her job and decided to go full time into real estate investing. She saw an opportunity to build her real estate portfolio and make up for her lost income. Since then, Maria has grown, and she hopes to work creatively, more closely with others to teach and give back.
Next, we talk about how Maria started her investment journey. Maria bought her first property while working in the US instead of buying their own home. They then moved to Finland, and that is where she built the biggest part of her real estate portfolio. The principles are the same, but Maria says that she got into real estate in Finland when nobody was doing the BRRRR method. This is what led to her breakthrough. She could not compete with the large players as she didn’t have the capital, the contacts, and the economy of scale. However, she had a concept that nobody else was using, so she started staging her rentals to build her personal brand. Maria got a lot of press that led to other opportunities to collaborate with brands and do the same thing for them.
We then talk about Maria’s first investment in a single-family house in Colorado. Maria shares that she and her husband had a rough time growing up in Finland in the 80s, and neither of them was coming from money. They worked very hard, for a very long time, to be able to buy their first home. While in California, through her financial advisor, Maria got a good deal on a 2,300 sqft single-family home in Colorado. They did the math and she discovered that buying their home was a liability but investing in a rental property was an asset. They financed it through a conventional bank loan. She bought it for $285,000 with a $70,000 down payment, and they rented it out. They have had tenants there for six years, and it worked for them. Now they have been in the house for six months. They flipped it for sales and are looking to get $600,000 or more.
Lastly, we talk about Maria's biggest mistake while investing in real estate. Maria shares that it has to do with the desire to very quickly. She felt like she had to do it all, give birth to three babies, move around the world and build a multi-million dollar real estate portfolio. Initially, her goal was to substitute her income from her job by buying four properties in that year. By the end of the year, Maria had two, and she needed two more. So she bought new construction highlight apartments. These were co-op properties that she found on MLS, and they were $175,000 each. The co-op funded 70%, while they financed 30%. At the same time, an institutional investor bought 42 other apartments in the same satellite, and when the construction came up, there was no demand, so they started dropping their prices. New construction was new for Maria, but she had to do it differently by personalizing her strategy. From her experience, Maria learned that she had to stop following her goals blindly and stick to what she knew to avoid making another mistake.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Maria Fristrom and get valuable information on how you can build your portfolio creatively in real estate!
Notable Quotes:
“Instead of talking about where you’re coming from, talk about where you’re going.”
- Maria Fristrom
“Life is an experiment, and there are no failures, only regret, but they are scary because they are so final and you cannot turn back time.”
- Mike Simmons
“Looking for a strategy nobody else is doing can open up opportunities for you in the market that you are in.”
- Maria Fristrom
“Life is not perfect, things happen to all of us, but we don’t show the nasty parts.“
- Maria Fristrom
“It’s very smart to position yourself in a personable way - people want to buy from human beings.”
- Mike Simmons
“Stick to your criteria and what you know. Going for the next shiny object is setting yourself for failure.”
- Maria Fristrom
“Be careful not to follow your goals pridefully. Ego is an enemy, so make sure your goals fit into your long-term vision.”
- Maria Fristrom
Links:
Maria on Instagram
Maria on Facebook
Maria on LinkedIn
Maria on Twitter
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 9th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Most potential rental tenants would buy a house if they had good credit or money in the bank.”
“You have to look at the specific credit issues. What is dinging their credit?”
“Most landlords will overlook hospital or medical-related credit issues.”
“You don’t want a tenant that has a history of not paying their rent or house payments.”
“As a new landlord, I say, more than anything, get off on the right foot.”
“Real estate is a fantastic business. It just is and always has been.”
“Why do you need to start your own business?”
“The reason I am doing something has to be more powerful than my fear of doing it.”
“Education will clear up a lot of the fear, but it won’t be helpful if you don’t have a compelling reason for being successful.”
“I don’t think that people who are not trained and proficient in Google Adwords should be doing it. Hire it out to an expert.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 9th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Most potential rental tenants would buy a house if they had good credit or money in the bank.”
“You have to look at the specific credit issues. What is dinging their credit?”
“Most landlords will overlook hospital or medical-related credit issues.”
“You don’t want a tenant that has a history of not paying their rent or house payments.”
“As a new landlord, I say, more than anything, get off on the right foot.”
“Real estate is a fantastic business. It just is and always has been.”
“Why do you need to start your own business?”
“The reason I am doing something has to be more powerful than my fear of doing it.”
“Education will clear up a lot of the fear, but it won’t be helpful if you don’t have a compelling reason for being successful.”
“I don’t think that people who are not trained and proficient in Google Adwords should be doing it. Hire it out to an expert.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For the podcast today, I interviewed nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host, Chris Naugle. Over the last 20 years, Chris has worn a wide variety of business hats. He was a former pro snowboarder, owning several snowboard and skateboard shops. He's invested in real estate with his wife, doing flips, wholesales, and a lot of private lending. They even had a pilot on HGTV in 2018. The main hat he wears is that of a money mentor, because what is taught in schools about money is absolute trash. He has spoken to and taught over ten thousand Americans delivering the financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom. We begin, like we usually do, by talking about Chris’ background and how he got started as an entrepreneur. Chris talked about his upbringing and how he learned a lot from growing up in a lower middle-class household. He talked about his early work experience and how it shaped his life and attitude about money. Chris talks about starting in entrepreneurship by selling apparel he designed with his high school art teacher when he was sixteen years old and how his mother mortgaged her house to help him open a snow and skate board shop. He opened Phatman Boardshop in November of 1994 and ran it until he sold it in 2010.
Chris talks about how economic circumstances taught him how to pivot in his business model. His business suffered because of the dotcom recession and he found the only companies that were interested in hiring him were Wall Street firms. He didn’t understand it, but found that because he was a successful entrepreneur and willing to learn, they wanted him to work for them. He spent sixteen years as an advisor for the firm that hired him until he saw some things going on he didn’t want to be involved in. He then started investing in real estate, which led him to teach others about money and achieving financial freedom.
We then talk about Chris’ current passion, which is teaching people about wealth building and management. Chris says that he does not manage other people’s money anymore, but rather, teaches people how to be great stewards of their own money. He contends we have all been lied to concerning money and convinced the best thing to do is to give up the control of it. He came to the conclusions that he holds about wealth from studying the wealthiest families in the world - the Rothchilds, the Rockefellers, and many others. He talks about how these families do the same thing we do - trade our time for money, but then handle it differently once they have it. Chris then introduces us to the concept of infinite banking and how we can always make our money work for us.
Chris points out that infinite banking is a process rather than a product. I described the Just Start Real Estate audience and asked him if this process was available to everyone on the investing spectrum. Chris said that he believes that the process is available to everyone who has, at a minimum, started following the first law of wealth, which is saving at least 10% of your gross earnings. We also spent some time discussing how current events, such as the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, affects our money.
Don’t miss this exciting new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! My guest, Chris Naugle, teaches us all about the fundamentals of wealth-building and the process of infinite banking!!
Notable Quotes:
“I grew up in a house like many where there was scarcity.”
- Chris Naugle
“Every time my mother needed something, she was a very good saver, and I learned to save money from her.”
- Chris Naugle
“I quit trading hours for dollars.”
- Chris Naugle
“Entrepreneurship took on a new meaning for me when it was no longer a hobby and my mom’s house was on the line.”
- Chris Naugle
“Running Phatman Boardshop was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”
- Chris Naugle
“When things happen, we make pivots in our life.”
- Chris Naugle
“What does Wall Street want to do with a punk snowboarding kid who has never put a suit on in his life?”
- Chris Naugle
“We have all been taught the big lie - to give up control of our own money.”
- Chris Naugle
“I teach one thing and that is to take back control of your money.”
- Chris Naugle
“If you are not saving money today, the infinite banking concept will not work for you.”
- Chris Naugle
“Inflation is a hidden tax.”
- Chris Naugle
Links:
Phatman BoardShop
Mapping Out the Millionaire Mystery
Chris' Website
Chris' Resource Page
Chris on Instagram
Chris on YouTube
Chris on LinkedIN
Chris on Facebook
Chris on Twitter
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For the podcast today, I interviewed nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host, Chris Naugle. Over the last 20 years, Chris has worn a wide variety of business hats. He was a former pro snowboarder, owning several snowboard and skateboard shops. He's invested in real estate with his wife, doing flips, wholesales, and a lot of private lending. They even had a pilot on HGTV in 2018. The main hat he wears is that of a money mentor, because what is taught in schools about money is absolute trash. He has spoken to and taught over ten thousand Americans delivering the financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom. We begin, like we usually do, by talking about Chris’ background and how he got started as an entrepreneur. Chris talked about his upbringing and how he learned a lot from growing up in a lower middle-class household. He talked about his early work experience and how it shaped his life and attitude about money. Chris talks about starting in entrepreneurship by selling apparel he designed with his high school art teacher when he was sixteen years old and how his mother mortgaged her house to help him open a snow and skate board shop. He opened Phatman Boardshop in November of 1994 and ran it until he sold it in 2010.
Chris talks about how economic circumstances taught him how to pivot in his business model. His business suffered because of the dotcom recession and he found the only companies that were interested in hiring him were Wall Street firms. He didn’t understand it, but found that because he was a successful entrepreneur and willing to learn, they wanted him to work for them. He spent sixteen years as an advisor for the firm that hired him until he saw some things going on he didn’t want to be involved in. He then started investing in real estate, which led him to teach others about money and achieving financial freedom.
We then talk about Chris’ current passion, which is teaching people about wealth building and management. Chris says that he does not manage other people’s money anymore, but rather, teaches people how to be great stewards of their own money. He contends we have all been lied to concerning money and convinced the best thing to do is to give up the control of it. He came to the conclusions that he holds about wealth from studying the wealthiest families in the world - the Rothchilds, the Rockefellers, and many others. He talks about how these families do the same thing we do - trade our time for money, but then handle it differently once they have it. Chris then introduces us to the concept of infinite banking and how we can always make our money work for us.
Chris points out that infinite banking is a process rather than a product. I described the Just Start Real Estate audience and asked him if this process was available to everyone on the investing spectrum. Chris said that he believes that the process is available to everyone who has, at a minimum, started following the first law of wealth, which is saving at least 10% of your gross earnings. We also spent some time discussing how current events, such as the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, affects our money.
Don’t miss this exciting new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! My guest, Chris Naugle, teaches us all about the fundamentals of wealth-building and the process of infinite banking!!
Notable Quotes:
“I grew up in a house like many where there was scarcity.”
- Chris Naugle
“Every time my mother needed something, she was a very good saver, and I learned to save money from her.”
- Chris Naugle
“I quit trading hours for dollars.”
- Chris Naugle
“Entrepreneurship took on a new meaning for me when it was no longer a hobby and my mom’s house was on the line.”
- Chris Naugle
“Running Phatman Boardshop was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”
- Chris Naugle
“When things happen, we make pivots in our life.”
- Chris Naugle
“What does Wall Street want to do with a punk snowboarding kid who has never put a suit on in his life?”
- Chris Naugle
“We have all been taught the big lie - to give up control of our own money.”
- Chris Naugle
“I teach one thing and that is to take back control of your money.”
- Chris Naugle
“If you are not saving money today, the infinite banking concept will not work for you.”
- Chris Naugle
“Inflation is a hidden tax.”
- Chris Naugle
Links:
Phatman BoardShop
Mapping Out the Millionaire Mystery
Chris' Website
Chris' Resource Page
Chris on Instagram
Chris on YouTube
Chris on LinkedIN
Chris on Facebook
Chris on Twitter
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 2nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Every conversation with every seller is different.”
“When it is time to get serious, you have to get real serious.”
“I’m all about meeting things head on when it comes to interpersonal conflict.”
“Most sellers want more than we can give them.”
“We will remind them of their motivation consistently through the process.”
“Some people when met with adversity, rise up and rush into the storm.”
“Have that conversation and get their thoughts. Share the vision and then go for it.”
“There is an unseen force in marketing we call ‘momentum’ because we don’t know what else to call it.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of March 2nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Every conversation with every seller is different.”
“When it is time to get serious, you have to get real serious.”
“I’m all about meeting things head on when it comes to interpersonal conflict.”
“Most sellers want more than we can give them.”
“We will remind them of their motivation consistently through the process.”
“Some people when met with adversity, rise up and rush into the storm.”
“Have that conversation and get their thoughts. Share the vision and then go for it.”
“There is an unseen force in marketing we call ‘momentum’ because we don’t know what else to call it.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome my friend, Tanya Rooney, to the show today! Tanya is a real estate investor, and she is a former Project Manager at CBRE. She has used her communication and organization skills to assist clients in their construction projects. Tanya is the owner of BAFS Home Buyers. She started her career in house flipping and wholesaling before shifting her focus to short-term rentals to align her investments with her personality. Tanya wants to provide appropriate and affordable accommodation for people like her that love to travel and make great memories.
We begin the episode with Tanya sharing how she grew her real estate business to a point where she could quit her job. Tanya shares that when we met in a mastermind class, she was doing her second flip but still in her project management position in CBRE. To grow and get to a place where she could quit her job, Tanya had to join a community of like-minded people, in flipping and wholesaling groups. They provided the support she needed to do things that she couldn’t do on her own though she knew they were the right thing to do. However, knowing that she had the skills and could make money gave her the confidence to quit her job to go full into real estate. According to Tanya, this was a mindset thing and she just needed to make a shift.
We then talk about what Tanya’s first year free from her job looked like. She shares that she was doing house flips and wholesaling for off-market deals from MLS deals. There are so many deals on MLS, and they got to win because of their mindset. She also worked with other real agents whose property referrals and recommendations helped her move the needle. However, she has shifted her focus from flipping and wholesaling to managing short-term rentals.
Next, we discuss why Tanya shifted her focus from flipping and wholesaling to short-term rentals. Tanya shares that flipping was becoming more stressful, and for the sake of her mental health and family, she had to make that shift. Tanya likes commercial construction and projects, and a year and a half ago, they turned a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house that they owned into their first short-term rental. It wasn’t selling for what they could have wanted it to, and with the help of a mastermind from her group, she decided to dive into the short-term rental market, and now they have three more. This model aligns more with her personality. She enjoys hosting travel and stocks them the way she wants to be accommodated when she is out of town.
We then talk about Tanya’s business model and the kind of houses she’s looking for. She shares that the coolest thing about real estate is that it surrounds us and everybody has their own thing and way to do business. Whether you are a multifamily property owner, flipper, or wholesaler, you can buy a house, keep it, rent it or sell it. There are so many ways to create cash flow. However, Tanya likes big houses that can accommodate people similar to herself, such as those who need space for ten or twelve people. There are tons of houses like that, which allows her to provide space for people to congregate and make fun memories. According to her, real estate is all about what you want your brand to be, and whether you want to start rentals, multifamily, flipping, or wholesaling, you need to identify your values to design your unique brand.
Lastly, we talk about how Tanya finances her short-term rental properties. Tanya shares that she does it using bank loans and other people's money. They have four properties that they financed through private capital, loans, and their own money. Tanya has partners who believe in her ability to create money, and out of the investment, they will get some of the equity. Tanya also shares the importance of building a team and creating a system by choosing people you can rely on.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Tanya Rooney and get valuable information on creative ways to match your real estate investment strategy with your personality and lifestyle!
Notable Quotes:
“Thriving in real estate is not all about money - it’s more about mindset.”
- Tanya Rooney
“Matching your real estate investments with your personality will help you develop a stress-free investment strategy and enjoy what you’re doing.”
- Tanya Rooney
“Everybody that gets into real estate has a goal.“
- Tanya Rooney
“Whether you want to start with rentals, multifamily, flipping or wholesaling, you need to identify your values and they will help you develop your brand.”
- Tanya Rooney
“It’s awesome to operate in multiple markets, but you’re going to get better efficiency when you have more in one market.”
- Tanya Rooney
Links:
Tanya on LinkedIn
Tanya on Facebook
Tanya on Instagram
Tanya on Pinterest
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome my friend, Tanya Rooney, to the show today! Tanya is a real estate investor, and she is a former Project Manager at CBRE. She has used her communication and organization skills to assist clients in their construction projects. Tanya is the owner of BAFS Home Buyers. She started her career in house flipping and wholesaling before shifting her focus to short-term rentals to align her investments with her personality. Tanya wants to provide appropriate and affordable accommodation for people like her that love to travel and make great memories.
We begin the episode with Tanya sharing how she grew her real estate business to a point where she could quit her job. Tanya shares that when we met in a mastermind class, she was doing her second flip but still in her project management position in CBRE. To grow and get to a place where she could quit her job, Tanya had to join a community of like-minded people, in flipping and wholesaling groups. They provided the support she needed to do things that she couldn’t do on her own though she knew they were the right thing to do. However, knowing that she had the skills and could make money gave her the confidence to quit her job to go full into real estate. According to Tanya, this was a mindset thing and she just needed to make a shift.
We then talk about what Tanya’s first year free from her job looked like. She shares that she was doing house flips and wholesaling for off-market deals from MLS deals. There are so many deals on MLS, and they got to win because of their mindset. She also worked with other real agents whose property referrals and recommendations helped her move the needle. However, she has shifted her focus from flipping and wholesaling to managing short-term rentals.
Next, we discuss why Tanya shifted her focus from flipping and wholesaling to short-term rentals. Tanya shares that flipping was becoming more stressful, and for the sake of her mental health and family, she had to make that shift. Tanya likes commercial construction and projects, and a year and a half ago, they turned a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house that they owned into their first short-term rental. It wasn’t selling for what they could have wanted it to, and with the help of a mastermind from her group, she decided to dive into the short-term rental market, and now they have three more. This model aligns more with her personality. She enjoys hosting travel and stocks them the way she wants to be accommodated when she is out of town.
We then talk about Tanya’s business model and the kind of houses she’s looking for. She shares that the coolest thing about real estate is that it surrounds us and everybody has their own thing and way to do business. Whether you are a multifamily property owner, flipper, or wholesaler, you can buy a house, keep it, rent it or sell it. There are so many ways to create cash flow. However, Tanya likes big houses that can accommodate people similar to herself, such as those who need space for ten or twelve people. There are tons of houses like that, which allows her to provide space for people to congregate and make fun memories. According to her, real estate is all about what you want your brand to be, and whether you want to start rentals, multifamily, flipping, or wholesaling, you need to identify your values to design your unique brand.
Lastly, we talk about how Tanya finances her short-term rental properties. Tanya shares that she does it using bank loans and other people's money. They have four properties that they financed through private capital, loans, and their own money. Tanya has partners who believe in her ability to create money, and out of the investment, they will get some of the equity. Tanya also shares the importance of building a team and creating a system by choosing people you can rely on.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Tanya Rooney and get valuable information on creative ways to match your real estate investment strategy with your personality and lifestyle!
Notable Quotes:
“Thriving in real estate is not all about money - it’s more about mindset.”
- Tanya Rooney
“Matching your real estate investments with your personality will help you develop a stress-free investment strategy and enjoy what you’re doing.”
- Tanya Rooney
“Everybody that gets into real estate has a goal.“
- Tanya Rooney
“Whether you want to start with rentals, multifamily, flipping or wholesaling, you need to identify your values and they will help you develop your brand.”
- Tanya Rooney
“It’s awesome to operate in multiple markets, but you’re going to get better efficiency when you have more in one market.”
- Tanya Rooney
Links:
Tanya on LinkedIn
Tanya on Facebook
Tanya on Instagram
Tanya on Pinterest
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 23rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You need to know what is happening with the market so you can adjust your strategy.”
“You don’t hide from the market - you go into it.”
“Don’t count on a downturn. Stay the course and keep doing what you are doing, just keep your ear to the ground.”
“If the market changes, react to that appropriately with the way you buy and sell properties.”
“I would pull your money out as soon as your financing company will let you, then rinse and repeat.”
“Doing one of these a year is a slow road and I am just not a slow road guy.”
“We play the game fairly.”
“Doing the work up front with a potential tenant is one of the most important aspects of being a landlord.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 23rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You need to know what is happening with the market so you can adjust your strategy.”
“You don’t hide from the market - you go into it.”
“Don’t count on a downturn. Stay the course and keep doing what you are doing, just keep your ear to the ground.”
“If the market changes, react to that appropriately with the way you buy and sell properties.”
“I would pull your money out as soon as your financing company will let you, then rinse and repeat.”
“Doing one of these a year is a slow road and I am just not a slow road guy.”
“We play the game fairly.”
“Doing the work up front with a potential tenant is one of the most important aspects of being a landlord.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to have Joey Mure and Russ Morgan on the podcast today! Joey and Russ are the founders and partners at Wealth Without Wall Street, hosts of the popular podcast of the same name, and serial entrepreneurs who currently operate 19 short-term rentals, along with being involved in several other investment strategies. Joey and Russ also have a podcast that enables them to reach more people with the message of financial freedom and passive income. They love talking about the challenges and motivations they experience as business owners to help others pursue financial freedom.
We begin the episode with Joey and Russ sharing their background stories and how they ended up in real estate. Joey shared that he was in the mortgage industry for 11 years, and during that time, he became friends with Russ. Russ was a certified financial adviser, and he started referring clients to him. Their pivot point came when Russ learned something new from a book that he shared with him. It changed the way they looked at personal finance and how they controlled cash flow in their life. They joined forces, and in 2014 they started a partnership that birthed their Wealth Without Wall Street company.
We then talk about Joey and Russ's first investment strategy that they took action on. Joey came from a mortgage business, and the first investment he got into was in private lending. He loved its passivity, a check every month, and it was profitable, but Joey realized that he wanted something that added more velocity to his earnings. On the other hand, Russ started by buying a two-bedroom condo and started a long-term rental. From his experience, Russ learned that his personality style and investor DNA was of somebody who liked to be more involved, and he had to match who he was with the investments he was making.
Next, we talk about what Russ and Joey did together when they combined forces to get things moving in their business. They share that the most important thing they did at the beginning was focusing on their own business. Wealth Without Wall Street was super dependent on them for the day-to-day operations. If they weren’t in a seat talking to somebody, they were not making money, and they had to figure out how to make their business more passive. They hired a consultant who advised them to build a coaching program by bringing in coaches, taking their knowledge, and putting it in a sustainable and repeatable process. Creating GPS (Goal. Plan, and Support) processes that they walk people through was hard work for a long time, and according to Joey, it made all the difference, and it freed them up to go out and implement other things.
We then talk about what Russ and Joey do to make passive income at a high level in addition to crypto mining and short-term rentals. They share that they have a land flipping business that buys property, turns them around, and sells them on terms to somebody else. They often acquire land investments from landowners who have land that they don’t use out of state and have bad taxes. They make it affordable to buyers by having the owner finance for about $200 or $300 a month. For marketing, the first people they market to are the neighbors, and 40% of their purchases come from them. They also market on social platforms such as Facebook and Craigslist. According to Russ, this business model has worked for them, and they produce $10,000 to $15,000 a month in cash flow, and it’s climbing.
Lastly, we talk about what attracts Joey and Russ to short-term rentals as opposed to long-term rentals or regular leases. Joey shares that he has a two-bedroom and two-bathroom house that he has owned since 2004, and this was the first unit they turned into a short-term rental to see if they could get a higher cash flow from the market in 2019, right at the beginning of the pandemic. They marketed the unit on Airbnb as coming soon, and two weeks before it was even available, they were getting bookings. Those bookings exceeded by over $4000 within the first month. However, Joey and Russ's model is slightly different as they don’t buy the property. They lease the properties, and they furnish them. Their down payment is often $1,850 for a three-bedroom, $25,000 for the furnishing, and they still earn $15,000 to $24,000, which is about 66 to 100%, and way better than long-term rental deals.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Joey Mure and Russ Morgan and get valuable information on how you can replace your income with passive investments to achieve financial freedom!
Notable Quotes:
“Financial freedom is a formula that can apply to anyone regardless of where they are.”
- Joey Mure
“When doing short-term rentals, you have to identify and know who your guest is.“
- Joey Mure
“The goal of financial freedom is making your monthly passive income greater than your monthly expenses.”
- Russ Morgan
Links:
Website
Joey and Russ’s LinkedIn
Joey and Russ's Facebook
Joey and Russ’s Twitter
Joey and Russ on Instagram
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to have Joey Mure and Russ Morgan on the podcast today! Joey and Russ are the founders and partners at Wealth Without Wall Street, hosts of the popular podcast of the same name, and serial entrepreneurs who currently operate 19 short-term rentals, along with being involved in several other investment strategies. Joey and Russ also have a podcast that enables them to reach more people with the message of financial freedom and passive income. They love talking about the challenges and motivations they experience as business owners to help others pursue financial freedom.
We begin the episode with Joey and Russ sharing their background stories and how they ended up in real estate. Joey shared that he was in the mortgage industry for 11 years, and during that time, he became friends with Russ. Russ was a certified financial adviser, and he started referring clients to him. Their pivot point came when Russ learned something new from a book that he shared with him. It changed the way they looked at personal finance and how they controlled cash flow in their life. They joined forces, and in 2014 they started a partnership that birthed their Wealth Without Wall Street company.
We then talk about Joey and Russ's first investment strategy that they took action on. Joey came from a mortgage business, and the first investment he got into was in private lending. He loved its passivity, a check every month, and it was profitable, but Joey realized that he wanted something that added more velocity to his earnings. On the other hand, Russ started by buying a two-bedroom condo and started a long-term rental. From his experience, Russ learned that his personality style and investor DNA was of somebody who liked to be more involved, and he had to match who he was with the investments he was making.
Next, we talk about what Russ and Joey did together when they combined forces to get things moving in their business. They share that the most important thing they did at the beginning was focusing on their own business. Wealth Without Wall Street was super dependent on them for the day-to-day operations. If they weren’t in a seat talking to somebody, they were not making money, and they had to figure out how to make their business more passive. They hired a consultant who advised them to build a coaching program by bringing in coaches, taking their knowledge, and putting it in a sustainable and repeatable process. Creating GPS (Goal. Plan, and Support) processes that they walk people through was hard work for a long time, and according to Joey, it made all the difference, and it freed them up to go out and implement other things.
We then talk about what Russ and Joey do to make passive income at a high level in addition to crypto mining and short-term rentals. They share that they have a land flipping business that buys property, turns them around, and sells them on terms to somebody else. They often acquire land investments from landowners who have land that they don’t use out of state and have bad taxes. They make it affordable to buyers by having the owner finance for about $200 or $300 a month. For marketing, the first people they market to are the neighbors, and 40% of their purchases come from them. They also market on social platforms such as Facebook and Craigslist. According to Russ, this business model has worked for them, and they produce $10,000 to $15,000 a month in cash flow, and it’s climbing.
Lastly, we talk about what attracts Joey and Russ to short-term rentals as opposed to long-term rentals or regular leases. Joey shares that he has a two-bedroom and two-bathroom house that he has owned since 2004, and this was the first unit they turned into a short-term rental to see if they could get a higher cash flow from the market in 2019, right at the beginning of the pandemic. They marketed the unit on Airbnb as coming soon, and two weeks before it was even available, they were getting bookings. Those bookings exceeded by over $4000 within the first month. However, Joey and Russ's model is slightly different as they don’t buy the property. They lease the properties, and they furnish them. Their down payment is often $1,850 for a three-bedroom, $25,000 for the furnishing, and they still earn $15,000 to $24,000, which is about 66 to 100%, and way better than long-term rental deals.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Joey Mure and Russ Morgan and get valuable information on how you can replace your income with passive investments to achieve financial freedom!
Notable Quotes:
“Financial freedom is a formula that can apply to anyone regardless of where they are.”
- Joey Mure
“When doing short-term rentals, you have to identify and know who your guest is.“
- Joey Mure
“The goal of financial freedom is making your monthly passive income greater than your monthly expenses.”
- Russ Morgan
Links:
Website
Joey and Russ’s LinkedIn
Joey and Russ's Facebook
Joey and Russ’s Twitter
Joey and Russ on Instagram
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 16th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The market is always fine. It is how you adjust to it that counts.”
“When the market changes, you just have to change your approach.”
“There will always be some things that fall through the cracks.”
“To stay on top of your team, you need to be measuring their performance weekly.”
“Activities lead to results.”
“The key isn’t necessarily that your spouse believes in it like you do, but just that they support it.”
“You need to put her in a room with people that are already doing it and doing it successfully.”
“You are staying top-of-mind because you made an offer when no one else did.”
“Wholesalers hate it when they get no offers because they don’t know what to do next.”
“One of the mindset issues that I had to change right away was what I thought was possible.”
“I didn’t think my company was big enough to actually start hiring other people.”
“It is going to take more reps to get that hit.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 16th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The market is always fine. It is how you adjust to it that counts.”
“When the market changes, you just have to change your approach.”
“There will always be some things that fall through the cracks.”
“To stay on top of your team, you need to be measuring their performance weekly.”
“Activities lead to results.”
“The key isn’t necessarily that your spouse believes in it like you do, but just that they support it.”
“You need to put her in a room with people that are already doing it and doing it successfully.”
“You are staying top-of-mind because you made an offer when no one else did.”
“Wholesalers hate it when they get no offers because they don’t know what to do next.”
“One of the mindset issues that I had to change right away was what I thought was possible.”
“I didn’t think my company was big enough to actually start hiring other people.”
“It is going to take more reps to get that hit.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by Amanda Han. As a CPA, tax strategist, and real estate investor, Amanda Han combines her passion for real estate investing with her expertise in tax tactics. Her goal is to help investors with tactics designed to supercharge their wealth-building using entity structuring, self-directed investing, and income offset opportunities to keep more of what they make.
Amanda begins by giving us a little bit of her background. She talks about how both her parents and grandparents were real estate investors but encouraged her to follow the more traditional route of getting an education, followed by a good job. She began her accounting career at Deloitte, just by chance, in their real estate specialty group. She realized very quickly some of the tax benefits her investor clients could take advantage of, increasing their income while not necessarily working a ton of hours.
Amanda explained that the majority of real estate investors are not aware of the tax strategies available to them. She pointed out that it isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault but that the tax codes are written in a convoluted way. Reaping tax benefits requires very specialized knowledge for each and every industry.
I asked Amanda to explain a little about what is going on with the tax situation during the current COVID-19 pandemic. She said as part of the Cares Act pandemic relief package, the new filing deadline is July 15th. Most of the states are following these guidelines, and Amanda recommended getting more information from AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines.
I wanted to find out Amanda’s recommendations for newer or smaller investors on when a good time is to begin working with a CPA and employing tax strategies. She said it was important for even brand new investors to consult advisors in order to form proper legal entities necessary for both tax benefits and protection, and also how to use them effectively.
I asked Amanda to explain a strategy that I have recently become familiar with which is cost segregation. She said first that one of the things that is so attractive about real estate investing is the depreciation that can be claimed no matter how much is put down on the house or other factors. Cost segregation is just the next level of this type of tax advantage. It involves defining all of the components of a particular investment property, not just the building itself. Some of these components may be eligible for an immediate deduction, providing the possibility of taking a higher deduction upfront rather than having everything depreciate over the standard timeframe.
Amanda went on to explain strategies that could benefit some types of real estate investors but not others, giving specific examples. She also gave some great, practical advice on how to determine whether an individual’s tax advisor was helping employ these strategies.
I then asked Amanda about the charity that she and her husband and business partner, Matt, formed named Animals for Armed Forces Foundation. The foundation helps to place shelter animals with current or retired servicemen and women. Normally on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day each year they will work with local shelters to place animals in military homes for free, while the foundation pays for any necessary fees. Amanda talked about how rewarding it is to receive pictures of these pets in their new homes with their forever families.
We then talked about the two books they have written on tax strategies for real estate investors (see links at the bottom). She said that she and Matt read a lot of books about taxes benefits for investors and found them difficult and dull to read and wondered how people who were not CPAs would get any useful information from them, so they wrote their own books to help people find strategies that could help them. The first book is story-based about specific successes and mistakes made by investors and provides actionable, easy-to-understand advice about various tax schemes.
If you are like me, you may not know much about taxes, but please join me for this interesting, motivating, and believe or not, fun interview with tax expert Amanda Han!
Notable Quotes
“I think there is a misconception that investors think they only need to work with a CPA or an attorney when I have ‘X’ number of rentals.”
- Amanda Han
“It is more transaction-focused rather than a number of rentals in terms of who could benefit from tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“In the tax world, there is never a one-size-fits-all strategy.”
- Amanda Han
“In the spirit of Michael Scott, now say it like I am a four-year-old.”
- Mike Simmons
“Flipping burgers - not nearly the upside of flipping houses.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our firm specializes in proactive tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“We have people whose tax preparer is their father-in-law… you can’t fire your father-in-law.”
- Amanda Han
“We always recommend this team-of-advisors approach, where we are all working together.”
- Amanda Han
“I like talking to people that do good things, good people who aren’t just business, business, business, cutthroat - people who care.”
- Mike Simmons
“I don’t like not knowing, but I just don’t know, so thank you for telling me your book is basically for dummies.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our goal in writing the book was to show people what can be done.”
- Amanda Han
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Keystone CPA Facebook
Keystone CPA Website
AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines
Animals for Armed Forces Foundation
The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor
The Book on Advanced Tax Strategies: Cracking the Code for Savvy Real Estate Investors
In this episode, I am joined by Amanda Han. As a CPA, tax strategist, and real estate investor, Amanda Han combines her passion for real estate investing with her expertise in tax tactics. Her goal is to help investors with tactics designed to supercharge their wealth-building using entity structuring, self-directed investing, and income offset opportunities to keep more of what they make.
Amanda begins by giving us a little bit of her background. She talks about how both her parents and grandparents were real estate investors but encouraged her to follow the more traditional route of getting an education, followed by a good job. She began her accounting career at Deloitte, just by chance, in their real estate specialty group. She realized very quickly some of the tax benefits her investor clients could take advantage of, increasing their income while not necessarily working a ton of hours.
Amanda explained that the majority of real estate investors are not aware of the tax strategies available to them. She pointed out that it isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault but that the tax codes are written in a convoluted way. Reaping tax benefits requires very specialized knowledge for each and every industry.
I asked Amanda to explain a little about what is going on with the tax situation during the current COVID-19 pandemic. She said as part of the Cares Act pandemic relief package, the new filing deadline is July 15th. Most of the states are following these guidelines, and Amanda recommended getting more information from AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines.
I wanted to find out Amanda’s recommendations for newer or smaller investors on when a good time is to begin working with a CPA and employing tax strategies. She said it was important for even brand new investors to consult advisors in order to form proper legal entities necessary for both tax benefits and protection, and also how to use them effectively.
I asked Amanda to explain a strategy that I have recently become familiar with which is cost segregation. She said first that one of the things that is so attractive about real estate investing is the depreciation that can be claimed no matter how much is put down on the house or other factors. Cost segregation is just the next level of this type of tax advantage. It involves defining all of the components of a particular investment property, not just the building itself. Some of these components may be eligible for an immediate deduction, providing the possibility of taking a higher deduction upfront rather than having everything depreciate over the standard timeframe.
Amanda went on to explain strategies that could benefit some types of real estate investors but not others, giving specific examples. She also gave some great, practical advice on how to determine whether an individual’s tax advisor was helping employ these strategies.
I then asked Amanda about the charity that she and her husband and business partner, Matt, formed named Animals for Armed Forces Foundation. The foundation helps to place shelter animals with current or retired servicemen and women. Normally on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day each year they will work with local shelters to place animals in military homes for free, while the foundation pays for any necessary fees. Amanda talked about how rewarding it is to receive pictures of these pets in their new homes with their forever families.
We then talked about the two books they have written on tax strategies for real estate investors (see links at the bottom). She said that she and Matt read a lot of books about taxes benefits for investors and found them difficult and dull to read and wondered how people who were not CPAs would get any useful information from them, so they wrote their own books to help people find strategies that could help them. The first book is story-based about specific successes and mistakes made by investors and provides actionable, easy-to-understand advice about various tax schemes.
If you are like me, you may not know much about taxes, but please join me for this interesting, motivating, and believe or not, fun interview with tax expert Amanda Han!
Notable Quotes
“I think there is a misconception that investors think they only need to work with a CPA or an attorney when I have ‘X’ number of rentals.”
- Amanda Han
“It is more transaction-focused rather than a number of rentals in terms of who could benefit from tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“In the tax world, there is never a one-size-fits-all strategy.”
- Amanda Han
“In the spirit of Michael Scott, now say it like I am a four-year-old.”
- Mike Simmons
“Flipping burgers - not nearly the upside of flipping houses.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our firm specializes in proactive tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“We have people whose tax preparer is their father-in-law… you can’t fire your father-in-law.”
- Amanda Han
“We always recommend this team-of-advisors approach, where we are all working together.”
- Amanda Han
“I like talking to people that do good things, good people who aren’t just business, business, business, cutthroat - people who care.”
- Mike Simmons
“I don’t like not knowing, but I just don’t know, so thank you for telling me your book is basically for dummies.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our goal in writing the book was to show people what can be done.”
- Amanda Han
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Keystone CPA Facebook
Keystone CPA Website
AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines
Animals for Armed Forces Foundation
The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor
The Book on Advanced Tax Strategies: Cracking the Code for Savvy Real Estate Investors
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 9th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Postcards for my company’s marketing were the cash cows… for years.”
“When COVID first hit, people were taking their mail out of the box with salad tongs.”
“PPC took the place of postcards in terms of the amount of calls we were getting.”
“We are more profitable now than when we were sending out the mail.”
“Cold calling was our number two lead source for a while.”
“We are increasing our radio marketing and trying some new things there.”
“I am not a big fan of doing five or six marketing channels because I think you end up doing some of them poorly.”
“The best talent isn’t always the talent that is within arm’s reach.”
“I wouldn’t let your Zoom burnout keep you for achieving everything you can achieve.”
“I am interested in making as many 7 Figure Investors as I can, right now.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 9th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Postcards for my company’s marketing were the cash cows… for years.”
“When COVID first hit, people were taking their mail out of the box with salad tongs.”
“PPC took the place of postcards in terms of the amount of calls we were getting.”
“We are more profitable now than when we were sending out the mail.”
“Cold calling was our number two lead source for a while.”
“We are increasing our radio marketing and trying some new things there.”
“I am not a big fan of doing five or six marketing channels because I think you end up doing some of them poorly.”
“The best talent isn’t always the talent that is within arm’s reach.”
“I wouldn’t let your Zoom burnout keep you for achieving everything you can achieve.”
“I am interested in making as many 7 Figure Investors as I can, right now.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Paul Wakim. Paul is the founder of Fly Over Properties, a real estate photography company and he is also the co-founder of TwnSqr, a web-based company that works as a lead generation engine for real estate agents. Paul started TwnSqr as a project to create an algorithm to predict who was going to sell their house next so he could find more deals. TwnSqr is 100% free and very easy to use, and with the recent influx of institutional and hedge fund money moving into the single-family rental space, it’s focused on simplifying access to properties and giving investors the tools they need to quickly and easily sell their properties.
We begin the episode with Paul sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he has always been his own boss, even through middle and high school. He owned a landscaping company with his brother, and he kept the business alive through college. He also started a real estate photography company with his wife, and they ended up working with the biggest real estate company on the east coast. For the first year and a half, Paul was the only photographer and had a lot of interaction with top agents and investors before they hired their first employees. The start-up was really a grind for him, but he’s happy to have started there.
We then talk about Paul’s transition from real estate photography to investing in properties. He shares that he spent hundreds, probably thousands, of hours in the car listening to podcasts about real estate investing while he was driving around to do his work. They were the primary photography companies for some of the highest flippers, and he saw their operations and the kind of money they were making. All of this exposure to real estate led Paul to his own investment journey. He got his real estate license and eventually started ground-up residential development. Because he started as a realtor agent, he appreciated the experience it gave him about the real estate market. However, he says it’s not a necessity if you want to start investing.
Next, we talk about Paul’s first investment in real estate. Paul shared that his first investment was a conservatorship which took them two years to complete. They ended up purchasing the house for a dollar in front of a judge, and then two weeks later, they sold it for $89,000. According to Paul, the deal was worth it, and he learned a lot in the process. Paul also shares that he lost his access to MLS when he started investing after getting rid of his realtor's license. As a result, he taught himself how to code and built a very rudimentary algorithm that successfully predicted who was going to sell their property next. This enabled him to wholesale properties for a profit and opened up an opportunity to do high and ground-up real estate construction.
We then talk about Paul's coding algorithm and the company he created out of his coding experience. Paul shares that the program was based on properties with similar attributes in the same neighborhood and geographical locations. From this coding experience, Paul built a web-based company called Twnsqr that serves as a predictor of who will sell next and as a lead generation engine primarily for real agents. However, according to Paul, COVID screwed up the prediction algorithm, and it’s no longer a part of Twnsqr. It also made it difficult for them to find people who wanted to sell on-market, and they primarily deal with off-market sales.
Lastly, we talk about the process that they use on their platform to vet buyers for different properties. Paul shares that anybody can submit a proposal or an offer through the platform, but it’s up to the person who has posted the property to determine who they want to work with. According to Paul, when sending in your proposal, you can include your preferred purchasing price and information about yourself to increase your chances of getting the deal. However, they are working on incorporating profiles, proof of funds, and reviews to help sellers make the best decision possible.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Wakim and get valuable information on how you can buy and sell off-market properties with Twnsqr!
Notable Quotes:
“You don’t need to be a real estate agent to be an investor, but it will help 100% in understanding the legalities of the real estate market.”
- Paul Wakim
“The best way to learn is to work for somebody for free. Just be valuable, absorb and ask questions without charging anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“Listening to podcasts and interacting with people who are successful in real estate can help you get the ball rolling.“
- Paul Wakim
Links:
Twnsqr
Paul's Email
Paul on LinkedIn
Paul on Instagram
Paul on Twitter
Paul on Youtube
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Paul Wakim. Paul is the founder of Fly Over Properties, a real estate photography company and he is also the co-founder of TwnSqr, a web-based company that works as a lead generation engine for real estate agents. Paul started TwnSqr as a project to create an algorithm to predict who was going to sell their house next so he could find more deals. TwnSqr is 100% free and very easy to use, and with the recent influx of institutional and hedge fund money moving into the single-family rental space, it’s focused on simplifying access to properties and giving investors the tools they need to quickly and easily sell their properties.
We begin the episode with Paul sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he has always been his own boss, even through middle and high school. He owned a landscaping company with his brother, and he kept the business alive through college. He also started a real estate photography company with his wife, and they ended up working with the biggest real estate company on the east coast. For the first year and a half, Paul was the only photographer and had a lot of interaction with top agents and investors before they hired their first employees. The start-up was really a grind for him, but he’s happy to have started there.
We then talk about Paul’s transition from real estate photography to investing in properties. He shares that he spent hundreds, probably thousands, of hours in the car listening to podcasts about real estate investing while he was driving around to do his work. They were the primary photography companies for some of the highest flippers, and he saw their operations and the kind of money they were making. All of this exposure to real estate led Paul to his own investment journey. He got his real estate license and eventually started ground-up residential development. Because he started as a realtor agent, he appreciated the experience it gave him about the real estate market. However, he says it’s not a necessity if you want to start investing.
Next, we talk about Paul’s first investment in real estate. Paul shared that his first investment was a conservatorship which took them two years to complete. They ended up purchasing the house for a dollar in front of a judge, and then two weeks later, they sold it for $89,000. According to Paul, the deal was worth it, and he learned a lot in the process. Paul also shares that he lost his access to MLS when he started investing after getting rid of his realtor's license. As a result, he taught himself how to code and built a very rudimentary algorithm that successfully predicted who was going to sell their property next. This enabled him to wholesale properties for a profit and opened up an opportunity to do high and ground-up real estate construction.
We then talk about Paul's coding algorithm and the company he created out of his coding experience. Paul shares that the program was based on properties with similar attributes in the same neighborhood and geographical locations. From this coding experience, Paul built a web-based company called Twnsqr that serves as a predictor of who will sell next and as a lead generation engine primarily for real agents. However, according to Paul, COVID screwed up the prediction algorithm, and it’s no longer a part of Twnsqr. It also made it difficult for them to find people who wanted to sell on-market, and they primarily deal with off-market sales.
Lastly, we talk about the process that they use on their platform to vet buyers for different properties. Paul shares that anybody can submit a proposal or an offer through the platform, but it’s up to the person who has posted the property to determine who they want to work with. According to Paul, when sending in your proposal, you can include your preferred purchasing price and information about yourself to increase your chances of getting the deal. However, they are working on incorporating profiles, proof of funds, and reviews to help sellers make the best decision possible.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Wakim and get valuable information on how you can buy and sell off-market properties with Twnsqr!
Notable Quotes:
“You don’t need to be a real estate agent to be an investor, but it will help 100% in understanding the legalities of the real estate market.”
- Paul Wakim
“The best way to learn is to work for somebody for free. Just be valuable, absorb and ask questions without charging anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“Listening to podcasts and interacting with people who are successful in real estate can help you get the ball rolling.“
- Paul Wakim
Links:
Twnsqr
Paul's Email
Paul on LinkedIn
Paul on Instagram
Paul on Twitter
Paul on Youtube
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 2nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Here is the tough question - what is their motivation? Why do they need to sell?”
“When I was in sales, I would start out with kindness.”
“When it comes to long-term scaling up for your business, you are going to have to find other lenders besides banks and credit unions.”
“What I think is of great value to realtors are the leads that are not going to work for you as a wholesaler.”
“If you just got your first or second deal, what do you do to celebrate? Go get your third deal!”
“When I get a win, it makes me hungry for the next win.”
“I really want you to put that money back into your business.”
“Whenever I go out, go to a REIA and meet people, I am always happy I did.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of February 2nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Here is the tough question - what is their motivation? Why do they need to sell?”
“When I was in sales, I would start out with kindness.”
“When it comes to long-term scaling up for your business, you are going to have to find other lenders besides banks and credit unions.”
“What I think is of great value to realtors are the leads that are not going to work for you as a wholesaler.”
“If you just got your first or second deal, what do you do to celebrate? Go get your third deal!”
“When I get a win, it makes me hungry for the next win.”
“I really want you to put that money back into your business.”
“Whenever I go out, go to a REIA and meet people, I am always happy I did.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome Art Morrison III to the show today! Art is a former basketball player, the founder of AboveMAX Basketball, the CEO of United Home Relief, and the author of Overcome: The Key to Unlocking Your Superhuman. Following his retirement from basketball, he single-handedly built a basketball camp for children and later transitioned into real estate. He now seeks to teach young adults how to get into the real estate investing game and expedite their path to financial freedom. We begin the episode with Art sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Art shares that after a rocky childhood, he went on to play collegiate basketball at a D2 school on scholarship and eventually to professional basketball in Portugal. After moving on from his career, Art applied everything he learned in basketball in entrepreneurship to grow his organization, and later, his real estate business. He started investing in real estate in 2018, and he did over $2.5 million in transactions in his first two years in wholesaling. He later moved from wholesaling and flipping to doing full syndications, and he has done over $6 million in transactions, across 15 properties, in only three years.
We then talk about how playing sports impacted his business life. Art shares that there is a lot of value in playing sports, being an athlete, or being part of any organization that requires discipline at a young age. When you apply discipline, character-building, persistence, teamwork, and commitment to entrepreneurship, you’re setting yourself up for success. Art was hungry for success, and he poured his efforts into basketball, which earned him a successful career. In real estate, it was no different; he knew how to play the game and how to win.
Next, we talk about how Art started his entrepreneurship journey after he left his basketball profession in 2014. Art stopped playing basketball because of injuries and corruption. As an entrepreneurial-minded athlete, Art didn’t want to get a job. He wanted to be in control, so he started a basketball organization. He was doing well, and he knew that if he applied the same efforts and principles in real estate, he would be successful. Art was in an industry that had a ceiling, and for him venturing into real estate, the sky was the limit. In 2018 he stepped forward to make his dream a reality. However, he didn’t do it openly until he got his first wholesale deal, which allowed him to make $40,000 from an off-market deal.
We then talk about why Art got into wholesaling and how he was able to scale it. Art shares that he wanted to own his own business and destiny. According to him, wholesaling fit well with his personality. From his studies, Art knew that wholesaling is an OPM (other people's money) strategy, and it was easy for him to scale up. After his first deal, he bought a multifamily property with the money that he earned from it. Art also got more deals from Instagram marketing, and he was able to do the same thing with his industrial partners.
Lastly, we talk about how Art was raising money at the beginning of his real estate business. Art shares that he had a trustworthy brand and network, and when he launched his real estate company, everybody knew he was smart and trustworthy. He had a professional basketball organization, and people trusted him with their children. This made it easier for them to trust him with their finances, and he was guaranteed a loan for the capital that he needed to scale his venture. However, later they shifted to the LLC space, and now they are limited to only accredited investors. According to Art, this experience has allowed them to build their brand on social media and in their demographic to raise more funds publicly.
Make sure you don’t miss another fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Art Morrison III and get valuable information on creative ways of starting and financing your real estate projects!
Notable Quotes:
“There’s a lot of value in playing sports, being an athlete, or being part of any organization that requires discipline at a young age.”
- Art Morrison III
“You just need to find motivation. If you find a person who is not motivated to sell their property you might end up paying too much.”
- Art Morrison IIII
“It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you need to educate yourself or you’ll lose it.“
- Art Morrison III
“Investors invest money with people. They have to like you and trust you as a person.”
- Mike Simmons
“Success is not a coincidence - it’s about self-awareness of what your strengths and weaknesses, and creating a team that compliments you.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Art’s Website
Art on Instagram
Art on LinkedIn
Art’s Book
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome Art Morrison III to the show today! Art is a former basketball player, the founder of AboveMAX Basketball, the CEO of United Home Relief, and the author of Overcome: The Key to Unlocking Your Superhuman. Following his retirement from basketball, he single-handedly built a basketball camp for children and later transitioned into real estate. He now seeks to teach young adults how to get into the real estate investing game and expedite their path to financial freedom. We begin the episode with Art sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Art shares that after a rocky childhood, he went on to play collegiate basketball at a D2 school on scholarship and eventually to professional basketball in Portugal. After moving on from his career, Art applied everything he learned in basketball in entrepreneurship to grow his organization, and later, his real estate business. He started investing in real estate in 2018, and he did over $2.5 million in transactions in his first two years in wholesaling. He later moved from wholesaling and flipping to doing full syndications, and he has done over $6 million in transactions, across 15 properties, in only three years.
We then talk about how playing sports impacted his business life. Art shares that there is a lot of value in playing sports, being an athlete, or being part of any organization that requires discipline at a young age. When you apply discipline, character-building, persistence, teamwork, and commitment to entrepreneurship, you’re setting yourself up for success. Art was hungry for success, and he poured his efforts into basketball, which earned him a successful career. In real estate, it was no different; he knew how to play the game and how to win.
Next, we talk about how Art started his entrepreneurship journey after he left his basketball profession in 2014. Art stopped playing basketball because of injuries and corruption. As an entrepreneurial-minded athlete, Art didn’t want to get a job. He wanted to be in control, so he started a basketball organization. He was doing well, and he knew that if he applied the same efforts and principles in real estate, he would be successful. Art was in an industry that had a ceiling, and for him venturing into real estate, the sky was the limit. In 2018 he stepped forward to make his dream a reality. However, he didn’t do it openly until he got his first wholesale deal, which allowed him to make $40,000 from an off-market deal.
We then talk about why Art got into wholesaling and how he was able to scale it. Art shares that he wanted to own his own business and destiny. According to him, wholesaling fit well with his personality. From his studies, Art knew that wholesaling is an OPM (other people's money) strategy, and it was easy for him to scale up. After his first deal, he bought a multifamily property with the money that he earned from it. Art also got more deals from Instagram marketing, and he was able to do the same thing with his industrial partners.
Lastly, we talk about how Art was raising money at the beginning of his real estate business. Art shares that he had a trustworthy brand and network, and when he launched his real estate company, everybody knew he was smart and trustworthy. He had a professional basketball organization, and people trusted him with their children. This made it easier for them to trust him with their finances, and he was guaranteed a loan for the capital that he needed to scale his venture. However, later they shifted to the LLC space, and now they are limited to only accredited investors. According to Art, this experience has allowed them to build their brand on social media and in their demographic to raise more funds publicly.
Make sure you don’t miss another fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Art Morrison III and get valuable information on creative ways of starting and financing your real estate projects!
Notable Quotes:
“There’s a lot of value in playing sports, being an athlete, or being part of any organization that requires discipline at a young age.”
- Art Morrison III
“You just need to find motivation. If you find a person who is not motivated to sell their property you might end up paying too much.”
- Art Morrison IIII
“It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you need to educate yourself or you’ll lose it.“
- Art Morrison III
“Investors invest money with people. They have to like you and trust you as a person.”
- Mike Simmons
“Success is not a coincidence - it’s about self-awareness of what your strengths and weaknesses, and creating a team that compliments you.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Art’s Website
Art on Instagram
Art on LinkedIn
Art’s Book
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 26th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“There were a number of years that I argued you need to have financing in place before finding a property.”
“Just find the deal and the money will come.”
“Here’s the key - a good deal will always get funded.”
“If you think you are spending too much time analyzing deals, you probably are.”
“Be 80% sure of what you are talking about with your numbers.”
“Make the offer. It is going to start a dialogue.”
“Spend less time analyzing deals and make more offers.”
“I rain down hellfire on people that try to take my deals.”
“Make sure your relationships with your sellers are really strong.”
“A buyer can only go behind your back if a seller is willing to play.”
“Success leaves clues.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground. This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 26th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“There were a number of years that I argued you need to have financing in place before finding a property.”
“Just find the deal and the money will come.”
“Here’s the key - a good deal will always get funded.”
“If you think you are spending too much time analyzing deals, you probably are.”
“Be 80% sure of what you are talking about with your numbers.”
“Make the offer. It is going to start a dialogue.”
“Spend less time analyzing deals and make more offers.”
“I rain down hellfire on people that try to take my deals.”
“Make sure your relationships with your sellers are really strong.”
“A buyer can only go behind your back if a seller is willing to play.”
“Success leaves clues.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Drew White. After 10 years working as a pediatric nurse, he quit and became his own banker. Drew is now an entrepreneur and an investor, and he teaches real estate investors how to protect and store their wealth in their own highly liquid banking systems.
We begin the episode with Drew sharing his background story and how his entrepreneurship journey started. Drew shares that he graduated from nursing school with over $150,000 of student loan debt, which would require him to use 50% of his earnings over a long period of time to pay off. That was the first time he understood the true impact of the debt he had created. He and his wife paid the whole debt, leaving themselves with nothing. This experience gave him a hunger to create wealth-building side businesses to take control of his family finances.
We then talk about the basic and high-level steps of flipping a mobile home and how Drew conducts evaluations. Drew shares that to invest in mobile homes, you must know what you are doing, and just like in real estate, you must look for good deals. Basically, what he does is that he looks for someone to give him a down payment and then pay monthly payments for five to seven years. There is a fine line with mobile homes, if you fix them all the way up, you’re not going to get your money back, and the goal is to get your money back.
Next, we talk about how to get good deals for your mobile home investments. Drew shares that a lot of it depends on the park you are in. and whether you’re doing it inside or outside a park. In a park, you should evaluate the state of the park, whether people want to be there and what is near the location. Drew says there is no exact formula for evaluation, and for him, he started by doing tests to find out what a mobile home goes for. As he got better, he started searching to find out what and how people were selling them in the market. According to him, many people don’t care what the total price is; what they care about is their monthly payment.
We then talk about what infinite banking is and why he prefers putting his money there as opposed to the stock market, CD, and others. According to Drew, infinite banking is a way to create your own private, personal, or family banking system outside traditional banks using whole life insurance. With infinite banking, you also get more benefits compared to traditional banking, such as uninterrupted compound interest because it’s a whole life contract. When you use that money, you are using the insurance company’s money. Your money always grows in a tax-free manner and a guaranteed 4% rate plus dividends. In contrast, when you use a CD or savings account, you get less 0.2% on your savings, which interrupts any compounding that you have.
Lastly, we talk about Drew's advice for people who are dissatisfied with their job. The first thing that Drew talks about is identifying your long-term goals. Sometimes people complain about where they are, but they don’t think about where they are going. According to Drew, there are different things you can do to create passive income and move from a job that is not paying you enough. The first thing that Drew recommends is to assess where you are and your short and long-term goals. Start from the basics and be open-minded. There is no one size fits all when it comes to building a passive income.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Drew White and get valuable information on how to start your entrepreneurial career and gain financial freedom!
Notable Quotes:
“There is a fine line with mobile homes - if you completely renovate them, you’re not going to get your money back.”
- Drew White
“The most curious people are the most successful.“
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of people don’t care what the total price is of a mobile home. What they care about is their monthly payment.”
- Drew White
“Most entrepreneurs are born when they are placed in the right environment.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
IBC Drew
Drew’s Podcast
Drew on LinkedIn
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Drew White. After 10 years working as a pediatric nurse, he quit and became his own banker. Drew is now an entrepreneur and an investor, and he teaches real estate investors how to protect and store their wealth in their own highly liquid banking systems.
We begin the episode with Drew sharing his background story and how his entrepreneurship journey started. Drew shares that he graduated from nursing school with over $150,000 of student loan debt, which would require him to use 50% of his earnings over a long period of time to pay off. That was the first time he understood the true impact of the debt he had created. He and his wife paid the whole debt, leaving themselves with nothing. This experience gave him a hunger to create wealth-building side businesses to take control of his family finances.
We then talk about the basic and high-level steps of flipping a mobile home and how Drew conducts evaluations. Drew shares that to invest in mobile homes, you must know what you are doing, and just like in real estate, you must look for good deals. Basically, what he does is that he looks for someone to give him a down payment and then pay monthly payments for five to seven years. There is a fine line with mobile homes, if you fix them all the way up, you’re not going to get your money back, and the goal is to get your money back.
Next, we talk about how to get good deals for your mobile home investments. Drew shares that a lot of it depends on the park you are in. and whether you’re doing it inside or outside a park. In a park, you should evaluate the state of the park, whether people want to be there and what is near the location. Drew says there is no exact formula for evaluation, and for him, he started by doing tests to find out what a mobile home goes for. As he got better, he started searching to find out what and how people were selling them in the market. According to him, many people don’t care what the total price is; what they care about is their monthly payment.
We then talk about what infinite banking is and why he prefers putting his money there as opposed to the stock market, CD, and others. According to Drew, infinite banking is a way to create your own private, personal, or family banking system outside traditional banks using whole life insurance. With infinite banking, you also get more benefits compared to traditional banking, such as uninterrupted compound interest because it’s a whole life contract. When you use that money, you are using the insurance company’s money. Your money always grows in a tax-free manner and a guaranteed 4% rate plus dividends. In contrast, when you use a CD or savings account, you get less 0.2% on your savings, which interrupts any compounding that you have.
Lastly, we talk about Drew's advice for people who are dissatisfied with their job. The first thing that Drew talks about is identifying your long-term goals. Sometimes people complain about where they are, but they don’t think about where they are going. According to Drew, there are different things you can do to create passive income and move from a job that is not paying you enough. The first thing that Drew recommends is to assess where you are and your short and long-term goals. Start from the basics and be open-minded. There is no one size fits all when it comes to building a passive income.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Drew White and get valuable information on how to start your entrepreneurial career and gain financial freedom!
Notable Quotes:
“There is a fine line with mobile homes - if you completely renovate them, you’re not going to get your money back.”
- Drew White
“The most curious people are the most successful.“
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of people don’t care what the total price is of a mobile home. What they care about is their monthly payment.”
- Drew White
“Most entrepreneurs are born when they are placed in the right environment.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
IBC Drew
Drew’s Podcast
Drew on LinkedIn
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 19th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“There is always a right and a wrong way to conduct your business.”
“I have way more faith in direct mail than I do for cold calling for finding leads.”
“I don’t know of any cold calling system that can reach the level of response and revenue from direct mail.”
“Historically, direct mail is hands-down king.”
“My short answer is ‘Don’t wait.’”
“If you are going to hold a property for 10 or more years, buy now.”
“If you are buying at a discount, you can wholesale the property, or flip it, and sell it for a profit. That works in any market.”
“Figure out how to generate more leads so you can make more offers.”
“Real estate investing is all about two things - leads and money.”
“If you can generate leads and raise money, you can conquer the world in real estate.”
“Nothing in your business is important until you start generating leads.”
“This business is simple. It is not always easy, but it is simple.”
“The people who have success take consistent action, sometimes massive action.”
“The most successful people are the ones that start working and stop making excuses.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 19th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“There is always a right and a wrong way to conduct your business.”
“I have way more faith in direct mail than I do for cold calling for finding leads.”
“I don’t know of any cold calling system that can reach the level of response and revenue from direct mail.”
“Historically, direct mail is hands-down king.”
“My short answer is ‘Don’t wait.’”
“If you are going to hold a property for 10 or more years, buy now.”
“If you are buying at a discount, you can wholesale the property, or flip it, and sell it for a profit. That works in any market.”
“Figure out how to generate more leads so you can make more offers.”
“Real estate investing is all about two things - leads and money.”
“If you can generate leads and raise money, you can conquer the world in real estate.”
“Nothing in your business is important until you start generating leads.”
“This business is simple. It is not always easy, but it is simple.”
“The people who have success take consistent action, sometimes massive action.”
“The most successful people are the ones that start working and stop making excuses.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Dustin Heiner. Dustin is a successful investor and he started his real estate business from the ground up, with no money, no knowledge, and no properties. He has been able to build a business that makes him tens of thousands of dollars each month in passive income while giving him 40+ hours of his life back. With Master Passive Income, Dustin is on a mission to teach as many people as possible the step-by-step process of investing in real estate by building a business first.
We begin the episode with Dustin sharing his background story and how he got into real estate. He shares that he got into real estate when he was first laid off from his county job. Though Dustin was lucky to get another one, he realized that he defined his value in terms of his job and needed to make sure it didn’t happen again. He decided to make his job his part-time career, and he became a full-time investor. Dustin invested in real estate, and when he was 37 years old, he was able to quit his job because he had so many rental properties that brought in income. Though Dustin was making $75,000 a year from his job, he discovered that he was losing money and needed to make more money on his own.
We then talk about how Dustin found his properties when he got into real estate. He shares that in 2006 when he started investing, he was staying in California, and the price of properties was high. So, he started buying in other places with lower prices where he could still make passive income. From his experience, Dustin says that he started off the wrong way, but to do it right, you have to build the business first and then buy the inventory to put into the business. For him, he starts by finding a good city with a lot of inventory, potential properties that he can buy, then he finds the right property managers, and lastly, he finds the property itself. Dustin gets everybody that is going to run his business in before buying the property. This ensures that he gets it right and continues to make money in his new investments.
Next, we talk about Dustin’s current strategy of acquiring and buying properties. Dustin shares that he uses everybody and anybody who wants to sell him a property. He identifies himself to everybody as an investor, and by doing that, people know that he’s a buyer. He’s always looking for new properties, and one reason he’s able to capture a lot of equity is that he puts out a lot of offers. And when it comes to choosing a property, he always opts for wholesalers rather than retailers because they work hard for his cash equities. However, one of the best tips Dustin recommends when getting properties capturing equity is finding a property on sale on the MLS and then contacting the seller’s realtor to help you get the property at a discount.
We then talk about the financing side of Dustin’s investment strategy. According to Dustin, funding and managing a property fall under the same strategy. For him, he figures out tools that he can use in all parts of his business. For instance, if he needs to find a property, he needs realtors, wholesalers, other investors, and REIA groups. These are the tools and ways for him to find a property and the same thing with financing properties. He uses private money, hard money, credit card, loans, portfolio loans, mortgages, and commercials as tools, and he teaches his students to deploy them into properties. Dustin has used fourteen different ways to finance properties, but he says not all of them are a fit for every property. As an investor, you need to be problem solvers, and you need many tools to solve these problems and implement them in the best ways possible.
Lastly, we talk about the economy of scales and why Dustin spreads his investments out. Dustin's main goal initially was to quit his job and have money coming in through passive income. He realized if he bought one property, it made $250 in a month and $3000 a year, which was not worth it. On the other hand, with 10 properties, he made $2500 a month and $30,000 a year without working, and with 20 properties, he made $20,000 a month and $60,000 a year passive income. For him, he knew he had to scale his business to get more and more. However, he discovered that investing in one area can be risky, and he started diversifying to build a consistent income.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Dustin Heiner and get valuable information on low-risk strategies for acquiring properties and financing your projects!
Notable Quotes:
“Your value does not come from your job..”
- Dustin Heiner
“Your boss is paying you just enough to keep you working without quitting. They are not paying you for your value.”
- Dustin Heiner
“Don’t wait for your boss to lay you off, work on your passive income and instead lay them off.”
- Dustin Heiner
“Don’t let any single thing ruin your business or your family income. Embrace diversity and be on the safe side.“
- Mike Simmons
“As an investor, you need to be a problem solver and you need as many tools as possible to help you do that.”
- Dustin Heiner
“To be successful in real estate investments you have to build your business first, before buying the inventory to put into the business.”
- Dustin Heiner
Links:
Master Passive income
Dustin on LinkedIn
Dustin on YouTube
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Dustin Heiner. Dustin is a successful investor and he started his real estate business from the ground up, with no money, no knowledge, and no properties. He has been able to build a business that makes him tens of thousands of dollars each month in passive income while giving him 40+ hours of his life back. With Master Passive Income, Dustin is on a mission to teach as many people as possible the step-by-step process of investing in real estate by building a business first.
We begin the episode with Dustin sharing his background story and how he got into real estate. He shares that he got into real estate when he was first laid off from his county job. Though Dustin was lucky to get another one, he realized that he defined his value in terms of his job and needed to make sure it didn’t happen again. He decided to make his job his part-time career, and he became a full-time investor. Dustin invested in real estate, and when he was 37 years old, he was able to quit his job because he had so many rental properties that brought in income. Though Dustin was making $75,000 a year from his job, he discovered that he was losing money and needed to make more money on his own.
We then talk about how Dustin found his properties when he got into real estate. He shares that in 2006 when he started investing, he was staying in California, and the price of properties was high. So, he started buying in other places with lower prices where he could still make passive income. From his experience, Dustin says that he started off the wrong way, but to do it right, you have to build the business first and then buy the inventory to put into the business. For him, he starts by finding a good city with a lot of inventory, potential properties that he can buy, then he finds the right property managers, and lastly, he finds the property itself. Dustin gets everybody that is going to run his business in before buying the property. This ensures that he gets it right and continues to make money in his new investments.
Next, we talk about Dustin’s current strategy of acquiring and buying properties. Dustin shares that he uses everybody and anybody who wants to sell him a property. He identifies himself to everybody as an investor, and by doing that, people know that he’s a buyer. He’s always looking for new properties, and one reason he’s able to capture a lot of equity is that he puts out a lot of offers. And when it comes to choosing a property, he always opts for wholesalers rather than retailers because they work hard for his cash equities. However, one of the best tips Dustin recommends when getting properties capturing equity is finding a property on sale on the MLS and then contacting the seller’s realtor to help you get the property at a discount.
We then talk about the financing side of Dustin’s investment strategy. According to Dustin, funding and managing a property fall under the same strategy. For him, he figures out tools that he can use in all parts of his business. For instance, if he needs to find a property, he needs realtors, wholesalers, other investors, and REIA groups. These are the tools and ways for him to find a property and the same thing with financing properties. He uses private money, hard money, credit card, loans, portfolio loans, mortgages, and commercials as tools, and he teaches his students to deploy them into properties. Dustin has used fourteen different ways to finance properties, but he says not all of them are a fit for every property. As an investor, you need to be problem solvers, and you need many tools to solve these problems and implement them in the best ways possible.
Lastly, we talk about the economy of scales and why Dustin spreads his investments out. Dustin's main goal initially was to quit his job and have money coming in through passive income. He realized if he bought one property, it made $250 in a month and $3000 a year, which was not worth it. On the other hand, with 10 properties, he made $2500 a month and $30,000 a year without working, and with 20 properties, he made $20,000 a month and $60,000 a year passive income. For him, he knew he had to scale his business to get more and more. However, he discovered that investing in one area can be risky, and he started diversifying to build a consistent income.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Dustin Heiner and get valuable information on low-risk strategies for acquiring properties and financing your projects!
Notable Quotes:
“Your value does not come from your job..”
- Dustin Heiner
“Your boss is paying you just enough to keep you working without quitting. They are not paying you for your value.”
- Dustin Heiner
“Don’t wait for your boss to lay you off, work on your passive income and instead lay them off.”
- Dustin Heiner
“Don’t let any single thing ruin your business or your family income. Embrace diversity and be on the safe side.“
- Mike Simmons
“As an investor, you need to be a problem solver and you need as many tools as possible to help you do that.”
- Dustin Heiner
“To be successful in real estate investments you have to build your business first, before buying the inventory to put into the business.”
- Dustin Heiner
Links:
Master Passive income
Dustin on LinkedIn
Dustin on YouTube
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 12th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It is a short-sighted statement to say you need a partner to have credibility. You only need to do one or two deals to have credibility.”
“Partnerships can be very tricky.”
“Instead of bringing on a partner, invest in coaching or mentorship.”
“We don’t typically give earnest money deposits to the seller when we are doing wholesale deals.”
“Find someone to fund your EMD if it is a smoking deal.”
“You need to do a good job of listening to the sellers and truly empathizing with what they are going through.”
“You have to find out from them why selling their house to you is a better solution than putting it on the MLS.”
“When hiring, many times companies will trade a good culture fit for a particular skill set.”
“I almost had a full-out mutiny in my company when I hired purely for skills and not a good company culture fit.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Multifamily Live
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 12th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It is a short-sighted statement to say you need a partner to have credibility. You only need to do one or two deals to have credibility.”
“Partnerships can be very tricky.”
“Instead of bringing on a partner, invest in coaching or mentorship.”
“We don’t typically give earnest money deposits to the seller when we are doing wholesale deals.”
“Find someone to fund your EMD if it is a smoking deal.”
“You need to do a good job of listening to the sellers and truly empathizing with what they are going through.”
“You have to find out from them why selling their house to you is a better solution than putting it on the MLS.”
“When hiring, many times companies will trade a good culture fit for a particular skill set.”
“I almost had a full-out mutiny in my company when I hired purely for skills and not a good company culture fit.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Multifamily Live
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am thrilled to welcome my friend Adam Whitney to the podcast today! Adam is a co-owner and the CEO of Blackjack Real Estate and has served in the Marine Corps since 2004 and remains on active duty. He is a specialist in managing teams and possesses accountability traits learned in the military which are absolutely pivotal to being a successful entrepreneur. Adam utilizes laser-focused marketing techniques in order to achieve his current level of success.
We begin the episode with Adam sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he has served 17 years in active duty in the Marine Corps. He started investing in real estate in 2017 in rental properties but later got into a partnership in private welding. Adam realized he needed to develop the very important skills of marketing and sales in order to grow his business. By following flipping communities he ended up learning a ton in sales, finding marketing deals, and ultimately ended up as the CEO for Blackjack Real Estate.
We then talk about how Bill Allen approached Adam when he wanted to pitch him the idea of buying Blackjack. He shares that it was less divine interaction than people usually think. He was on a podcast and a trip with Bill and that is where they started building their friendship. Adam was just working hard, trying to be a good person, and executing a game plan that the flipping group gave him. However, after the trip, Bill offered him an opportunity to be the majority owner of the company. Adam was shocked, but he was up for the task, and he knew he could help build and grow the company.
Next, we talk about Adam’s transition and what surprised him when he took the wheel. Adam shares that there were some assumptions that he made that were not true. One of the amazing things was that the company was without leadership or strategic guidance, but it was functioning well. According to Adam, when you take over something that is so successful, you tend to make assumptions that everything is being done for the right reasons. For him, he assumed that the people were in positions for the right reasons, but some of the people weren’t a good fit for the company. They didn’t meet the core values and did not execute in their roles. They had to let some employees go, which was a surprise to him, but it worked, and they stabilized.
We then talk about Blackjack Real Estate company and where it stands at the moment. According to Adam, they are getting to that point where they’re getting the right people in the right seats. Adam says their big goal in the first quarter of 2022 is to get their leadership and their vision in place and to figure out who's going to lead their departments effectively. This should be the goal of every business. They also have a projection to hit $1.6 million this year and eventually go back to being a three million dollar company.
Next, we discuss the marketing and lead-generating strategies that are working best for Adam and his team. He shares that they are primarily doing direct mail, cold calling, and SEO for their business. Almost every business uses direct mail as the primary lead source, and they have been using the same postcards they have been using for a long time. However, in real estate, marketing, especially with direct mail, is all about timing. Your message has to hit the hand of a person who is in a position to sell or buy a property from you. Timing is everything, and if you want to get to the right hands at the right time, drop the production cost and do it more often.
Lastly, we talk about KPI metrics role in growth. Adam shares that he looks at his metrics weekly. According to him, if you don’t have KPIs, it’s equivalent to driving in a foreign place without a GPS, and you are incapable of understanding your business. There are a lot of metrics that you can track in your business, such as your average contracts, calls, sales, and so on. Tracking these baseline numbers will help you understand your business, where things are going wrong, and what you need to address. The bottom line is that you have to know what is going on in your company, so tracking your KPIs is essential.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! This interview with Adam Whitney was awesome and he provides so much valuable information on how you can establish yourself and thrive in real estate!
Notable Quotes:
“When we take over something that is so successful, we tend to make assumptions that everything is being done for the right reasons, which might not be the case.”
- Adam Whitney
“Timing is everything, and if you want to get to the right hands at the right time, drop your production cost and do it more often.”
- Mike Simmons
“Who you spend time with is who you become. Maximize your exposure to the people that are doing the things you want to be doing.”
- Adam Whitney
"If you don’t have KPIs that you are tracking, it’s the equivalent to driving in a foreign place without a GPS, and you will be incapable of understanding your business.”
- Adam Whitney
“It’s much harder to break through when operating in isolation without help or surrounding yourself with high achievers.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Blackjack Real Estate
Adam Whitney on LinkedIn
Adam Whitney on Facebook
Adam Whitney on Instagram
Adam Whitney on Twitter
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am thrilled to welcome my friend Adam Whitney to the podcast today! Adam is a co-owner and the CEO of Blackjack Real Estate and has served in the Marine Corps since 2004 and remains on active duty. He is a specialist in managing teams and possesses accountability traits learned in the military which are absolutely pivotal to being a successful entrepreneur. Adam utilizes laser-focused marketing techniques in order to achieve his current level of success.
We begin the episode with Adam sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he has served 17 years in active duty in the Marine Corps. He started investing in real estate in 2017 in rental properties but later got into a partnership in private welding. Adam realized he needed to develop the very important skills of marketing and sales in order to grow his business. By following flipping communities he ended up learning a ton in sales, finding marketing deals, and ultimately ended up as the CEO for Blackjack Real Estate.
We then talk about how Bill Allen approached Adam when he wanted to pitch him the idea of buying Blackjack. He shares that it was less divine interaction than people usually think. He was on a podcast and a trip with Bill and that is where they started building their friendship. Adam was just working hard, trying to be a good person, and executing a game plan that the flipping group gave him. However, after the trip, Bill offered him an opportunity to be the majority owner of the company. Adam was shocked, but he was up for the task, and he knew he could help build and grow the company.
Next, we talk about Adam’s transition and what surprised him when he took the wheel. Adam shares that there were some assumptions that he made that were not true. One of the amazing things was that the company was without leadership or strategic guidance, but it was functioning well. According to Adam, when you take over something that is so successful, you tend to make assumptions that everything is being done for the right reasons. For him, he assumed that the people were in positions for the right reasons, but some of the people weren’t a good fit for the company. They didn’t meet the core values and did not execute in their roles. They had to let some employees go, which was a surprise to him, but it worked, and they stabilized.
We then talk about Blackjack Real Estate company and where it stands at the moment. According to Adam, they are getting to that point where they’re getting the right people in the right seats. Adam says their big goal in the first quarter of 2022 is to get their leadership and their vision in place and to figure out who's going to lead their departments effectively. This should be the goal of every business. They also have a projection to hit $1.6 million this year and eventually go back to being a three million dollar company.
Next, we discuss the marketing and lead-generating strategies that are working best for Adam and his team. He shares that they are primarily doing direct mail, cold calling, and SEO for their business. Almost every business uses direct mail as the primary lead source, and they have been using the same postcards they have been using for a long time. However, in real estate, marketing, especially with direct mail, is all about timing. Your message has to hit the hand of a person who is in a position to sell or buy a property from you. Timing is everything, and if you want to get to the right hands at the right time, drop the production cost and do it more often.
Lastly, we talk about KPI metrics role in growth. Adam shares that he looks at his metrics weekly. According to him, if you don’t have KPIs, it’s equivalent to driving in a foreign place without a GPS, and you are incapable of understanding your business. There are a lot of metrics that you can track in your business, such as your average contracts, calls, sales, and so on. Tracking these baseline numbers will help you understand your business, where things are going wrong, and what you need to address. The bottom line is that you have to know what is going on in your company, so tracking your KPIs is essential.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! This interview with Adam Whitney was awesome and he provides so much valuable information on how you can establish yourself and thrive in real estate!
Notable Quotes:
“When we take over something that is so successful, we tend to make assumptions that everything is being done for the right reasons, which might not be the case.”
- Adam Whitney
“Timing is everything, and if you want to get to the right hands at the right time, drop your production cost and do it more often.”
- Mike Simmons
“Who you spend time with is who you become. Maximize your exposure to the people that are doing the things you want to be doing.”
- Adam Whitney
"If you don’t have KPIs that you are tracking, it’s the equivalent to driving in a foreign place without a GPS, and you will be incapable of understanding your business.”
- Adam Whitney
“It’s much harder to break through when operating in isolation without help or surrounding yourself with high achievers.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Blackjack Real Estate
Adam Whitney on LinkedIn
Adam Whitney on Facebook
Adam Whitney on Instagram
Adam Whitney on Twitter
7 Figure Investor
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 5th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“First you nail it, then you scale it.”
- Mike Simmons quoting Andy McFarland
“I absolutely think you can do $1.2M with four or five employees.”
“The reason they most likely called you is that they can’t list their house on the MLS and it is your job to find out why.”
“We buy houses from people that need to sell their house quickly and for a fair price, in cash.”
“I am less interested in making year-long goals than I am in creating 90-day goals.”
“One of the failures of New Year’s Resolutions is that we lose momentum and motivation because they are too long-term.”
“Twelve-month goals get lost in the shuffle.”
“With 90-day goals, you can’t slip up very much or else you are in jeopardy of missing it.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of January 5th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“First you nail it, then you scale it.”
- Mike Simmons quoting Andy McFarland
“I absolutely think you can do $1.2M with four or five employees.”
“The reason they most likely called you is that they can’t list their house on the MLS and it is your job to find out why.”
“We buy houses from people that need to sell their house quickly and for a fair price, in cash.”
“I am less interested in making year-long goals than I am in creating 90-day goals.”
“One of the failures of New Year’s Resolutions is that we lose momentum and motivation because they are too long-term.”
“Twelve-month goals get lost in the shuffle.”
“With 90-day goals, you can’t slip up very much or else you are in jeopardy of missing it.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Scott Smith to the podcast today! Scott is the founder of Royal Legal Solutions, a real estate investor, and asset protection attorney in Austin, Texas. He graduated from Albany Law School and began his career in high-stakes corporate litigation. Scott has spent the past eight years of his career diving through case law, mastering tax code, and analyzing real estate investments to help investors protect their hard-earned assets.
We begin the episode with Scott sharing his career background and how he ended up in real estate. Scott is an asset protection attorney and a long-time real estate investor. He started real estate investing while in law school. After college, he worked as a litigator suing insurance companies for denying coverage until he started making enough money in real estate. Scott had no intentions of starting a firm, but he created Royal Legal Solutions after realizing that people needed help in asset protection, estate planning, and tax issues. According to him, most real estate investors have a limited knowledge of legal protection strategies.
We then talk about the kind of real estate investments Scott made to start earning more than he was making as an attorney. He shares that he invested in single-family homes. For him, focusing on real estate and legal systems for seven years now with a team of five attorneys, seven paralegals, and over 2000 clients nationwide has given him an opportunity to expand and help people. Scott says that single-family homes are a great investment avenue, especially for your first ten properties. The level of passive income they provide makes them a great place to start and then investors can branch out when they are ready.
Next, we talk about LLCs and how many times it’s the right entity to form. Scott shares that an LLC or a series of LLCs is always the right entity to form, especially during the initial stages. According to him, If you’re someone that does not have any properties yet, but you want to protect yourself personally and your clients from losses, you need an LLC to do that. Similarly, if you own one asset or real estate property, then you need an LLC so that you don’t hold assets under your name. For multiple pieces of real estate, the most efficient tool to use is a series LLC, which you can form in one state and use anywhere. This means if somebody sues you, they can’t take hold of your assets. Scott says that 95% of their clients are single-family home investors with one to seven properties, and the series LLC is by far the best vehicle of asset protection.
We then talk about ways that you can protect your real estate investments. Scott shares that the number one thing is knowing what is appropriate for you. Everybody has assets regardless of how much money they have in the bank account, their credit score, and they need to protect their access to funds. The way you protect your credit score is by establishing an LLC and operating through it for your contracts and any documentation that you’re signing. So, if a lawsuit is filed, it will sue the LLC because it’s the one that entered into an agreement and made the representation. This will give you a much cheaper downside where you can just form a new LLC versus having to defend a lawsuit that will cost you no less than $5000. According to him, LLC structures are so powerful when applied correctly.
Lastly, we talk about Scott’s company and what they offer. He shares that their approach has been to give away all the information and secrets for free. His goal is to get as many people as possible protected using the right structures. They offer an incredible amount of education for free on their website. Their giveaways include eBooks and instructional videos to get people educated to help them take action on their own or work with them. They put people who chose to work with them through an advisory process that walks them through the theories and structures that are appropriate for them. From there, they are assigned an attorney, a paralegal, and a dedicated team to help through the execution process to ensure they are doing the right things.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Scott Smith and get valuable information on asset protection strategies that you must implement today!
Notable Quotes:
“Insurance protects you from most of the risks but it doesn't cover things like misleading someone in an email or text message or a breach of contract.”
- Scott Smith
“If you own one asset in real estate then you need an LLC. You don’t hold assets in your own name.”
- Scott Smith
“You need to be thinking about ligation when you are dealing with any kind of person.”
- Scott Smith
“The series LLC is by far the best vehicle for asset protection, but if you are starting out, then an LLC is better than having nothing at all.“
- Scott Smith
“An LLC will give you a much cheaper downside if you get into a lawsuit by helping you form a new LLC versus having to defend a lawsuit.”
- Scott Smith
“LLC structures are so powerful when applied correctly.”
- Scott Smith
“We need to look at the totality of what our lives are, and our investing should match what we’re trying to accomplish with our lives.”
- Scott Smith
Links:
Royal Legal Solutions
Scott on LinkedIn
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Scott Smith to the podcast today! Scott is the founder of Royal Legal Solutions, a real estate investor, and asset protection attorney in Austin, Texas. He graduated from Albany Law School and began his career in high-stakes corporate litigation. Scott has spent the past eight years of his career diving through case law, mastering tax code, and analyzing real estate investments to help investors protect their hard-earned assets.
We begin the episode with Scott sharing his career background and how he ended up in real estate. Scott is an asset protection attorney and a long-time real estate investor. He started real estate investing while in law school. After college, he worked as a litigator suing insurance companies for denying coverage until he started making enough money in real estate. Scott had no intentions of starting a firm, but he created Royal Legal Solutions after realizing that people needed help in asset protection, estate planning, and tax issues. According to him, most real estate investors have a limited knowledge of legal protection strategies.
We then talk about the kind of real estate investments Scott made to start earning more than he was making as an attorney. He shares that he invested in single-family homes. For him, focusing on real estate and legal systems for seven years now with a team of five attorneys, seven paralegals, and over 2000 clients nationwide has given him an opportunity to expand and help people. Scott says that single-family homes are a great investment avenue, especially for your first ten properties. The level of passive income they provide makes them a great place to start and then investors can branch out when they are ready.
Next, we talk about LLCs and how many times it’s the right entity to form. Scott shares that an LLC or a series of LLCs is always the right entity to form, especially during the initial stages. According to him, If you’re someone that does not have any properties yet, but you want to protect yourself personally and your clients from losses, you need an LLC to do that. Similarly, if you own one asset or real estate property, then you need an LLC so that you don’t hold assets under your name. For multiple pieces of real estate, the most efficient tool to use is a series LLC, which you can form in one state and use anywhere. This means if somebody sues you, they can’t take hold of your assets. Scott says that 95% of their clients are single-family home investors with one to seven properties, and the series LLC is by far the best vehicle of asset protection.
We then talk about ways that you can protect your real estate investments. Scott shares that the number one thing is knowing what is appropriate for you. Everybody has assets regardless of how much money they have in the bank account, their credit score, and they need to protect their access to funds. The way you protect your credit score is by establishing an LLC and operating through it for your contracts and any documentation that you’re signing. So, if a lawsuit is filed, it will sue the LLC because it’s the one that entered into an agreement and made the representation. This will give you a much cheaper downside where you can just form a new LLC versus having to defend a lawsuit that will cost you no less than $5000. According to him, LLC structures are so powerful when applied correctly.
Lastly, we talk about Scott’s company and what they offer. He shares that their approach has been to give away all the information and secrets for free. His goal is to get as many people as possible protected using the right structures. They offer an incredible amount of education for free on their website. Their giveaways include eBooks and instructional videos to get people educated to help them take action on their own or work with them. They put people who chose to work with them through an advisory process that walks them through the theories and structures that are appropriate for them. From there, they are assigned an attorney, a paralegal, and a dedicated team to help through the execution process to ensure they are doing the right things.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Scott Smith and get valuable information on asset protection strategies that you must implement today!
Notable Quotes:
“Insurance protects you from most of the risks but it doesn't cover things like misleading someone in an email or text message or a breach of contract.”
- Scott Smith
“If you own one asset in real estate then you need an LLC. You don’t hold assets in your own name.”
- Scott Smith
“You need to be thinking about ligation when you are dealing with any kind of person.”
- Scott Smith
“The series LLC is by far the best vehicle for asset protection, but if you are starting out, then an LLC is better than having nothing at all.“
- Scott Smith
“An LLC will give you a much cheaper downside if you get into a lawsuit by helping you form a new LLC versus having to defend a lawsuit.”
- Scott Smith
“LLC structures are so powerful when applied correctly.”
- Scott Smith
“We need to look at the totality of what our lives are, and our investing should match what we’re trying to accomplish with our lives.”
- Scott Smith
Links:
Royal Legal Solutions
Scott on LinkedIn
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 29th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I have several friends that are in the short-term rental market and they are handling them in vastly different ways from each other.”
“Most short-term rentals investors are getting enough return on their investment to pay off the property in 4 to 6 years.”
“Make sure the numbers make sense for you.”
“In real estate, you want to have a marketing budget that gives you a four-to-six-month runway.”
“The bigger a company gets, the slower it tends to move.”
“Use speed to your advantage in marketing.”
“Entrepreneurship can be really lonely. You have to surround yourself with people that remind you why you are doing what you are doing.”
“You have to have a really powerful ‘why” to stay motivated in your business.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 29th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I have several friends that are in the short-term rental market and they are handling them in vastly different ways from each other.”
“Most short-term rentals investors are getting enough return on their investment to pay off the property in 4 to 6 years.”
“Make sure the numbers make sense for you.”
“In real estate, you want to have a marketing budget that gives you a four-to-six-month runway.”
“The bigger a company gets, the slower it tends to move.”
“Use speed to your advantage in marketing.”
“Entrepreneurship can be really lonely. You have to surround yourself with people that remind you why you are doing what you are doing.”
“You have to have a really powerful ‘why” to stay motivated in your business.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Brent Bowers. Brent has five years of experience in the land wholesaling business. As an Army Officer with over eight years of service, Brent was spending a great deal of time away from his family, and he knew he needed a business that could help him be more present in his family life. His interest in real estate began in 2007 when he purchased his first rental house. From there, he started exploring real estate investing to support his family while enjoying more time with them.
We begin the episode with Brent sharing his backstory and how he ended up owning a very successful land company. After graduating from high school in 2004, Brent started a land company, and in 2007 he acquired his real estate license. He started buying rental houses and became a real estate agent, but it got so bad that he moved out to join the military. Some years later, Brent got back into business, this time into house hacking. It didn’t take long before he was in massive debt and broke again. To make things better, he started building a team, and in his quest, he stumbled on land business. He did several transactions, and before he knew it, his business was growing, which led him to his financial freedom, and ever since, he started focusing on land more.
We then talk about Brent’s transition to the land business and the lessons he learned along the way. He shares that he was doing well in wholesaling, but he was still searching for the answers. He was running from the pain of losing his first marriage, and he didn’t want what happened to happen to him again. The thought of leaving crushed his soul, and he knew he had to have some businesses to take care of all their expenses if he was to leave the military to be with his family. Coincidentally, he heard a guy from a podcast who was buying land at a massive discount and tripling and quadrupling his money during sales. Brent thought he could do the same. He had a land business, he took action, and within three weeks, he was able to make sales and later stabilize his cash flow.
Next, we talk about Brent’s wholesale company’s selling process. Brent’s biggest projects have been on land and assigning land contracts. According to him, a land business is unique because land doesn’t have a roof falling in, a foundation that needs fixing, or plumbing that needs repair. To find land for sale, Brent starts by finding an area, picking his playground, and then looking for land owners’ information from platforms like PropStream, Resource Guru, or the country tax treasury. The information includes their name and mailing address which he uses to send LOLs (Land Offer Letters).
We then discuss how Brent deals with cases where buyers on long-term contracts default on their payments before the due period and the full payment are complete. According to Brent, this happens all the time, and one out of twelve will default. However, the bigger the down payment, the less likely the buyers will default. In some cases, they try to modify the loans to enable the buyers to pay in full, but sometimes they let the land go into default even after paying almost 78%, which is heartbreaking. When this happens, Brent says that he usually cancels the contract by sending a certified letter or email through his attorney.
Lastly, we talk about Brent’s criteria and checklists for identifying land to buy. For Brent, his target is always 3x his money. He works with a margin of ⅓ of what land is worth, which guarantees him a return. When it comes to selling, Brent sales are triple the buying price, and the buyers often pay in installments with an interest of 9%. They operate on contracts for deed, the land remains under his name, and they don’t allow construction until the whole contract is paid.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Brent Bowers and get valuable information on real estate land investments!
Notable Quotes: “Just start today, take action, and do it! We don’t always have the answers that we need tomorrow, but we have the answers for today.”
- Brent Bowers
“What makes the land business different is that it doesn’t have a roof falling in or a foundation that needs fixing.”
- Brent Bowers
“The bigger the downpayment the less the buyers are likely to default long-term payment contracts.”
- Brent Bowers
“There’s a secret with every house especially when you flip them and renovate them.”
- Brent Bowers
“Successful people in real estate are coincidentally the people who go out and take action.”
- Mike Simmons
“Implementors tend to be the luckiest and the most successful people.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Brent's Website; The Land Shark
Brent Bowers on YouTube
Brent's Podcast
Brent on LinkedIn
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Brent Bowers. Brent has five years of experience in the land wholesaling business. As an Army Officer with over eight years of service, Brent was spending a great deal of time away from his family, and he knew he needed a business that could help him be more present in his family life. His interest in real estate began in 2007 when he purchased his first rental house. From there, he started exploring real estate investing to support his family while enjoying more time with them.
We begin the episode with Brent sharing his backstory and how he ended up owning a very successful land company. After graduating from high school in 2004, Brent started a land company, and in 2007 he acquired his real estate license. He started buying rental houses and became a real estate agent, but it got so bad that he moved out to join the military. Some years later, Brent got back into business, this time into house hacking. It didn’t take long before he was in massive debt and broke again. To make things better, he started building a team, and in his quest, he stumbled on land business. He did several transactions, and before he knew it, his business was growing, which led him to his financial freedom, and ever since, he started focusing on land more.
We then talk about Brent’s transition to the land business and the lessons he learned along the way. He shares that he was doing well in wholesaling, but he was still searching for the answers. He was running from the pain of losing his first marriage, and he didn’t want what happened to happen to him again. The thought of leaving crushed his soul, and he knew he had to have some businesses to take care of all their expenses if he was to leave the military to be with his family. Coincidentally, he heard a guy from a podcast who was buying land at a massive discount and tripling and quadrupling his money during sales. Brent thought he could do the same. He had a land business, he took action, and within three weeks, he was able to make sales and later stabilize his cash flow.
Next, we talk about Brent’s wholesale company’s selling process. Brent’s biggest projects have been on land and assigning land contracts. According to him, a land business is unique because land doesn’t have a roof falling in, a foundation that needs fixing, or plumbing that needs repair. To find land for sale, Brent starts by finding an area, picking his playground, and then looking for land owners’ information from platforms like PropStream, Resource Guru, or the country tax treasury. The information includes their name and mailing address which he uses to send LOLs (Land Offer Letters).
We then discuss how Brent deals with cases where buyers on long-term contracts default on their payments before the due period and the full payment are complete. According to Brent, this happens all the time, and one out of twelve will default. However, the bigger the down payment, the less likely the buyers will default. In some cases, they try to modify the loans to enable the buyers to pay in full, but sometimes they let the land go into default even after paying almost 78%, which is heartbreaking. When this happens, Brent says that he usually cancels the contract by sending a certified letter or email through his attorney.
Lastly, we talk about Brent’s criteria and checklists for identifying land to buy. For Brent, his target is always 3x his money. He works with a margin of ⅓ of what land is worth, which guarantees him a return. When it comes to selling, Brent sales are triple the buying price, and the buyers often pay in installments with an interest of 9%. They operate on contracts for deed, the land remains under his name, and they don’t allow construction until the whole contract is paid.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Brent Bowers and get valuable information on real estate land investments!
Notable Quotes: “Just start today, take action, and do it! We don’t always have the answers that we need tomorrow, but we have the answers for today.”
- Brent Bowers
“What makes the land business different is that it doesn’t have a roof falling in or a foundation that needs fixing.”
- Brent Bowers
“The bigger the downpayment the less the buyers are likely to default long-term payment contracts.”
- Brent Bowers
“There’s a secret with every house especially when you flip them and renovate them.”
- Brent Bowers
“Successful people in real estate are coincidentally the people who go out and take action.”
- Mike Simmons
“Implementors tend to be the luckiest and the most successful people.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Brent's Website; The Land Shark
Brent Bowers on YouTube
Brent's Podcast
Brent on LinkedIn
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 22nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You just have to show up and ask the questions to get you where you want to be.”
“You need to have someone else’s hindsight to use as your foresight.”
“You need to sit down and really listen to a potential seller.”
“Solve the problem - buy the house.”
“Find out the problem so you can help them with the solution.”
“If direct mail and cold calling are working and you are happy with the results, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“If something works, do more of it.”
“Niche marketing, and niche lists, are smaller and time-sensitive.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 22nd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You just have to show up and ask the questions to get you where you want to be.”
“You need to have someone else’s hindsight to use as your foresight.”
“You need to sit down and really listen to a potential seller.”
“Solve the problem - buy the house.”
“Find out the problem so you can help them with the solution.”
“If direct mail and cold calling are working and you are happy with the results, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“If something works, do more of it.”
“Niche marketing, and niche lists, are smaller and time-sensitive.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Nico Ortega. Nico is the co-founder and CEO at NUOVO. He has over eight years of experience in real estate development and more than five years of experience in real estate short-term rental multifamily properties. He’s knowledgeable in all aspects of the hospitality industry, from sourcing, management, operations, CXP, and sales. He has proven management and leadership skills demonstrated by increasing property owners’ rental income with a margin of 20-30 % from what they earned before.
We begin the episode with Nico sharing his background story and how he got into real estate. After graduating from college, he started working with his brother, who was in the industry but needed help with commercial real estate brokerages for a shopping mall. Two to three years later, they sold their project and went over to Miami, partnered, and did more projects in the real estate. They started their operations with five units of multifamily properties.
We then talk about Nico’s focus and the strategies they employed to identify properties that met their criteria. He says that their focus from the beginning was multifamily houses that were in top shape. They went after class A properties in downtown locations, so there was no need to negotiate renovation costs. To identify the suitable properties, they used a filter to select the best multifamily units available. For Nico, If he was to go back to 2015, he would take the same steps, but he would choose a different route in today’s real estate environment. Between 2015 and today, there have been a lot of new entrants in the market that are doing it on scale, and the competition for the same properties is growing. Initially, Nico said that their personalized approach was the reason for their growth and success. He personally went to the owners and regional managers to find the right fit.
Next, we talk about Nico units determining criteria. Nico and his partner took into consideration a variety of factors, and the most important were management and ownership. They had experiences where they had an owner who didn’t understand the business 100%, and property managers were very skeptical, making it difficult to maintain long-lasting business relations. You need to find an owner who understands that it’s more about the consistency and safety of rental units and maintaining a margin. The second factor is the quality of the property. The property needs to be in tip-top shape and well taken care of. Thirdly, Nico says that hotels and motels have a strong influence on real estate. Lastly, Nico explains the importance of clarity in rules. Before you try to do real estate at scale or individual property management, you have to understand the area’s regulations.
We then discuss how Nico finances their real estate properties and his business strategy. According to Nico, they usually have a benchmark between 1.7x and 2x for the rent. They had a very organic approach towards their growth, and they would send follow-up emails to clients explaining the advantages of security, consistency, a professional manager, and strong communication to remove skepticism in any contract Their occupancy is usually 80-85% depending on the season. They scale it using their revenue management system developed by a professor from his brother’s data analysis and machine learning MBA class. The revenue management system takes into account every internal and external including review, competition, and budget to produce a recommended rate.
Lastly, we talk about Nico’s market. According to Nico, his ideal property is a 25 unit property, with studios, one-bedroom, kitchen, in-unit laundry, no pools, and no front desk. If you’re such an owner, if you put your property in their program they will take care of everything from managing the customers to managing the units and payments. This is a passive income opportunity, and you will be generating 20-30% more for short-term rent than you were generating before.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Nico Ortega. Tune in! Get valuable information on creative ways of financing and growing your real estate projects!
Notable Quotes:
“If you see a property that is damaged, not well taken care of, the management is being super lenient with the upkeep of the property. That will come back and bite you.”
- Nico Ortega
“Hotels and motels have a strong influence on the real estate industry.”
- Nico Ortega
“Opportunities come when you least expect them to.”
- Nico Ortega
We don’t shy away from opportunities. We are going to look at it what people have available and try to help in whatever way we can if it fits whatever we’re looking for.”
- Nico Ortega
Links:
Stay NUOVO
Equity funding campaign
Nico on LinkedIn
Nico on Facebook
Nico on Instagram
Nico on Twitter
Nico Email; nicostaynuovo.com/
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Nico Ortega. Nico is the co-founder and CEO at NUOVO. He has over eight years of experience in real estate development and more than five years of experience in real estate short-term rental multifamily properties. He’s knowledgeable in all aspects of the hospitality industry, from sourcing, management, operations, CXP, and sales. He has proven management and leadership skills demonstrated by increasing property owners’ rental income with a margin of 20-30 % from what they earned before.
We begin the episode with Nico sharing his background story and how he got into real estate. After graduating from college, he started working with his brother, who was in the industry but needed help with commercial real estate brokerages for a shopping mall. Two to three years later, they sold their project and went over to Miami, partnered, and did more projects in the real estate. They started their operations with five units of multifamily properties.
We then talk about Nico’s focus and the strategies they employed to identify properties that met their criteria. He says that their focus from the beginning was multifamily houses that were in top shape. They went after class A properties in downtown locations, so there was no need to negotiate renovation costs. To identify the suitable properties, they used a filter to select the best multifamily units available. For Nico, If he was to go back to 2015, he would take the same steps, but he would choose a different route in today’s real estate environment. Between 2015 and today, there have been a lot of new entrants in the market that are doing it on scale, and the competition for the same properties is growing. Initially, Nico said that their personalized approach was the reason for their growth and success. He personally went to the owners and regional managers to find the right fit.
Next, we talk about Nico units determining criteria. Nico and his partner took into consideration a variety of factors, and the most important were management and ownership. They had experiences where they had an owner who didn’t understand the business 100%, and property managers were very skeptical, making it difficult to maintain long-lasting business relations. You need to find an owner who understands that it’s more about the consistency and safety of rental units and maintaining a margin. The second factor is the quality of the property. The property needs to be in tip-top shape and well taken care of. Thirdly, Nico says that hotels and motels have a strong influence on real estate. Lastly, Nico explains the importance of clarity in rules. Before you try to do real estate at scale or individual property management, you have to understand the area’s regulations.
We then discuss how Nico finances their real estate properties and his business strategy. According to Nico, they usually have a benchmark between 1.7x and 2x for the rent. They had a very organic approach towards their growth, and they would send follow-up emails to clients explaining the advantages of security, consistency, a professional manager, and strong communication to remove skepticism in any contract Their occupancy is usually 80-85% depending on the season. They scale it using their revenue management system developed by a professor from his brother’s data analysis and machine learning MBA class. The revenue management system takes into account every internal and external including review, competition, and budget to produce a recommended rate.
Lastly, we talk about Nico’s market. According to Nico, his ideal property is a 25 unit property, with studios, one-bedroom, kitchen, in-unit laundry, no pools, and no front desk. If you’re such an owner, if you put your property in their program they will take care of everything from managing the customers to managing the units and payments. This is a passive income opportunity, and you will be generating 20-30% more for short-term rent than you were generating before.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Nico Ortega. Tune in! Get valuable information on creative ways of financing and growing your real estate projects!
Notable Quotes:
“If you see a property that is damaged, not well taken care of, the management is being super lenient with the upkeep of the property. That will come back and bite you.”
- Nico Ortega
“Hotels and motels have a strong influence on the real estate industry.”
- Nico Ortega
“Opportunities come when you least expect them to.”
- Nico Ortega
We don’t shy away from opportunities. We are going to look at it what people have available and try to help in whatever way we can if it fits whatever we’re looking for.”
- Nico Ortega
Links:
Stay NUOVO
Equity funding campaign
Nico on LinkedIn
Nico on Facebook
Nico on Instagram
Nico on Twitter
Nico Email; nicostaynuovo.com/
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 15th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“A degree in finance would be helpful in tracking your cash flow and expenditures.”
“Investors know how to make money, how to talk to people, and how to write deals, but they are not necessarily great at tracking their money.”
“Saving money is great, but you don’t necessarily need a ton of your own money to get started in real estate.”
“The best way to get started is to find a mentor or coach.”
“One of the most important relationships within a wholesaling company is between the acquisitions and dispositions managers.”
“Understanding each other will make the relationship much, much better.”
“Acquisition people are wired to get contracts.”
“That’s a coachable moment and hopefully everyone can learn something from your leadership.”
“The single biggest and most valuable asset within your wholesaling business is your buyer’s list.”
“You have to focus on, cultivate, and nurture your buyer’s list.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 15th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“A degree in finance would be helpful in tracking your cash flow and expenditures.”
“Investors know how to make money, how to talk to people, and how to write deals, but they are not necessarily great at tracking their money.”
“Saving money is great, but you don’t necessarily need a ton of your own money to get started in real estate.”
“The best way to get started is to find a mentor or coach.”
“One of the most important relationships within a wholesaling company is between the acquisitions and dispositions managers.”
“Understanding each other will make the relationship much, much better.”
“Acquisition people are wired to get contracts.”
“That’s a coachable moment and hopefully everyone can learn something from your leadership.”
“The single biggest and most valuable asset within your wholesaling business is your buyer’s list.”
“You have to focus on, cultivate, and nurture your buyer’s list.”
Links:
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am thrilled to welcome my friend and colleague, Bill Allen, to the show today to talk about his new book! I point out that Bill is by far my most frequent guest and how he has shared his background story in other podcasts. He went from one flip in his first year to sixty-seven in his next year by joining the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind, blowing up his real estate investing business in a manner very similar to my own path. Bill ended up buying the 7 Figure Flipping company in July of 2019 and has been super busy the past couple of years, but was convinced it was now or never for getting his thoughts and experiences down on paper. We deep dive into his first book, 7 Figure Flipping Underground, in the rest of the interview.
Both of us get the same business-related questions all the time, and Bill expressed the need to have something to hand someone to say, “here is the answer.” The desire to leave something behind for his kids and others to reference was also a strong motivator for Bill to take on this project. We talked about how being part of the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group has a large pricetag and he was hoping to be able to share a lot of that type of mentoring with the masses very inexpensively. Bill also talked about writing the book and then feeling it wasn’t quite what he wanted to deliver, so he ended up rewriting the entire manuscript! Because Bill had been inspired to write this book by his dad who is also a published author, I asked how his dad responded when he found out about Bill’s book. Bill said he felt so gratified when his dad told him how proud he was of him.
I was incredibly honored when Bill asked me to read the manuscript for the audio version of this book, so if you haven’t had enough of my voice, you will have to check it out! We did something very cool with the audio version too - I had some questions after reading the book and basically interviewed Bill for some bonus content at the end of each chapter. Bill is basically giving the book away free on his website so check out the link below to get your copy by just paying for postage. Bill also adds that he heard some advice about reading a book while listening to it at the same time, so he has made it easy to get both versions on his website.
I pointed out that Bill has built his company very recently, over the past several years, so that the information in the book is very current and timeless. He has also made some dramatic changes in his business structurally and I wanted him to describe the modifications he chose to make. Bill gave us some background of hiring his team and eventually a COO to basically take over for him of running the day-to-day operations. Then the pandemic changed everything. Bill is incredibly open and honest with the struggles he experienced and how it changed his outlook and goals.
Make sure you don’t miss this fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bill Allen and get all of the inside scoop on not only his new book, but also his recent business challenges and changes! Bill is such a great guy and we just have a blast in this interview… join us!
Notable Quotes:
“This book is the definitive guide to helping you get started in your real estate business.”
- Mike Simmons
“Usually when people haven’t gotten started with something, it is because of a lack of information and/or fear.”
- Mike Simmons
“I get the same questions over and over again, so I just wanted this thing, this book, to say, ‘Here is the answer.’”
- Bill Allen
“This book can open people’s eyes to off-market real estate deals and the strategies and techniques shouldn’t change because they are fundamental principles.”
- Bill Allen
“7 Figure Flipping Underground is the cheapest way to get $25,000 worth of mentoring.”
- Mike Simmons
“I guarantee that there is stuff in this book that you don’t know or haven’t thought of.”
- Mike Simmons
“Be open-minded and listen to what other people need and want.”
- Bill Allen
“When we find a superstar kind of person, we have to figure out how to take care of them.”
- Bill Allen
“If I say ‘yes’ to you, I am going to give you everything I got.”
- Bill Allen
Links:
7 Figure Flipping Underground
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am thrilled to welcome my friend and colleague, Bill Allen, to the show today to talk about his new book! I point out that Bill is by far my most frequent guest and how he has shared his background story in other podcasts. He went from one flip in his first year to sixty-seven in his next year by joining the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind, blowing up his real estate investing business in a manner very similar to my own path. Bill ended up buying the 7 Figure Flipping company in July of 2019 and has been super busy the past couple of years, but was convinced it was now or never for getting his thoughts and experiences down on paper. We deep dive into his first book, 7 Figure Flipping Underground, in the rest of the interview.
Both of us get the same business-related questions all the time, and Bill expressed the need to have something to hand someone to say, “here is the answer.” The desire to leave something behind for his kids and others to reference was also a strong motivator for Bill to take on this project. We talked about how being part of the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group has a large pricetag and he was hoping to be able to share a lot of that type of mentoring with the masses very inexpensively. Bill also talked about writing the book and then feeling it wasn’t quite what he wanted to deliver, so he ended up rewriting the entire manuscript! Because Bill had been inspired to write this book by his dad who is also a published author, I asked how his dad responded when he found out about Bill’s book. Bill said he felt so gratified when his dad told him how proud he was of him.
I was incredibly honored when Bill asked me to read the manuscript for the audio version of this book, so if you haven’t had enough of my voice, you will have to check it out! We did something very cool with the audio version too - I had some questions after reading the book and basically interviewed Bill for some bonus content at the end of each chapter. Bill is basically giving the book away free on his website so check out the link below to get your copy by just paying for postage. Bill also adds that he heard some advice about reading a book while listening to it at the same time, so he has made it easy to get both versions on his website.
I pointed out that Bill has built his company very recently, over the past several years, so that the information in the book is very current and timeless. He has also made some dramatic changes in his business structurally and I wanted him to describe the modifications he chose to make. Bill gave us some background of hiring his team and eventually a COO to basically take over for him of running the day-to-day operations. Then the pandemic changed everything. Bill is incredibly open and honest with the struggles he experienced and how it changed his outlook and goals.
Make sure you don’t miss this fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bill Allen and get all of the inside scoop on not only his new book, but also his recent business challenges and changes! Bill is such a great guy and we just have a blast in this interview… join us!
Notable Quotes:
“This book is the definitive guide to helping you get started in your real estate business.”
- Mike Simmons
“Usually when people haven’t gotten started with something, it is because of a lack of information and/or fear.”
- Mike Simmons
“I get the same questions over and over again, so I just wanted this thing, this book, to say, ‘Here is the answer.’”
- Bill Allen
“This book can open people’s eyes to off-market real estate deals and the strategies and techniques shouldn’t change because they are fundamental principles.”
- Bill Allen
“7 Figure Flipping Underground is the cheapest way to get $25,000 worth of mentoring.”
- Mike Simmons
“I guarantee that there is stuff in this book that you don’t know or haven’t thought of.”
- Mike Simmons
“Be open-minded and listen to what other people need and want.”
- Bill Allen
“When we find a superstar kind of person, we have to figure out how to take care of them.”
- Bill Allen
“If I say ‘yes’ to you, I am going to give you everything I got.”
- Bill Allen
Links:
7 Figure Flipping Underground
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 8th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“With postcards, the message matters less than the timing.”
“You should send postcards to the same recipients every 30 to 60 days, maximum so that you hit people when they are having a life moment which causes them to have to sell their house.”
“It is actually kind of hard to lose money on a flip unless you don’t do your due diligence and ignore red flags.”
“A house that is not on a main road makes can make a really good flip.”
“For a flip, you don’t want a house that looks completely different than all the other houses in the neighborhood.”
“The best way to build your buyers list is by getting to know the players in your market.”
“I blew up my buyer’s list by using ListSource.”
“You want to send potential buyers letters rather than postcards because you want to represent yourself as a legitimate business.”
“Using direct mail gives you the highest probability of early success in marketing.”
“Direct mail marketing is responsible for the vast majority of deals most successful real estate investors secure.”
“I always want to know what my call to lead ratio is. How many calls does it take for me to get a lead?”
Links:
ListSource
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 8th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“With postcards, the message matters less than the timing.”
“You should send postcards to the same recipients every 30 to 60 days, maximum so that you hit people when they are having a life moment which causes them to have to sell their house.”
“It is actually kind of hard to lose money on a flip unless you don’t do your due diligence and ignore red flags.”
“A house that is not on a main road makes can make a really good flip.”
“For a flip, you don’t want a house that looks completely different than all the other houses in the neighborhood.”
“The best way to build your buyers list is by getting to know the players in your market.”
“I blew up my buyer’s list by using ListSource.”
“You want to send potential buyers letters rather than postcards because you want to represent yourself as a legitimate business.”
“Using direct mail gives you the highest probability of early success in marketing.”
“Direct mail marketing is responsible for the vast majority of deals most successful real estate investors secure.”
“I always want to know what my call to lead ratio is. How many calls does it take for me to get a lead?”
Links:
ListSource
7 Figure Investor
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Byron Enriquez. Byron has over 15 years of real estate finance experience, handling complex financial transactions, always keeping in mind risk mitigation as well as a profitable outcome for all parties. He is a proven sales and leadership coach who has focused his career on developing salespeople and sales leaders. Byron lends over $15M a month for private real estate investors to invest in buy and holds, flips, and commercial real estate. His accolades include being featured in Yahoo Finance, many popular podcasts, and having completed over 1500 real estate transactions.
We begin the episode with Byron sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he has been in the business for almost 20 years and in that time, he has done pretty much every aspect of real estate; lending, property management, flipping. Prior to getting into mortgage, Byron’s passion was finance. He was a foreign exchange trader in securities trading for a few years. He caught the “banking bug” at 18 years old and worked his way through college. He shares that he got his passion for real estate from his dad who owned properties and used to ask Byron for help translating loan documents when he was 12-13 years old. Looking back, he now realizes that actually triggered something in him and made him make a career out of it.
We then talk about Byron’s transition from the corporate world into entrepreneurship and the lessons he learned along the way. He shares that there are a lot of similarities between being a leader in the corporate world, managing a team, and being an entrepreneur. Back when he was managing hundreds of people in the banking sector, there was never a roadmap on how to achieve what they needed from him. His job was to come in and analyze the situation, and create the path. For Byron, it’s the same when it comes to entrepreneurship which is why he believes that self-motivation and self-drive are crucial in building your own path as an entrepreneur.
Next, we talk about Byron’s company, JSS Financials. Byron and his partner started JSS Financials five years ago. Their goal was to help self-employed individuals and freelancers in California to get financed for properties. They started carving out a niche for themselves to be able to help these individuals. In the beginning, it was more conventional financing, but it soon evolved into what they call private mortgage lending. The funds that they lend out don't come from banks instead, they have private relationships with private family offices, hedge funds, and different investors. Byron brought that corporate mentality of doing things and disclosing everything properly. Their money is coming from private sources, but you can still mortgage it; there's a website where you can make mortgage payments and you get all the reporting that you need to get. Byron also shares that since the beginning of the pandemic, they took some calculated risks and were able to double down and expand into all fifty states.
We then talk about how to be better when it comes to sales. According to Byron, the number one thing you need to look at, if you are trying to be a better salesperson, is your conversion rate. Because in sales it's not all about the activity; it's but it's doing the activity the right amount of times. Once you know your conversation rate, you will be able to determine the number of times you need to do a certain activity to get the desired result. It's all about putting yourself in opportunities to do it and letting your expertise shine when you get there. But you need to do it the right amount of times, to get in front of the right amount of people to be able to get that conversion.
Lastly, we talk about what to expect from the real estate market going forward in this mid to post COVID era. Byron believes that there are still a lot of opportunities in the market. We might not see the huge increases that we saw in the last 18 months, but he believes that the values will continue to increase. As for the lending side of the business, Byron shares that pre-Covid there were some more flexible programs for the qualified mortgage base, but after Covid they completely shrunk down. But, they have been opening up again in the last 6-9 months providing some opportunities for more creative financing. Byron also shares that his company is launching their own fund where investors can invest money into the fund and then JSS creates programs to go out and deploy those e funds into the real estate community.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Byron Enriquez and get valuable information on creative ways of financing your projects!
Notable Quotes:
“I reported to the CEO, I was at that level. And then I realized: I'm sitting here building something for somebody else.”
- Byron Enriquez
“It's a lot about self-motivation and self-drive, charting your own path, and being able to set those goals in front of you on your own.”
- Byron Enriquez
“In this super-rush world of Instagram and social media, everyone thinks that stuff happens overnight and with no effort. But the formula hasn't changed a lot - people who work their butts off tend to find a lot of success.”
- Mike Simmons
“On a calculated gamble, we doubled down and decided to increase our marketing and expand into other markets.“
- Byron Enriquez
“We are not the most expensive guys out there, quite the opposite. We usually try to work with people's framework and budget to make the deal work. We know that building that relationship with these investors is gonna be long-term.”
- Byron Enriquez
“Everyone is a salesperson. If you own your own business, you're a salesperson. It doesn't matter if you're out shaking hands or making phone calls or whatever it is you're doing - you're selling yourself, you're selling your business, you're selling your services.”
- Byron Enriquez
Links:
JSS Financial
Byron on Instagram
Byron on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Byron Enriquez. Byron has over 15 years of real estate finance experience, handling complex financial transactions, always keeping in mind risk mitigation as well as a profitable outcome for all parties. He is a proven sales and leadership coach who has focused his career on developing salespeople and sales leaders. Byron lends over $15M a month for private real estate investors to invest in buy and holds, flips, and commercial real estate. His accolades include being featured in Yahoo Finance, many popular podcasts, and having completed over 1500 real estate transactions.
We begin the episode with Byron sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He shares that he has been in the business for almost 20 years and in that time, he has done pretty much every aspect of real estate; lending, property management, flipping. Prior to getting into mortgage, Byron’s passion was finance. He was a foreign exchange trader in securities trading for a few years. He caught the “banking bug” at 18 years old and worked his way through college. He shares that he got his passion for real estate from his dad who owned properties and used to ask Byron for help translating loan documents when he was 12-13 years old. Looking back, he now realizes that actually triggered something in him and made him make a career out of it.
We then talk about Byron’s transition from the corporate world into entrepreneurship and the lessons he learned along the way. He shares that there are a lot of similarities between being a leader in the corporate world, managing a team, and being an entrepreneur. Back when he was managing hundreds of people in the banking sector, there was never a roadmap on how to achieve what they needed from him. His job was to come in and analyze the situation, and create the path. For Byron, it’s the same when it comes to entrepreneurship which is why he believes that self-motivation and self-drive are crucial in building your own path as an entrepreneur.
Next, we talk about Byron’s company, JSS Financials. Byron and his partner started JSS Financials five years ago. Their goal was to help self-employed individuals and freelancers in California to get financed for properties. They started carving out a niche for themselves to be able to help these individuals. In the beginning, it was more conventional financing, but it soon evolved into what they call private mortgage lending. The funds that they lend out don't come from banks instead, they have private relationships with private family offices, hedge funds, and different investors. Byron brought that corporate mentality of doing things and disclosing everything properly. Their money is coming from private sources, but you can still mortgage it; there's a website where you can make mortgage payments and you get all the reporting that you need to get. Byron also shares that since the beginning of the pandemic, they took some calculated risks and were able to double down and expand into all fifty states.
We then talk about how to be better when it comes to sales. According to Byron, the number one thing you need to look at, if you are trying to be a better salesperson, is your conversion rate. Because in sales it's not all about the activity; it's but it's doing the activity the right amount of times. Once you know your conversation rate, you will be able to determine the number of times you need to do a certain activity to get the desired result. It's all about putting yourself in opportunities to do it and letting your expertise shine when you get there. But you need to do it the right amount of times, to get in front of the right amount of people to be able to get that conversion.
Lastly, we talk about what to expect from the real estate market going forward in this mid to post COVID era. Byron believes that there are still a lot of opportunities in the market. We might not see the huge increases that we saw in the last 18 months, but he believes that the values will continue to increase. As for the lending side of the business, Byron shares that pre-Covid there were some more flexible programs for the qualified mortgage base, but after Covid they completely shrunk down. But, they have been opening up again in the last 6-9 months providing some opportunities for more creative financing. Byron also shares that his company is launching their own fund where investors can invest money into the fund and then JSS creates programs to go out and deploy those e funds into the real estate community.
Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Byron Enriquez and get valuable information on creative ways of financing your projects!
Notable Quotes:
“I reported to the CEO, I was at that level. And then I realized: I'm sitting here building something for somebody else.”
- Byron Enriquez
“It's a lot about self-motivation and self-drive, charting your own path, and being able to set those goals in front of you on your own.”
- Byron Enriquez
“In this super-rush world of Instagram and social media, everyone thinks that stuff happens overnight and with no effort. But the formula hasn't changed a lot - people who work their butts off tend to find a lot of success.”
- Mike Simmons
“On a calculated gamble, we doubled down and decided to increase our marketing and expand into other markets.“
- Byron Enriquez
“We are not the most expensive guys out there, quite the opposite. We usually try to work with people's framework and budget to make the deal work. We know that building that relationship with these investors is gonna be long-term.”
- Byron Enriquez
“Everyone is a salesperson. If you own your own business, you're a salesperson. It doesn't matter if you're out shaking hands or making phone calls or whatever it is you're doing - you're selling yourself, you're selling your business, you're selling your services.”
- Byron Enriquez
Links:
JSS Financial
Byron on Instagram
Byron on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 1st and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of December 1st and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Hans Struzyna. Hans works on the #1 team for luxury real estate in the East Bay of the San Francisco Area. He has personally closed over $100 million in volume in the last 4 years. Hans is also a former member of the Olympic Rowing Team and has been featured on Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS.
We begin the episode with Hans sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Hans is originally from the Pacific Northwest. He grew up in Seattle and he went to the University of Washington. As a sophomore in high school, he discovered rowing, a very popular sport in the Seattle area, and he made the Olympic team while attending the University of Washington. He then moved to California to train with a high-performance team in the Bay Area and long story short, he made his way to Rio in 2016 where he competed with his team, placing fourth overall. Hans refers to that experience as his first (unpaid) career. After his rowing career was over, he jumped straight into real estate. He got his license and eventually joined the team where he’s at right now, dealing in the luxury home market.
We then talk about the effect of being in sports at some point in your life and how that can manifest itself later in life, especially career-wise. As a former Olympic athlete, Hans shares that being in sports is a great place to start learning about teamwork, dedication and being intentional and consistent. He believes all of these things have tremendous value in business. Another positive consequence of being in sports is developing an ability to be coachable and understanding that coaching is necessary to get you better. But, Hans also points out that, when you're picking a coach or you're taking advice, you have to be very careful of whose advice you take and why you're taking it. This will help you avoid the shiny object syndrome and being all over the place with little to no results.
Next, we talk about how and why Hans settled on the luxury market. Hans shares that when he first got into real estate, he was in short sales and foreclosures, cold calling two hours a day. In his first year, he got nine deals and felt like he wasn’t being valued enough because all that people cared about was not getting foreclosed on. Also, he realized that the middle tier and the low tier price points were being taken over by technology, so he decided to go where technology isn’t, which is the luxury home market. According to Hans, the luxury market is all about high-touch, high-value transactions, where you have to build relationships, build skill sets, and build a reputation that you are someone who can get it done and do it at an incredibly high level, which was exactly what he wanted.
Lastly, we talk about Hans’ Luxury Market Workshop and some of the key components that people can take away from it. He explains that he first starts off with more practical things, like how to identify the luxury market and your brand and then he dives into how you can mold that in a way that speaks to your client, to the person who is seeking that representation and that clarity in the market. Hans’ workshop comes with seven live group coaching sessions that are held once per week, a step-by-step guide of how to identify your high-end market and your unique place in it, resources to help you plan, prepare and present your brand at all points of your career, a private Facebook group to connect and network with like-minded individuals, and a weekly live Q&A session to address all of your specific questions directly with Hans.
Make sure you don’t miss this incredible episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the amazing Hans Struzyna and learn how to grow your business in the luxury home market!
Notable Quotes:
“It's all about the teamwork, the soft skills as well as the actual physical skills of showing up to practice or rehearsals or whatever. And I think all of that has tremendous value in business and definitely in real estate as well.”
- Hans Struzyna
“Probably the single biggest benefit of having been in sports at some point is your ability to take coaching and understand that coaching is necessary to get you better.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you're picking a coach, or you're taking advice, you have to be very careful of whose advice you take and why you're taking it.”
- Hans Struzyna
“I was thinking - well, if technology is going to try and take that middle and that lower tier, I need to go where the technology isn't.”
- Hans Struzyna
“I have a process that if you go the extra mile with me and educate yourself and let me guide you, I will spare you a lot of the insanity.”
- Hans Struzyna
“If you can build the base, the foundation of your offering, articulate it and then deliver upon it, that is how you build longevity in a marketplace and you build relationships. ”
- Hans Struzyna
“If you get clear on what you're actually trying to do, and then identify a couple of people who can help you get there or you can model off of, you will tee yourself up for success. Nothing in this industry is complicated or rocket science, but it's all about consistency and execution. If you can nail those things and be a sponge and learn, you will have tremendous success in the long run.”
- Hans Struzyna
Links:
Hans on YouTube
Hans on Instagram
The Luxury Market Workshop
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Hans Struzyna. Hans works on the #1 team for luxury real estate in the East Bay of the San Francisco Area. He has personally closed over $100 million in volume in the last 4 years. Hans is also a former member of the Olympic Rowing Team and has been featured on Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS.
We begin the episode with Hans sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. Hans is originally from the Pacific Northwest. He grew up in Seattle and he went to the University of Washington. As a sophomore in high school, he discovered rowing, a very popular sport in the Seattle area, and he made the Olympic team while attending the University of Washington. He then moved to California to train with a high-performance team in the Bay Area and long story short, he made his way to Rio in 2016 where he competed with his team, placing fourth overall. Hans refers to that experience as his first (unpaid) career. After his rowing career was over, he jumped straight into real estate. He got his license and eventually joined the team where he’s at right now, dealing in the luxury home market.
We then talk about the effect of being in sports at some point in your life and how that can manifest itself later in life, especially career-wise. As a former Olympic athlete, Hans shares that being in sports is a great place to start learning about teamwork, dedication and being intentional and consistent. He believes all of these things have tremendous value in business. Another positive consequence of being in sports is developing an ability to be coachable and understanding that coaching is necessary to get you better. But, Hans also points out that, when you're picking a coach or you're taking advice, you have to be very careful of whose advice you take and why you're taking it. This will help you avoid the shiny object syndrome and being all over the place with little to no results.
Next, we talk about how and why Hans settled on the luxury market. Hans shares that when he first got into real estate, he was in short sales and foreclosures, cold calling two hours a day. In his first year, he got nine deals and felt like he wasn’t being valued enough because all that people cared about was not getting foreclosed on. Also, he realized that the middle tier and the low tier price points were being taken over by technology, so he decided to go where technology isn’t, which is the luxury home market. According to Hans, the luxury market is all about high-touch, high-value transactions, where you have to build relationships, build skill sets, and build a reputation that you are someone who can get it done and do it at an incredibly high level, which was exactly what he wanted.
Lastly, we talk about Hans’ Luxury Market Workshop and some of the key components that people can take away from it. He explains that he first starts off with more practical things, like how to identify the luxury market and your brand and then he dives into how you can mold that in a way that speaks to your client, to the person who is seeking that representation and that clarity in the market. Hans’ workshop comes with seven live group coaching sessions that are held once per week, a step-by-step guide of how to identify your high-end market and your unique place in it, resources to help you plan, prepare and present your brand at all points of your career, a private Facebook group to connect and network with like-minded individuals, and a weekly live Q&A session to address all of your specific questions directly with Hans.
Make sure you don’t miss this incredible episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the amazing Hans Struzyna and learn how to grow your business in the luxury home market!
Notable Quotes:
“It's all about the teamwork, the soft skills as well as the actual physical skills of showing up to practice or rehearsals or whatever. And I think all of that has tremendous value in business and definitely in real estate as well.”
- Hans Struzyna
“Probably the single biggest benefit of having been in sports at some point is your ability to take coaching and understand that coaching is necessary to get you better.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you're picking a coach, or you're taking advice, you have to be very careful of whose advice you take and why you're taking it.”
- Hans Struzyna
“I was thinking - well, if technology is going to try and take that middle and that lower tier, I need to go where the technology isn't.”
- Hans Struzyna
“I have a process that if you go the extra mile with me and educate yourself and let me guide you, I will spare you a lot of the insanity.”
- Hans Struzyna
“If you can build the base, the foundation of your offering, articulate it and then deliver upon it, that is how you build longevity in a marketplace and you build relationships. ”
- Hans Struzyna
“If you get clear on what you're actually trying to do, and then identify a couple of people who can help you get there or you can model off of, you will tee yourself up for success. Nothing in this industry is complicated or rocket science, but it's all about consistency and execution. If you can nail those things and be a sponge and learn, you will have tremendous success in the long run.”
- Hans Struzyna
Links:
Hans on YouTube
Hans on Instagram
The Luxury Market Workshop
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 24th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I recommend, to the point of insisting, that you use variable data when you are mailing postcards.”
“Don’t make postcards generic because they will get thrown away.”
“Get on every single wholesalers’ list in your market.”
“If you make offers on every single property that comes into your inbox, you will get deals.”
“I have recorded a whole audiobook, and I am not excited about doing another one.”
“The best way to find good wholesalers is to go to REIAs and meet ups.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 24th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I recommend, to the point of insisting, that you use variable data when you are mailing postcards.”
“Don’t make postcards generic because they will get thrown away.”
“Get on every single wholesalers’ list in your market.”
“If you make offers on every single property that comes into your inbox, you will get deals.”
“I have recorded a whole audiobook, and I am not excited about doing another one.”
“The best way to find good wholesalers is to go to REIAs and meet ups.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Jorge Fajardo to the show today! Jorge started his career in the mortgage and finance industry in 2002 and in order to pursue this interest on a larger scale, he built his own mortgage company. In the midst of the foreclosure crisis during the years of 2008-2015, Jorge used his vast knowledge and talents to help homeowners experiencing distress due to financial hardships. Jorge established Keystone Property Investments in 2015 and has since bought and sold over 100 properties in both the SFR and multi-family space. Keystone has lucrative joint ventures in place which allow the company to scale and take on several projects simultaneously throughout different parts of the State of Florida.
We begin the episode with Jorge sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He has been in real estate his entire career. He started fresh out of college, in the mortgage industry as a loan officer, and eventually from there went on to open his own brokerage shop on the mortgage lending side. Everything was going great until 2008 when the mortgage meltdown and the housing crisis hit. So overnight, Jorge found himself having to close down shop, because lending had essentially dried up. Eventually, he ended up taking his lending and banking experience and knowledge and pivoting into consumer protection, going to work for a law firm that specializes in foreclosure defense and loss mitigation. With his knowledge and experience at the time, he ended up heading up the loss mitigation department. While working there, one of the things he noticed was that a lot of the same investors kept coming back and he was very intrigued by that. Little by little, he started familiarizing himself with the whole investing side. He started learning about wholesaling, creative financing, and other strategies and techniques and in 2015 he decided to leave the law firm and go into business for himself. His first deal was a wholesale and that first check was about three months' worth of his salary at the firm and he didn't look back after that.
We then talk about how long it took Jorge to really decide that real estate investing was what he wanted to do. He shares that once he did that first deal, and made a ton of money on it, he knew that he was going all in. He started his company in late 2015 when the market started to improve and his primary focus was marketing. He was sending out mailers, getting deals off the MLS and Zillow, and from driving-for-dollars. When it came to raising capital, he started with friends and family. He would ask them to invest their money with him and after his deal is closed, he would give them back an additional 20%. Pretty soon, as his business grew, friends and family kept coming back wanting to invest again. This allowed him to go from strictly wholesaling to doing rehabs.
Next, we talk about how Jorge is handling the change in the market and how he is positioning his company for that. Jorge feels like we're currently at or reaching the top of the market. When looking at prices in areas that he is familiar with, he notices that they have significantly gone up in the last two to three years. His advice for investors is to be disciplined, have a clear understanding of what you want, and look at the numbers.
Lastly, we talk about a new technology that Jorge is working on - Isum 360: Lead gen automation. Jorge explains that Isum 360 is a real estate super tool that is a mix of AI, Marketing Automation, and Real Estate Experience. With the help of one of his clients who is a software developer, Jorge and his team have built a platform that they wanted to use – and most importantly – that produces outstanding results. Isum 360 allows brokers and agents to acquire high-quality seller and buyer leads and automate the process. Also, it allows you to:
- Integrate your daily tools to optimize your results
- Automate repetitive tasks to focus on building relationships & closing deals
- Have all of your platforms integrated into one place
- Higher focus, better results
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jorge Fajardo and learn how you can use this new technology to generate leads!
Notable Quotes:
“As an investor, whether you're a wholesaler or a rehabber, at the end of the day, we're looking at the same numbers. It's just about being disciplined and having a clear understanding of what your buying criteria is and what your numbers are.”
- Jorge Fajardo
“Leads are the oxygen of your company, you have to have leads. If you don't have leads coming in, you're dying.”
- Mike Simmons
“We're getting warm leads that are actually responding and we're able to then retarget a lookalike audience. Now, we can go out and retarget as many of those customers as possible to increase our returns. It's been working great.”
- Jorge Fajardo
Links:
Jorge on LinkedIn
Keystone Property Investments on Facebook
Isum360.com
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Jorge Fajardo to the show today! Jorge started his career in the mortgage and finance industry in 2002 and in order to pursue this interest on a larger scale, he built his own mortgage company. In the midst of the foreclosure crisis during the years of 2008-2015, Jorge used his vast knowledge and talents to help homeowners experiencing distress due to financial hardships. Jorge established Keystone Property Investments in 2015 and has since bought and sold over 100 properties in both the SFR and multi-family space. Keystone has lucrative joint ventures in place which allow the company to scale and take on several projects simultaneously throughout different parts of the State of Florida.
We begin the episode with Jorge sharing his background story and how he ended up in real estate. He has been in real estate his entire career. He started fresh out of college, in the mortgage industry as a loan officer, and eventually from there went on to open his own brokerage shop on the mortgage lending side. Everything was going great until 2008 when the mortgage meltdown and the housing crisis hit. So overnight, Jorge found himself having to close down shop, because lending had essentially dried up. Eventually, he ended up taking his lending and banking experience and knowledge and pivoting into consumer protection, going to work for a law firm that specializes in foreclosure defense and loss mitigation. With his knowledge and experience at the time, he ended up heading up the loss mitigation department. While working there, one of the things he noticed was that a lot of the same investors kept coming back and he was very intrigued by that. Little by little, he started familiarizing himself with the whole investing side. He started learning about wholesaling, creative financing, and other strategies and techniques and in 2015 he decided to leave the law firm and go into business for himself. His first deal was a wholesale and that first check was about three months' worth of his salary at the firm and he didn't look back after that.
We then talk about how long it took Jorge to really decide that real estate investing was what he wanted to do. He shares that once he did that first deal, and made a ton of money on it, he knew that he was going all in. He started his company in late 2015 when the market started to improve and his primary focus was marketing. He was sending out mailers, getting deals off the MLS and Zillow, and from driving-for-dollars. When it came to raising capital, he started with friends and family. He would ask them to invest their money with him and after his deal is closed, he would give them back an additional 20%. Pretty soon, as his business grew, friends and family kept coming back wanting to invest again. This allowed him to go from strictly wholesaling to doing rehabs.
Next, we talk about how Jorge is handling the change in the market and how he is positioning his company for that. Jorge feels like we're currently at or reaching the top of the market. When looking at prices in areas that he is familiar with, he notices that they have significantly gone up in the last two to three years. His advice for investors is to be disciplined, have a clear understanding of what you want, and look at the numbers.
Lastly, we talk about a new technology that Jorge is working on - Isum 360: Lead gen automation. Jorge explains that Isum 360 is a real estate super tool that is a mix of AI, Marketing Automation, and Real Estate Experience. With the help of one of his clients who is a software developer, Jorge and his team have built a platform that they wanted to use – and most importantly – that produces outstanding results. Isum 360 allows brokers and agents to acquire high-quality seller and buyer leads and automate the process. Also, it allows you to:
- Integrate your daily tools to optimize your results
- Automate repetitive tasks to focus on building relationships & closing deals
- Have all of your platforms integrated into one place
- Higher focus, better results
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jorge Fajardo and learn how you can use this new technology to generate leads!
Notable Quotes:
“As an investor, whether you're a wholesaler or a rehabber, at the end of the day, we're looking at the same numbers. It's just about being disciplined and having a clear understanding of what your buying criteria is and what your numbers are.”
- Jorge Fajardo
“Leads are the oxygen of your company, you have to have leads. If you don't have leads coming in, you're dying.”
- Mike Simmons
“We're getting warm leads that are actually responding and we're able to then retarget a lookalike audience. Now, we can go out and retarget as many of those customers as possible to increase our returns. It's been working great.”
- Jorge Fajardo
Links:
Jorge on LinkedIn
Keystone Property Investments on Facebook
Isum360.com
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 17th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“A hard money lender may not loan you 100% of the purchase price and renovation amount of a property, but will likely load 80-90% of those costs.”
“If you buy a property right, once you renovate it, it is worth more than the money you have into it, and you can refi out of it.”
“I always suggest finding a CPA right away, especially if you are buying rentals, because there are some significant tax advantages to having rentals.”
“I don’t recommend finding a CPA and having a hundred conversations with them before you start looking for investment properties.”
“Start looking for properties immediately!”
“The best CRM is the one that you will diligently use every single day in your business.”
“Sometimes people stress out about the tools they are going to use in their business and they make them more important than the business itself.”
“When approaching a property owner, you want to find out if and why they want to sell. It is really pretty simple.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 17th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“A hard money lender may not loan you 100% of the purchase price and renovation amount of a property, but will likely load 80-90% of those costs.”
“If you buy a property right, once you renovate it, it is worth more than the money you have into it, and you can refi out of it.”
“I always suggest finding a CPA right away, especially if you are buying rentals, because there are some significant tax advantages to having rentals.”
“I don’t recommend finding a CPA and having a hundred conversations with them before you start looking for investment properties.”
“Start looking for properties immediately!”
“The best CRM is the one that you will diligently use every single day in your business.”
“Sometimes people stress out about the tools they are going to use in their business and they make them more important than the business itself.”
“When approaching a property owner, you want to find out if and why they want to sell. It is really pretty simple.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Mike DeHaan. Mike is an electrical engineer-turned-real estate investor. He is the Founder of INW Properties LL and owns 34 doors and has completed over 50 deals in 3 years of investing. Mike now generates more passive rental income than he used to make with his 9-to-5 which was a 6-figure salary job. He has been featured on the Real Dealz Podcast, Real Estate Investing 365, and several Ryan Dossey YouTube videos.
We begin the episode with Mike sharing his background story and how he got started in real estate. Mike started his career as an engineer by degree, but after five years of doing that, he decided to change his career path. With no real plan, he started dabbling in real estate while also trying to get into the tech world. The tech world turned out to be too difficult, especially with where he was located, so he started getting more and more into real estate. In 2018 he bought three rentals and in 2019, he started flipping some houses by himself, working with realtors to find stuff on the market and buying from wholesalers. Soon, it was getting hard to find deals so he decided to join forces with his, now business partner, who was also his best friend from college and start their business. They started officially in the beginning of 2020 and now they own 34 units and they've done about 50 transactions in the last year.
We then talk about where Mike found the funding for his deals. He shares that he bought his first three rentals using money from his W-2 job, but when it came to flipping he acquired the money through different partnerships. As soon as he started getting involved with real estate, Mike really got involved in the local investor community and that's how he’s been able to grow very quickly. He is a big believer that your network is your net worth, so when he started flipping houses, he met somebody who had the cash but didn't have the time. Mike, on the other hand, had the time and he had the hustle, so he facilitated the projects and they would just split the profits 50-50. A big lesson here is to always show up and talk about what you do because, at the end of the day, real estate is a people business.
Next, we talk about Mike’s transition from his W-2 job to entrepreneurship. Even though he was married at the time he left his W-2 job, Mike shares that the toughest conversation was the one with his parents. Coming from an academic background, it was hard for him to explain to his parents that he will no longer have a job that requires his engineering degree. Luckily, his parents didn’t try to discourage him. Mike also shares that his W-2 at that point was making him miserable and depressed and that entrepreneurship has elevated his life in ways he couldn’t even imagine.
We also talk about the best way to find deals. Mike shares that they focus on direct mail and they mix in some cold calling there as well. But the biggest thing is just being persistent. They also really push a local brand very heavily, showing that we are actually true local people who are connected to the local community. This may sound simple, but it works and it has been a cornerstone in their business the entire time
Next, we talk about landlording. Mike and his partner have been able to accumulate a sizable rental portfolio in a relatively short amount of time. At the moment, they are doing their own property management for the most part. The only ones that they don't manage themselves, are properties that are at a decent distance from where they live, so they use property managers out there. They also have a virtual assistant who helps them answer maintenance calls and do other random tasks that come with it. The only thing that they really have to do when it comes to property management helps placing tenants, but they are working on hiring an admin right now to help them do that whole process. Mike mentions that one of the software that they use is Hemlane.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of Just Start Real Estate with Mike DeHaan!
Notable Quotes:
“There are two things that you did really well to find this money that came to you: you showed up where people like that hang out and you talked about what you were doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“A big thing that a lot of people don't understand is that after you have those conversations with people, you have to be proactive and follow-up.”
- Mike DeHaan
“I think that the entrepreneurial lifestyle just fits me a lot better. Once you kind of figure it out and start making real money, it elevates your life in ways that you don't really understand.”
- Mike DeHaan
“Of all the very successful real estate investors that I know, I would say 80% of them get the vast majority of their deals from direct mail. It just works.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to have decent properties. There are so many landlords out there that just think because it's a rental, the property doesn't need to be decent.”
- Mike DeHaan
Links:
Mike Invests
Mike on Instagram
Mike on Facebook
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike’s Podcast
Hemlane
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Mike DeHaan. Mike is an electrical engineer-turned-real estate investor. He is the Founder of INW Properties LL and owns 34 doors and has completed over 50 deals in 3 years of investing. Mike now generates more passive rental income than he used to make with his 9-to-5 which was a 6-figure salary job. He has been featured on the Real Dealz Podcast, Real Estate Investing 365, and several Ryan Dossey YouTube videos.
We begin the episode with Mike sharing his background story and how he got started in real estate. Mike started his career as an engineer by degree, but after five years of doing that, he decided to change his career path. With no real plan, he started dabbling in real estate while also trying to get into the tech world. The tech world turned out to be too difficult, especially with where he was located, so he started getting more and more into real estate. In 2018 he bought three rentals and in 2019, he started flipping some houses by himself, working with realtors to find stuff on the market and buying from wholesalers. Soon, it was getting hard to find deals so he decided to join forces with his, now business partner, who was also his best friend from college and start their business. They started officially in the beginning of 2020 and now they own 34 units and they've done about 50 transactions in the last year.
We then talk about where Mike found the funding for his deals. He shares that he bought his first three rentals using money from his W-2 job, but when it came to flipping he acquired the money through different partnerships. As soon as he started getting involved with real estate, Mike really got involved in the local investor community and that's how he’s been able to grow very quickly. He is a big believer that your network is your net worth, so when he started flipping houses, he met somebody who had the cash but didn't have the time. Mike, on the other hand, had the time and he had the hustle, so he facilitated the projects and they would just split the profits 50-50. A big lesson here is to always show up and talk about what you do because, at the end of the day, real estate is a people business.
Next, we talk about Mike’s transition from his W-2 job to entrepreneurship. Even though he was married at the time he left his W-2 job, Mike shares that the toughest conversation was the one with his parents. Coming from an academic background, it was hard for him to explain to his parents that he will no longer have a job that requires his engineering degree. Luckily, his parents didn’t try to discourage him. Mike also shares that his W-2 at that point was making him miserable and depressed and that entrepreneurship has elevated his life in ways he couldn’t even imagine.
We also talk about the best way to find deals. Mike shares that they focus on direct mail and they mix in some cold calling there as well. But the biggest thing is just being persistent. They also really push a local brand very heavily, showing that we are actually true local people who are connected to the local community. This may sound simple, but it works and it has been a cornerstone in their business the entire time
Next, we talk about landlording. Mike and his partner have been able to accumulate a sizable rental portfolio in a relatively short amount of time. At the moment, they are doing their own property management for the most part. The only ones that they don't manage themselves, are properties that are at a decent distance from where they live, so they use property managers out there. They also have a virtual assistant who helps them answer maintenance calls and do other random tasks that come with it. The only thing that they really have to do when it comes to property management helps placing tenants, but they are working on hiring an admin right now to help them do that whole process. Mike mentions that one of the software that they use is Hemlane.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of Just Start Real Estate with Mike DeHaan!
Notable Quotes:
“There are two things that you did really well to find this money that came to you: you showed up where people like that hang out and you talked about what you were doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“A big thing that a lot of people don't understand is that after you have those conversations with people, you have to be proactive and follow-up.”
- Mike DeHaan
“I think that the entrepreneurial lifestyle just fits me a lot better. Once you kind of figure it out and start making real money, it elevates your life in ways that you don't really understand.”
- Mike DeHaan
“Of all the very successful real estate investors that I know, I would say 80% of them get the vast majority of their deals from direct mail. It just works.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to have decent properties. There are so many landlords out there that just think because it's a rental, the property doesn't need to be decent.”
- Mike DeHaan
Links:
Mike Invests
Mike on Instagram
Mike on Facebook
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike’s Podcast
Hemlane
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 11th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I have coached and mentored literally hundreds of people that went on to build the business they had dreamed of.”
“If I had had someone when I first started in real estate to answer my questions, I would have saved a few years of fumbling around and making mistakes.”
“Success leaves footprints.”
- Tony Robbins
“I would have killed to have this kind of information when I first started, so I hope you guys are taking advantage of it!”
“It has been a true thrill and privilege to be able to answer your questions.”
“You have set an expectation that you are going to pay ahead for work that hasn’t been done yet.”
“Never work with someone that walks off the job site for something unreasonable or unethical.”
“Don’t listen to the one or two people that have a problem with something.”
“The BRRRR method is a very sound strategy for investing in real estate.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 11th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I have coached and mentored literally hundreds of people that went on to build the business they had dreamed of.”
“If I had had someone when I first started in real estate to answer my questions, I would have saved a few years of fumbling around and making mistakes.”
“Success leaves footprints.”
- Tony Robbins
“I would have killed to have this kind of information when I first started, so I hope you guys are taking advantage of it!”
“It has been a true thrill and privilege to be able to answer your questions.”
“You have set an expectation that you are going to pay ahead for work that hasn’t been done yet.”
“Never work with someone that walks off the job site for something unreasonable or unethical.”
“Don’t listen to the one or two people that have a problem with something.”
“The BRRRR method is a very sound strategy for investing in real estate.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
On today’s episode of Just Start Real Estate, I have the pleasure of talking with entrepreneur Rod Khleif. Rod has worked in real estate since the early 1980s, inspired by his mother. He was born in the Netherlands and migrated with his family to Denver at the age of six, and for their first few years in the States, the family struggled to make ends meet. However, his mother was thrifty and forward-thinking, earning money from babysitting that she then invested into stocks and eventually into property, despite having no formal background in finance or real estate. Rod followed his mom’s example and got his real estate license in 1978.
In his first two years as a real estate agent, Rod made enough money to get by, but in his third year, his income rocketed to over $100,000. He was able to achieve this by adjusting his mindset around wealth and earnings. However, he suffered during the 2008 recession, losing $50 million in that year alone. He was able to bounce back and today he helps others to build themselves up from nothing.
One of the first strategies that Rod deployed to get back on his feet after the 2008 crash was reassociating himself with what he wanted. He realigned himself with what his goals were and why he wanted to achieve them. Secondly, he also changed his focus to concentrate on his goals, ignoring anything that didn’t help him to achieve his objective.
Next, Rod walks me through his goal-setting strategy. His technique begins by selecting his goal-setting time carefully; he recommends choosing an hour in the day when you’re naturally full of energy. In this hour, Rod asks that you sit down and write all the things that you want in life, from houses to cars to jetskis to private islands, letting your imagination run wild and never stopping to question what comes out. Once you’ve written down everything you can possibly think of, large and small, you start writing the list of the things you want to do in your life, such as places you want to visit, bucket list items you want to achieve and so on. You should also write down everything you want to learn, like foreign languages or college degrees. Lastly, you write down the people that you want to help.
The next step to Rod’s goal setting technique is to add a time limit to each goal, without overthinking the limit that you assign. Then from that list, select your number one goal, the thing that you want to achieve the most out of everything, and write it on a separate piece of paper. You then need to select your top three goals that you can achieve in one year, and add them to the paper with your top goal. For each of these four goals, write down why you want to achieve that goal, using emotionally charged language. You should also write down what would happen if you don’t achieve these goals, not being afraid to dig a little into the pain. Afterward, find images that represent these goals to keep around you, so that you’re constantly reminded to achieve them.
Rod also emphasizes that happiness doesn’t come from goals, it’s about overall progress and growth. It’s important to celebrate achieving a goal, but you should always have something lined up behind the goal so that you keep moving forwards. He also makes an effort to help others and reach out to people in need and encourages everyone to do the same, regardless of their income level.
Stay tuned to the end of the podcast to get Rod’s exclusive promo code to make incredible savings on his three-day Orlando seminar, and to receive a load of his other courses at a hugely discounted price! What a pleasure to have such a generous and successful real estate investor such as Rod Khleif on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“80-90% of your success in anything in your mindset and your psychology.”
- Rod Khleif
“Peer group is so frickin’ important. You want to be around people that encourage you, validate you, push you, who aren’t afraid of your success, aren’t jealous of your success, and who aren’t going to hold you back”
- Rod Khleif
“If you’re listening to Mike, you’re a leader. There’s no question that you’re a leader. And right now more than ever, the world needs leaders.”
- Rod Khleif
“Take the limits off yourself. There’s nothing you can’t do, be, or have”
- Rod Khleif
“It’s never about the goals, it’s about creating that burning desire so that you get your butt up early, you stay up late, you work a Saturday, you grind for a few years like most people won’t, so you live the rest of your life like most people can’t.”
- Rod Khleif
“As human beings, we will overestimate what we can do in a year, and massively underestimate what we can do in five, ten, twenty years”
- Rod Khleif
“There’s a reason that the acronym for belief systems is BS, because 99% of them are just that: BS.”
- Rod Khleif
“The most successful people on the planet add the most value.”
- Rod Khleif
“Don’t be in the same place you are in a year from now, unless you love where you are right now.”
- Rod Khleif
“Don’t tell me that you’re going to give back when you get money. Find a cause that you care about, that juices you, and do something right now. We’ve been taught to achieve to be happy, and if you give back, you’ll be happily achieving, and the success will come faster.”
- Rod Khleif
Links:
Rod Khleif
Rod on LinkedIn
Rod on Twitter
Rod on Instagram
Rod on Facebook
Rod on YouTube
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
If you want to attend Rod Khleif’s 3-day seminar in Orlando, Florida, from December 3rd to 5th 2021, text ‘MULTIFAMILY’ to 72345, including the promo code ‘ROD FRIEND’. This code will give you:
-
Access to the seminar
-
Rod’s 8-module ‘Courage and Confidence’ course
-
Rod’s 10-module ‘Finding Deals’ course
All for only $197!
On today’s episode of Just Start Real Estate, I have the pleasure of talking with entrepreneur Rod Khleif. Rod has worked in real estate since the early 1980s, inspired by his mother. He was born in the Netherlands and migrated with his family to Denver at the age of six, and for their first few years in the States, the family struggled to make ends meet. However, his mother was thrifty and forward-thinking, earning money from babysitting that she then invested into stocks and eventually into property, despite having no formal background in finance or real estate. Rod followed his mom’s example and got his real estate license in 1978.
In his first two years as a real estate agent, Rod made enough money to get by, but in his third year, his income rocketed to over $100,000. He was able to achieve this by adjusting his mindset around wealth and earnings. However, he suffered during the 2008 recession, losing $50 million in that year alone. He was able to bounce back and today he helps others to build themselves up from nothing.
One of the first strategies that Rod deployed to get back on his feet after the 2008 crash was reassociating himself with what he wanted. He realigned himself with what his goals were and why he wanted to achieve them. Secondly, he also changed his focus to concentrate on his goals, ignoring anything that didn’t help him to achieve his objective.
Next, Rod walks me through his goal-setting strategy. His technique begins by selecting his goal-setting time carefully; he recommends choosing an hour in the day when you’re naturally full of energy. In this hour, Rod asks that you sit down and write all the things that you want in life, from houses to cars to jetskis to private islands, letting your imagination run wild and never stopping to question what comes out. Once you’ve written down everything you can possibly think of, large and small, you start writing the list of the things you want to do in your life, such as places you want to visit, bucket list items you want to achieve and so on. You should also write down everything you want to learn, like foreign languages or college degrees. Lastly, you write down the people that you want to help.
The next step to Rod’s goal setting technique is to add a time limit to each goal, without overthinking the limit that you assign. Then from that list, select your number one goal, the thing that you want to achieve the most out of everything, and write it on a separate piece of paper. You then need to select your top three goals that you can achieve in one year, and add them to the paper with your top goal. For each of these four goals, write down why you want to achieve that goal, using emotionally charged language. You should also write down what would happen if you don’t achieve these goals, not being afraid to dig a little into the pain. Afterward, find images that represent these goals to keep around you, so that you’re constantly reminded to achieve them.
Rod also emphasizes that happiness doesn’t come from goals, it’s about overall progress and growth. It’s important to celebrate achieving a goal, but you should always have something lined up behind the goal so that you keep moving forwards. He also makes an effort to help others and reach out to people in need and encourages everyone to do the same, regardless of their income level.
Stay tuned to the end of the podcast to get Rod’s exclusive promo code to make incredible savings on his three-day Orlando seminar, and to receive a load of his other courses at a hugely discounted price! What a pleasure to have such a generous and successful real estate investor such as Rod Khleif on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“80-90% of your success in anything in your mindset and your psychology.”
- Rod Khleif
“Peer group is so frickin’ important. You want to be around people that encourage you, validate you, push you, who aren’t afraid of your success, aren’t jealous of your success, and who aren’t going to hold you back”
- Rod Khleif
“If you’re listening to Mike, you’re a leader. There’s no question that you’re a leader. And right now more than ever, the world needs leaders.”
- Rod Khleif
“Take the limits off yourself. There’s nothing you can’t do, be, or have”
- Rod Khleif
“It’s never about the goals, it’s about creating that burning desire so that you get your butt up early, you stay up late, you work a Saturday, you grind for a few years like most people won’t, so you live the rest of your life like most people can’t.”
- Rod Khleif
“As human beings, we will overestimate what we can do in a year, and massively underestimate what we can do in five, ten, twenty years”
- Rod Khleif
“There’s a reason that the acronym for belief systems is BS, because 99% of them are just that: BS.”
- Rod Khleif
“The most successful people on the planet add the most value.”
- Rod Khleif
“Don’t be in the same place you are in a year from now, unless you love where you are right now.”
- Rod Khleif
“Don’t tell me that you’re going to give back when you get money. Find a cause that you care about, that juices you, and do something right now. We’ve been taught to achieve to be happy, and if you give back, you’ll be happily achieving, and the success will come faster.”
- Rod Khleif
Links:
Rod Khleif
Rod on LinkedIn
Rod on Twitter
Rod on Instagram
Rod on Facebook
Rod on YouTube
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
If you want to attend Rod Khleif’s 3-day seminar in Orlando, Florida, from December 3rd to 5th 2021, text ‘MULTIFAMILY’ to 72345, including the promo code ‘ROD FRIEND’. This code will give you:
-
Access to the seminar
-
Rod’s 8-module ‘Courage and Confidence’ course
-
Rod’s 10-module ‘Finding Deals’ course
All for only $197!
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 3rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If the market starts to turn and prices start to go down, that is a good thing for investors.”
“If the market does crash, the media will be telling everyone ‘real estate is bad,” but it is really the best time to rush in.”
“Real estate investors rush into the burning house when everyone else is rushing out.”
“There are things that you can do to rehab your investment property that have a huge impact psychologically, but that don’t cost that much.”
“I empathize with people that have a corporate job and don’t know how they are going to find the time to start investing, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for it and I don’t encourage that kind of thought.”
“You have to really analyze what are priorities are. We decide our priorities.”
“If you watch any level of TV at all, maybe change that, right?”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of November 3rd and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If the market starts to turn and prices start to go down, that is a good thing for investors.”
“If the market does crash, the media will be telling everyone ‘real estate is bad,” but it is really the best time to rush in.”
“Real estate investors rush into the burning house when everyone else is rushing out.”
“There are things that you can do to rehab your investment property that have a huge impact psychologically, but that don’t cost that much.”
“I empathize with people that have a corporate job and don’t know how they are going to find the time to start investing, but I don’t have a lot of sympathy for it and I don’t encourage that kind of thought.”
“You have to really analyze what are priorities are. We decide our priorities.”
“If you watch any level of TV at all, maybe change that, right?”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode I’m joined by, not one but two, amazing guests - Kyara Gray and Khalil Uqdah! Kyara and Khalil are Founders of Charm City Buyers. They are passionate about changing the narrative in Baltimore and shifting generations by building wealth through real estate. From recent college grads to full-time entrepreneurs, they have grown their 7-figure real estate empire all before the age of 30 via the “School of Hard Knocks”. With a portfolio of 20+ rentals and an eye for great flip deals, they have their eyes set on showing the masses how to add value to their communities and combat the negative impacts of gentrification through ownership.
Kyara and Khalil first share their background story and how they got started in real estate. They have been investing in real estate for almost 10 years. They are extremely focused on how to turn vacant houses into homes, how to build wealth through real estate, how to really impact the community, and change the narrative of when Baltimore comes to mind, not only as just a city, but also as an opportunity to invest in real estate. Before real estate, they were struggling to find their niche, from software companies to sales, but one thing that stayed consistent was their desire for a positive community impact and wealth building.
We then talk about their transition from their full-time jobs to entrepreneurship. Kyara explains that she was the one who introduced the idea of real estate to Khalil, but it was his passion for entrepreneurship that opened their minds to the opportunities in real estate. Their transition from full-time jobs to real estate was gradual, they slowly eased into it until they had enough residual income from their rentals that allowed both of them to quit their 9 to 5 jobs.
We then move on to talking about financing behind their deals. When it comes to financing, Kyara explains that for them it was crucial to learn and understand how money works. They used different methods and approaches to get access to capital, from working with a nonprofit to using a private lender. Kyara also shares that there are nonprofit lenders all over the country who are focused on building communities, as well as developers who are interested in doing great work in neighborhoods. Khalil shares that they've also been awarded over $3.6 million of tax credits and grants in 2020 and 2021.
Next, we talk about how to know where to focus your energy and your efforts. Khalil shares that the most important thing for them was to make sure that there's enough financial income on a residual basis to ensure that they can really pivot and do whatever they want. This is where the rental game came in. They started with rentals but soon decided to start flipping as well because they wanted to add value to the goals and initiatives of Baltimore City and build homeownership. Now, they are taking it a step further working on a large construction project with 50 homes in Baltimore.
We also talk about running a business as a couple. Kyara and Khalil share that in the beginning, they were running a pretty small operation where both of them were hands-on as much as possible. Nowadays, they have a team and they both have their own roles and their own responsibilities. One thing that really helps them out is that they're very specific and intentional about defining what it is they’re trying to do and accomplish together, and they use that as their Northstar to continue to push forward.
Lastly, we talk about why 2021 is a great time to be investing in real estate. Kyara explains that a lot of money is always made in chaos. A lot of people have made a whole lot of money during the last 18 months since the pandemic started. The key is knowing and understanding that even though the market in the MLS is hot right now, there's a lot of other places where you can find deals, particularly off-market. But there are still places that aren't seeing that same level of energy and that changes very, very quickly. This is something that Kyara and Khalil have been really, really vocal about this entire time - don't let what you're hearing scare you away from taking action in the spaces and areas that are going to see so much growth in the next 5 to 10 years because of some of the seeds that are planted right now. You don't have to compete in the MLS with people who are looking to buy their first, second or third home, but taking action now is really going to position you for winning long term.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Kyara Gray & Khalil Uqdah and find out why 2021 is a great time to start!
Notable Quotes:
“One thing that stayed consistent is that positive community impact, building wealth and something you can pass down was always at the front of mind.”
- Khalil Uqdah
“Once I understood how much power real estate had in building wealth and getting more control over financial freedom, it became a no brainer for me.”
- Kyara Gray
“If you don't work with your hands, work with your brain and one step further - own the company.”
- Khalil Uqdah
“In terms of mentality and emotion and our passion, we were all in from the beginning.”
- Khalil Uqdah
“We were using our 9 to 5 to fund our 5 to 9 before it was a cool thing to say on Twitter.”
- Kyara Gray
“They print money 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it's your job to go get you some.”
- Kyara Gray
“Every single person I've ever talked to that has success doesn't let setbacks stop them.”
- Mike Simmons
“The difference between us and everybody else that considered real estate, is that we just never quit.”
- Kyara Gray
Links:
Charm City Buyers on YouTube
Charm City Buyers on Instagram
Charm City Buyers on Facebook
Charm City Buyers on Twitter
Charm City Buyers on LinkedIn
Opportunity Finance Network
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode I’m joined by, not one but two, amazing guests - Kyara Gray and Khalil Uqdah! Kyara and Khalil are Founders of Charm City Buyers. They are passionate about changing the narrative in Baltimore and shifting generations by building wealth through real estate. From recent college grads to full-time entrepreneurs, they have grown their 7-figure real estate empire all before the age of 30 via the “School of Hard Knocks”. With a portfolio of 20+ rentals and an eye for great flip deals, they have their eyes set on showing the masses how to add value to their communities and combat the negative impacts of gentrification through ownership.
Kyara and Khalil first share their background story and how they got started in real estate. They have been investing in real estate for almost 10 years. They are extremely focused on how to turn vacant houses into homes, how to build wealth through real estate, how to really impact the community, and change the narrative of when Baltimore comes to mind, not only as just a city, but also as an opportunity to invest in real estate. Before real estate, they were struggling to find their niche, from software companies to sales, but one thing that stayed consistent was their desire for a positive community impact and wealth building.
We then talk about their transition from their full-time jobs to entrepreneurship. Kyara explains that she was the one who introduced the idea of real estate to Khalil, but it was his passion for entrepreneurship that opened their minds to the opportunities in real estate. Their transition from full-time jobs to real estate was gradual, they slowly eased into it until they had enough residual income from their rentals that allowed both of them to quit their 9 to 5 jobs.
We then move on to talking about financing behind their deals. When it comes to financing, Kyara explains that for them it was crucial to learn and understand how money works. They used different methods and approaches to get access to capital, from working with a nonprofit to using a private lender. Kyara also shares that there are nonprofit lenders all over the country who are focused on building communities, as well as developers who are interested in doing great work in neighborhoods. Khalil shares that they've also been awarded over $3.6 million of tax credits and grants in 2020 and 2021.
Next, we talk about how to know where to focus your energy and your efforts. Khalil shares that the most important thing for them was to make sure that there's enough financial income on a residual basis to ensure that they can really pivot and do whatever they want. This is where the rental game came in. They started with rentals but soon decided to start flipping as well because they wanted to add value to the goals and initiatives of Baltimore City and build homeownership. Now, they are taking it a step further working on a large construction project with 50 homes in Baltimore.
We also talk about running a business as a couple. Kyara and Khalil share that in the beginning, they were running a pretty small operation where both of them were hands-on as much as possible. Nowadays, they have a team and they both have their own roles and their own responsibilities. One thing that really helps them out is that they're very specific and intentional about defining what it is they’re trying to do and accomplish together, and they use that as their Northstar to continue to push forward.
Lastly, we talk about why 2021 is a great time to be investing in real estate. Kyara explains that a lot of money is always made in chaos. A lot of people have made a whole lot of money during the last 18 months since the pandemic started. The key is knowing and understanding that even though the market in the MLS is hot right now, there's a lot of other places where you can find deals, particularly off-market. But there are still places that aren't seeing that same level of energy and that changes very, very quickly. This is something that Kyara and Khalil have been really, really vocal about this entire time - don't let what you're hearing scare you away from taking action in the spaces and areas that are going to see so much growth in the next 5 to 10 years because of some of the seeds that are planted right now. You don't have to compete in the MLS with people who are looking to buy their first, second or third home, but taking action now is really going to position you for winning long term.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Kyara Gray & Khalil Uqdah and find out why 2021 is a great time to start!
Notable Quotes:
“One thing that stayed consistent is that positive community impact, building wealth and something you can pass down was always at the front of mind.”
- Khalil Uqdah
“Once I understood how much power real estate had in building wealth and getting more control over financial freedom, it became a no brainer for me.”
- Kyara Gray
“If you don't work with your hands, work with your brain and one step further - own the company.”
- Khalil Uqdah
“In terms of mentality and emotion and our passion, we were all in from the beginning.”
- Khalil Uqdah
“We were using our 9 to 5 to fund our 5 to 9 before it was a cool thing to say on Twitter.”
- Kyara Gray
“They print money 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it's your job to go get you some.”
- Kyara Gray
“Every single person I've ever talked to that has success doesn't let setbacks stop them.”
- Mike Simmons
“The difference between us and everybody else that considered real estate, is that we just never quit.”
- Kyara Gray
Links:
Charm City Buyers on YouTube
Charm City Buyers on Instagram
Charm City Buyers on Facebook
Charm City Buyers on Twitter
Charm City Buyers on LinkedIn
Opportunity Finance Network
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 27th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“We are seeing a market that is holding pretty steady.”
“The market is still hot, right? But who cares?”
“Don’t listen to people that are being negative and saying real estate investing won’t work.”
“Don’t listen to people who don’t know what they are talking about.”
“Surround yourself with people who understand your goals and have achieved what you would like to achieve.”
“I highly suggest that you join a mastermind or a program like mine so you are in a group with people just like you.”
“I have never met a seller who had the slightest clue what the renovations of their house should cost.”
“A new house flipper cannot rely on the seller’s repair estimate.”
“You only want to renovate to the point that you are following suit with the rest of the neighborhood.”
“If you get stuck in a rut or are confused, go back to driving leads. Leads are what you should be working on no matter what else is going on.”
“If you stop getting leads, your business is dying.”
“When you are making tons and tons of offers, you just have to get in the ballpark.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 27th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“We are seeing a market that is holding pretty steady.”
“The market is still hot, right? But who cares?”
“Don’t listen to people that are being negative and saying real estate investing won’t work.”
“Don’t listen to people who don’t know what they are talking about.”
“Surround yourself with people who understand your goals and have achieved what you would like to achieve.”
“I highly suggest that you join a mastermind or a program like mine so you are in a group with people just like you.”
“I have never met a seller who had the slightest clue what the renovations of their house should cost.”
“A new house flipper cannot rely on the seller’s repair estimate.”
“You only want to renovate to the point that you are following suit with the rest of the neighborhood.”
“If you get stuck in a rut or are confused, go back to driving leads. Leads are what you should be working on no matter what else is going on.”
“If you stop getting leads, your business is dying.”
“When you are making tons and tons of offers, you just have to get in the ballpark.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I welcome Bryan Driscoll onto the podcast! Bryan is a real estate investor, a digital marketing and SEO expert, and the Co-Founder of Motivated Leads, a digital marketing agency that helps real estate investors expand their portfolios quickly by generating quality motivated seller leads. He has over a decade of experience doing SEO for both large and small companies, startups, and fortune 500 companies and has been recognized by Forbes and other major publications for his work.
Bryan started by sharing a bit of his background and how he got into this side of the business. He said he got his start in digital marketing in the early 2000s, mostly working in search engine optimization or SEO dealing with bigger eCommerce companies. Bryan bought his first rental property about seven years ago and that got him into doing local marketing in the real estate space.
I asked Bryan to talk about some of the mistakes he sees people making with their websites and using SEO in order to draw traffic and get a higher free google ranking. He talked about how intimidating a super-fancy website can be to a seller that just wants someone to give him a decent offer for his home. He said the call to action and a strong, clear message is most important.
Next, we talk about Facebook Ads and Google SEO. Bryan uses Google Pay Per Click and Facebook. The difference is that on Facebook, you're paying per impression while on Google you're paying per click. Also, on Google, you're competing on a keyword basis while on Facebook, you’re competing on an impression base. With Facebook you can get a cheaper reach, click and lead then with Google Pay Per Click. So, his advice is to always start with Facebook first and then add Google Pay Per Click later on because then you have that high intent person coming to the website, and if they don't convert you’re living in their Facebook feed, especially if you have testimonials.
Lastly, we talk about how sellers can adapt their lead gen strategy to accommodate the market. Bryan explains that the most important things are to build a brand, to build something that's trustworthy and to be extremely direct with your marketing. Because the goal isn't to get more leads. The goal is to get good leads and good motivated sellers. Another important thing to note is that whatever platform you're using to drive traffic to your website, you always want to: first, capture their information (their phone number, their email, get them to fill out your form; and second, ask additional questions (why do you want to sell, confirm your property's not listed on the market, how much work does your property need, how fast do you want to sell it, etc.) Asking those additional questions is going to give you an indication on if they're motivated and it's also going to weed out the people who are not serious about selling. Bryan’s final advice is to set up an automated text message that will send out your link and ask them to book an appointment with you, to anyone who fills out a form on your website.
Don’t miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bryan Driscoll and learn the keys to finding more motivated sellers for your business!
Notable Quotes:
“Finding motivated sellers is, and always will be, a top priority for real estate investors.”
- Mike Simmons
“Getting leads into your pipeline is the blood that keeps the body alive.”
- Mike Simmons
“Website aesthetics don’t matter as much as a strong call to action and a strong message.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“The traffic you get to your website is more important than the message on it.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“Rewrite the content, rewrite it unique for you. Because if you have two different websites with the same words in the same order, how can the search engine determine which one's more relevant?”
- Bryan Driscoll
“It's more important the traffic you get to that website, then the message on the website.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“Build a brand, build something that's when people see it, it's trustworthy. And then also, be extremely direct with your marketing.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“The goal isn't to get more leads. The goal is to get good leads, good motivated sellers. ”
- Mike Simmons
“If you want to avoid spending 5 million to figure out what Bryan knows, go straight to Bryan. Ask him what he figured out and get him to help you. “
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bryan’s Website
Motivated Leads Website
Bryan on LinkedIn
Motivated Leads on LinkedIn
Motivated Leads on Facebook
Motivated Leads on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I welcome Bryan Driscoll onto the podcast! Bryan is a real estate investor, a digital marketing and SEO expert, and the Co-Founder of Motivated Leads, a digital marketing agency that helps real estate investors expand their portfolios quickly by generating quality motivated seller leads. He has over a decade of experience doing SEO for both large and small companies, startups, and fortune 500 companies and has been recognized by Forbes and other major publications for his work.
Bryan started by sharing a bit of his background and how he got into this side of the business. He said he got his start in digital marketing in the early 2000s, mostly working in search engine optimization or SEO dealing with bigger eCommerce companies. Bryan bought his first rental property about seven years ago and that got him into doing local marketing in the real estate space.
I asked Bryan to talk about some of the mistakes he sees people making with their websites and using SEO in order to draw traffic and get a higher free google ranking. He talked about how intimidating a super-fancy website can be to a seller that just wants someone to give him a decent offer for his home. He said the call to action and a strong, clear message is most important.
Next, we talk about Facebook Ads and Google SEO. Bryan uses Google Pay Per Click and Facebook. The difference is that on Facebook, you're paying per impression while on Google you're paying per click. Also, on Google, you're competing on a keyword basis while on Facebook, you’re competing on an impression base. With Facebook you can get a cheaper reach, click and lead then with Google Pay Per Click. So, his advice is to always start with Facebook first and then add Google Pay Per Click later on because then you have that high intent person coming to the website, and if they don't convert you’re living in their Facebook feed, especially if you have testimonials.
Lastly, we talk about how sellers can adapt their lead gen strategy to accommodate the market. Bryan explains that the most important things are to build a brand, to build something that's trustworthy and to be extremely direct with your marketing. Because the goal isn't to get more leads. The goal is to get good leads and good motivated sellers. Another important thing to note is that whatever platform you're using to drive traffic to your website, you always want to: first, capture their information (their phone number, their email, get them to fill out your form; and second, ask additional questions (why do you want to sell, confirm your property's not listed on the market, how much work does your property need, how fast do you want to sell it, etc.) Asking those additional questions is going to give you an indication on if they're motivated and it's also going to weed out the people who are not serious about selling. Bryan’s final advice is to set up an automated text message that will send out your link and ask them to book an appointment with you, to anyone who fills out a form on your website.
Don’t miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bryan Driscoll and learn the keys to finding more motivated sellers for your business!
Notable Quotes:
“Finding motivated sellers is, and always will be, a top priority for real estate investors.”
- Mike Simmons
“Getting leads into your pipeline is the blood that keeps the body alive.”
- Mike Simmons
“Website aesthetics don’t matter as much as a strong call to action and a strong message.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“The traffic you get to your website is more important than the message on it.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“Rewrite the content, rewrite it unique for you. Because if you have two different websites with the same words in the same order, how can the search engine determine which one's more relevant?”
- Bryan Driscoll
“It's more important the traffic you get to that website, then the message on the website.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“Build a brand, build something that's when people see it, it's trustworthy. And then also, be extremely direct with your marketing.”
- Bryan Driscoll
“The goal isn't to get more leads. The goal is to get good leads, good motivated sellers. ”
- Mike Simmons
“If you want to avoid spending 5 million to figure out what Bryan knows, go straight to Bryan. Ask him what he figured out and get him to help you. “
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bryan’s Website
Motivated Leads Website
Bryan on LinkedIn
Motivated Leads on LinkedIn
Motivated Leads on Facebook
Motivated Leads on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 20th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you are worried about making a lethal mistake, you need to have a mentor, a coach, and/or a mastermind.”
“You need to be able to have your questions answered by people who have been running a business and have had success so that you are not just figuring it out as you go.”
“There is nothing worse than handing a realtor 50 leads in a month and never hearing about them again.”
“I’m not afraid of competition, but I don’t want you to waste my time and use me.”
“Lead with value. Figure out what you have to offer that will be of value to that business owner.”
“Try to find a way to make their life easier or be a source of revenue for them.”
“When it comes to marketing, you have to be consistent. That is the secret sauce.”
“Come up with a marketing plan and budget that you can maintain for six months and execute.”
“Don’t stop it and start it… marketing is very much a momentum thing.”
“Long-term rentals are good because they are much more passive than short-term rentals.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 20th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you are worried about making a lethal mistake, you need to have a mentor, a coach, and/or a mastermind.”
“You need to be able to have your questions answered by people who have been running a business and have had success so that you are not just figuring it out as you go.”
“There is nothing worse than handing a realtor 50 leads in a month and never hearing about them again.”
“I’m not afraid of competition, but I don’t want you to waste my time and use me.”
“Lead with value. Figure out what you have to offer that will be of value to that business owner.”
“Try to find a way to make their life easier or be a source of revenue for them.”
“When it comes to marketing, you have to be consistent. That is the secret sauce.”
“Come up with a marketing plan and budget that you can maintain for six months and execute.”
“Don’t stop it and start it… marketing is very much a momentum thing.”
“Long-term rentals are good because they are much more passive than short-term rentals.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Ari Galper. Ari is the world’s #1 Authority on Trust-Based Selling. He is the author of Unlock The Sales Game and The One Call Sale and has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, CNN, SkyNews, Australian Financial Review. Currently, Ari is the most sought-after trust-based selling authority for advisors, consultants, business owners, and entrepreneurs, as well as major corporations such as Citibank, Telstra, and General Electric
Ari first shares his background story and how he discovered trust-based selling. Twenty years ago, Ari was a sales manager at a company that launched the first online website tracking tools for collecting data, now known as Google Analytics. One day, he got a huge opportunity to pitch their product to a company that could double their revenue. They got on a conference call, everything was going great but after the meeting was over, Ari accidentally pressed the “mute” button instead of the “off” button. Knowing that the meeting went great he was surprised to hear them saying, ‘We're not going to go with him. Keep using him for more information and make sure we shop somewhere else cheaper.’ It was at this moment he realized it has become socially acceptable not to tell the truth to people who sell. He also realized that the reason for this was that people put their guard up when they know that they are talking to someone who is trying to make a sale. So, he decided to come up with a system, a method that would take that pressure out of the sales process, so that both parties can come together and build trust with each other.
We then move on to discussing how to build trust when you are trying to make a sale. Ari explains that you can still be ambitious and go after your goals, but you are not allowed to transfer the pressure you feel onto the person to whom you are trying to sell. In order to do this, you first need to address some of the sales myths. Such as that sales is a numbers game; the more contacts you have, the more calls you make, the more sales you get. According to Ari, in today’s economy it’s not about how many calls you make, it’s about how deep you go in each conversation, it’s about building trust. The second myth is the sale is lost at the end of the process. According to Ari’s research, the sale is lost at the beginning. And finally, the third myth: rejection is part of the game. Rejection is triggered by certain things you say and do that cause the other person to put their guard up.
Next, we talk about what attributes the most to not getting a sale. Ari explains that the first shift that needs to happen, if you are looking to make more sales, is a mindset shift. If you want to make a sale, you have to detach yourself from your goal, you can’t put your own agenda at the center, instead you have to put yourself into your client’s world. Next, you need to use trust-based language, words and phrases that won’t trigger off any alarms for your clients that associate you with the negative salesperson stereotype.
Lastly, we talk about Ari’s program Unlock The Game. This program directly challenges all the selling “rules” that are considered status quo thinking among most small and large businesses and provides a new and authentic sales mindset, along with trust-based languaging. Ari explains that the most important thing here is to take the pressure out of the process and shift your mindset and language so that you build a moment of vulnerability with your clients.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the world’s #1 Authority on Trust-Based Selling, Ari Galper. Learn how to stop selling and start building authentic relationships based on trust and integrity that will result in endless possibilities!
Notable Quotes:
“I realized at that moment, that somewhere along the way it has become socially acceptable not to tell the truth to people who sell.”
- Ari Galper
“Typically, buyers and prospects are afraid to tell us the truth because there is an invisible river of pressure that flows underneath every sales chat we have with someone, and their guard is up.”
- Ari Galper
“You can still be ambitious. You can still have goals. You can still go for those goals, but you're not allowed to transfer that pressure from you to the other person.”
- Ari Galper
“We discovered that in this economy, it's not about how many contacts you make anymore, how many calls you make, it's about how deep you go in each conversation.”
- Ari Galper
“You've got to let them know you care about them. And this is the missing component in the sales world, that we don't have a way to convey to people that we care about them.”
- Ari Galper
“If you attempt to move somebody forward and they aren't ready yet, you break the trust right there at the beginning.“
- Ari Galper
“Delivery is half of the trust.”
- Ari Galper
“When they sense your enthusiasm premature to their enthusiasm, immediately the sales alarms go off. ”
- Ari Galper
Links:
Unlock the Game
Ari on LinkedIn
Ari on Facebook
Ari on Twitter
Ari on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Ari Galper. Ari is the world’s #1 Authority on Trust-Based Selling. He is the author of Unlock The Sales Game and The One Call Sale and has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, CNN, SkyNews, Australian Financial Review. Currently, Ari is the most sought-after trust-based selling authority for advisors, consultants, business owners, and entrepreneurs, as well as major corporations such as Citibank, Telstra, and General Electric
Ari first shares his background story and how he discovered trust-based selling. Twenty years ago, Ari was a sales manager at a company that launched the first online website tracking tools for collecting data, now known as Google Analytics. One day, he got a huge opportunity to pitch their product to a company that could double their revenue. They got on a conference call, everything was going great but after the meeting was over, Ari accidentally pressed the “mute” button instead of the “off” button. Knowing that the meeting went great he was surprised to hear them saying, ‘We're not going to go with him. Keep using him for more information and make sure we shop somewhere else cheaper.’ It was at this moment he realized it has become socially acceptable not to tell the truth to people who sell. He also realized that the reason for this was that people put their guard up when they know that they are talking to someone who is trying to make a sale. So, he decided to come up with a system, a method that would take that pressure out of the sales process, so that both parties can come together and build trust with each other.
We then move on to discussing how to build trust when you are trying to make a sale. Ari explains that you can still be ambitious and go after your goals, but you are not allowed to transfer the pressure you feel onto the person to whom you are trying to sell. In order to do this, you first need to address some of the sales myths. Such as that sales is a numbers game; the more contacts you have, the more calls you make, the more sales you get. According to Ari, in today’s economy it’s not about how many calls you make, it’s about how deep you go in each conversation, it’s about building trust. The second myth is the sale is lost at the end of the process. According to Ari’s research, the sale is lost at the beginning. And finally, the third myth: rejection is part of the game. Rejection is triggered by certain things you say and do that cause the other person to put their guard up.
Next, we talk about what attributes the most to not getting a sale. Ari explains that the first shift that needs to happen, if you are looking to make more sales, is a mindset shift. If you want to make a sale, you have to detach yourself from your goal, you can’t put your own agenda at the center, instead you have to put yourself into your client’s world. Next, you need to use trust-based language, words and phrases that won’t trigger off any alarms for your clients that associate you with the negative salesperson stereotype.
Lastly, we talk about Ari’s program Unlock The Game. This program directly challenges all the selling “rules” that are considered status quo thinking among most small and large businesses and provides a new and authentic sales mindset, along with trust-based languaging. Ari explains that the most important thing here is to take the pressure out of the process and shift your mindset and language so that you build a moment of vulnerability with your clients.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the world’s #1 Authority on Trust-Based Selling, Ari Galper. Learn how to stop selling and start building authentic relationships based on trust and integrity that will result in endless possibilities!
Notable Quotes:
“I realized at that moment, that somewhere along the way it has become socially acceptable not to tell the truth to people who sell.”
- Ari Galper
“Typically, buyers and prospects are afraid to tell us the truth because there is an invisible river of pressure that flows underneath every sales chat we have with someone, and their guard is up.”
- Ari Galper
“You can still be ambitious. You can still have goals. You can still go for those goals, but you're not allowed to transfer that pressure from you to the other person.”
- Ari Galper
“We discovered that in this economy, it's not about how many contacts you make anymore, how many calls you make, it's about how deep you go in each conversation.”
- Ari Galper
“You've got to let them know you care about them. And this is the missing component in the sales world, that we don't have a way to convey to people that we care about them.”
- Ari Galper
“If you attempt to move somebody forward and they aren't ready yet, you break the trust right there at the beginning.“
- Ari Galper
“Delivery is half of the trust.”
- Ari Galper
“When they sense your enthusiasm premature to their enthusiasm, immediately the sales alarms go off. ”
- Ari Galper
Links:
Unlock the Game
Ari on LinkedIn
Ari on Facebook
Ari on Twitter
Ari on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 13th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I think a good working relationship starts with clear expectations.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know and sometimes you don’t know what questions to ask.”
“Sales tactics without compassion will always fail.”
“How much is your brain focused on how much you want that sale versus truly thinking, ‘I want to help this person’?”
“Make sure the sellers are motivated before you spend tons of time trying to buy their house.”
“You cannot manage a millennial the same way you manage a Gen X person.”
“Millennials view their job and their workday differently than people that are older than them.”
“Millennials believe they are entitled to a workplace that makes them feel fulfilled, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
“It is possible if you have workers that are not getting the job done, it is possible they don’t have the values that you want in the company.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did the week of October 13th and each Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I think a good working relationship starts with clear expectations.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know and sometimes you don’t know what questions to ask.”
“Sales tactics without compassion will always fail.”
“How much is your brain focused on how much you want that sale versus truly thinking, ‘I want to help this person’?”
“Make sure the sellers are motivated before you spend tons of time trying to buy their house.”
“You cannot manage a millennial the same way you manage a Gen X person.”
“Millennials view their job and their workday differently than people that are older than them.”
“Millennials believe they are entitled to a workplace that makes them feel fulfilled, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”
“It is possible if you have workers that are not getting the job done, it is possible they don’t have the values that you want in the company.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome fellow investor Gary Boomershine to the show today! Gary is the Founder of RealEstateInvestor.com which he started in 2005 out of the need to scale and grow his own real estate investing business. His company caters to top producing agents, investors, and smaller hedge funds who are looking for a competitive advantage in their local markets. Gary is also the host of the Real Estate Investor Huddle Podcast and has been featured as a guest on many podcasts including the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show with Joe Fairless.
Gary first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. Before creating Real Estate Investor, the largest marketer in the entire real estate niche with close to 90 million pieces of direct mail and 9 million interactions with sellers, Gary got his computer science engineering degree. However, he comes from a strong real estate background - his parents owned a real estate brokerage and Gary got his license as soon as he turned 18. After college, he started his engineering career and was doing pretty well for himself, but the only downside was that he was working 90 hours per week. This all changed on May 17th of 2004, after a single seminar that ignited his passion for real estate. With a $700,000 mortgage, Gary and his wife decided to cut ties with the corporate world and dive straight into real estate investing.
We then move on to discussing the importance of leverage in real estate. Gary explains that a lot of people call themselves real estate investors, but they're really real estate business operators, meaning they are building a business based on real estate. The key is that every business needs a CEO and if you're the CEO and you're doing $10/hour work, you're going to have a $10 bank account. So if you're running a business, you have to understand that it’s a finance game and the leverage component is - you're leveraging other people's money, possibly your own, but you're also leveraging other people's time, experiences, and resources. A lot of people get stuck because they try to do everything themselves and it's a trap. You need to understand the value of your time, which is probably between $250 and $1,000 dollars an hour or more. So, if you're doing anything that's $10/hour work, you need to find someone to do it for you, and instead of thinking of it as an expense, think of it as a return on your investment.
Next, we talk about when it is a good time to start building your team and what to look for. According to Gary, you need to do it as soon as possible. If you're committed to doing real estate, you first have to figure out if you’re going to find properties on the market (typically through a realtor) or you're going to go off-market, which means you're going to go directly to the seller. No matter which way you choose, somebody has to do the work; on average it takes 45 leads to close a deal and 45 leads is a lot of work. All of these tasks require a lot of work so you need to build your team right away.
We then discuss the process of finding leads. Gary explains that around 25% of their clients at RealEstateInvestor.com want everything done for them; they just want to meet with the sellers. For a set amount Gary’s team generates the leads, screens the leads, does all the phone work and all the qualifying. So, for about $10/hour they can hire a team of people who are experts at pulling the mailing list, at skip-tracing, at finding things that nobody else can find because they know better than anybody else in the country what works and what doesn’t. Gary also goes on to explain that their perfect client is somebody who understands that real estate is their vehicle, somebody who already had some level of success, and somebody who is ready to scale up.
Lastly, we talk about what marketing strategies are working best right now. Gary shares that real estate is a cycle and right now we’re in a euphoric stage of that cycle where a massive number of people are competing for the same types of deals. According to Gary, the central and the south-central part of the country work best at the moment because it’s a lot less expensive to generate deals in that area. Gary also explains that only 3% of all deals come off of the first inbound call, 97% of all deals take six to seven interactions with the seller, which means you have to be really good at following up on a text or a call, use the right words at the right time. Gary’s team follows up automatically, for a minimum of two years.
Make sure you don’t miss this incredible episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the amazing Gary Boomershine and learn all the secrets of leveraging and creating a sustainable business!
Notable Quotes:
“Most of us get into this business for financial freedom and having a life. Real estate can give us that, it’s the vehicle for that if you understand that it’s a finance game and a game of leverage. But a lot of people get stuck and reinvent or re-manifest the slavery system. It becomes a job, a terrible job.”
- Gary Boomershine
“You want to understand the why about real estate before the how. The how is easy."
- Gary Boomershine
“There are three buckets in real estate: cash now, cash flow, and cash later. Most people focus on the cash now, which is fixing and flipping. But true real estate investors are people who actually are buying and holding for the long haul.”
- Gary Boomershine
“A lot of people call themselves real estate investors, but they're really real estate business operators. Those are people that are building a business based on real estate.”
- Gary Boomershine
“You can automate almost everything but you can't automate talking to the seller. You have to build a relationship.”
- Gary Boomershine
“You got to pick one direction, get it working, scale it, and then you go on to the next one.”
- Gary Boomershine
Links:
Gary on LinkedIn
Gary on Facebook
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Investor on Facebook
Real Estate Investor on Twitter
Real Estate Investor on YouTube
Real Estate Investor on YouTube
Real Estate Investor Huddle Podcast
For a free copy of The Freedom Code and a number of other amazing free resources text Just Start to 9253200575
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome fellow investor Gary Boomershine to the show today! Gary is the Founder of RealEstateInvestor.com which he started in 2005 out of the need to scale and grow his own real estate investing business. His company caters to top producing agents, investors, and smaller hedge funds who are looking for a competitive advantage in their local markets. Gary is also the host of the Real Estate Investor Huddle Podcast and has been featured as a guest on many podcasts including the Best Real Estate Investing Advice Ever Show with Joe Fairless.
Gary first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. Before creating Real Estate Investor, the largest marketer in the entire real estate niche with close to 90 million pieces of direct mail and 9 million interactions with sellers, Gary got his computer science engineering degree. However, he comes from a strong real estate background - his parents owned a real estate brokerage and Gary got his license as soon as he turned 18. After college, he started his engineering career and was doing pretty well for himself, but the only downside was that he was working 90 hours per week. This all changed on May 17th of 2004, after a single seminar that ignited his passion for real estate. With a $700,000 mortgage, Gary and his wife decided to cut ties with the corporate world and dive straight into real estate investing.
We then move on to discussing the importance of leverage in real estate. Gary explains that a lot of people call themselves real estate investors, but they're really real estate business operators, meaning they are building a business based on real estate. The key is that every business needs a CEO and if you're the CEO and you're doing $10/hour work, you're going to have a $10 bank account. So if you're running a business, you have to understand that it’s a finance game and the leverage component is - you're leveraging other people's money, possibly your own, but you're also leveraging other people's time, experiences, and resources. A lot of people get stuck because they try to do everything themselves and it's a trap. You need to understand the value of your time, which is probably between $250 and $1,000 dollars an hour or more. So, if you're doing anything that's $10/hour work, you need to find someone to do it for you, and instead of thinking of it as an expense, think of it as a return on your investment.
Next, we talk about when it is a good time to start building your team and what to look for. According to Gary, you need to do it as soon as possible. If you're committed to doing real estate, you first have to figure out if you’re going to find properties on the market (typically through a realtor) or you're going to go off-market, which means you're going to go directly to the seller. No matter which way you choose, somebody has to do the work; on average it takes 45 leads to close a deal and 45 leads is a lot of work. All of these tasks require a lot of work so you need to build your team right away.
We then discuss the process of finding leads. Gary explains that around 25% of their clients at RealEstateInvestor.com want everything done for them; they just want to meet with the sellers. For a set amount Gary’s team generates the leads, screens the leads, does all the phone work and all the qualifying. So, for about $10/hour they can hire a team of people who are experts at pulling the mailing list, at skip-tracing, at finding things that nobody else can find because they know better than anybody else in the country what works and what doesn’t. Gary also goes on to explain that their perfect client is somebody who understands that real estate is their vehicle, somebody who already had some level of success, and somebody who is ready to scale up.
Lastly, we talk about what marketing strategies are working best right now. Gary shares that real estate is a cycle and right now we’re in a euphoric stage of that cycle where a massive number of people are competing for the same types of deals. According to Gary, the central and the south-central part of the country work best at the moment because it’s a lot less expensive to generate deals in that area. Gary also explains that only 3% of all deals come off of the first inbound call, 97% of all deals take six to seven interactions with the seller, which means you have to be really good at following up on a text or a call, use the right words at the right time. Gary’s team follows up automatically, for a minimum of two years.
Make sure you don’t miss this incredible episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the amazing Gary Boomershine and learn all the secrets of leveraging and creating a sustainable business!
Notable Quotes:
“Most of us get into this business for financial freedom and having a life. Real estate can give us that, it’s the vehicle for that if you understand that it’s a finance game and a game of leverage. But a lot of people get stuck and reinvent or re-manifest the slavery system. It becomes a job, a terrible job.”
- Gary Boomershine
“You want to understand the why about real estate before the how. The how is easy."
- Gary Boomershine
“There are three buckets in real estate: cash now, cash flow, and cash later. Most people focus on the cash now, which is fixing and flipping. But true real estate investors are people who actually are buying and holding for the long haul.”
- Gary Boomershine
“A lot of people call themselves real estate investors, but they're really real estate business operators. Those are people that are building a business based on real estate.”
- Gary Boomershine
“You can automate almost everything but you can't automate talking to the seller. You have to build a relationship.”
- Gary Boomershine
“You got to pick one direction, get it working, scale it, and then you go on to the next one.”
- Gary Boomershine
Links:
Gary on LinkedIn
Gary on Facebook
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Investor on Facebook
Real Estate Investor on Twitter
Real Estate Investor on YouTube
Real Estate Investor on YouTube
Real Estate Investor Huddle Podcast
For a free copy of The Freedom Code and a number of other amazing free resources text Just Start to 9253200575
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on October 6th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Whatever you are doing right now to get deals is a process and a system and you need to get that down on paper.”
“Have the person you hire flesh out the process that they are responsible for.”
“I have never invested in luxury homes because it is such a niche market. The buyer pool is very small and they can be very finicky.”
“I had two people reach out to fully fund my next deal before I finished with the first one.”
“After the first deal, I used private money to fund all my flips going forward.”
“Time and financial freedom don’t happen right away. Real estate investing is a business, too.”
“You need to start building a team sooner rather than later.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on October 6th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Whatever you are doing right now to get deals is a process and a system and you need to get that down on paper.”
“Have the person you hire flesh out the process that they are responsible for.”
“I have never invested in luxury homes because it is such a niche market. The buyer pool is very small and they can be very finicky.”
“I had two people reach out to fully fund my next deal before I finished with the first one.”
“After the first deal, I used private money to fund all my flips going forward.”
“Time and financial freedom don’t happen right away. Real estate investing is a business, too.”
“You need to start building a team sooner rather than later.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Matt Faircloth. Matt is BiggerPockets contributor and Amazon Best Selling Author of Raising Private Capital, How to Build your Real Estate Empire with Other People's Money. He is also the Founder and CEO of DeRosa Group and has been a full-time investor for 15 years. Matt has successfully completed projects involving dozens of fix and flips, office buildings, single-family homes, and apartment buildings. He has amassed a portfolio of over 1000+ units and raised tens of millions of equity for these real estate projects.
Matt first shares his background story and how he first got into real estate. Before becoming a full-time real estate investor, Matt was a sales engineer. During that time, he met his future wife who introduced him to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This book turned him onto the power of investing and entrepreneurship and he fell in love with the business of real estate. Soon after that, they started doing some real investing together as a couple while they were dating, and by the time we got married, they had done a reasonable amount of investing. After the crash in 2008, they didn’t have any equity anymore because everything was decimated but what they did have was a reasonable management protocol, and friends who wanted to give real estate investing a try. So, they started assembling their friends and colleagues, who eventually became their first passive investors, for a $50,000 deal.
We then move on to discussing Matt’s first deal. He shares that his first deal was a house hack; he bought a three bedroom house that he rented to two of his friends, making him $60 a month while he was living there for free. Next, he and his wife bought a duplex with money they borrowed from her father. They fixed it up and rented that out as well. After some time, they decided to sell that second property using a 1031 exchange, which avoids paying capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property and reinvest the proceeds from the sale, within certain time limits, in a property or properties of like kind and equal or greater value.
Next, we talk about when it is a good time to start looking for private money. Matt explains that every real estate investor has to bring in private capital at some point. Because, unless you win the lottery, your pockets will run dry and you will not want to expose your capital to a deal. Matt also believes that we need to change our perspective on private money, because when it comes to private lenders, they're not doing us a favor, we're offering them an opportunity.
We then discuss Matt’s thoughts on spouses working together as real estate investors. He shares that this is absolutely possible as long as both partners respect the other as well as each other’s personality style. Matt also goes on to explain that it took some time for him and his wife to figure out the best way to work together since they both have pretty dominant personalities. Real estate investing takes two things: time and money. Both of those things are burdens for a marriage and every real estate investor needs to have their spouse’s support if they plan on being successful.
We then talk about some of the big mistakes people make when they're trying to raise money for a project. Matt shares that there are two big mistakes that people make when it comes to raising money. First, they act like investors are doing them a favor, when in reality they are offering those investors an opportunity. Second, they shop for money when they need it. If you wait until you have a deal to raise the money, you’ll have to bring in a partner with a good network and good connections and you’ll end up giving away a lot of your profit. So instead, build the network first and make your base aware of the magic of real estate investing, as a passive investor.
Next, we talk about Matt’s YouTube channel Landlord Chronicles. Matt shares that he stated his channel by mistake six years ago but he currently has 31,000 subscribers. He started by posting videos that he originally shot for his lenders and after seeing that people responded well to it, he decided to create content especially for his YouTube channel. Now, he posts videos every Monday and Thursday. His educational videos range from Mentorship Monday to a Day In The Life.
Lastly, we talk about Matt’s company called DeRosa Group. Matt explains that their company is dedicated to transforming lives through real estate. They believe that real estate is an amazing vehicle for people to achieve their net worth goals, their income goals, and financial freedom. Matt believes that real estate can provide people a great place to work, live, invest, and run a business.
Make sure you don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate with fully transparent Matt Faircloth and get to know all about raising private capital!
Notable Quotes:
“The questions I get asked all the time are: how do I find better leads and how do I find more money.”
- Mike Simmons
“People think you have to do deals with millions of dollars - you don't. Our first deal was $50,000.”
- Matt Faircloth
“If I had a redo, I would have just stayed in my lane and stuck to residential leasing and rentals until I really mastered that.”
- Matt Faircloth
“At some point, every real estate investor has to bring in private capital.”
- Matt Faircloth
“These private investors, they're not doing us a favor, we're offering them an opportunity.”
- Matt Faircloth
“There's nothing that tightens up the marriage better than to be connected to your financial future and work towards a common financial goal together.“
- Matt Faircloth
“I have yet to see a real estate investor that's successful in this business that does not have their spouse supporting them. You don't have to invest with your spouse, but real estate investing takes two things: time and money, both of which are burdens on your marriage.”
- Matt Faircloth
“We're dedicated to transforming lives through real estate. That's a mantra we like so much that we put a trademark on it.”
- Matt Faircloth
Links:
DeRosa Group
DeRosa Group on Facebook
Matt on Instagram
Matt on YouTube
Raising Private Capital by Matt Faircloth
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Matt Faircloth. Matt is BiggerPockets contributor and Amazon Best Selling Author of Raising Private Capital, How to Build your Real Estate Empire with Other People's Money. He is also the Founder and CEO of DeRosa Group and has been a full-time investor for 15 years. Matt has successfully completed projects involving dozens of fix and flips, office buildings, single-family homes, and apartment buildings. He has amassed a portfolio of over 1000+ units and raised tens of millions of equity for these real estate projects.
Matt first shares his background story and how he first got into real estate. Before becoming a full-time real estate investor, Matt was a sales engineer. During that time, he met his future wife who introduced him to Rich Dad, Poor Dad. This book turned him onto the power of investing and entrepreneurship and he fell in love with the business of real estate. Soon after that, they started doing some real investing together as a couple while they were dating, and by the time we got married, they had done a reasonable amount of investing. After the crash in 2008, they didn’t have any equity anymore because everything was decimated but what they did have was a reasonable management protocol, and friends who wanted to give real estate investing a try. So, they started assembling their friends and colleagues, who eventually became their first passive investors, for a $50,000 deal.
We then move on to discussing Matt’s first deal. He shares that his first deal was a house hack; he bought a three bedroom house that he rented to two of his friends, making him $60 a month while he was living there for free. Next, he and his wife bought a duplex with money they borrowed from her father. They fixed it up and rented that out as well. After some time, they decided to sell that second property using a 1031 exchange, which avoids paying capital gains taxes when you sell an investment property and reinvest the proceeds from the sale, within certain time limits, in a property or properties of like kind and equal or greater value.
Next, we talk about when it is a good time to start looking for private money. Matt explains that every real estate investor has to bring in private capital at some point. Because, unless you win the lottery, your pockets will run dry and you will not want to expose your capital to a deal. Matt also believes that we need to change our perspective on private money, because when it comes to private lenders, they're not doing us a favor, we're offering them an opportunity.
We then discuss Matt’s thoughts on spouses working together as real estate investors. He shares that this is absolutely possible as long as both partners respect the other as well as each other’s personality style. Matt also goes on to explain that it took some time for him and his wife to figure out the best way to work together since they both have pretty dominant personalities. Real estate investing takes two things: time and money. Both of those things are burdens for a marriage and every real estate investor needs to have their spouse’s support if they plan on being successful.
We then talk about some of the big mistakes people make when they're trying to raise money for a project. Matt shares that there are two big mistakes that people make when it comes to raising money. First, they act like investors are doing them a favor, when in reality they are offering those investors an opportunity. Second, they shop for money when they need it. If you wait until you have a deal to raise the money, you’ll have to bring in a partner with a good network and good connections and you’ll end up giving away a lot of your profit. So instead, build the network first and make your base aware of the magic of real estate investing, as a passive investor.
Next, we talk about Matt’s YouTube channel Landlord Chronicles. Matt shares that he stated his channel by mistake six years ago but he currently has 31,000 subscribers. He started by posting videos that he originally shot for his lenders and after seeing that people responded well to it, he decided to create content especially for his YouTube channel. Now, he posts videos every Monday and Thursday. His educational videos range from Mentorship Monday to a Day In The Life.
Lastly, we talk about Matt’s company called DeRosa Group. Matt explains that their company is dedicated to transforming lives through real estate. They believe that real estate is an amazing vehicle for people to achieve their net worth goals, their income goals, and financial freedom. Matt believes that real estate can provide people a great place to work, live, invest, and run a business.
Make sure you don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate with fully transparent Matt Faircloth and get to know all about raising private capital!
Notable Quotes:
“The questions I get asked all the time are: how do I find better leads and how do I find more money.”
- Mike Simmons
“People think you have to do deals with millions of dollars - you don't. Our first deal was $50,000.”
- Matt Faircloth
“If I had a redo, I would have just stayed in my lane and stuck to residential leasing and rentals until I really mastered that.”
- Matt Faircloth
“At some point, every real estate investor has to bring in private capital.”
- Matt Faircloth
“These private investors, they're not doing us a favor, we're offering them an opportunity.”
- Matt Faircloth
“There's nothing that tightens up the marriage better than to be connected to your financial future and work towards a common financial goal together.“
- Matt Faircloth
“I have yet to see a real estate investor that's successful in this business that does not have their spouse supporting them. You don't have to invest with your spouse, but real estate investing takes two things: time and money, both of which are burdens on your marriage.”
- Matt Faircloth
“We're dedicated to transforming lives through real estate. That's a mantra we like so much that we put a trademark on it.”
- Matt Faircloth
Links:
DeRosa Group
DeRosa Group on Facebook
Matt on Instagram
Matt on YouTube
Raising Private Capital by Matt Faircloth
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 29th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The overarching message of Extreme Ownership is that you take responsibility for everything that happens to and around you in your life even if you don’t necessarily believe it was your fault.”
“A team that embraces the principles of Extreme Ownership is a winning team, always.”
“Everyone that works for me right now takes ownership - without excuses, without pointing fingers, without resentment.”
“If your goal is to build a portfolio, build a portfolio. Don’t take a step in a different direction.”
“Don’t put a ton of energy or time trying to pick the best CRM. All CRMs have flaws. The best one for you is the one you will use.”
“You probably know enough to get started. You do not have to know everything to get started.”
“You won’t know all that much until you actually do it.”
“To deal with the fear and the doubts, you really have to dig into your ‘why’.”
“Find a compelling ‘why’ and get that fresh in your mind every day.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 29th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The overarching message of Extreme Ownership is that you take responsibility for everything that happens to and around you in your life even if you don’t necessarily believe it was your fault.”
“A team that embraces the principles of Extreme Ownership is a winning team, always.”
“Everyone that works for me right now takes ownership - without excuses, without pointing fingers, without resentment.”
“If your goal is to build a portfolio, build a portfolio. Don’t take a step in a different direction.”
“Don’t put a ton of energy or time trying to pick the best CRM. All CRMs have flaws. The best one for you is the one you will use.”
“You probably know enough to get started. You do not have to know everything to get started.”
“You won’t know all that much until you actually do it.”
“To deal with the fear and the doubts, you really have to dig into your ‘why’.”
“Find a compelling ‘why’ and get that fresh in your mind every day.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Matt Drouin to the show today. Matt is a partner at OakGrove Development, a real estate investment and development firm with a special focus on value-add commercial and residential properties in Rochester, NY. Over the last 15 years, he has been in real estate management, brokerage, and development and has grown his portfolio to 120 units of residential and commercial property. Matt’s company mission is in developing real estate projects that not only add value to their investors but also put long-term community interests front and center. He believes that you can do well as a real estate developer and that ultimately community-centric development boosts profits for investors.
Matt first shares his background story and how he first got into real estate. After finishing his four-year liberal arts degree, studying business with a concentration in finance, Matt had a vision that he was going to be hired immediately out of college. Unfortunately, no one wanted to hire a liberal arts student with a general business degree with no experience. Eventually, Matt was able to get a job as a part-time bank teller in his hometown, but after two months he was sick of it. His father, who had some experience in the real estate world, advised him to get a real estate license and become a realtor. His first property was a fourplex, he lived in one of the units and rented out the rest.
We then move on to discussing Matt’s second career move as a realtor. For his second property, he chose to buy a house down the street from his first property. According to his calculations, he had to buy it for $80,000 to make the numbers work. So, he made an offer for $80,000 in cash and they accepted it. The only problem was that Matt didn't have $80,000 in cash. This is when he was introduced to private money lenders and was able to get a loan with 7% interest deferred, meaning he only had to pay back the interest and the payments once he refinanced the property.
Next, we talk about how Matt went from 14 to 120 units in the last 5 years. After losing both of his parents in his 20s, Matt decided to focus all of his energy on fast-tracking his career. Using the experience and the knowledge he accumulated working for larger-scale management development companies, he purchased his first million-dollar property. He was able to raise $300,000 from friends and family; he used $200,000 of it for the down payment, and he used the rest of it for smart capital improvements, as well as funding an operating account. In three years, he was able to push the value of that property from $1 million to $1.6 million. This deal alone was bringing him a cash flow of $40,000 a year and Matt realized that he can just recycle this BRRRR method over and over again, focusing on $1 million to $2 million properties.
We then discuss Matt’s development company, ROC Real Capital. A few years ago, Matt and his partner David started a development company focusing on more transformational development projects in marginal neighborhoods, mostly vacant buildings that they want to reposition or redevelop. They also formed a management company to manage both Matt’s assets and the assets they acquire together. The reason for that is because Matt believes that a third-party management can’t give their tenants the attention that they need.
Eventually, we talk about Matt’s team. He shares that they currently have a couple of maintenance people who are also on-site at some of their development projects and manage the subcontractors. Other than that, they have a leasing person and a bookkeeper. Matt’s partner, David runs their management company, but once they stabilize their properties after they're redeveloped, they want to bring in a full-time property manager so that David can step away from those responsibilities.
Lastly, we talk about different ways of finding deals. Matt explains that in terms of commercial deals, the relationship with commercial brokers is a huge source of deals for single-family to five-family types of properties. This is where you can get a lot of off-market deals. Another great tool to finding deals is being considered a subject matter expert with every debate in your sphere and growing that sphere is very important for building relationships with people, so that when you have a business conversation with somebody they feel like they already know you.
Make sure you don’t miss this fun episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Matt Drouin and learn all about the BRRRR method when it comes to multifamily deals!
Notable Quotes:
“My mistake was I thought that I needed to have experience or credibility in order to have permission from the universe to purchase larger properties.”
- Matt Drouin
“I had 14 units back in 2016 and now I'm up to 120 units of residential and commercial properties. The way I scaled that portfolio was through utilizing the BRRRR method, but on larger, multi-million dollar properties.”
- Matt Drouin
“As a real estate broker myself, I've seen what the 1031 exchange does to clients. It's like a gun against your head, and people don't make good decisions in that type of scenario.”
- Matt Drouin
“It gets difficult to make good business decisions when you’re on a first-name basis with all your people.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you're looking to grow the business, you might have to self-manage, but don't be afraid to eventually give up stuff. It's worth it to pay other people that are qualified professionals to do that.”
- Matt Drouin
“I love to give value to other people, and put the ladder down and help people build wealth and earn financial independence, utilizing real estate as the tool.”
- Matt Drouin
Links:
ROC Real Estate
ROC Real Estate on Instagram
Matt on LinkedIn
Matt YouTube
Matt on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Matt Drouin to the show today. Matt is a partner at OakGrove Development, a real estate investment and development firm with a special focus on value-add commercial and residential properties in Rochester, NY. Over the last 15 years, he has been in real estate management, brokerage, and development and has grown his portfolio to 120 units of residential and commercial property. Matt’s company mission is in developing real estate projects that not only add value to their investors but also put long-term community interests front and center. He believes that you can do well as a real estate developer and that ultimately community-centric development boosts profits for investors.
Matt first shares his background story and how he first got into real estate. After finishing his four-year liberal arts degree, studying business with a concentration in finance, Matt had a vision that he was going to be hired immediately out of college. Unfortunately, no one wanted to hire a liberal arts student with a general business degree with no experience. Eventually, Matt was able to get a job as a part-time bank teller in his hometown, but after two months he was sick of it. His father, who had some experience in the real estate world, advised him to get a real estate license and become a realtor. His first property was a fourplex, he lived in one of the units and rented out the rest.
We then move on to discussing Matt’s second career move as a realtor. For his second property, he chose to buy a house down the street from his first property. According to his calculations, he had to buy it for $80,000 to make the numbers work. So, he made an offer for $80,000 in cash and they accepted it. The only problem was that Matt didn't have $80,000 in cash. This is when he was introduced to private money lenders and was able to get a loan with 7% interest deferred, meaning he only had to pay back the interest and the payments once he refinanced the property.
Next, we talk about how Matt went from 14 to 120 units in the last 5 years. After losing both of his parents in his 20s, Matt decided to focus all of his energy on fast-tracking his career. Using the experience and the knowledge he accumulated working for larger-scale management development companies, he purchased his first million-dollar property. He was able to raise $300,000 from friends and family; he used $200,000 of it for the down payment, and he used the rest of it for smart capital improvements, as well as funding an operating account. In three years, he was able to push the value of that property from $1 million to $1.6 million. This deal alone was bringing him a cash flow of $40,000 a year and Matt realized that he can just recycle this BRRRR method over and over again, focusing on $1 million to $2 million properties.
We then discuss Matt’s development company, ROC Real Capital. A few years ago, Matt and his partner David started a development company focusing on more transformational development projects in marginal neighborhoods, mostly vacant buildings that they want to reposition or redevelop. They also formed a management company to manage both Matt’s assets and the assets they acquire together. The reason for that is because Matt believes that a third-party management can’t give their tenants the attention that they need.
Eventually, we talk about Matt’s team. He shares that they currently have a couple of maintenance people who are also on-site at some of their development projects and manage the subcontractors. Other than that, they have a leasing person and a bookkeeper. Matt’s partner, David runs their management company, but once they stabilize their properties after they're redeveloped, they want to bring in a full-time property manager so that David can step away from those responsibilities.
Lastly, we talk about different ways of finding deals. Matt explains that in terms of commercial deals, the relationship with commercial brokers is a huge source of deals for single-family to five-family types of properties. This is where you can get a lot of off-market deals. Another great tool to finding deals is being considered a subject matter expert with every debate in your sphere and growing that sphere is very important for building relationships with people, so that when you have a business conversation with somebody they feel like they already know you.
Make sure you don’t miss this fun episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Matt Drouin and learn all about the BRRRR method when it comes to multifamily deals!
Notable Quotes:
“My mistake was I thought that I needed to have experience or credibility in order to have permission from the universe to purchase larger properties.”
- Matt Drouin
“I had 14 units back in 2016 and now I'm up to 120 units of residential and commercial properties. The way I scaled that portfolio was through utilizing the BRRRR method, but on larger, multi-million dollar properties.”
- Matt Drouin
“As a real estate broker myself, I've seen what the 1031 exchange does to clients. It's like a gun against your head, and people don't make good decisions in that type of scenario.”
- Matt Drouin
“It gets difficult to make good business decisions when you’re on a first-name basis with all your people.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you're looking to grow the business, you might have to self-manage, but don't be afraid to eventually give up stuff. It's worth it to pay other people that are qualified professionals to do that.”
- Matt Drouin
“I love to give value to other people, and put the ladder down and help people build wealth and earn financial independence, utilizing real estate as the tool.”
- Matt Drouin
Links:
ROC Real Estate
ROC Real Estate on Instagram
Matt on LinkedIn
Matt YouTube
Matt on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 22nd and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Some people actually list their flip for less than they think they will get because it starts a bidding war.”
“In this market, if you have your house on the market for a month, it is over-priced.”
“This was the first set-back I had ever had and I honestly didn’t think it could happen. I just got over-confident.”
“In this market, you just don’t have to overthink it. Put your flip on the MLS and it will sell.”
“In general, I would say don’t wait.”
“I am a big fan of leveraging other people’s money.”
“You have to buy right if you are using traditional lending.”
“Make sure when you are buying and renovating a property, you are still only invested in it 80% or less of what it is worth.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 22nd and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Some people actually list their flip for less than they think they will get because it starts a bidding war.”
“In this market, if you have your house on the market for a month, it is over-priced.”
“This was the first set-back I had ever had and I honestly didn’t think it could happen. I just got over-confident.”
“In this market, you just don’t have to overthink it. Put your flip on the MLS and it will sell.”
“In general, I would say don’t wait.”
“I am a big fan of leveraging other people’s money.”
“You have to buy right if you are using traditional lending.”
“Make sure when you are buying and renovating a property, you are still only invested in it 80% or less of what it is worth.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Chuck Garcia. Chuck is the former head of Global Marketing at Bloomberg. He is also the Founder of Climb Leadership International and coaches executives on leadership development, public speaking, and emotional intelligence with his Empathetic Leadership Institute. Chuck is a professional speaker and has given keynotes in over twenty countries. He is also the Amazon best-selling author of A Climb to the Top and podcast host of the popular show of the same name. Chuck also teaches Leadership Communication at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Engineering.
Chuck first shares his background story and how he went from Wall Street to entrepreneurship. He began his career on Wall Street, under the tutelage of Mike Bloomberg. Now, for those of you who might not know this, Mike Bloomberg was a presidential candidate and a Mayor of New York for three terms. He was also Chuck’s boss for fourteen years, and Chuck shares that he learned more in one week under his tutelage than he did in four years of college. After 9/11, the day he was scheduled to speak on the hundred seventh floor of the World Trade Center, Chuck decided that it was time for a career change. So, he started his own company called Climb Leadership international. Today, he is a professional speaker, published author, and a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Engineering where he teaches public speaking and emotional intelligence.
We then move on to discussing one of Chuck's biggest passions which is communication. He explains that throughout his education, he defined success as being at the top of his class, as many of us do. But after beginning his career on Wall Street, he came to realize that the people who were climbing the career ladder were not the best students, but they were powerful communicators. They were the ones who could read the room the best and who were the most dynamic speakers.
Next, we talk about key concepts of communication. Chuck shares that during his college years there was one course that made a huge impact on him and it was called the Art and Science of Debate. This course changed his career. Later, when he was working at Bloomberg’s and speaking on stage, he had to find a way to connect to hundreds of different people at the same time. He experimented with a number of different methods, and he soon found his framework which he named Ten Commandments of Great Communicators. In his book A Climb to the Top, he gives an in-depth look at all ten commandments. Some of them are: the Primacy/Recency Effect, the observation that when people hear you speak they remember the first thing and the last thing that you say; Power of Emotional Appeal, that people gravitate to stories of struggle and challenge; the Power of the Pause, that by pausing you are showing consideration to the listener and giving them time to catch up and absorb the message.
Eventually, we talk about what emotional intelligence is and why it is important. Chuck explains that emotional intelligence addresses the social, personal, and survival dimensions of the emotions of an individual when they are going about their day. Emotional intelligence helps one to understand how to be self-aware. When it comes to teaching this class, Chuck explains that his students are likely to become amazing engineers but the higher they climb in their careers, the less engineering they’ll do. Their job description is going to change midway through that ladder and they will feel ill-equipped. This is called the paradox of success: the skills that got you halfway are not the skills that get you all the way. As you move higher up that ladder, your communication skills become more and more important.
Lastly, we dive deeper into the metaphor behind Climb to the Top. Chuck explains that in his book he uses a climb to a mountain as a metaphor for career success. This all started after the tragic event of 9/11 when Chuck realized that we wanted to do more with his life. He decided to become a mountaineer. After climbing his first few mountains, he began to notice a pattern similar to the one in his career. He was climbing his way to the top, one step at a time, but he wasn't alone, he had a guide and people who helped him get to the top. So, he decided to be a guide for others.
Make sure you don’t miss this incredibly fun and informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with true expert communicator Chuck Garcia!
Notable Quotes:
“If a man stands on integrity and he makes several billion dollars along the way, well isn’t that the American dream?”
- Chuck Garcia
“As real estate investors, oftentimes we're taking something really bad that doesn't have the value it should and we create value and better communities.”
- Mike Simmons
“Career success is determined 5 percent by your academic credentials, 15 percent by your professional experiences, 15 percent by your natural ability, and 65 percent by your communication skills.”
- Chuck Garcia
“As I learned to become a more compelling communicator, I was finding what was working well on stage, was working well at home. And what worked well with my colleagues, worked well with my children. That's when the formula really hit me.”
- Chuck Garcia
“Just because one can speak doesn't mean one is a good speaker.”
- Chuck Garcia
“The really good people in the real estate business are very good listeners. They establish an emotional connection. They make you feel like the home you're about to purchase, that their happiness and success is as much at stake as yours.”
- Chuck Garcia
“I have no idea what I'm doing, but what I know is if I do it again, I'm going to suck a little less.”
- Chuck Garcia
Links:
Chuck’s Website
Chuck on Facebook
Chuck on Instagram
Chuck on LinkedIn
Chuck on Twitter
Climb To The Top Podcast
Climb Leadership Consulting
A Climb to the Top: Communication & Leadership Tactics to Take Your Career to New Heights by Chuck Garcia
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Chuck Garcia. Chuck is the former head of Global Marketing at Bloomberg. He is also the Founder of Climb Leadership International and coaches executives on leadership development, public speaking, and emotional intelligence with his Empathetic Leadership Institute. Chuck is a professional speaker and has given keynotes in over twenty countries. He is also the Amazon best-selling author of A Climb to the Top and podcast host of the popular show of the same name. Chuck also teaches Leadership Communication at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Engineering.
Chuck first shares his background story and how he went from Wall Street to entrepreneurship. He began his career on Wall Street, under the tutelage of Mike Bloomberg. Now, for those of you who might not know this, Mike Bloomberg was a presidential candidate and a Mayor of New York for three terms. He was also Chuck’s boss for fourteen years, and Chuck shares that he learned more in one week under his tutelage than he did in four years of college. After 9/11, the day he was scheduled to speak on the hundred seventh floor of the World Trade Center, Chuck decided that it was time for a career change. So, he started his own company called Climb Leadership international. Today, he is a professional speaker, published author, and a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Engineering where he teaches public speaking and emotional intelligence.
We then move on to discussing one of Chuck's biggest passions which is communication. He explains that throughout his education, he defined success as being at the top of his class, as many of us do. But after beginning his career on Wall Street, he came to realize that the people who were climbing the career ladder were not the best students, but they were powerful communicators. They were the ones who could read the room the best and who were the most dynamic speakers.
Next, we talk about key concepts of communication. Chuck shares that during his college years there was one course that made a huge impact on him and it was called the Art and Science of Debate. This course changed his career. Later, when he was working at Bloomberg’s and speaking on stage, he had to find a way to connect to hundreds of different people at the same time. He experimented with a number of different methods, and he soon found his framework which he named Ten Commandments of Great Communicators. In his book A Climb to the Top, he gives an in-depth look at all ten commandments. Some of them are: the Primacy/Recency Effect, the observation that when people hear you speak they remember the first thing and the last thing that you say; Power of Emotional Appeal, that people gravitate to stories of struggle and challenge; the Power of the Pause, that by pausing you are showing consideration to the listener and giving them time to catch up and absorb the message.
Eventually, we talk about what emotional intelligence is and why it is important. Chuck explains that emotional intelligence addresses the social, personal, and survival dimensions of the emotions of an individual when they are going about their day. Emotional intelligence helps one to understand how to be self-aware. When it comes to teaching this class, Chuck explains that his students are likely to become amazing engineers but the higher they climb in their careers, the less engineering they’ll do. Their job description is going to change midway through that ladder and they will feel ill-equipped. This is called the paradox of success: the skills that got you halfway are not the skills that get you all the way. As you move higher up that ladder, your communication skills become more and more important.
Lastly, we dive deeper into the metaphor behind Climb to the Top. Chuck explains that in his book he uses a climb to a mountain as a metaphor for career success. This all started after the tragic event of 9/11 when Chuck realized that we wanted to do more with his life. He decided to become a mountaineer. After climbing his first few mountains, he began to notice a pattern similar to the one in his career. He was climbing his way to the top, one step at a time, but he wasn't alone, he had a guide and people who helped him get to the top. So, he decided to be a guide for others.
Make sure you don’t miss this incredibly fun and informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with true expert communicator Chuck Garcia!
Notable Quotes:
“If a man stands on integrity and he makes several billion dollars along the way, well isn’t that the American dream?”
- Chuck Garcia
“As real estate investors, oftentimes we're taking something really bad that doesn't have the value it should and we create value and better communities.”
- Mike Simmons
“Career success is determined 5 percent by your academic credentials, 15 percent by your professional experiences, 15 percent by your natural ability, and 65 percent by your communication skills.”
- Chuck Garcia
“As I learned to become a more compelling communicator, I was finding what was working well on stage, was working well at home. And what worked well with my colleagues, worked well with my children. That's when the formula really hit me.”
- Chuck Garcia
“Just because one can speak doesn't mean one is a good speaker.”
- Chuck Garcia
“The really good people in the real estate business are very good listeners. They establish an emotional connection. They make you feel like the home you're about to purchase, that their happiness and success is as much at stake as yours.”
- Chuck Garcia
“I have no idea what I'm doing, but what I know is if I do it again, I'm going to suck a little less.”
- Chuck Garcia
Links:
Chuck’s Website
Chuck on Facebook
Chuck on Instagram
Chuck on LinkedIn
Chuck on Twitter
Climb To The Top Podcast
Climb Leadership Consulting
A Climb to the Top: Communication & Leadership Tactics to Take Your Career to New Heights by Chuck Garcia
How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 15th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you are a woman in this industry and dealing with contractors, you have to stand your ground.”
“Don’t think of yourself as a woman in real estate - think of yourself as a real estate investor and act like you belong there, because you do.”
“The 70% rule is the training wheels of real estate evaluation.”
“Work toward your goal, not away from it.”
“If anyone tells you they have the direct mail piece that is like the silver bullet, they are full of crap.”
“The goal is to make the phone ring with people who are interested in selling their house.”
“I was too hard-headed to get help for a number of years.”
“As soon as I put myself in an environment with people that were doing better than me, and I could ask them questions, I started building a business that could in large part run without me.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 15th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you are a woman in this industry and dealing with contractors, you have to stand your ground.”
“Don’t think of yourself as a woman in real estate - think of yourself as a real estate investor and act like you belong there, because you do.”
“The 70% rule is the training wheels of real estate evaluation.”
“Work toward your goal, not away from it.”
“If anyone tells you they have the direct mail piece that is like the silver bullet, they are full of crap.”
“The goal is to make the phone ring with people who are interested in selling their house.”
“I was too hard-headed to get help for a number of years.”
“As soon as I put myself in an environment with people that were doing better than me, and I could ask them questions, I started building a business that could in large part run without me.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Jhanel Wilson to today’s show! Jhanel is a chemical engineer turned real estate investor and entrepreneur. She is the Founder and CEO of The Savvy REI with an eight-figure portfolio andJhanel is on a mission to share her 17+ years of hard lessons and personal strategies to help people understand, master, and succeed with real estate investing.
Jhanel first shares her background story and how she went from being a chemical engineer to becoming a real estate investor. Jhanel believes that her background as an engineer has helped her become a better real estate investor. She has a great eye for details and risk analysis which helps her make better and smarter decisions, and even eliminate some of the risk along the way. Jhanel started her journey into real estate right after college by purchasing a distressed property from a family member by paying the back taxes before it went to the sheriff's sale. Shortly after, the city threatened to demolish the property due to code violations, so once more Jhanel pulled all of her resources and used student loans and credit cards to bring the property up to code, remedy additional taxes and bills, and accomplish an ARV of $70k after putting in roughly $45k. She was able to successfully complete the project and start cash flow, which immediately showed her the power of real estate.
We then move on to discussing how Jhanel manages her 8-figure portfolio. She explains that she manages all her properties herself, with the help of her team. Today, she has 90 doors that are occupied and 40 more under construction. Currently, she only has three members on her team, which is more than enough according to Jhanel’s estimate of one manager per 50 tenants. She did try going the more traditional route and using property management companies but that never seemed to work out, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Next, we talk about Jhanel’s business strategy. She explains that her strategy right now is strictly buy-and-hold but that she does refinance a lot. Jhanel believes that the world is meant for buy-and-hold investments, once you learn how to deal with tenants.
Lastly, we dive into Jhanel’s course Invest in Real Estate with No Money Down, Using High Limit Credit Cards where she teaches people how to use credit cards to buy real estate. Jhanel explains that credit cards are good for two reasons, the first is easy applications and the second one is low rates. The only downside to credit cards is that the payments are high but Jhanel explains that you can work that out by making interest payments part of your budget. Jhanel also dives into the difference between personal and business credit and how you can’t have one without the other.
Make sure you check out this incredibly informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jhanel Wilson, and learn all about financing your deals using your credit cards!
Notable Quotes:
“I immediately forgot all the problems that I had when I discovered the power of real estate.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“When you passively invest, you are trusting other people to know what to do and to actually do it.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“I think the world is meant for buy-and-hold investing.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“I always tell people to borrow more than you need, so that cash flow doesn't become a problem for you and you can use that money for paying back the loan.”
- Mike Simmons
“Cash flow will kick you out of the game. You might have the best deal, but if you don't have the cash to get it done, then you're going to lose.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“Your credit is so you can use it, so if your credit is bad, you work to get it up.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“Getting a good score is just part of the process. Now that you have the score you have to use it.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“You don't have to pay anyone to build your business credit. Your business credit is based on your personal credit.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“People sometimes ignore how to be an entrepreneur in the pursuit of just making money.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Jhanel on Instagram
Jhanel on Facebook
Jhanel on LinkedIn
Jhanel’s website
Course: Invest in Real Estate with No Money Down, Using High Limit Credit Cards by Jhanel Wilson
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am happy to welcome Jhanel Wilson to today’s show! Jhanel is a chemical engineer turned real estate investor and entrepreneur. She is the Founder and CEO of The Savvy REI with an eight-figure portfolio andJhanel is on a mission to share her 17+ years of hard lessons and personal strategies to help people understand, master, and succeed with real estate investing.
Jhanel first shares her background story and how she went from being a chemical engineer to becoming a real estate investor. Jhanel believes that her background as an engineer has helped her become a better real estate investor. She has a great eye for details and risk analysis which helps her make better and smarter decisions, and even eliminate some of the risk along the way. Jhanel started her journey into real estate right after college by purchasing a distressed property from a family member by paying the back taxes before it went to the sheriff's sale. Shortly after, the city threatened to demolish the property due to code violations, so once more Jhanel pulled all of her resources and used student loans and credit cards to bring the property up to code, remedy additional taxes and bills, and accomplish an ARV of $70k after putting in roughly $45k. She was able to successfully complete the project and start cash flow, which immediately showed her the power of real estate.
We then move on to discussing how Jhanel manages her 8-figure portfolio. She explains that she manages all her properties herself, with the help of her team. Today, she has 90 doors that are occupied and 40 more under construction. Currently, she only has three members on her team, which is more than enough according to Jhanel’s estimate of one manager per 50 tenants. She did try going the more traditional route and using property management companies but that never seemed to work out, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Next, we talk about Jhanel’s business strategy. She explains that her strategy right now is strictly buy-and-hold but that she does refinance a lot. Jhanel believes that the world is meant for buy-and-hold investments, once you learn how to deal with tenants.
Lastly, we dive into Jhanel’s course Invest in Real Estate with No Money Down, Using High Limit Credit Cards where she teaches people how to use credit cards to buy real estate. Jhanel explains that credit cards are good for two reasons, the first is easy applications and the second one is low rates. The only downside to credit cards is that the payments are high but Jhanel explains that you can work that out by making interest payments part of your budget. Jhanel also dives into the difference between personal and business credit and how you can’t have one without the other.
Make sure you check out this incredibly informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jhanel Wilson, and learn all about financing your deals using your credit cards!
Notable Quotes:
“I immediately forgot all the problems that I had when I discovered the power of real estate.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“When you passively invest, you are trusting other people to know what to do and to actually do it.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“I think the world is meant for buy-and-hold investing.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“I always tell people to borrow more than you need, so that cash flow doesn't become a problem for you and you can use that money for paying back the loan.”
- Mike Simmons
“Cash flow will kick you out of the game. You might have the best deal, but if you don't have the cash to get it done, then you're going to lose.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“Your credit is so you can use it, so if your credit is bad, you work to get it up.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“Getting a good score is just part of the process. Now that you have the score you have to use it.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“You don't have to pay anyone to build your business credit. Your business credit is based on your personal credit.”
- Jhanel Wilson
“People sometimes ignore how to be an entrepreneur in the pursuit of just making money.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Jhanel on Instagram
Jhanel on Facebook
Jhanel on LinkedIn
Jhanel’s website
Course: Invest in Real Estate with No Money Down, Using High Limit Credit Cards by Jhanel Wilson
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 8th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you are overwhelmed in your business, you need to stop thinking about hiring an assistant and start hiring an assistant.”
“Most people hire way too late.”
“The MLS is the best way to evaluate properties.”
“Having access to the MLS is the best and only way to accurately determine your property’s ARV.”
“The work involved in getting a high volume of deals as a wholesaler is pretty significant.”
“If it takes you longer than eight weeks to turn over a standard flip, someone is not on top of it.”
“The reason you are scared to do something is because you are confused about it. A confused mind says, ‘NO.’”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on September 8th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you are overwhelmed in your business, you need to stop thinking about hiring an assistant and start hiring an assistant.”
“Most people hire way too late.”
“The MLS is the best way to evaluate properties.”
“Having access to the MLS is the best and only way to accurately determine your property’s ARV.”
“The work involved in getting a high volume of deals as a wholesaler is pretty significant.”
“If it takes you longer than eight weeks to turn over a standard flip, someone is not on top of it.”
“The reason you are scared to do something is because you are confused about it. A confused mind says, ‘NO.’”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am excited to welcome my friend and co-owner of 7 Figure Flipping, Bill Allen! Bill gives us a little bit of his background, explaining how he was an active-duty Navy pilot for many years before becoming a reservist, and how we met at the first 7 Figure Flipping meeting in 2016. Bill said when he first got involved in real estate investing, he had done one flip in each of his first two years, but after joining the group, his business just exploded. He has now done over 750 flip and wholesale deals, has gotten into multi-family syndication, and is doing some hard money lending, as well. Bill bought the 7 Figure Flipping group about two years ago and how he has surrounded himself with a great group of people in order to manage and run the mastermind groups and the very successful Flip Hacking Live conference.
The main reason I wanted to have Bill on the show today was to talk about this year’s Flip Hacking Live and how much it benefits its attendees. This year’s conference is October 14th thru 16th in Orlando, Florida and our listeners can follow the link provided below to buy your tickets! We had a blast last year doing the program virtually but are especially excited to get back together in person for this year’s presentation. Bill talked about his first time at FHL and how amazed he was that each speaker was basically just giving away the farm, and was completely open and honest with how they were running their businesses. He said it has been very important to him to continue in that same vein, taking the opportunity, once a year, to really lay out a blueprint for people to start and run a real estate business.
Bill and I talked about some of the specifics of this year’s live event. We are bringing back the speaker’s roundtable on Thursday night so that the attendees can spend some time with each of the speakers asking specific, more in-depth questions. Bill also stressed that the basic theme of Flip Hacking Live this year is going to be what is working now for the multiple, very successful speakers in their various businesses, and what they are looking toward for their future success. We are going to dive into what they are looking at as far as changes in the market, or with their personale, or different strategies they may be thinking of implementing. Bill really tasked the speakers into forecasting what they are planning to do in the coming months to help the participants in their real estate journey.
There is no way to put into words the value that is provided at Flip Hacking Live! Don’t miss this informative and inspirational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bill Allen, and hear the inside scoop of all of the substance offered at this year’s exciting event!
Notable Quotes: “I’m really enjoying life now, hanging out with some cool people, and trying to continue doing as many deals as I can.”
- Bill Allen
“Your drive and passion for what you do is amazing and everything you become involved in becomes much better.”
- Mike Simmons
“The first year that I went to Flip Hacking Live I was shocked at how open and honest everyone was - they were just giving away the farm.”
- Bill Allen
“This is what Flip Hacking Live is about - open it up once a year, share everything, and don’t hold anything back.”
- Bill Allen
“This event is content-rich for anybody in real estate.”
- Bill Allen
“There are also a lot of great connections to be made at FHL.”
- Bill Allen
“My guess is there are gaps in your game. There are things that you are not doing that you should be doing and there are probably things that you are focusing on that are not of great benefit to you right now.”
- Mike Simmons
“Those first six months - how do I actually start, build, and grow my business for speed.”
- Mike Simmons
“I really want to take you on this journey of real estate investing within Flip Hacking Live.”
- Bill Allen
“We are going to focus on what is working now and what is going to work next.”
- Bill Allen
“Choose your own adventure.”
- Bill Allen
“You need traffic, right? You need phone calls, you need inbound leads, you need deals.”
- Bill Allen
“A successful investor and an unsuccessful investor - the difference is belief.”
- Bill Allen
Links: Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
7 Figure Flipping Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am excited to welcome my friend and co-owner of 7 Figure Flipping, Bill Allen! Bill gives us a little bit of his background, explaining how he was an active-duty Navy pilot for many years before becoming a reservist, and how we met at the first 7 Figure Flipping meeting in 2016. Bill said when he first got involved in real estate investing, he had done one flip in each of his first two years, but after joining the group, his business just exploded. He has now done over 750 flip and wholesale deals, has gotten into multi-family syndication, and is doing some hard money lending, as well. Bill bought the 7 Figure Flipping group about two years ago and how he has surrounded himself with a great group of people in order to manage and run the mastermind groups and the very successful Flip Hacking Live conference.
The main reason I wanted to have Bill on the show today was to talk about this year’s Flip Hacking Live and how much it benefits its attendees. This year’s conference is October 14th thru 16th in Orlando, Florida and our listeners can follow the link provided below to buy your tickets! We had a blast last year doing the program virtually but are especially excited to get back together in person for this year’s presentation. Bill talked about his first time at FHL and how amazed he was that each speaker was basically just giving away the farm, and was completely open and honest with how they were running their businesses. He said it has been very important to him to continue in that same vein, taking the opportunity, once a year, to really lay out a blueprint for people to start and run a real estate business.
Bill and I talked about some of the specifics of this year’s live event. We are bringing back the speaker’s roundtable on Thursday night so that the attendees can spend some time with each of the speakers asking specific, more in-depth questions. Bill also stressed that the basic theme of Flip Hacking Live this year is going to be what is working now for the multiple, very successful speakers in their various businesses, and what they are looking toward for their future success. We are going to dive into what they are looking at as far as changes in the market, or with their personale, or different strategies they may be thinking of implementing. Bill really tasked the speakers into forecasting what they are planning to do in the coming months to help the participants in their real estate journey.
There is no way to put into words the value that is provided at Flip Hacking Live! Don’t miss this informative and inspirational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bill Allen, and hear the inside scoop of all of the substance offered at this year’s exciting event!
Notable Quotes: “I’m really enjoying life now, hanging out with some cool people, and trying to continue doing as many deals as I can.”
- Bill Allen
“Your drive and passion for what you do is amazing and everything you become involved in becomes much better.”
- Mike Simmons
“The first year that I went to Flip Hacking Live I was shocked at how open and honest everyone was - they were just giving away the farm.”
- Bill Allen
“This is what Flip Hacking Live is about - open it up once a year, share everything, and don’t hold anything back.”
- Bill Allen
“This event is content-rich for anybody in real estate.”
- Bill Allen
“There are also a lot of great connections to be made at FHL.”
- Bill Allen
“My guess is there are gaps in your game. There are things that you are not doing that you should be doing and there are probably things that you are focusing on that are not of great benefit to you right now.”
- Mike Simmons
“Those first six months - how do I actually start, build, and grow my business for speed.”
- Mike Simmons
“I really want to take you on this journey of real estate investing within Flip Hacking Live.”
- Bill Allen
“We are going to focus on what is working now and what is going to work next.”
- Bill Allen
“Choose your own adventure.”
- Bill Allen
“You need traffic, right? You need phone calls, you need inbound leads, you need deals.”
- Bill Allen
“A successful investor and an unsuccessful investor - the difference is belief.”
- Bill Allen
Links: Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
7 Figure Flipping Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 25th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The number one way I have found that people find deals is direct mail.”
“Another great way to find deals and find leads in most markets is cold calling. It works.”
“When it comes to picking goals, first figure out what you really, really want.”
“It is a mistake for you to ask other people to help you figure out what your goals are.”
“Figure out what you really want and reverse engineer it.”
“A great way to find reliable contractors is to go to Home Depot at 6am and talk to the contractors there buying materials to go to work that day.”
“The subcontractors you love usually know really good contractors in other disciplines.”
“You compete by actually putting in the work.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 25th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The number one way I have found that people find deals is direct mail.”
“Another great way to find deals and find leads in most markets is cold calling. It works.”
“When it comes to picking goals, first figure out what you really, really want.”
“It is a mistake for you to ask other people to help you figure out what your goals are.”
“Figure out what you really want and reverse engineer it.”
“A great way to find reliable contractors is to go to Home Depot at 6am and talk to the contractors there buying materials to go to work that day.”
“The subcontractors you love usually know really good contractors in other disciplines.”
“You compete by actually putting in the work.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Jason Duncan. Jason works with entrepreneurs who want to BUILD, SCALE, and ENJOY their businesses. He has been named one of the top entrepreneurial companies in the country by Entrepreneur Magazine. He is a multi-award winning entrepreneur and founder of twelve companies. Jason is also a host of the popular podcast The Root of All Success.
Jason first shares his background story and how he became an entrepreneur. Jason spent the first thirteen years of his career in pastoral ministry. He did youth ministry and preaching ministry, traveling all around the United States. During this time he was also working as a health and life insurance salesman, selling to small business owners. But after some time, he decided that he wanted to do more, he wanted to make a real difference. So, he went back to school and got his master’s degree in education. He became a teacher and felt like he truly found his superpower. But then the recession hit, and he lost his job. He knew that he couldn’t get another job as a teacher so he started his own company Energy Lighting Services, which went on to become a multimillion-dollar company.
We then move on to discussing how Jason was able to exit his company without exiting. He shares that after running his company for a few years, he realized that he wasn’t living the life he wanted to. Sure, he was making a lot of money but he was also working his tail off every day. So, he decided to exit his company without selling it. He hired a CEO and his executive leadership team runs day-to-day operations. Now, he comes into the office once a month for a team meeting. Jason shares that there are three ways of exiting a business: (1) totally, which means exiting both physically and financially, (2) exit without exiting, exiting physically but not financially and (3) earn-out, exiting financially but not physically.
Next, we talk about the philosophy behind Jason’s exiting strategy. He explains that as an entrepreneur, you are not building your business just to give yourself a job. You are building your business, so that you can live the life that you want. This means that you cannot be the hero in your business. You start your business as a hero, because you have to build it from the ground up but eventually you have to be able to step down. Jason then goes on to explain some parts of his coaching program, such as Margin Theory which states that your ability to be successful lies in the margin, as well as the Law of Open Cycles which states that stress is not caused by the endurance of stressful situations, but by too many open cycles at once. And part of being prepared to exit is understanding that law and how you manage your stress. Jason believes that even if you get a great team around you but you haven't taught them Margin Theory and Law of Open Cycles, they're also going to operate as the heroes and ultimately that's going to be the downfall of your business.
Jason then explains the 5 Ps to entrepreneurial success. When talking with successful entrepreneurs, Jason noticed that there were 5 key things that always stood out. He labeled these as 5 Ps to entrepreneurial success. The first one is passion, which is defined as willing to endure. The second one is being at the right place at the right time, and the third one is knowing the right people. The fourth P is preparation, and the fifth is having a plan for financial resources.
Lastly, we talk about The Results University. The Results University is an online platform where Jason teaches this entrepreneurial path. The course that is available right now is called The Complete Startup Guide for Entrepreneurs and it has everything you need to know to go from startup to success in six months or less. It consists of 11 lessons, 11 videos and 10 downloadable PDF documents. You can also join Results University as a student and get access to three live trainings per month with Jason and other experts that he brings in.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jason Duncan, and learn how to exit without exiting!
Notable Quotes:
“If you can figure out how to save people money or make them money so that they can go change the world, that's what they're interested in listening to.”
- Jason Duncan
“I learned how to exit without exiting.”
- Jason Duncan
“I asked myself, ‘Is this the ideal life I want to live, working in this business every day?’ And the answer to that was absolutely not.”
- Jason Duncan
“If an employee wants job security, he or she must become indispensable. But as an entrepreneur, your job is to be dispensable.”
- Jason Duncan
“You didn't start that business to give yourself a job. You started the business to live your ideal life and to make an impact in the world.”
- Jason Duncan
”FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful.”
- Jason Duncan
Links:
Jason’s Website
Jason on YouTube
Jason on Facebook
The Root of All Success
Jason on Instagram
Jason on LinkedIn
Results University
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Paperback by Gino Wickman
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Jason Duncan. Jason works with entrepreneurs who want to BUILD, SCALE, and ENJOY their businesses. He has been named one of the top entrepreneurial companies in the country by Entrepreneur Magazine. He is a multi-award winning entrepreneur and founder of twelve companies. Jason is also a host of the popular podcast The Root of All Success.
Jason first shares his background story and how he became an entrepreneur. Jason spent the first thirteen years of his career in pastoral ministry. He did youth ministry and preaching ministry, traveling all around the United States. During this time he was also working as a health and life insurance salesman, selling to small business owners. But after some time, he decided that he wanted to do more, he wanted to make a real difference. So, he went back to school and got his master’s degree in education. He became a teacher and felt like he truly found his superpower. But then the recession hit, and he lost his job. He knew that he couldn’t get another job as a teacher so he started his own company Energy Lighting Services, which went on to become a multimillion-dollar company.
We then move on to discussing how Jason was able to exit his company without exiting. He shares that after running his company for a few years, he realized that he wasn’t living the life he wanted to. Sure, he was making a lot of money but he was also working his tail off every day. So, he decided to exit his company without selling it. He hired a CEO and his executive leadership team runs day-to-day operations. Now, he comes into the office once a month for a team meeting. Jason shares that there are three ways of exiting a business: (1) totally, which means exiting both physically and financially, (2) exit without exiting, exiting physically but not financially and (3) earn-out, exiting financially but not physically.
Next, we talk about the philosophy behind Jason’s exiting strategy. He explains that as an entrepreneur, you are not building your business just to give yourself a job. You are building your business, so that you can live the life that you want. This means that you cannot be the hero in your business. You start your business as a hero, because you have to build it from the ground up but eventually you have to be able to step down. Jason then goes on to explain some parts of his coaching program, such as Margin Theory which states that your ability to be successful lies in the margin, as well as the Law of Open Cycles which states that stress is not caused by the endurance of stressful situations, but by too many open cycles at once. And part of being prepared to exit is understanding that law and how you manage your stress. Jason believes that even if you get a great team around you but you haven't taught them Margin Theory and Law of Open Cycles, they're also going to operate as the heroes and ultimately that's going to be the downfall of your business.
Jason then explains the 5 Ps to entrepreneurial success. When talking with successful entrepreneurs, Jason noticed that there were 5 key things that always stood out. He labeled these as 5 Ps to entrepreneurial success. The first one is passion, which is defined as willing to endure. The second one is being at the right place at the right time, and the third one is knowing the right people. The fourth P is preparation, and the fifth is having a plan for financial resources.
Lastly, we talk about The Results University. The Results University is an online platform where Jason teaches this entrepreneurial path. The course that is available right now is called The Complete Startup Guide for Entrepreneurs and it has everything you need to know to go from startup to success in six months or less. It consists of 11 lessons, 11 videos and 10 downloadable PDF documents. You can also join Results University as a student and get access to three live trainings per month with Jason and other experts that he brings in.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jason Duncan, and learn how to exit without exiting!
Notable Quotes:
“If you can figure out how to save people money or make them money so that they can go change the world, that's what they're interested in listening to.”
- Jason Duncan
“I learned how to exit without exiting.”
- Jason Duncan
“I asked myself, ‘Is this the ideal life I want to live, working in this business every day?’ And the answer to that was absolutely not.”
- Jason Duncan
“If an employee wants job security, he or she must become indispensable. But as an entrepreneur, your job is to be dispensable.”
- Jason Duncan
“You didn't start that business to give yourself a job. You started the business to live your ideal life and to make an impact in the world.”
- Jason Duncan
”FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful.”
- Jason Duncan
Links:
Jason’s Website
Jason on YouTube
Jason on Facebook
The Root of All Success
Jason on Instagram
Jason on LinkedIn
Results University
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Paperback by Gino Wickman
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 18th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Go get a deal. Just go get a deal.”
“That step of getting an LLC formed keeps people from going out and getting deals and making money.”
“Going into business with a loved one can damage a very important relationship permanently.”
“Partnerships are like marriages - a lot of them fail.”
“Partnerships with family members or friends often fail because people don’t evaluate the partnership the way they would have if it wasn’t with someone they knew.”
“I guess if I keep predicting that the market is going to slow down I will eventually be right.”
“If I could turn back the clock and I was 19 years old and living with my parents, I would turn real estate investing into a full-time gig today.”
“There are deals out there. There are now, there was yesterday, and there will be tomorrow.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 18th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Go get a deal. Just go get a deal.”
“That step of getting an LLC formed keeps people from going out and getting deals and making money.”
“Going into business with a loved one can damage a very important relationship permanently.”
“Partnerships are like marriages - a lot of them fail.”
“Partnerships with family members or friends often fail because people don’t evaluate the partnership the way they would have if it wasn’t with someone they knew.”
“I guess if I keep predicting that the market is going to slow down I will eventually be right.”
“If I could turn back the clock and I was 19 years old and living with my parents, I would turn real estate investing into a full-time gig today.”
“There are deals out there. There are now, there was yesterday, and there will be tomorrow.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I have the pleasure to interview Natalie Sisson, the founder of Suitcase Entrepreneurs, host of the UNTAPPED Podcast, bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and business coach listed on 2021 Cashflow Podcasting’s Top 13 Women’s Business Coaches Today. Natalie is also a contributor to Thrive, Forbes, and Lifehack, and she has been featured on many publications and media outlets, including 60 Minutes, Yahoo Finance, Huffington Post, and Daily Mail. Her mission is to help women entrepreneurs leverage their unique set of skills, knowledge, and experience to get paid to be them and get the income and impact they desire simply by being exactly who they are.
Natalie first shares her career backstory and how she got into entrepreneurship. Her career started in recruitment and marketing before moving to London. She worked with big international companies and got into what she relates as her dream job as the head of preposition development for the British Medical Association. She started a new department aimed at introducing doctors to entrepreneurism to help them build their services. Natalie soon realized that the job was sucking the life out of her creativity, and she was blocked from exercising her full potential. She didn’t want to feel miserable and decided to leave the corporate career to build something on her own.
We then talk about house hacking, a real estate investing strategy through which investors earn income by renting out primary residences and selling the property for a profit. Natalie explains how she bought a property to live in, rented it out, and later sold out her shares after moving to Canada. Also, five years ago, she bought another property in Belton in New Zealand and followed the same model.
Natalie explains her pursuits after ditching her career and going back to Canada. Her initial plan was to build a consultation platform for health and wellness to help big corporations decrease the number of sick days their employees take by creating happier and healthier employees. Her breakthrough came in a networking event where she met her current business partner. She got hooked up to his business, which assisted sports teams, fundraisers, and political candidates to easily raise and collect money on Facebook. Natalie worked there for about 18 months before moving out to work on her growing women’s blog that she had initiated to feature high-standing women who were doing great things in their business. The blog became popular, and she decided to build it into a business.
We then move into the mindset that hinders people from pursuing their desires and how Natalie helps people align themself with success and pursue what they love. Natalie explains her guiding principles in motivating people to see the big picture of where they want to be in order to take massive action toward their dreams. In her journey, she also realized that not everybody is in a position to quit their job and go for it, and she has been helping such people build their side hustle up to a level where they’re comfortable quitting their job to do what inspires them.
Lastly, we talk about Natalie’s book, Suck It Up Princess which she devised last year in a situation that she found herself torn and feeling sorry for herself despite great achievements. From her experience, Natalie suggests that sometimes we need self-compassion, and we need to go easy on ourselves and acknowledge that we need rest and to refresh and renew our energy. The book focuses on health, motivation, and inspiration, and it’s filled with personal stories in different areas such as love and relationships, an area she never thought of writing about before. Natalie explains that the book is for women in careers and entrepreneurship who are wondering whether there is something better for them to help them develop the right mindset, habits, and strategies to get rid of their inner critics, impostorism, doubt, and fears to be the best version of themselves and live abundantly.
Don’t miss this informative and power-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Natalie Sisson, and learn how to get over your excuses, do the unexpected, live your life on your own terms, and make money just by being you!
Notable Quotes: “Do I want to wake up for the rest of my life, do the commute, the hustle, and the grid? No, I want to do something better.”
- Natalie Sisson
“You should never have a backup plan; if you feel that this is something you want to do and change your life, you have to go in wholly and give it your best shot.”
- Natalie Sisson
“Sometimes you need self-compassion and grace; go easy on yourself and acknowledge that you need some rest or some time out.”
- Natalie Sisson
“Going after what you want is the biggest thing in life.”
- Mike Simons
“There are different horrors in the entrepreneurship journey, but the first one is getting off your butt and getting started.”
- Mike Simmons
Links: Natalie on Facebook
Natalie on Instagram
Natalie on LinkedIn
Natalie on Twitter
Natalie on YouTube
Natalie’s Website
The Freedom Plan
Suck It Up Princess
Suitcase Entrepreneur
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I have the pleasure to interview Natalie Sisson, the founder of Suitcase Entrepreneurs, host of the UNTAPPED Podcast, bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and business coach listed on 2021 Cashflow Podcasting’s Top 13 Women’s Business Coaches Today. Natalie is also a contributor to Thrive, Forbes, and Lifehack, and she has been featured on many publications and media outlets, including 60 Minutes, Yahoo Finance, Huffington Post, and Daily Mail. Her mission is to help women entrepreneurs leverage their unique set of skills, knowledge, and experience to get paid to be them and get the income and impact they desire simply by being exactly who they are.
Natalie first shares her career backstory and how she got into entrepreneurship. Her career started in recruitment and marketing before moving to London. She worked with big international companies and got into what she relates as her dream job as the head of preposition development for the British Medical Association. She started a new department aimed at introducing doctors to entrepreneurism to help them build their services. Natalie soon realized that the job was sucking the life out of her creativity, and she was blocked from exercising her full potential. She didn’t want to feel miserable and decided to leave the corporate career to build something on her own.
We then talk about house hacking, a real estate investing strategy through which investors earn income by renting out primary residences and selling the property for a profit. Natalie explains how she bought a property to live in, rented it out, and later sold out her shares after moving to Canada. Also, five years ago, she bought another property in Belton in New Zealand and followed the same model.
Natalie explains her pursuits after ditching her career and going back to Canada. Her initial plan was to build a consultation platform for health and wellness to help big corporations decrease the number of sick days their employees take by creating happier and healthier employees. Her breakthrough came in a networking event where she met her current business partner. She got hooked up to his business, which assisted sports teams, fundraisers, and political candidates to easily raise and collect money on Facebook. Natalie worked there for about 18 months before moving out to work on her growing women’s blog that she had initiated to feature high-standing women who were doing great things in their business. The blog became popular, and she decided to build it into a business.
We then move into the mindset that hinders people from pursuing their desires and how Natalie helps people align themself with success and pursue what they love. Natalie explains her guiding principles in motivating people to see the big picture of where they want to be in order to take massive action toward their dreams. In her journey, she also realized that not everybody is in a position to quit their job and go for it, and she has been helping such people build their side hustle up to a level where they’re comfortable quitting their job to do what inspires them.
Lastly, we talk about Natalie’s book, Suck It Up Princess which she devised last year in a situation that she found herself torn and feeling sorry for herself despite great achievements. From her experience, Natalie suggests that sometimes we need self-compassion, and we need to go easy on ourselves and acknowledge that we need rest and to refresh and renew our energy. The book focuses on health, motivation, and inspiration, and it’s filled with personal stories in different areas such as love and relationships, an area she never thought of writing about before. Natalie explains that the book is for women in careers and entrepreneurship who are wondering whether there is something better for them to help them develop the right mindset, habits, and strategies to get rid of their inner critics, impostorism, doubt, and fears to be the best version of themselves and live abundantly.
Don’t miss this informative and power-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Natalie Sisson, and learn how to get over your excuses, do the unexpected, live your life on your own terms, and make money just by being you!
Notable Quotes: “Do I want to wake up for the rest of my life, do the commute, the hustle, and the grid? No, I want to do something better.”
- Natalie Sisson
“You should never have a backup plan; if you feel that this is something you want to do and change your life, you have to go in wholly and give it your best shot.”
- Natalie Sisson
“Sometimes you need self-compassion and grace; go easy on yourself and acknowledge that you need some rest or some time out.”
- Natalie Sisson
“Going after what you want is the biggest thing in life.”
- Mike Simons
“There are different horrors in the entrepreneurship journey, but the first one is getting off your butt and getting started.”
- Mike Simmons
Links: Natalie on Facebook
Natalie on Instagram
Natalie on LinkedIn
Natalie on Twitter
Natalie on YouTube
Natalie’s Website
The Freedom Plan
Suck It Up Princess
Suitcase Entrepreneur
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 11th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“When looking at a possible property to buy as an investment, you want to make sure you can add value to it.”
“A couple of the biggest things that take away from the profitability of a landlord are turnover and vacancies.”
“Another way to maximize profits on a rental is to really renovate it when you buy it.”
“You can only get top-of-the-market rent if you have a top-of-the-market product.”
“The best way to maximize profits is to buy right.”
“One of the mistakes people make is they put a house on the market, they get a decent offer and they just take it. You should do at least a week, if not two, of showings before you accept any offers.”
“Pay yourself a reasonable salary and leave the rest in the company.”
“I learned how to build a business and then pumped most of my profits into marketing. My business skyrocketed.”
“The people I know that are successful are hard on themselves.”
“Making mistakes is part of the process.”
“Failing is learning.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 11th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“When looking at a possible property to buy as an investment, you want to make sure you can add value to it.”
“A couple of the biggest things that take away from the profitability of a landlord are turnover and vacancies.”
“Another way to maximize profits on a rental is to really renovate it when you buy it.”
“You can only get top-of-the-market rent if you have a top-of-the-market product.”
“The best way to maximize profits is to buy right.”
“One of the mistakes people make is they put a house on the market, they get a decent offer and they just take it. You should do at least a week, if not two, of showings before you accept any offers.”
“Pay yourself a reasonable salary and leave the rest in the company.”
“I learned how to build a business and then pumped most of my profits into marketing. My business skyrocketed.”
“The people I know that are successful are hard on themselves.”
“Making mistakes is part of the process.”
“Failing is learning.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today’s guest is Anthony Eisenman, who works in enterprise sales for Fortune 100 companies. Eisenman grew up in a single-parent family and felt that more traditional career paths were closed off to him but was attracted to the idea of working in sales because of the possibility of being paid for his performance via commission. Through hard work and diligence, he leveraged himself into a position of owning stock options in major corporations and has built up his own brand to teach others his methods.
Mike and Anthony begin by discussing how to increase your income. Eisenman’s first piece of advice, particularly for those who currently only work for one organization and who may have a fixed income, is to negotiate with your employer to be paid based on performance. Although this brings an element of risk, Eisenman underlines that this will give you the opportunity to prove your value to the organization. Once your value has been demonstrated through excellent performance, you are then in a better position to negotiate for greater rewards, including equity.
Anthony then outlines his checklist of systems to put in place before creating multiple streams of income or pursuing a passion project. Firstly, it is important to ensure that you are excelling in your primary source of income, meaning that you have maximized your earning capacity in this role. Secondly, this role should operate like a well-oiled machine with a firm system and defined processes in place, giving you the capacity to open yourself up to investing time and energy into other sources of income.
When launching a secondary revenue stream, Anthony highlights the possibility of receiving pushback from your company or entourage. When he began to work for himself, colleagues questioned his commitment to his job and his time management capacity. However, Anthony ensured that he continued to achieve highly so that his performance and production would speak for itself.
Anthony then deep dives into his personal motivation to achieve. Whilst he used to be motivated by his ego and the idea of proving people wrong, today he is more inspired by the idea of creating a legacy for his family to give his children the comforts he never had. The memories of his former financial struggles have stayed with him and continue to push him forward. Mike also affirms how the fear of failure can be a strong push factor towards achieving financial success, since a push away from financial hardship can be just as strong a motivator as the pull factor of the desire to earn wealth for your family.
Mike then questions Anthony about the steps that he took to build his brand, and Anthony explains that the first step that he took was to invest in coaching to learn about real estate and to create a personal brand. Initially his goals for his side businesses were low as he wasn’t under pressure to achieve immediately, and this allowed him to develop and grow gradually. Anthony chose to add a short-term real estate business to his portfolio as a way to involve his family in his business, as his wife could take over the furnishing and property management aspect of the business and in the long term, his children may also become involved with property management too.
Lastly, the conversation turns to Anthony’s personal brand, which aims to help people improve their sales strategies to earn the income they deserve. He has numerous books and coaching products covering topics from cold calls to the art of persuasion to the blueprint to wealth creation. These resources represent a philosophy of lifelong learning in order to improve yourself and your position in life. No matter what stage you’re at, there is always room to grow and learn and those who don’t take that opportunity will stagnate.
Don’t miss this enlightening episode of Just Start Real Estate, and stay tuned to the end to find out how to get free learning resources from Anthony Eisenman so that you can learn his secrets to success!
Notable Quotes:
“If you can prove yourself by being paid based on your performance, you’re going to earn a higher income and have a higher ceiling, and you can prove yourself to be valuable.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“Don’t ever be afraid to lose what you have now in order to gain even more.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“I did get pushback internally from my organization and it just made me press the gas that much harder.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“Everybody deserves to do some things they’re passionate about on the side. You don’t have to dedicate 110% to your organization. You can have some time to do some things on your own.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“If you get lazy, then your goals aren’t big enough.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“Part of my motivation, aside from my family, is fear of failure.”
- Mike Simmons
“Once I make a decision to do something, I take action right away.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“The people that get over the hump and don’t quit are the people that make it.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“I don’t need the plan, I just need the next actionable step. The plan will unfold as you take action.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“The short-term rental game is great because you can get into it in so many different ways.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“If you’re not consuming information to try to better yourself, I hope you love exactly where you are right now because that’s where you will be in 20 years.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Anthony on Facebook
Anthony on LinkedIn
Anthony on Instagram
Master Cold Calling In Five Easy Steps
The Science of Persuasion
My Sales Mentality
Anthony Eisenman Coaching Program
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today’s guest is Anthony Eisenman, who works in enterprise sales for Fortune 100 companies. Eisenman grew up in a single-parent family and felt that more traditional career paths were closed off to him but was attracted to the idea of working in sales because of the possibility of being paid for his performance via commission. Through hard work and diligence, he leveraged himself into a position of owning stock options in major corporations and has built up his own brand to teach others his methods.
Mike and Anthony begin by discussing how to increase your income. Eisenman’s first piece of advice, particularly for those who currently only work for one organization and who may have a fixed income, is to negotiate with your employer to be paid based on performance. Although this brings an element of risk, Eisenman underlines that this will give you the opportunity to prove your value to the organization. Once your value has been demonstrated through excellent performance, you are then in a better position to negotiate for greater rewards, including equity.
Anthony then outlines his checklist of systems to put in place before creating multiple streams of income or pursuing a passion project. Firstly, it is important to ensure that you are excelling in your primary source of income, meaning that you have maximized your earning capacity in this role. Secondly, this role should operate like a well-oiled machine with a firm system and defined processes in place, giving you the capacity to open yourself up to investing time and energy into other sources of income.
When launching a secondary revenue stream, Anthony highlights the possibility of receiving pushback from your company or entourage. When he began to work for himself, colleagues questioned his commitment to his job and his time management capacity. However, Anthony ensured that he continued to achieve highly so that his performance and production would speak for itself.
Anthony then deep dives into his personal motivation to achieve. Whilst he used to be motivated by his ego and the idea of proving people wrong, today he is more inspired by the idea of creating a legacy for his family to give his children the comforts he never had. The memories of his former financial struggles have stayed with him and continue to push him forward. Mike also affirms how the fear of failure can be a strong push factor towards achieving financial success, since a push away from financial hardship can be just as strong a motivator as the pull factor of the desire to earn wealth for your family.
Mike then questions Anthony about the steps that he took to build his brand, and Anthony explains that the first step that he took was to invest in coaching to learn about real estate and to create a personal brand. Initially his goals for his side businesses were low as he wasn’t under pressure to achieve immediately, and this allowed him to develop and grow gradually. Anthony chose to add a short-term real estate business to his portfolio as a way to involve his family in his business, as his wife could take over the furnishing and property management aspect of the business and in the long term, his children may also become involved with property management too.
Lastly, the conversation turns to Anthony’s personal brand, which aims to help people improve their sales strategies to earn the income they deserve. He has numerous books and coaching products covering topics from cold calls to the art of persuasion to the blueprint to wealth creation. These resources represent a philosophy of lifelong learning in order to improve yourself and your position in life. No matter what stage you’re at, there is always room to grow and learn and those who don’t take that opportunity will stagnate.
Don’t miss this enlightening episode of Just Start Real Estate, and stay tuned to the end to find out how to get free learning resources from Anthony Eisenman so that you can learn his secrets to success!
Notable Quotes:
“If you can prove yourself by being paid based on your performance, you’re going to earn a higher income and have a higher ceiling, and you can prove yourself to be valuable.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“Don’t ever be afraid to lose what you have now in order to gain even more.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“I did get pushback internally from my organization and it just made me press the gas that much harder.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“Everybody deserves to do some things they’re passionate about on the side. You don’t have to dedicate 110% to your organization. You can have some time to do some things on your own.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“If you get lazy, then your goals aren’t big enough.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“Part of my motivation, aside from my family, is fear of failure.”
- Mike Simmons
“Once I make a decision to do something, I take action right away.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“The people that get over the hump and don’t quit are the people that make it.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“I don’t need the plan, I just need the next actionable step. The plan will unfold as you take action.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“The short-term rental game is great because you can get into it in so many different ways.”
- Anthony Eisenman
“If you’re not consuming information to try to better yourself, I hope you love exactly where you are right now because that’s where you will be in 20 years.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Anthony on Facebook
Anthony on LinkedIn
Anthony on Instagram
Master Cold Calling In Five Easy Steps
The Science of Persuasion
My Sales Mentality
Anthony Eisenman Coaching Program
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 4th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“My guess is you can’t sell your flip because you bought too high, your renovation went over budget, and now what you need to sell it for is more than the market can bear.”
“Flip Hacking Live is quite unique in that it is three days of non-stop on-stage presenters who are giving you actual step-by-step processes and breaking down their businesses in a way that is usable and actionable.”
“The presenters at Flip Hacking Live just give and give and give away all their secrets.”
“Going to Flip Hacking Live is the smartest thing you can do this year.”
“NOW is the right time.”
“If I was a full-time house flipper, I would have several realtors looking for houses for me all of the time.”
“It is very hard to find good investment properties on the MLS right now.”
“I am pretty careful to do a phone interview first when hiring. If I don’t like the person on the phone, I doubt I will like them in person.”
“How hot the lead is determines the follow-up strategy.”
“The more you do to a house to stage it, the harder you are making it for the potential buyers to see their stuff in there.”
“I believe in my heart if everyone read Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and applied the philosophies, mindset, and attitude he outlines, our world would be exponentially better.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 4th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“My guess is you can’t sell your flip because you bought too high, your renovation went over budget, and now what you need to sell it for is more than the market can bear.”
“Flip Hacking Live is quite unique in that it is three days of non-stop on-stage presenters who are giving you actual step-by-step processes and breaking down their businesses in a way that is usable and actionable.”
“The presenters at Flip Hacking Live just give and give and give away all their secrets.”
“Going to Flip Hacking Live is the smartest thing you can do this year.”
“NOW is the right time.”
“If I was a full-time house flipper, I would have several realtors looking for houses for me all of the time.”
“It is very hard to find good investment properties on the MLS right now.”
“I am pretty careful to do a phone interview first when hiring. If I don’t like the person on the phone, I doubt I will like them in person.”
“How hot the lead is determines the follow-up strategy.”
“The more you do to a house to stage it, the harder you are making it for the potential buyers to see their stuff in there.”
“I believe in my heart if everyone read Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and applied the philosophies, mindset, and attitude he outlines, our world would be exponentially better.”
Links:
Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Adam Zach. Adam has a magnificent obsession with learning and with real estate. He works 10 hours per week as a professional engineer but dedicates most of his time to family, learning, and building up his real estate businesses. The business that allowed him to semi-retire is his niche in rent-to-own investments and creative financing by buying homes for people who can’t qualify for a traditional bank loan. He currently holds 26 properties in 5 different states.
Adam first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After college, Adam worked a high-paying job as an engineer. He was living the American dream. But pretty soon, he started getting the itch, he started to wonder about financial independence. During this time, he looked into many different things but eventually, he decided that real estate is the way to go. However, he didn't completely cut ties with his 9-5, he still works 10 hours a week as a professional engineer.
We then move on to discussing the first property Adam bought. He shares that the very first property that he bought was kind of an accidental purchase. He bought a house with his college roommates so that they could have a place to live in and party. But once he learned about property appreciation three years later, he decided to turn it into a rental as opposed to just selling it. He then started to educate himself more and together with his wife decided to invest more into real estate.
Next, we talk about what exactly Adam is doing in this industry that is different. He refers to his business model as “Set Your Rent”. At first, he would tell college students to pick a home off the MLS that they wanted to live in, and he would buy it for them as long as they paid the 1% rule. This was a way of him getting a property that was turnkey as opposed to buying a property that needed to be fixed up. He then noticed that after a year or two, college students would leave and the market rents would be a bit lower. So, he then decided to find people instead of finding properties. Most of the time it's entrepreneurs or people with no credit or poor credit and he uses the same concept. He either does rent-to-own or a contract for deed and this is what really helped explode the growth of his business and accelerated the path forward.
Adam then explains the difference between rent-to-own and a contract for deed and which one he prefers. As a landlord, Adam first checks if there is a city inspection required and if it is, he then uses the contract for deed route, because then he is not obligated to meet all the requirements. But from the standpoint of taxes, and every other purpose, a rent-to-own is a better option because a contract for deed gets charged as an interest income whereas a lease option is still a rental, so you get the depreciation and you're acting more like a landlord in that situation. On the other hand, when he’s trying to buy a piece of property, he prefers a rent-to-own option because it’s much more flexible
Eventually, we dive into discussing some of the cracks that Adam noticed in his model so far. He shares that their biggest obstacle so far was Covid. The pandemic caused financial issues to some of their tenants but luckily they were able to come up with different payment plans to avoid eviction and foreclosure. To avoid these situations, Adam’s company screens potential tenants as a landlord but also as a bank using a third party. They also make sure that their payment is not more than one-third of their income.
Lastly, Adam shares some of the concerns he had when he was first starting out. His main priority was to make sure that they were not taking advantage of people. This is why he always makes sure to ask his clients if they tried to get a bank loan first. He also advises his clients to try different banks as well as credit unions and mortgage brokers. He knows that this option is probably the most expensive for his clients, but it comes with many different benefits that his clients are seeing as a higher value.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of Just Start Real Estate with Adam Zach and learn how to find deals in a new way that is not being talked about!
Notable Quotes:
“I think sometimes it's good, even for us real estate investors, to realize we're business people at the end of the day, so I think bringing outside industries and talking about how they do things can be valuable.”
- Mike Simmons
“You start getting the itch and looking out the window a little bit longer each day. You kind of start thinking - what does financial independence look like?”
- Adam Zach
“I think it all started by just getting really curious and having a large enough unhappiness meter to be like - you know what, I'm going to do something about it.”
- Adam Zach
“You will get punched in the mouth from time to time in business and if you don't want it bad enough, you will not get back into the ring.”
- Mike Simmons
“I feel like real estate is almost the ultimate game where if it’s heads, I win and if it’s tails, I break even. And that is a fantastic gig.”
- Adam Zach
“Every minute you spend overanalyzing, somebody else has already gotten the deal anyway.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our goal is to never turn someone down, but just give them terms that make them want to improve themselves.”
- Adam Zach
“If you're an entrepreneur listening to this, just because you were told “no” by one bank, it doesn't mean a different bank will say “no.” Talk to a big bank, talk to a local credit union, and talk to a mortgage broker.”
- Adam Zach
“Let's just try to educate the world so that maybe they can find themselves, get some freedom, or get into this so that they can then go and help other people.”
- Adam Zach
“Most successful people I've met in this industry are some of the most generous, honest people who sincerely want to help.”
- Mike Simmons
“I have given people advice for free and I've given people advice they had to pay a lot for. And the people who pay for the advice tend to listen and act and execute at a higher level because they value it.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Set Your Rent
Set Your Rent on Instagram
Set Your Rent on Facebook
Set Your Rent on Youtube
Set Your Rent on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Adam Zach. Adam has a magnificent obsession with learning and with real estate. He works 10 hours per week as a professional engineer but dedicates most of his time to family, learning, and building up his real estate businesses. The business that allowed him to semi-retire is his niche in rent-to-own investments and creative financing by buying homes for people who can’t qualify for a traditional bank loan. He currently holds 26 properties in 5 different states.
Adam first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After college, Adam worked a high-paying job as an engineer. He was living the American dream. But pretty soon, he started getting the itch, he started to wonder about financial independence. During this time, he looked into many different things but eventually, he decided that real estate is the way to go. However, he didn't completely cut ties with his 9-5, he still works 10 hours a week as a professional engineer.
We then move on to discussing the first property Adam bought. He shares that the very first property that he bought was kind of an accidental purchase. He bought a house with his college roommates so that they could have a place to live in and party. But once he learned about property appreciation three years later, he decided to turn it into a rental as opposed to just selling it. He then started to educate himself more and together with his wife decided to invest more into real estate.
Next, we talk about what exactly Adam is doing in this industry that is different. He refers to his business model as “Set Your Rent”. At first, he would tell college students to pick a home off the MLS that they wanted to live in, and he would buy it for them as long as they paid the 1% rule. This was a way of him getting a property that was turnkey as opposed to buying a property that needed to be fixed up. He then noticed that after a year or two, college students would leave and the market rents would be a bit lower. So, he then decided to find people instead of finding properties. Most of the time it's entrepreneurs or people with no credit or poor credit and he uses the same concept. He either does rent-to-own or a contract for deed and this is what really helped explode the growth of his business and accelerated the path forward.
Adam then explains the difference between rent-to-own and a contract for deed and which one he prefers. As a landlord, Adam first checks if there is a city inspection required and if it is, he then uses the contract for deed route, because then he is not obligated to meet all the requirements. But from the standpoint of taxes, and every other purpose, a rent-to-own is a better option because a contract for deed gets charged as an interest income whereas a lease option is still a rental, so you get the depreciation and you're acting more like a landlord in that situation. On the other hand, when he’s trying to buy a piece of property, he prefers a rent-to-own option because it’s much more flexible
Eventually, we dive into discussing some of the cracks that Adam noticed in his model so far. He shares that their biggest obstacle so far was Covid. The pandemic caused financial issues to some of their tenants but luckily they were able to come up with different payment plans to avoid eviction and foreclosure. To avoid these situations, Adam’s company screens potential tenants as a landlord but also as a bank using a third party. They also make sure that their payment is not more than one-third of their income.
Lastly, Adam shares some of the concerns he had when he was first starting out. His main priority was to make sure that they were not taking advantage of people. This is why he always makes sure to ask his clients if they tried to get a bank loan first. He also advises his clients to try different banks as well as credit unions and mortgage brokers. He knows that this option is probably the most expensive for his clients, but it comes with many different benefits that his clients are seeing as a higher value.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of Just Start Real Estate with Adam Zach and learn how to find deals in a new way that is not being talked about!
Notable Quotes:
“I think sometimes it's good, even for us real estate investors, to realize we're business people at the end of the day, so I think bringing outside industries and talking about how they do things can be valuable.”
- Mike Simmons
“You start getting the itch and looking out the window a little bit longer each day. You kind of start thinking - what does financial independence look like?”
- Adam Zach
“I think it all started by just getting really curious and having a large enough unhappiness meter to be like - you know what, I'm going to do something about it.”
- Adam Zach
“You will get punched in the mouth from time to time in business and if you don't want it bad enough, you will not get back into the ring.”
- Mike Simmons
“I feel like real estate is almost the ultimate game where if it’s heads, I win and if it’s tails, I break even. And that is a fantastic gig.”
- Adam Zach
“Every minute you spend overanalyzing, somebody else has already gotten the deal anyway.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our goal is to never turn someone down, but just give them terms that make them want to improve themselves.”
- Adam Zach
“If you're an entrepreneur listening to this, just because you were told “no” by one bank, it doesn't mean a different bank will say “no.” Talk to a big bank, talk to a local credit union, and talk to a mortgage broker.”
- Adam Zach
“Let's just try to educate the world so that maybe they can find themselves, get some freedom, or get into this so that they can then go and help other people.”
- Adam Zach
“Most successful people I've met in this industry are some of the most generous, honest people who sincerely want to help.”
- Mike Simmons
“I have given people advice for free and I've given people advice they had to pay a lot for. And the people who pay for the advice tend to listen and act and execute at a higher level because they value it.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Set Your Rent
Set Your Rent on Instagram
Set Your Rent on Facebook
Set Your Rent on Youtube
Set Your Rent on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 28th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Most peoples’ limiting belief is that they need to be more of an expert to get started.”
“You can get started with little knowledge and build on that… you should always be learning.”
“Another limiting belief is that it is the wrong market to get started.”
“I spent five years making excuses, educating myself, being afraid of failing, being afraid of making mistakes, and I probably lost $3M because I didn’t get started.”
“The number one way to raise private money is to talk about what you are doing in your business.”
“If you ask for money, you will get advice. If you ask for advice and talk about your business, you will likely get money.”
“For most people, starting with single-family homes, either renting or flipping, is a good way to get started.”
“If you want to be held accountable, tell your goals to the person who will call you out on your BS.”
Links:
Find & Fund Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 28th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Most peoples’ limiting belief is that they need to be more of an expert to get started.”
“You can get started with little knowledge and build on that… you should always be learning.”
“Another limiting belief is that it is the wrong market to get started.”
“I spent five years making excuses, educating myself, being afraid of failing, being afraid of making mistakes, and I probably lost $3M because I didn’t get started.”
“The number one way to raise private money is to talk about what you are doing in your business.”
“If you ask for money, you will get advice. If you ask for advice and talk about your business, you will likely get money.”
“For most people, starting with single-family homes, either renting or flipping, is a good way to get started.”
“If you want to be held accountable, tell your goals to the person who will call you out on your BS.”
Links:
Find & Fund Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Paul Moore. After a stint at Ford Motor Company, Paul co-founded a staffing firm where he was a finalist for Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years in a row. After selling the staffing firm to a publicly traded company, he began investing in real estate, founded multiple investment and development companies, appeared on HGTV, and eventually completed 85+ real estate investments and exits, including a large multifamily development. Paul is the author of The Perfect Investment – Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing and Storing Up Profits – Capitalize on America’s Obsession with Stuff by Investing in Self-Storage. He is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Wellings Capital, a real estate private equity firm, and he has contributed to Fox Business and is a regular contributor to Bigger Pockets.
Paul first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After getting his engineering degree and his MBA at Ohio State University, Paul worked at Ford Motor Company. Soon, he decided to start his own staffing company that was doing really well for the next few years. Eventually, he decided to sell it to a publicly traded firm. Paul found himself at 34 years old, with a couple of million dollars and absolutely no sense of investing. He moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, started a nonprofit organization, and started flipping houses and waterfront lots as well as ground-up construction. In 2010, he got involved in commercial real estate that led him to write a book on multifamily investing, and then later expanding into doing a number of commercial real estate funds for people who want to invest in commercial real estate but don't have the bandwidth to do it full time.
We then move on to discussing some of the struggles that Paul faced in 2007 that led to him being 2.5 million dollars in debt. In 1997, Paul had a million and a half in the bank. Exactly a decade later to the month, he had two and a half million in debt. He explains that they were able to give their way out of debt. Following the premise of one of his heroes, George Müller, who was a 19th-century Christian evangelist with radical views on generosity, Paul and his family started to donate their money pretty radically on January 1st, 2008 while they were facing bankruptcy. Four weeks later, Paul found a loophole in the law that allowed him to split one of his waterfront lots and sell the parts individually. He sold four in the fall of 2008, and the fifth eight months later. After that, he was debt-free.
Next, we talk about how Paul got into multifamily and the benefits of apartment buildings with 80+ units. Paul shares that he first got into multifamily with a four-unit building and a couple of duplexes. He then hired a business mentor who convinced him to only do apartment buildings with 80+ units. Paul explains that it is much easier to own an apartment building with 100 units than owning 100 different houses. With a 100 unit building you only need one property manager, you have one location, you have more control over your tenants, you can get a 3%, Fannie or Freddie loan, and you can get an FHA loan with a 35-year term.
Paul then shares his opinion on real estate investing at the moment. He explains that currently 93% of multifamily above 50 units are owned and operated by corporations who have typically run the value out. The problem is that if the value has already been run out, then you're going to be running on a thin margin, hoping and praying for inflation. And if inflation doesn't come or if there is a bump in the economy, that thin margin is going to go to zero. Paul's advice is to invest in assets that have a mom-and-pop ownership base, like self-storage and mobile home parks. Paul also goes on to say that if he could invest in only one thing today, it would definitely be mobile home parks.
We then talk about Paul’s books: The Perfect Investment: Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing and Storing Up Profits: Capitalize on America's Obsession with STUFF by Investing in Self-Storage. Paul explains that he wrote his first book five years ago after he went through his mentoring program for multifamily housing. He discovered that there were actual mechanics of how it all works and that there was a value formula, and he wanted to share that with the world. He wrote his second book in 2020, based on his experience with self-storage and the number of benefits it offers.
Eventually, we dive into discussing Paul’s thoughts on inflation. Any of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, remember the horrors of inflation. Paul explains that inflation paired with high-interest rates was disastrous, and can create stagflation. But he also believes that inflation in the face of low interest rates can be a goldmine for real estate investors. If you have inflation and you can create a fixed cost in your company or your property, then that margin increases a lot over the years and your largest cost is fixed even though utilities and maintenance might go up with inflation. So, if you can lock it for a long time, whether it's in your private residence or in an apartment building, or a bunch of single-family homes, you can make a ton of money.
Lastly, we talk about the importance of finding your WHY. Paul shares that he woke up on October 7th, 1997 in Troy, Michigan realizing that he’s got a couple of million dollars in his bank account, but he doesn't feel that much different than he did yesterday or last week. He felt like there has to be more to life. So now, he encourages people to start doing something now, no matter where they are in life.
Don’t miss this incredibly fun and knowledge-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Moore, who is all about giving back and helping others!
Notable Quotes:
“If you don't know how to tighten the doorknob on your own house, you probably shouldn't build a house.”
- Paul Moore
“I thought I was a full-time investor, but I was a full-time speculator.”
- Paul Moore
“If you play double or nothing long enough, you're going to end up on nothing at some point. And then what will you have left to double?”
- Paul Moore
“Good investing is a little bit more predictable, a little bit more boring.”
- Mike Simmons
“The perfect Investment is not perfect if you can't buy it at a good price.”
- Paul Moore
“That's the best question anyone has asked me on a podcast in a long time.”
- Paul Moore
“It's the only asset class I've ever seen in my life that has a shrinking supply, but an increasing demand every year.”
- Paul Moore
“Those closest to the money are the ones who benefit most from inflation. And those closest to the money are the Federal Reserve and Big Government.”
- Paul Moore
“You can get wealthy if you think like they do. And that is: getting low-rate debt, locking it in for a long time, and letting inflation do its work.”
- Paul Moore
“I like to encourage people to start doing something now, wherever you are - at age 20 or 50 or whatever - that you want to do, to leave a mark on the world for the rest of your life.”
- Paul Moore
Links:
Paul on Facebook
Paul on LinkedIn
Paul on Instagram
Paul on Twitter
The Perfect Investment: Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing by Paul Moore
Storing Up Profits: Capitalize on America's Obsession with STUFF by Investing in Self-Storage Paperback by Paul Moore
Exodus Cry
Wellings Capital Free Resources
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Paul Moore. After a stint at Ford Motor Company, Paul co-founded a staffing firm where he was a finalist for Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years in a row. After selling the staffing firm to a publicly traded company, he began investing in real estate, founded multiple investment and development companies, appeared on HGTV, and eventually completed 85+ real estate investments and exits, including a large multifamily development. Paul is the author of The Perfect Investment – Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing and Storing Up Profits – Capitalize on America’s Obsession with Stuff by Investing in Self-Storage. He is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Wellings Capital, a real estate private equity firm, and he has contributed to Fox Business and is a regular contributor to Bigger Pockets.
Paul first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After getting his engineering degree and his MBA at Ohio State University, Paul worked at Ford Motor Company. Soon, he decided to start his own staffing company that was doing really well for the next few years. Eventually, he decided to sell it to a publicly traded firm. Paul found himself at 34 years old, with a couple of million dollars and absolutely no sense of investing. He moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, started a nonprofit organization, and started flipping houses and waterfront lots as well as ground-up construction. In 2010, he got involved in commercial real estate that led him to write a book on multifamily investing, and then later expanding into doing a number of commercial real estate funds for people who want to invest in commercial real estate but don't have the bandwidth to do it full time.
We then move on to discussing some of the struggles that Paul faced in 2007 that led to him being 2.5 million dollars in debt. In 1997, Paul had a million and a half in the bank. Exactly a decade later to the month, he had two and a half million in debt. He explains that they were able to give their way out of debt. Following the premise of one of his heroes, George Müller, who was a 19th-century Christian evangelist with radical views on generosity, Paul and his family started to donate their money pretty radically on January 1st, 2008 while they were facing bankruptcy. Four weeks later, Paul found a loophole in the law that allowed him to split one of his waterfront lots and sell the parts individually. He sold four in the fall of 2008, and the fifth eight months later. After that, he was debt-free.
Next, we talk about how Paul got into multifamily and the benefits of apartment buildings with 80+ units. Paul shares that he first got into multifamily with a four-unit building and a couple of duplexes. He then hired a business mentor who convinced him to only do apartment buildings with 80+ units. Paul explains that it is much easier to own an apartment building with 100 units than owning 100 different houses. With a 100 unit building you only need one property manager, you have one location, you have more control over your tenants, you can get a 3%, Fannie or Freddie loan, and you can get an FHA loan with a 35-year term.
Paul then shares his opinion on real estate investing at the moment. He explains that currently 93% of multifamily above 50 units are owned and operated by corporations who have typically run the value out. The problem is that if the value has already been run out, then you're going to be running on a thin margin, hoping and praying for inflation. And if inflation doesn't come or if there is a bump in the economy, that thin margin is going to go to zero. Paul's advice is to invest in assets that have a mom-and-pop ownership base, like self-storage and mobile home parks. Paul also goes on to say that if he could invest in only one thing today, it would definitely be mobile home parks.
We then talk about Paul’s books: The Perfect Investment: Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing and Storing Up Profits: Capitalize on America's Obsession with STUFF by Investing in Self-Storage. Paul explains that he wrote his first book five years ago after he went through his mentoring program for multifamily housing. He discovered that there were actual mechanics of how it all works and that there was a value formula, and he wanted to share that with the world. He wrote his second book in 2020, based on his experience with self-storage and the number of benefits it offers.
Eventually, we dive into discussing Paul’s thoughts on inflation. Any of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, remember the horrors of inflation. Paul explains that inflation paired with high-interest rates was disastrous, and can create stagflation. But he also believes that inflation in the face of low interest rates can be a goldmine for real estate investors. If you have inflation and you can create a fixed cost in your company or your property, then that margin increases a lot over the years and your largest cost is fixed even though utilities and maintenance might go up with inflation. So, if you can lock it for a long time, whether it's in your private residence or in an apartment building, or a bunch of single-family homes, you can make a ton of money.
Lastly, we talk about the importance of finding your WHY. Paul shares that he woke up on October 7th, 1997 in Troy, Michigan realizing that he’s got a couple of million dollars in his bank account, but he doesn't feel that much different than he did yesterday or last week. He felt like there has to be more to life. So now, he encourages people to start doing something now, no matter where they are in life.
Don’t miss this incredibly fun and knowledge-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Moore, who is all about giving back and helping others!
Notable Quotes:
“If you don't know how to tighten the doorknob on your own house, you probably shouldn't build a house.”
- Paul Moore
“I thought I was a full-time investor, but I was a full-time speculator.”
- Paul Moore
“If you play double or nothing long enough, you're going to end up on nothing at some point. And then what will you have left to double?”
- Paul Moore
“Good investing is a little bit more predictable, a little bit more boring.”
- Mike Simmons
“The perfect Investment is not perfect if you can't buy it at a good price.”
- Paul Moore
“That's the best question anyone has asked me on a podcast in a long time.”
- Paul Moore
“It's the only asset class I've ever seen in my life that has a shrinking supply, but an increasing demand every year.”
- Paul Moore
“Those closest to the money are the ones who benefit most from inflation. And those closest to the money are the Federal Reserve and Big Government.”
- Paul Moore
“You can get wealthy if you think like they do. And that is: getting low-rate debt, locking it in for a long time, and letting inflation do its work.”
- Paul Moore
“I like to encourage people to start doing something now, wherever you are - at age 20 or 50 or whatever - that you want to do, to leave a mark on the world for the rest of your life.”
- Paul Moore
Links:
Paul on Facebook
Paul on LinkedIn
Paul on Instagram
Paul on Twitter
The Perfect Investment: Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing by Paul Moore
Storing Up Profits: Capitalize on America's Obsession with STUFF by Investing in Self-Storage Paperback by Paul Moore
Exodus Cry
Wellings Capital Free Resources
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 21st and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“When investors are analyzing a deal for rental, they don’t always think of putting aside money every month for maintenance.”
“Another thing that landlords forget to consider are vacancies. Assume you will have to turnover your property at least once every year or two.”
“The great thing about private money lenders is that all of the terms are very negotiable.”
“I can’t stress it enough how much crap a property management company will take off your plate if you have a rental portfolio.”
“Getting together with your team at least once a quarter to do goal setting and strategy sessions is essential.”
“I want to hire somebody with the right values and then train skills.”
“Passive income is not passive if you are managing your properties and dealing with the maintenance issues.”
“I think in business, everything is about testing what works.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 21st and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“When investors are analyzing a deal for rental, they don’t always think of putting aside money every month for maintenance.”
“Another thing that landlords forget to consider are vacancies. Assume you will have to turnover your property at least once every year or two.”
“The great thing about private money lenders is that all of the terms are very negotiable.”
“I can’t stress it enough how much crap a property management company will take off your plate if you have a rental portfolio.”
“Getting together with your team at least once a quarter to do goal setting and strategy sessions is essential.”
“I want to hire somebody with the right values and then train skills.”
“Passive income is not passive if you are managing your properties and dealing with the maintenance issues.”
“I think in business, everything is about testing what works.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Ryan Chaw. Ryan has created a personal real estate portfolio cash-flowing almost $11,000 per month through single-family home investing in California while working a busy pharmaceutical job. Real estate investing is going to allow Ryan to retire at age 31 with a 6 figure income. He was also recently featured on the BiggerPockets Rookie Podcast.
Ryan first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. He relates that he was inspired to get into real estate by his grandfather who bought a couple of properties in the San Francisco Bay area. He was able to cover all of his living expenses with the rental income and retire early. So, pretty soon Ryan realized that real estate is one of the best ways to create generational wealth, if not the best way and he wanted to get in as soon as possible. He got his degree in pharmacy in 2015 and worked two jobs, seven days a week to save enough capital to buy as much real estate as possible as early as possible. He bought his first property in 2016 and decided to copy a model that one of his friends was doing and rent individual rooms in local college towns. This allowed him to double his cash flow and double his rental income, by charging $600-$700 per bedroom. Most of his properties make between $2,500 and $3,200 per single family home. Since then, he bought one property each year by reinvesting the income. Now, he has four properties and is about to buy his fifth that will make his monthly rental income $13,910.
We then move on to discussing how Ryan manages his tenants who are all college students. He explains that at the moment he has 18 tenants and that he does all the management by himself. Ryan looks for high quality tenants: professional students, third or fourth year students, more mature students who will most likely take on some responsibility around the house. At this point, he spends less than an hour a week self-managing his properties thanks to his PRIME method. P stands for placement of ads, you have to post your ads in a way that puts you only in front of the people that you want to rent to. R stands for receiving their social media, this helps make sure that they are serious about their studies. Next, I stands for identifying the type of tenant; are they difficult to communicate with, do they seem to get angry very easily, are they asking for cheaper rent, are they asking for things before they even sign. M stands for measuring responsiveness, the more responsive they are in terms of getting their paperwork back to you quickly and answering all your questions, the more responsible they're going to be. And finally, E stands for ensuring proof of income which is usually parent’s bank statements since they are the ones paying the rent most of the time.
Ryan then explains his rule of thumb when it comes to evaluating the property. He shares that the number one thing he looks at is the price, even though that is not the only factor. He also makes sure that he is following the 1% rule, meaning that his rental income is 1% of the total cost of the property. After purchasing his property, to increase his rental income, he usually adds as many bedrooms as possible while making sure that there is no more than 3 people per one bathroom. He also makes sure to make all the rooms move-in ready.
We then talk about the type of properties that Ryan purchases. He explains that he mainly focuses on properties that are in good condition, turnkey properties. He always takes into consideration opportunity costs, because his properties are making such a large increase in rental income per month. With turnkey properties, it usually takes him two to three weeks to repurpose some of the rooms into an extra bedroom or two and then by the next month, he usually has two tenants in, because he starts advertising his properties as soon as his offer is accepted.
Eventually, we dive into discussing male and female ratio in Ryan’s properties. He tries to match up his tenants whenever possible, but if there is a house where females prefer to live with other females, a lot of times due to their culture, he'll have a female house and then a male house. But, he also has co-ed houses, when female tenants are comfortable staying with male tenants. But, he explains that he has to be very careful here, because he can’t have an ad that says that a house is an all-female house because that's discriminating against sex, but if the tenant that already signed a lease prefers to only stay with other females, then he is simply respecting that request.
Lastly, Ryan shares some advice for anyone getting started in the student housing market. His first advice is to follow your local city laws and to check with your city planning division to make sure that this is legal in your area. His second piece of advice is to get to know your neighbors and to expand your network as much as possible.
Don’t miss this incredibly educational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Ryan Chaw, and learn all about this new way to do rentals with crazy high revenue!
Notable Quotes:
“I realized that real estate is one of the best ways to create generational wealth, if not the best way. So, I wanted to get in as soon as possible.”
- Ryan Chaw
“Right now I actually have 18 tenants. I'm able to self-manage this while working a full-time job so that's already a testament to how well this system could work.”
- Ryan Chaw
“Putting ads where your target tenants aren't hanging out is like fishing in an empty pool.”
- Ryan Chaw
“What's really great about this market is the student tenant has so many ways to pay for the rent and it's also a lot cheaper than on-campus housing, so it saves them a lot of money.”
- Ryan Chaw
“I start advertising my properties right when my offer is accepted. So, not even when I have the house. I basically sell the product before I even have it.”
- Ryan Chaw
“This gives them more privacy, they're just as close to their classes, or sometimes even closer, and they're paying half the price of the dormitories.”
- Ryan Chaw
“Every person who contacts you could have three or four other people interested.”
- Ryan Chaw
“I always wanted to have that choice to either work as a pharmacist full-time or maybe just work part-time and use the rest of the time making a larger impact on the world.”
- Ryan Chaw
“There's so many ways that you can make it happen if you really want it to happen. People blame time and money, and really those two things are not the problem.”
- Mike Simmons
“Honestly, conventional financing is one of the best types of financing out there.”
- Ryan Chaw
Links:
Ryan on Facebook
Ryan on LinkedIn
Ryan on Instagram
Newbie Real Estate Investing
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Ryan Chaw. Ryan has created a personal real estate portfolio cash-flowing almost $11,000 per month through single-family home investing in California while working a busy pharmaceutical job. Real estate investing is going to allow Ryan to retire at age 31 with a 6 figure income. He was also recently featured on the BiggerPockets Rookie Podcast.
Ryan first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. He relates that he was inspired to get into real estate by his grandfather who bought a couple of properties in the San Francisco Bay area. He was able to cover all of his living expenses with the rental income and retire early. So, pretty soon Ryan realized that real estate is one of the best ways to create generational wealth, if not the best way and he wanted to get in as soon as possible. He got his degree in pharmacy in 2015 and worked two jobs, seven days a week to save enough capital to buy as much real estate as possible as early as possible. He bought his first property in 2016 and decided to copy a model that one of his friends was doing and rent individual rooms in local college towns. This allowed him to double his cash flow and double his rental income, by charging $600-$700 per bedroom. Most of his properties make between $2,500 and $3,200 per single family home. Since then, he bought one property each year by reinvesting the income. Now, he has four properties and is about to buy his fifth that will make his monthly rental income $13,910.
We then move on to discussing how Ryan manages his tenants who are all college students. He explains that at the moment he has 18 tenants and that he does all the management by himself. Ryan looks for high quality tenants: professional students, third or fourth year students, more mature students who will most likely take on some responsibility around the house. At this point, he spends less than an hour a week self-managing his properties thanks to his PRIME method. P stands for placement of ads, you have to post your ads in a way that puts you only in front of the people that you want to rent to. R stands for receiving their social media, this helps make sure that they are serious about their studies. Next, I stands for identifying the type of tenant; are they difficult to communicate with, do they seem to get angry very easily, are they asking for cheaper rent, are they asking for things before they even sign. M stands for measuring responsiveness, the more responsive they are in terms of getting their paperwork back to you quickly and answering all your questions, the more responsible they're going to be. And finally, E stands for ensuring proof of income which is usually parent’s bank statements since they are the ones paying the rent most of the time.
Ryan then explains his rule of thumb when it comes to evaluating the property. He shares that the number one thing he looks at is the price, even though that is not the only factor. He also makes sure that he is following the 1% rule, meaning that his rental income is 1% of the total cost of the property. After purchasing his property, to increase his rental income, he usually adds as many bedrooms as possible while making sure that there is no more than 3 people per one bathroom. He also makes sure to make all the rooms move-in ready.
We then talk about the type of properties that Ryan purchases. He explains that he mainly focuses on properties that are in good condition, turnkey properties. He always takes into consideration opportunity costs, because his properties are making such a large increase in rental income per month. With turnkey properties, it usually takes him two to three weeks to repurpose some of the rooms into an extra bedroom or two and then by the next month, he usually has two tenants in, because he starts advertising his properties as soon as his offer is accepted.
Eventually, we dive into discussing male and female ratio in Ryan’s properties. He tries to match up his tenants whenever possible, but if there is a house where females prefer to live with other females, a lot of times due to their culture, he'll have a female house and then a male house. But, he also has co-ed houses, when female tenants are comfortable staying with male tenants. But, he explains that he has to be very careful here, because he can’t have an ad that says that a house is an all-female house because that's discriminating against sex, but if the tenant that already signed a lease prefers to only stay with other females, then he is simply respecting that request.
Lastly, Ryan shares some advice for anyone getting started in the student housing market. His first advice is to follow your local city laws and to check with your city planning division to make sure that this is legal in your area. His second piece of advice is to get to know your neighbors and to expand your network as much as possible.
Don’t miss this incredibly educational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Ryan Chaw, and learn all about this new way to do rentals with crazy high revenue!
Notable Quotes:
“I realized that real estate is one of the best ways to create generational wealth, if not the best way. So, I wanted to get in as soon as possible.”
- Ryan Chaw
“Right now I actually have 18 tenants. I'm able to self-manage this while working a full-time job so that's already a testament to how well this system could work.”
- Ryan Chaw
“Putting ads where your target tenants aren't hanging out is like fishing in an empty pool.”
- Ryan Chaw
“What's really great about this market is the student tenant has so many ways to pay for the rent and it's also a lot cheaper than on-campus housing, so it saves them a lot of money.”
- Ryan Chaw
“I start advertising my properties right when my offer is accepted. So, not even when I have the house. I basically sell the product before I even have it.”
- Ryan Chaw
“This gives them more privacy, they're just as close to their classes, or sometimes even closer, and they're paying half the price of the dormitories.”
- Ryan Chaw
“Every person who contacts you could have three or four other people interested.”
- Ryan Chaw
“I always wanted to have that choice to either work as a pharmacist full-time or maybe just work part-time and use the rest of the time making a larger impact on the world.”
- Ryan Chaw
“There's so many ways that you can make it happen if you really want it to happen. People blame time and money, and really those two things are not the problem.”
- Mike Simmons
“Honestly, conventional financing is one of the best types of financing out there.”
- Ryan Chaw
Links:
Ryan on Facebook
Ryan on LinkedIn
Ryan on Instagram
Newbie Real Estate Investing
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 7th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It is not better to be a realtor when starting your real estate business, but you need access to the MLS.”
“I have access to the MLS because I need to comp properties effectively.”
“I don’t know any investors who have been doing it successfully for a while and still use banks to fund their deals.”
“The beautiful thing about hard money lenders is that they will lend money on the strength of the deal itself.”
“If you are going to separate from a business partner, it doesn’t get better with time.”
“I think the EOS system outlined in Traction by Gino Wickman is phenomenal.”
“I half an hour of your time for someone who never buys from you and they just take up a lot of your time, you have to cut that off.”
“I don’t have a lot of worries because I am completely plugged into the real estate market.”
“I have a lot of people in my network who are plugged into the market around the country.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 7th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It is not better to be a realtor when starting your real estate business, but you need access to the MLS.”
“I have access to the MLS because I need to comp properties effectively.”
“I don’t know any investors who have been doing it successfully for a while and still use banks to fund their deals.”
“The beautiful thing about hard money lenders is that they will lend money on the strength of the deal itself.”
“If you are going to separate from a business partner, it doesn’t get better with time.”
“I think the EOS system outlined in Traction by Gino Wickman is phenomenal.”
“I half an hour of your time for someone who never buys from you and they just take up a lot of your time, you have to cut that off.”
“I don’t have a lot of worries because I am completely plugged into the real estate market.”
“I have a lot of people in my network who are plugged into the market around the country.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am so excited to have as my guest today Brandon Turner. Brandon is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and speaker, widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on real estate investing. He is also the popular host of the BiggerPockets podcast with over 100 million downloads, best selling author of several books, and founder and managing member of Open Door Capital. He has been featured in numerous online and print publications like Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, and Money Magazine.
Brandon first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After getting his college degree in history, Brandon knew that he had two options: become a history teacher or become a lawyer. He chose the latter. But pretty soon he realized that being a lawyer really stunk. He wasn’t ready for 60 to 100-hour work weeks just to be able to retire rich at seventy years old. So, he decided to rebel against that by selling his house and buying a duplex just as the market crashed in 2007. That started his journey into multifamily real estate.
We then move on to discussing how Brandon got involved with BiggerPockets. When he was 24 years old, Brandon bought a twenty-four unit apartment building. He spent a couple of years fixing it up and by the time he was 27, the building was done and all of the units were rented. He decided to quit his job and retire early. Soon, he started guest posting on BiggerPockets, the biggest real estate blog at the time. He became friends with Josh Dorkin, founder of BiggerPockets and (according to Brandon) he came up with the idea of starting a podcast.
Brandon then explains his decision to move to Maui two years ago. He was living in western Washington at the time with 300 cloudy days a year. One day, he was at a kid’s birthday party and met Jared. Jared was also a businessman who moved to Hawaii a few years prior. Brandon shares that at that moment his mindset expanded and he decided to visit Hawaii for a month. He loved it and decided to go again, this time for three months. At the end of this trip, he ended up buying a house on Maui.
We then talk about Brandon’s company Open Door Capital. Brandon first owned a property management company called Open Properties in Washington State. He was buying a couple of properties a year, but he realized that wasn’t enough. In 2018, he decided that he wanted to go bigger. He started Open Door Capital in Hawaii with his friend Brian Murray with the goal of owning 1,000 units and 50 million dollars in real estate in the next three years. Today, they have 3400 units and 197 million dollars in real estate.
Eventually, we dive into discussing Brandon’s new books The Multifamily Millionaire, Volumes I and II. Brandon explains his stack method of exponential growth in real estate that is described in Financial Freedom in Five Years Through Multifamily, Volume I. He explains the difference between linear and exponential growth and how multifamily allows you to go from 1 unit to 5, to 20, to 50 and to reach financial freedom through five or six purchases in five years. He also goes on to explain a bit more about small multifamily and how to find your first deal. Brandon’s advice is to define your Crystal Clear Criteria: (1) your property type (2) location (3) condition (4) price range and (5) profitability.
Lastly, we talk about the biggest mistakes that people make when they go into the world of multifamily. According to Brandon, the biggest mistake that people make is that they are treating it like a hobby. Eventually, they get frustrated and they don’t stick with it. But if they treat it like a business, their chances of achieving that exponential growth and financial freedom are much higher.
Don’t miss this incredibly fun and inspirational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with Brandon Turner, truly an amazing guy and businessman!
Notable Quotes:
“I like multifamily. Multifamily is easier to treat like a business”
- Brandon Turner
“Most of us just accept the life that we’re given and we don't really think outside of that until something breaks you out of it.”
- Brandon Turner
“I was not happy with where I was in life and I believe that's because I was not living up to my potential or what I knew was possible.”
- Brandon Turner
“It shows the power of having a clear vision, getting the right people on board, getting really good at a certain niche, and then having a system by which you manage those people.”
- Brandon Turner
“Those of us who are growth-minded, we're always pushing to the next level, and trying to get a deeper understanding of what the world really is, and how we function in it.”
- Brandon Turner
“Our mindset determines our actions and our actions determine our results.”
- Brandon Turner
“What I've come to realize is that our mindset has way more to do with success than the tactics.”
- Mike Simmons
“For somebody who is just getting started, if you're willing to take on the challenge of that size of a property like I was on my first 24-unit, it can get you out of a 9-to-5 job. It can just completely change your life.”
- Brandon Turner
“In this industry and in this market, you have to be better than average to be able to get deals.”
- Brandon Turner
“Wherever you invest, choose a market that supports your goals.”
- Brandon Turner
Links:
Brandon on Instagram
Brandon’s Text Message List: Behind the Beard
The Intention Journal by Brandon Turner
The Multifamily Millionaire, Volume I by Brandon Turner
The Multifamily Millionaire, Volume II by Brandon Turner
Vivid Vision by Cameron Harold
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am so excited to have as my guest today Brandon Turner. Brandon is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and speaker, widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on real estate investing. He is also the popular host of the BiggerPockets podcast with over 100 million downloads, best selling author of several books, and founder and managing member of Open Door Capital. He has been featured in numerous online and print publications like Forbes.com, Entrepreneur.com, and Money Magazine.
Brandon first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After getting his college degree in history, Brandon knew that he had two options: become a history teacher or become a lawyer. He chose the latter. But pretty soon he realized that being a lawyer really stunk. He wasn’t ready for 60 to 100-hour work weeks just to be able to retire rich at seventy years old. So, he decided to rebel against that by selling his house and buying a duplex just as the market crashed in 2007. That started his journey into multifamily real estate.
We then move on to discussing how Brandon got involved with BiggerPockets. When he was 24 years old, Brandon bought a twenty-four unit apartment building. He spent a couple of years fixing it up and by the time he was 27, the building was done and all of the units were rented. He decided to quit his job and retire early. Soon, he started guest posting on BiggerPockets, the biggest real estate blog at the time. He became friends with Josh Dorkin, founder of BiggerPockets and (according to Brandon) he came up with the idea of starting a podcast.
Brandon then explains his decision to move to Maui two years ago. He was living in western Washington at the time with 300 cloudy days a year. One day, he was at a kid’s birthday party and met Jared. Jared was also a businessman who moved to Hawaii a few years prior. Brandon shares that at that moment his mindset expanded and he decided to visit Hawaii for a month. He loved it and decided to go again, this time for three months. At the end of this trip, he ended up buying a house on Maui.
We then talk about Brandon’s company Open Door Capital. Brandon first owned a property management company called Open Properties in Washington State. He was buying a couple of properties a year, but he realized that wasn’t enough. In 2018, he decided that he wanted to go bigger. He started Open Door Capital in Hawaii with his friend Brian Murray with the goal of owning 1,000 units and 50 million dollars in real estate in the next three years. Today, they have 3400 units and 197 million dollars in real estate.
Eventually, we dive into discussing Brandon’s new books The Multifamily Millionaire, Volumes I and II. Brandon explains his stack method of exponential growth in real estate that is described in Financial Freedom in Five Years Through Multifamily, Volume I. He explains the difference between linear and exponential growth and how multifamily allows you to go from 1 unit to 5, to 20, to 50 and to reach financial freedom through five or six purchases in five years. He also goes on to explain a bit more about small multifamily and how to find your first deal. Brandon’s advice is to define your Crystal Clear Criteria: (1) your property type (2) location (3) condition (4) price range and (5) profitability.
Lastly, we talk about the biggest mistakes that people make when they go into the world of multifamily. According to Brandon, the biggest mistake that people make is that they are treating it like a hobby. Eventually, they get frustrated and they don’t stick with it. But if they treat it like a business, their chances of achieving that exponential growth and financial freedom are much higher.
Don’t miss this incredibly fun and inspirational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with Brandon Turner, truly an amazing guy and businessman!
Notable Quotes:
“I like multifamily. Multifamily is easier to treat like a business”
- Brandon Turner
“Most of us just accept the life that we’re given and we don't really think outside of that until something breaks you out of it.”
- Brandon Turner
“I was not happy with where I was in life and I believe that's because I was not living up to my potential or what I knew was possible.”
- Brandon Turner
“It shows the power of having a clear vision, getting the right people on board, getting really good at a certain niche, and then having a system by which you manage those people.”
- Brandon Turner
“Those of us who are growth-minded, we're always pushing to the next level, and trying to get a deeper understanding of what the world really is, and how we function in it.”
- Brandon Turner
“Our mindset determines our actions and our actions determine our results.”
- Brandon Turner
“What I've come to realize is that our mindset has way more to do with success than the tactics.”
- Mike Simmons
“For somebody who is just getting started, if you're willing to take on the challenge of that size of a property like I was on my first 24-unit, it can get you out of a 9-to-5 job. It can just completely change your life.”
- Brandon Turner
“In this industry and in this market, you have to be better than average to be able to get deals.”
- Brandon Turner
“Wherever you invest, choose a market that supports your goals.”
- Brandon Turner
Links:
Brandon on Instagram
Brandon’s Text Message List: Behind the Beard
The Intention Journal by Brandon Turner
The Multifamily Millionaire, Volume I by Brandon Turner
The Multifamily Millionaire, Volume II by Brandon Turner
Vivid Vision by Cameron Harold
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 26th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“There are a lot of different ways to be financially free, but real estate was the best choice for me.”
“Being financially free means different things to different people.”
“I’m finding a high volume of deals that I am able to sell to other people who don’t have the time, money, or the knowledge to find deals for themselves.”
“A wholesale company is really a sales and marketing company.”
“Really networking hardcore can be a great way to find deals without spending money.”
“The person you hire first should probably be for the part of your job you hate the most.”
“If I am going to invest in anything, I go all in once I have done a reasonable amount of research.”
“I move very fast when it comes to real estate.”
“Money is certainly not the problem when it comes to real estate investing.”
“Usually a hard-money lender only cares about the strength of the deal that you are proposing to them.”
“When you run a business, no matter what it is, you are going to get knocked down from time to time.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 26th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“There are a lot of different ways to be financially free, but real estate was the best choice for me.”
“Being financially free means different things to different people.”
“I’m finding a high volume of deals that I am able to sell to other people who don’t have the time, money, or the knowledge to find deals for themselves.”
“A wholesale company is really a sales and marketing company.”
“Really networking hardcore can be a great way to find deals without spending money.”
“The person you hire first should probably be for the part of your job you hate the most.”
“If I am going to invest in anything, I go all in once I have done a reasonable amount of research.”
“I move very fast when it comes to real estate.”
“Money is certainly not the problem when it comes to real estate investing.”
“Usually a hard-money lender only cares about the strength of the deal that you are proposing to them.”
“When you run a business, no matter what it is, you are going to get knocked down from time to time.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode, we have not one but two amazing guests, Sandy and Wade Critides. Sandy and Wade are lifestyle entrepreneurs residing in Orange County, California who have known each other their entire lives. They both left behind careers they weren't suited for and now have a multitude of thriving businesses including an 8-figure per year network marketing, their own real estate investment firm, their very own podcast, Getting Magnetic with Sandy & Wade and they are the published authors of the number one journal for network marketers. They love nothing more than empowering people to know that they can live the life of their dreams with vision and intentionality and they have helped thousands of people do so through their work.
We begin this episode with Sandy and Wade sharing their background story. Sandy’s dad and Wade’s mom went to high school together in Massachusetts over 45 years ago. Their families have been friends for a long time and they have known each other their entire lives. Sandy started her entrepreneurship journey about eight years ago when she was only 23. At the time she was working a corporate job, and her mom unexpectedly passed away. That shifted her whole perspective on life. She realized that she was not happy at her job and that she wanted to live life to the fullest, so she went on a journey of self-discovery, figuring out who she was and what she was meant to do. She tried a number of different things until she found what she was looking for. Wade’s journey was a bit more typical. His education led him to build a career in the finance world, eventually becoming a VP at his finance firm. When he reached his mid-20s, he realized that he wanted the freedom and autonomy over his life that entrepreneurship could provide. So, eventually Sandy and Wade decided to partner up and today they are network marketing professionals for real estate investors, they have their own podcast, and they've launched a product that helps people in the network marketing space.
We then move on to discussing if entrepreneurs are born or made. Sandy and Wade believe that the answer is both. According to them, Sandy was more of a born entrepreneur and Wade became one through his corporate career. Wade explains that there is a huge difference between the mindset of an entrepreneur and the mindset of an employee. An entrepreneur always has something that is pushing them forward, and even if you are not a born entrepreneur, if you want something and you have a strong commitment, you can become an entrepreneur.
Together we then dive into discussing the why and how it can fuel your success. Discovering your “why” has to start with knowing precisely what you want. You need to be super specific about the vision you have for your life. Maybe it’s financial freedom, maybe it’s building a legacy, maybe it’s leaving your 9-to-5, but whatever it is, you need to be super specific about it. The next step is to figure out the underlying why. Entrepreneurship is hard work and your why will help you push through the roadblocks. The third step, according to Sandy and Wade, is a decision. There is a point in every entrepreneur's life where a decision is made, where they decide to pursue their passion. And that is the formula for success: a super-specific vision + underlying why + a decision.
Eventually, we talk about how Sandy and Wade got into real estate. Looking at other entrepreneurs, Wade noticed one common thread - they were all investing in real estate. So, they decided to go for it. They started with three turnkey properties and their latest investment was an 18-unit apartment building
Don’t miss this incredibly fun and inspirational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with Sandy and Wade Critides, and find out why your business lives between your ears!
Notable Quotes:
“What no one really talks about, or they don't talk about enough is, is what mindset it takes to actually be successful in whatever it is you're doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Your business lives between your ears and that's why working on yourself, personal growth, and development is the most important thing you can be doing.”
- Sandy Critides
“Your mess becomes your message.”
- Sandy Critides
“On paper, everything looks great, but inside I'm not necessarily fulfilled and happy.”
- Wade Critides
“A lot of them were entrepreneurs, a lot of them had freedom and autonomy over their own life and a sense of purpose and passion.”
- Wade Critides
“What I was seeking wasn't money, it was impact, it was freedom.”
- Wade Critides
“Entrepreneurship is the best self-development program in the world because you’ll learn so much about yourself.”
- Wade Critides
“Employee and entrepreneur mindsets are wildly different.”
- Wade Critides
“When you want to do something, if you have a strong enough commitment to it, you'll make it happen, and you'll learn along the way.”
- Wade Critides
“People who are born to be entrepreneurs are often born into an environment that doesn't foster it or even at all acknowledge it.”
- Mike Simmons
“I didn't do anything entrepreneurial until I was in my 30s but when I finally took the leap, it was like I had come up for air from underwater.”
- Mike Simmons
“When there's that tug or that pull on your heart, it's there for a reason. It's your duty, your responsibility to follow it.”
- Wade Critides
“People get conditioned into a life that they think they want or they're told that they want, and the real hard thing is breaking out of that and seeing that there is something else they can do or something else that they're meant to do.”
- Mike Simmons
“How are you going to feel when you have to admit that you never really took the chances that you wanted to take?”
- Mike Simmons
“For things to change you have to make the change.”
- Wade Critides
Links:
Sandy on Instagram
Wade on Instagram
Getting Magnetic Podcast
Getting Magnetic Podcast on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode, we have not one but two amazing guests, Sandy and Wade Critides. Sandy and Wade are lifestyle entrepreneurs residing in Orange County, California who have known each other their entire lives. They both left behind careers they weren't suited for and now have a multitude of thriving businesses including an 8-figure per year network marketing, their own real estate investment firm, their very own podcast, Getting Magnetic with Sandy & Wade and they are the published authors of the number one journal for network marketers. They love nothing more than empowering people to know that they can live the life of their dreams with vision and intentionality and they have helped thousands of people do so through their work.
We begin this episode with Sandy and Wade sharing their background story. Sandy’s dad and Wade’s mom went to high school together in Massachusetts over 45 years ago. Their families have been friends for a long time and they have known each other their entire lives. Sandy started her entrepreneurship journey about eight years ago when she was only 23. At the time she was working a corporate job, and her mom unexpectedly passed away. That shifted her whole perspective on life. She realized that she was not happy at her job and that she wanted to live life to the fullest, so she went on a journey of self-discovery, figuring out who she was and what she was meant to do. She tried a number of different things until she found what she was looking for. Wade’s journey was a bit more typical. His education led him to build a career in the finance world, eventually becoming a VP at his finance firm. When he reached his mid-20s, he realized that he wanted the freedom and autonomy over his life that entrepreneurship could provide. So, eventually Sandy and Wade decided to partner up and today they are network marketing professionals for real estate investors, they have their own podcast, and they've launched a product that helps people in the network marketing space.
We then move on to discussing if entrepreneurs are born or made. Sandy and Wade believe that the answer is both. According to them, Sandy was more of a born entrepreneur and Wade became one through his corporate career. Wade explains that there is a huge difference between the mindset of an entrepreneur and the mindset of an employee. An entrepreneur always has something that is pushing them forward, and even if you are not a born entrepreneur, if you want something and you have a strong commitment, you can become an entrepreneur.
Together we then dive into discussing the why and how it can fuel your success. Discovering your “why” has to start with knowing precisely what you want. You need to be super specific about the vision you have for your life. Maybe it’s financial freedom, maybe it’s building a legacy, maybe it’s leaving your 9-to-5, but whatever it is, you need to be super specific about it. The next step is to figure out the underlying why. Entrepreneurship is hard work and your why will help you push through the roadblocks. The third step, according to Sandy and Wade, is a decision. There is a point in every entrepreneur's life where a decision is made, where they decide to pursue their passion. And that is the formula for success: a super-specific vision + underlying why + a decision.
Eventually, we talk about how Sandy and Wade got into real estate. Looking at other entrepreneurs, Wade noticed one common thread - they were all investing in real estate. So, they decided to go for it. They started with three turnkey properties and their latest investment was an 18-unit apartment building
Don’t miss this incredibly fun and inspirational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with Sandy and Wade Critides, and find out why your business lives between your ears!
Notable Quotes:
“What no one really talks about, or they don't talk about enough is, is what mindset it takes to actually be successful in whatever it is you're doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Your business lives between your ears and that's why working on yourself, personal growth, and development is the most important thing you can be doing.”
- Sandy Critides
“Your mess becomes your message.”
- Sandy Critides
“On paper, everything looks great, but inside I'm not necessarily fulfilled and happy.”
- Wade Critides
“A lot of them were entrepreneurs, a lot of them had freedom and autonomy over their own life and a sense of purpose and passion.”
- Wade Critides
“What I was seeking wasn't money, it was impact, it was freedom.”
- Wade Critides
“Entrepreneurship is the best self-development program in the world because you’ll learn so much about yourself.”
- Wade Critides
“Employee and entrepreneur mindsets are wildly different.”
- Wade Critides
“When you want to do something, if you have a strong enough commitment to it, you'll make it happen, and you'll learn along the way.”
- Wade Critides
“People who are born to be entrepreneurs are often born into an environment that doesn't foster it or even at all acknowledge it.”
- Mike Simmons
“I didn't do anything entrepreneurial until I was in my 30s but when I finally took the leap, it was like I had come up for air from underwater.”
- Mike Simmons
“When there's that tug or that pull on your heart, it's there for a reason. It's your duty, your responsibility to follow it.”
- Wade Critides
“People get conditioned into a life that they think they want or they're told that they want, and the real hard thing is breaking out of that and seeing that there is something else they can do or something else that they're meant to do.”
- Mike Simmons
“How are you going to feel when you have to admit that you never really took the chances that you wanted to take?”
- Mike Simmons
“For things to change you have to make the change.”
- Wade Critides
Links:
Sandy on Instagram
Wade on Instagram
Getting Magnetic Podcast
Getting Magnetic Podcast on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 30th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“We don’t change our marketing based on market conditions. We adjust our marketing based on the metrics that we track.”
“From a marketing standpoint, we do more or less of certain things based on how effective they are.”
“We have a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators that we track in our business.”
“I think a virtual team sometimes takes a higher level of management.”
“Having a good company culture is something that happens on purpose.”
“You have to purposefully create, foster, and nurture a good company culture.”
“The real estate market is almost always good for somebody.”
“I just adapt and change my philosophies to match the market that I am in.”
“It was probably only ignorance and fear that kept me from investing in multi-family early on.”
“Everyone on my buyers’ list gets to look at a deal at the same time. I want open competition to prevail.”
“The worst buyers’ list is the list of one.”
“If you have one person interested in your deal, you are screwed. You need to have a bidding war, you need to have competition.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
FREE Blueprint to Fast Growth Webinar
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 30th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“We don’t change our marketing based on market conditions. We adjust our marketing based on the metrics that we track.”
“From a marketing standpoint, we do more or less of certain things based on how effective they are.”
“We have a dashboard of Key Performance Indicators that we track in our business.”
“I think a virtual team sometimes takes a higher level of management.”
“Having a good company culture is something that happens on purpose.”
“You have to purposefully create, foster, and nurture a good company culture.”
“The real estate market is almost always good for somebody.”
“I just adapt and change my philosophies to match the market that I am in.”
“It was probably only ignorance and fear that kept me from investing in multi-family early on.”
“Everyone on my buyers’ list gets to look at a deal at the same time. I want open competition to prevail.”
“The worst buyers’ list is the list of one.”
“If you have one person interested in your deal, you are screwed. You need to have a bidding war, you need to have competition.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
FREE Blueprint to Fast Growth Webinar
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Edna Keep. Edna is a real estate millionaire, coach, and author of Multiple Ways To Wealth. She owns 778 doors valued at $70 Million of real estate. She started with single-family homes to now primarily multi-family and she does some development projects with other people’s money. As a former financial advisor, she helps connect investors with everyday people who want to create passive income for the long term and those that need help with all areas of business money management.
Edna first shares her background story. She became pregnant and had a child at 16 years old. She dropped out of high school and felt like her options were very limited, but she decided to go back and finish her high school education. After high school, Edna worked a series of waitressing and secretarial jobs as a single mother. During that time, she dedicated herself to learning and doing what she needed to do to improve her life: she bought and read thousands of books on attitude, goal setting, and living with passion. She also attended numerous seminars and listened to countless audio programs. She also learned as much as she could about business. Her work with clients and more training taught her about real estate and the power of leveraging. That is when she dove into real estate investing, growing her portfolio, and reaping the rewards.
We then talk about how Edna got started with real estate. When she and her husband first got into real estate, their plan was to buy a few houses in the next 10-15 years to help with their retirement plan. But fast forward 18 months, they found that they owned 50 doors. They started with condos and duplexes but their last purchase, that got them to 50 doors, was 24 units. Within a very short period of time, they were able to double all the rents in that building because the market was so strong at that time.
Next, we discuss what pushed Edna to get 50 doors in only 18 months. She explains that there were few things that helped them achieve that. First, paying for education. Edna and her husband were introduced to real estate through the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. This is where they learned all the strategies they needed and applied them all in a short period of time. They also had a coach during this whole process and they also partnered with some people who had taken the same training they had two years prior and already owned 20 houses.
We then dive into the financing aspect, and how Edna was able to raise money for her first 50 doors. She explains that their first option was seller financing: a situation in which the person selling the property leaves some money in it. They approached their seller and asked her to leave the amount they needed for a down payment and, in return, they pay her 6% interest on that money in five years. According to Edna, when it comes to financing, seller financing is always a good way to go.
We then talk about Edna’s Five Step Investor Attraction System. This system consists of 5 steps, and those are: mindset shift, finding and analyzing the right deal, analyzing a property, and hiring a coach. Edna believes that these 5 steps can help you shift from where you are to where you want to be.
We also discuss Edna’s book Multiple Ways to Wealth. She wrote this book back in 2013 and her main goal was to show people that there truly are multiple avenues to achieving wealth. Even though she ended up in real estate, she has a lot of experience in stocks and mutual funds as well.
Lastly, we talk about Edna’s program 90 days to 5k program. This is for people who are looking to get their first $5000 a month in income from a building or two; for those who already own a few doors, want to expand their portfolio but have run out of their own money and or their own ability to qualify for mortgages. Edna explains how having that type of support in the beginning of their journey really made a difference, and she hopes to provide that to others through her program.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Edna Keep and get inspired by an amazing story of a single, young mother who went on to create a real estate empire of 778 doors and counting!
Notable Quotes:
“Early on I had to put food on the table, I had to make things work because it wasn't just about me.”
- Edna Keep
“I couldn't do anything full-time to change careers, it always had to be on the side.”
- Edna Keep
“When we got 50 doors in 18 months, we really felt like we had something there.”
- Edna Keep
“You don't just fall backward into that by accident. That's work, that's dedication, that's drive.”
- Mike Simmons
“I believe you have to buy knowledge nowadays. You absolutely have to.”
- Edna Keep
“Not just learning the strategies, but applying them all in a short period of time - that's what got us our first 50.”
- Edna Keep
“We got to work within our strengths.”
- Edna Keep
“At the time we were in a very strong market, a lot of people wanted to get into real estate but didn't have any clue how. Once we educated them, then we were able to raise a lot of money.”
- Edna Keep
“I wanted people to realize that there are multiple ways to wealth, and not just one way.”
- Edna Keep
“You can study until the cows come home, but until you actually do a deal, you won't even know what you know.”
- Edna Keep
“Sometimes people who work the hardest, get the luckiest.”
- Mike Simmons
“You can take a course, you can read a book, you can get educated but if you don't do anything, there's nothing gained.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Edna’s Website
Edna on Facebook
Edna on LinkedIn
Edna on YouTube
Edna on Instagram
Multiple Ways to Wealth by Edna Keep
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Edna Keep. Edna is a real estate millionaire, coach, and author of Multiple Ways To Wealth. She owns 778 doors valued at $70 Million of real estate. She started with single-family homes to now primarily multi-family and she does some development projects with other people’s money. As a former financial advisor, she helps connect investors with everyday people who want to create passive income for the long term and those that need help with all areas of business money management.
Edna first shares her background story. She became pregnant and had a child at 16 years old. She dropped out of high school and felt like her options were very limited, but she decided to go back and finish her high school education. After high school, Edna worked a series of waitressing and secretarial jobs as a single mother. During that time, she dedicated herself to learning and doing what she needed to do to improve her life: she bought and read thousands of books on attitude, goal setting, and living with passion. She also attended numerous seminars and listened to countless audio programs. She also learned as much as she could about business. Her work with clients and more training taught her about real estate and the power of leveraging. That is when she dove into real estate investing, growing her portfolio, and reaping the rewards.
We then talk about how Edna got started with real estate. When she and her husband first got into real estate, their plan was to buy a few houses in the next 10-15 years to help with their retirement plan. But fast forward 18 months, they found that they owned 50 doors. They started with condos and duplexes but their last purchase, that got them to 50 doors, was 24 units. Within a very short period of time, they were able to double all the rents in that building because the market was so strong at that time.
Next, we discuss what pushed Edna to get 50 doors in only 18 months. She explains that there were few things that helped them achieve that. First, paying for education. Edna and her husband were introduced to real estate through the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. This is where they learned all the strategies they needed and applied them all in a short period of time. They also had a coach during this whole process and they also partnered with some people who had taken the same training they had two years prior and already owned 20 houses.
We then dive into the financing aspect, and how Edna was able to raise money for her first 50 doors. She explains that their first option was seller financing: a situation in which the person selling the property leaves some money in it. They approached their seller and asked her to leave the amount they needed for a down payment and, in return, they pay her 6% interest on that money in five years. According to Edna, when it comes to financing, seller financing is always a good way to go.
We then talk about Edna’s Five Step Investor Attraction System. This system consists of 5 steps, and those are: mindset shift, finding and analyzing the right deal, analyzing a property, and hiring a coach. Edna believes that these 5 steps can help you shift from where you are to where you want to be.
We also discuss Edna’s book Multiple Ways to Wealth. She wrote this book back in 2013 and her main goal was to show people that there truly are multiple avenues to achieving wealth. Even though she ended up in real estate, she has a lot of experience in stocks and mutual funds as well.
Lastly, we talk about Edna’s program 90 days to 5k program. This is for people who are looking to get their first $5000 a month in income from a building or two; for those who already own a few doors, want to expand their portfolio but have run out of their own money and or their own ability to qualify for mortgages. Edna explains how having that type of support in the beginning of their journey really made a difference, and she hopes to provide that to others through her program.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Edna Keep and get inspired by an amazing story of a single, young mother who went on to create a real estate empire of 778 doors and counting!
Notable Quotes:
“Early on I had to put food on the table, I had to make things work because it wasn't just about me.”
- Edna Keep
“I couldn't do anything full-time to change careers, it always had to be on the side.”
- Edna Keep
“When we got 50 doors in 18 months, we really felt like we had something there.”
- Edna Keep
“You don't just fall backward into that by accident. That's work, that's dedication, that's drive.”
- Mike Simmons
“I believe you have to buy knowledge nowadays. You absolutely have to.”
- Edna Keep
“Not just learning the strategies, but applying them all in a short period of time - that's what got us our first 50.”
- Edna Keep
“We got to work within our strengths.”
- Edna Keep
“At the time we were in a very strong market, a lot of people wanted to get into real estate but didn't have any clue how. Once we educated them, then we were able to raise a lot of money.”
- Edna Keep
“I wanted people to realize that there are multiple ways to wealth, and not just one way.”
- Edna Keep
“You can study until the cows come home, but until you actually do a deal, you won't even know what you know.”
- Edna Keep
“Sometimes people who work the hardest, get the luckiest.”
- Mike Simmons
“You can take a course, you can read a book, you can get educated but if you don't do anything, there's nothing gained.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Edna’s Website
Edna on Facebook
Edna on LinkedIn
Edna on YouTube
Edna on Instagram
Multiple Ways to Wealth by Edna Keep
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 23rd and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I would have started a lot faster if I knew then what I know now. I would have been making offers more aggressively.”
“Real estate is a numbers game.”
“If you are in a hurry at all to make your first deal, you can’t make one offer at a time.”
“Real estate investing works in any environment and any market climate.”
“If you want to be a real estate investor, go do that. Do not wait.”
“If you are thinking of getting in, get in, just start, and scale.”
“I personally think this kind of market is the most difficult - it is easy to sell houses but difficult to buy them.”
“I was passionate about growing that business, about learning and training and building a team.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
FREE Blueprint to Fast Growth Webinar
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 23rd and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I would have started a lot faster if I knew then what I know now. I would have been making offers more aggressively.”
“Real estate is a numbers game.”
“If you are in a hurry at all to make your first deal, you can’t make one offer at a time.”
“Real estate investing works in any environment and any market climate.”
“If you want to be a real estate investor, go do that. Do not wait.”
“If you are thinking of getting in, get in, just start, and scale.”
“I personally think this kind of market is the most difficult - it is easy to sell houses but difficult to buy them.”
“I was passionate about growing that business, about learning and training and building a team.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
FREE Blueprint to Fast Growth Webinar
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest choice for today’s episode is a bit different and I am really excited to welcome Jodie Cook! Jodie is an entrepreneur who built and sold her social media agency over a ten-year period. Her experience of starting up, creating a brand, winning and serving clients, hiring a team, and growing and selling a company has been written into books and articles with millions of readers. She is the author of several books including two volumes of Stop Acting Like You’re Going to Live Forever, How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids, Instagram Rules, and The Clever Tykes Storybooks. She is also a Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur in Europe and a regular contributor of theirs.
Jodie first shares her background story. Growing up, she followed the traditional path when it came to her career. After high school, she went to college because that is what you are supposed to do. After that, she got on a graduate scheme, and this is where it all changed for her. This is where she learned how to think for herself through different coaching sessions. This is also the time she decided to start her own business.
We then take a little detour with our conversation and talk about the fact that Jodie powerlifts competitively. She shares that she was always quite sporty and started out as a runner, doing half marathons and 10k races. Eventually, she joined a gym that had a lot of competitive lifters and soon she began competing and truly enjoyed it. Since then, she has represented Great Britain internationally and she still competes within the British Powerlifting Federation in the under 57kg (125lbs) bodyweight category.
We then discuss how to get kids to be interested or want to learn more about being an entrepreneur. When she was doing the research for her book, Jodie interviewed around 200 people on how they're raising their kids to be entrepreneurs and how they themselves were raised to be entrepreneurs. What she found was that it either came from inspiration or desperation. In her book, How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids, Jodie talks about four pillars: the mindset, the skills, the experiences and the coaching.
We then dive into the mindset of raising entrepreneurial kids. Jodie explains that in the book, the mindset pillar consists of a lot of different areas. The first one is the Family Mission Statement, a set of family values; the other part is setting goals, how to develop a child's interests instead of shutting them down.
Next, Jodie explains what she believes is one of the biggest disservices that we make when it comes to raising our kids as entrepreneurs. It became incredibly easy to trust the “educational conveyor belt,” to think in terms of what the school or the college wants us to do. It is commonplace to think that we're choosing our own way forward when actually we're choosing from a very predetermined set of options.
Lastly, we discuss Jodie’s book, Stop Acting Like You’re Going To Live Forever. A couple of years before she wrote this book, Jodie was attending a Forbes event and met an editor who told her that they were launching a contributor program for Forbes. Jodie followed up with the editor a few times after that and when the program launched she was accepted as a contributor on the topics of entrepreneurship. Soon, one of her articles called “How to Stop Caring About What Everyone Else Thinks” received massive attention. This is when she decided to publish her articles as a book. Since then, she has published the first volume with 36 different articles and the second volume with 45 articles.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jodie Cook, who delivers a wisdom-packed interview on the entrepreneurial lifestyle!
Notable Quotes:
“I definitely didn't have a business plan, it was just two words: getting clients.”
- Jodie Cook
“I started to become fascinated that I started my own business at 22 years old, but hardly any of my friends did. They all went down the traditional career path.”
- Jodie Cook
“I am fascinated with how entrepreneurs are created and that's what led to me thinking about it, talking to people, writing about it.”
- Jodie Cook
“Everyone's born with self-awareness and then education takes it away.”
- Jodie Cook
“We are all different and we all have different strengths and weaknesses.”
- Jodie Cook
“A lot of entrepreneurs that I've met, interviewed, and talked to have something competitive in their background.”
- Mike Simmons
“It's either inspiration or desperation; they've come from one of those places.”
- Jodie Cook
“If you find something that you love that much and that you're really good at, you could probably turn anything into a business. Because the business side is secondary to you continuing to follow your purpose.”
- Jodie Cook
“Everything in your life revolves around doing the work the school tells you to do and kind of just moving down this path with your head down. It's no wonder that most people just end up being spit out at the end of that conveyor belt in the same place.”
- Mike Simmons
“Sometimes people take themselves too seriously and lack of perspective is what causes that.”
- Jodie Cook
“It's so easy to bring something down and it's not that easy to build it up. It's just another reason why we really don't need to care about what anyone thinks because you are the artist and the architect.”
- Jodie Cook
Links:
Jodie’s Website
Jodie on Instagram
Jodie on LinkedIn
Jodie on Twitter
Stop Acting Like You’re Going to Live Forever
How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids
Instagram Rules
The Clever Tykes Storybooks
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest choice for today’s episode is a bit different and I am really excited to welcome Jodie Cook! Jodie is an entrepreneur who built and sold her social media agency over a ten-year period. Her experience of starting up, creating a brand, winning and serving clients, hiring a team, and growing and selling a company has been written into books and articles with millions of readers. She is the author of several books including two volumes of Stop Acting Like You’re Going to Live Forever, How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids, Instagram Rules, and The Clever Tykes Storybooks. She is also a Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur in Europe and a regular contributor of theirs.
Jodie first shares her background story. Growing up, she followed the traditional path when it came to her career. After high school, she went to college because that is what you are supposed to do. After that, she got on a graduate scheme, and this is where it all changed for her. This is where she learned how to think for herself through different coaching sessions. This is also the time she decided to start her own business.
We then take a little detour with our conversation and talk about the fact that Jodie powerlifts competitively. She shares that she was always quite sporty and started out as a runner, doing half marathons and 10k races. Eventually, she joined a gym that had a lot of competitive lifters and soon she began competing and truly enjoyed it. Since then, she has represented Great Britain internationally and she still competes within the British Powerlifting Federation in the under 57kg (125lbs) bodyweight category.
We then discuss how to get kids to be interested or want to learn more about being an entrepreneur. When she was doing the research for her book, Jodie interviewed around 200 people on how they're raising their kids to be entrepreneurs and how they themselves were raised to be entrepreneurs. What she found was that it either came from inspiration or desperation. In her book, How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids, Jodie talks about four pillars: the mindset, the skills, the experiences and the coaching.
We then dive into the mindset of raising entrepreneurial kids. Jodie explains that in the book, the mindset pillar consists of a lot of different areas. The first one is the Family Mission Statement, a set of family values; the other part is setting goals, how to develop a child's interests instead of shutting them down.
Next, Jodie explains what she believes is one of the biggest disservices that we make when it comes to raising our kids as entrepreneurs. It became incredibly easy to trust the “educational conveyor belt,” to think in terms of what the school or the college wants us to do. It is commonplace to think that we're choosing our own way forward when actually we're choosing from a very predetermined set of options.
Lastly, we discuss Jodie’s book, Stop Acting Like You’re Going To Live Forever. A couple of years before she wrote this book, Jodie was attending a Forbes event and met an editor who told her that they were launching a contributor program for Forbes. Jodie followed up with the editor a few times after that and when the program launched she was accepted as a contributor on the topics of entrepreneurship. Soon, one of her articles called “How to Stop Caring About What Everyone Else Thinks” received massive attention. This is when she decided to publish her articles as a book. Since then, she has published the first volume with 36 different articles and the second volume with 45 articles.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jodie Cook, who delivers a wisdom-packed interview on the entrepreneurial lifestyle!
Notable Quotes:
“I definitely didn't have a business plan, it was just two words: getting clients.”
- Jodie Cook
“I started to become fascinated that I started my own business at 22 years old, but hardly any of my friends did. They all went down the traditional career path.”
- Jodie Cook
“I am fascinated with how entrepreneurs are created and that's what led to me thinking about it, talking to people, writing about it.”
- Jodie Cook
“Everyone's born with self-awareness and then education takes it away.”
- Jodie Cook
“We are all different and we all have different strengths and weaknesses.”
- Jodie Cook
“A lot of entrepreneurs that I've met, interviewed, and talked to have something competitive in their background.”
- Mike Simmons
“It's either inspiration or desperation; they've come from one of those places.”
- Jodie Cook
“If you find something that you love that much and that you're really good at, you could probably turn anything into a business. Because the business side is secondary to you continuing to follow your purpose.”
- Jodie Cook
“Everything in your life revolves around doing the work the school tells you to do and kind of just moving down this path with your head down. It's no wonder that most people just end up being spit out at the end of that conveyor belt in the same place.”
- Mike Simmons
“Sometimes people take themselves too seriously and lack of perspective is what causes that.”
- Jodie Cook
“It's so easy to bring something down and it's not that easy to build it up. It's just another reason why we really don't need to care about what anyone thinks because you are the artist and the architect.”
- Jodie Cook
Links:
Jodie’s Website
Jodie on Instagram
Jodie on LinkedIn
Jodie on Twitter
Stop Acting Like You’re Going to Live Forever
How To Raise Entrepreneurial Kids
Instagram Rules
The Clever Tykes Storybooks
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 16th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I think going into business with your spouse is a really, really powerful thing.”
“If your spouse doesn’t have an active role in your business, having their complete support is critical.”
“I have met many people, unfortunately, that don’t have the support of their spouse and it really eats away at the business from the inside.”
“It is 100% possible to grow too fast.”
“I do not think that fast growth is necessarily good growth always.”
“Be careful when you are growing and expanding, and make sure it is what you really want.”
“All that foundational stuff at the beginning, the systems, the people, the mindset, the numbers you are tracking, will help you be successful as you grow.”
“There are a lot of factors that can derail a company, but the one that sneaks up on people and takes them by surprise is bad partnerships.”
“You want a partner that shares your hunger, shares your passion and desire to get to the goal and build that business.”
“If risk doesn’t bother you and your partner is very, very conservative, your partnership will fall apart.”
“Once you have nailed the model and understand what you want to do on a small scale, then it is just a matter of scaling that up.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
FREE Blueprint to Fast Growth Webinar
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 16th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I think going into business with your spouse is a really, really powerful thing.”
“If your spouse doesn’t have an active role in your business, having their complete support is critical.”
“I have met many people, unfortunately, that don’t have the support of their spouse and it really eats away at the business from the inside.”
“It is 100% possible to grow too fast.”
“I do not think that fast growth is necessarily good growth always.”
“Be careful when you are growing and expanding, and make sure it is what you really want.”
“All that foundational stuff at the beginning, the systems, the people, the mindset, the numbers you are tracking, will help you be successful as you grow.”
“There are a lot of factors that can derail a company, but the one that sneaks up on people and takes them by surprise is bad partnerships.”
“You want a partner that shares your hunger, shares your passion and desire to get to the goal and build that business.”
“If risk doesn’t bother you and your partner is very, very conservative, your partnership will fall apart.”
“Once you have nailed the model and understand what you want to do on a small scale, then it is just a matter of scaling that up.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
FREE Blueprint to Fast Growth Webinar
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Samson Jagoras. Over Samson’s 13+ year career in business, he has served as a Futures and Commodities broker, a commercial real estate broker, actively invested in real estate. He also served as the VP of Strategic Investments for RE/MAX Commercial Alliance, built several businesses, and acted as the Chief Strategy Officer for an INC 500 company. After 9 years of helping to scale that company, he walked away from his high-income position to go all-in on helping everyday investors put their money to work in large commercial apartment investments. Today, as the founder and president of Growth Vue Properties and the founder of the Passive Power Group, Samson helps give others access to investments that they thought were unattainable and acts as a liaison, educator, and curator that gives them supreme confidence in their passive multifamily investments.
We begin today’s episode with Samson’s background story. He was raised in a blue-collar house where money was pretty hard to come by. But what they lacked in money, they made up in sports. It all started with soccer when Samson was only 5 years old. Later, he got into baseball and skateboarding. Then, when he was a freshman in high school, he started playing football. He was a great player, and all he wanted to do was play football at a collegiate level. But, when the senior year came, he didn’t have any scholarship offers because his school didn’t have a good recruiting program. With a help of his mentor and high school alumni, he was able to get a football scholarship to Western New Mexico University and that was his ticket to a college education. Later, he transferred to Colorado and got his degree in Human Psychology. He got his degree on a Friday and on the following Monday he started working with his father-in-law at futures and commodities brokerage.
Our next topic of conversation is how the market crash in 2008 affected the futures and commodities brokerage. In 2008, Samson was just starting his career in futures and commodities, he had nothing to lose except debt and student loans. So, the crash didn’t affect him personally, but it did help him realize that speculating was not the way to make money and that owning hard assets is the key. This is when he got interested in the real estate world. After spending four years in commodities, he decided to jump into real estate.
We then discuss how Samson got started in real estate and why multifamily is his real estate of choice. He explains that the first real estate he bought was a single-family home that he converted into an uptown duplex. He also did some fix-and-flips as well as some wholesale deals. But he soon realized that it is all about scale. This was the main reason why he decided to focus on multifamily homes.
We then dive into Samson’s predictions for the real estate market in the next 12-24 months. He believes that our biggest problem will be affordability. Even now, we see people moving from California to Colorado and from Colorado to the Midwest. But soon, those markets will also go up. He also believes that there will have to be some tax incentives from the government to try to accelerate affordable housing as well as the conversion of properties from one type to another: office space to condos or residential hotels to multifamily, etc.
Next, Samson explains what constitutes a good deal for him and how he funded his deals in the very beginning. The most important thing for Samson, when it comes to investing in new deals, is the cap rate, risk aversion, and knowing why you want to be in that particular market.
Lastly, we talk about Samson’s company, Growth Vue Properties. Samson is a commercial real estate broker, one of his partners is a commercial loan originator, one is in private equity, and one is a professional investor. They are looking for people who are making a good amount of money and want to invest with other real estate professionals. Their focus is on building a legacy portfolio. Their strategy has always been about providing long-term legacy wealth for their families and their investors. On the back of that, they’re also building their endowment fund, where you can give to charity in perpetuity.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Samson Jagoras, who brings several different perspectives to our conversation because of his background and knowledge!
Notable Quotes:
“I knew I never wanted to be on that side of the business, just swinging hammers.”
- Samson Jagoras
“I was so focused on skateboarding, which I think is what gave me a lot of my just relentless mindset.”
- Samson Jagoras
“I did everything right because all I wanted to do, once I found football, was play at the collegiate level.”
- Samson Jagoras
“When you do something that you feel is on your heart and you're supposed to, that builds your confidence.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Speculating is not the way to actually make money; owning hard assets is the key to do that.”
- Samson Jagoras
“When you're sleeping with a laptop next to the bed because you're worried about everybody going sideways in the middle of the night, it just destroys your quality of life.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Every mentor that I had in my life who was successful, owned real estate or their own business.”
- Samson Jagoras
“We're in a capitalistic society, so the government relies on us to do two things: create jobs and create housing.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Affordability is going to be our number one biggest challenge that we have in the next 10 years.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Conversion of properties from one type to another. like office space to condos or residential hotels to multifamily, those are gonna have the most legs.”
- Samson Jagoras
“There's a misconception in real estate that things just go up forever.”
- Samson Jagoras
“There's a million ways to make a million bucks in real estate.”
- Samson Jagoras
“If you can't tell me why you're in that market, then you have no business being in that market.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Your fiduciary responsibility, when you're dealing with other people's money, is to be a steward of their capital and do an incredible job. ”
- Samson Jagoras
“Success leaves clues. So, I found a mentor and said ‘teach me everything that you know, so that I can get from point A to point B much quicker.’”
- Samson Jagoras
“If you're killing it as an entrepreneur, if you're killing it as a professional, and you're in a career that you love and you're passionate about, it’s all about taking that income and parlaying it into other sources of income, and investing with other people.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Wealthy people surround themselves with a ton of really smart people. They're really good at critically analyzing deals, and then deploying capital.
- Samson Jagoras
Links:
Samson on Instagram
Samson on LinkedIn
Samson on Facebook
Samson on Twitter
Passive Investing
Growth Vue Properties
The Growth View
Samson’s Website
Unshakeable by Tony Robins
The American Jubilee by Porter Stansberry
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Samson Jagoras. Over Samson’s 13+ year career in business, he has served as a Futures and Commodities broker, a commercial real estate broker, actively invested in real estate. He also served as the VP of Strategic Investments for RE/MAX Commercial Alliance, built several businesses, and acted as the Chief Strategy Officer for an INC 500 company. After 9 years of helping to scale that company, he walked away from his high-income position to go all-in on helping everyday investors put their money to work in large commercial apartment investments. Today, as the founder and president of Growth Vue Properties and the founder of the Passive Power Group, Samson helps give others access to investments that they thought were unattainable and acts as a liaison, educator, and curator that gives them supreme confidence in their passive multifamily investments.
We begin today’s episode with Samson’s background story. He was raised in a blue-collar house where money was pretty hard to come by. But what they lacked in money, they made up in sports. It all started with soccer when Samson was only 5 years old. Later, he got into baseball and skateboarding. Then, when he was a freshman in high school, he started playing football. He was a great player, and all he wanted to do was play football at a collegiate level. But, when the senior year came, he didn’t have any scholarship offers because his school didn’t have a good recruiting program. With a help of his mentor and high school alumni, he was able to get a football scholarship to Western New Mexico University and that was his ticket to a college education. Later, he transferred to Colorado and got his degree in Human Psychology. He got his degree on a Friday and on the following Monday he started working with his father-in-law at futures and commodities brokerage.
Our next topic of conversation is how the market crash in 2008 affected the futures and commodities brokerage. In 2008, Samson was just starting his career in futures and commodities, he had nothing to lose except debt and student loans. So, the crash didn’t affect him personally, but it did help him realize that speculating was not the way to make money and that owning hard assets is the key. This is when he got interested in the real estate world. After spending four years in commodities, he decided to jump into real estate.
We then discuss how Samson got started in real estate and why multifamily is his real estate of choice. He explains that the first real estate he bought was a single-family home that he converted into an uptown duplex. He also did some fix-and-flips as well as some wholesale deals. But he soon realized that it is all about scale. This was the main reason why he decided to focus on multifamily homes.
We then dive into Samson’s predictions for the real estate market in the next 12-24 months. He believes that our biggest problem will be affordability. Even now, we see people moving from California to Colorado and from Colorado to the Midwest. But soon, those markets will also go up. He also believes that there will have to be some tax incentives from the government to try to accelerate affordable housing as well as the conversion of properties from one type to another: office space to condos or residential hotels to multifamily, etc.
Next, Samson explains what constitutes a good deal for him and how he funded his deals in the very beginning. The most important thing for Samson, when it comes to investing in new deals, is the cap rate, risk aversion, and knowing why you want to be in that particular market.
Lastly, we talk about Samson’s company, Growth Vue Properties. Samson is a commercial real estate broker, one of his partners is a commercial loan originator, one is in private equity, and one is a professional investor. They are looking for people who are making a good amount of money and want to invest with other real estate professionals. Their focus is on building a legacy portfolio. Their strategy has always been about providing long-term legacy wealth for their families and their investors. On the back of that, they’re also building their endowment fund, where you can give to charity in perpetuity.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Samson Jagoras, who brings several different perspectives to our conversation because of his background and knowledge!
Notable Quotes:
“I knew I never wanted to be on that side of the business, just swinging hammers.”
- Samson Jagoras
“I was so focused on skateboarding, which I think is what gave me a lot of my just relentless mindset.”
- Samson Jagoras
“I did everything right because all I wanted to do, once I found football, was play at the collegiate level.”
- Samson Jagoras
“When you do something that you feel is on your heart and you're supposed to, that builds your confidence.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Speculating is not the way to actually make money; owning hard assets is the key to do that.”
- Samson Jagoras
“When you're sleeping with a laptop next to the bed because you're worried about everybody going sideways in the middle of the night, it just destroys your quality of life.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Every mentor that I had in my life who was successful, owned real estate or their own business.”
- Samson Jagoras
“We're in a capitalistic society, so the government relies on us to do two things: create jobs and create housing.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Affordability is going to be our number one biggest challenge that we have in the next 10 years.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Conversion of properties from one type to another. like office space to condos or residential hotels to multifamily, those are gonna have the most legs.”
- Samson Jagoras
“There's a misconception in real estate that things just go up forever.”
- Samson Jagoras
“There's a million ways to make a million bucks in real estate.”
- Samson Jagoras
“If you can't tell me why you're in that market, then you have no business being in that market.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Your fiduciary responsibility, when you're dealing with other people's money, is to be a steward of their capital and do an incredible job. ”
- Samson Jagoras
“Success leaves clues. So, I found a mentor and said ‘teach me everything that you know, so that I can get from point A to point B much quicker.’”
- Samson Jagoras
“If you're killing it as an entrepreneur, if you're killing it as a professional, and you're in a career that you love and you're passionate about, it’s all about taking that income and parlaying it into other sources of income, and investing with other people.”
- Samson Jagoras
“Wealthy people surround themselves with a ton of really smart people. They're really good at critically analyzing deals, and then deploying capital.
- Samson Jagoras
Links:
Samson on Instagram
Samson on LinkedIn
Samson on Facebook
Samson on Twitter
Passive Investing
Growth Vue Properties
The Growth View
Samson’s Website
Unshakeable by Tony Robins
The American Jubilee by Porter Stansberry
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 9th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Because of the pandemic, more people are thinking they would rather rent an Airbnb than stay in a hotel, so I think this presents a great opportunity.”
“Investors have to understand that a short-term rental is a different level of commitment and involvement than a long-term rental.”
“Rentals seemed like too much of a slow boat to me… I wanted speed so I originally chose flipping houses.”
“Wholesaling is far-and-away the main focus in my real estate business.”
“I’m not a big fan of waiting. If I want to do something, I’m going to just do it.”
“When I first started, I knew real estate was dropping in value, but I really didn’t know what to do about it.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know, so having someone in your corner is huge.”
“We live in such a fast and immediate gratification time that if something isn’t knocking on your front door, you don’t even know it exists.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 9th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Because of the pandemic, more people are thinking they would rather rent an Airbnb than stay in a hotel, so I think this presents a great opportunity.”
“Investors have to understand that a short-term rental is a different level of commitment and involvement than a long-term rental.”
“Rentals seemed like too much of a slow boat to me… I wanted speed so I originally chose flipping houses.”
“Wholesaling is far-and-away the main focus in my real estate business.”
“I’m not a big fan of waiting. If I want to do something, I’m going to just do it.”
“When I first started, I knew real estate was dropping in value, but I really didn’t know what to do about it.”
“You don’t know what you don’t know, so having someone in your corner is huge.”
“We live in such a fast and immediate gratification time that if something isn’t knocking on your front door, you don’t even know it exists.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
FREE Success Evaluator
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s show, I am joined by Michael Episcope. Michael is principal of Origin Investments, in which he co-chairs the Investment Committee and oversees investor relations, marketing, and company operations. He brings 25 years of investment and risk management experience to the company and believes that calculated risk-taking in inefficient markets is the key to building wealth. He also regularly contributes to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Huff Post, and frequently speaks on real estate investment panels and podcasts.
We first talk about Michael’s background story and how he got into real estate. At a very young age, Michael was exposed to the investment side of real estate by his grandfather, who was in real estate at the time. He used to spend his summers with his grandfather, who was very hands-on when it came to his business. These experiences gave Michael first taste of the real estate world and allowed him to see the lifestyle it can provide, without even realizing what a profound effect that was going to have on him later in life. After college, Michael started working for Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he spent the next 17 years building his career as a commodities trader. After 17 years, he decided to retire from this career and this is when Origin Investments was created.
Michael then goes on to explain in detail why he decided to retire from his first career as a commodities trader. He explains that when he first got into trading he had nothing to lose, so he could take all the risk that he wanted. But, as he was moving up the ranks in his company, he realized that he was headed to a point where the risk was simply too big, where he had far more to lose than to gain. So, he retired in 2006 and in his words, it was the best thing he ever did.
We then discuss what it is that Michael is actually buying, when it comes to real estate and the two funds that they are operating at Origin Investments. Michael shares that they buy class B or better apartment buildings and they also do preferred equity, meaning they lend to certain projects. Their fund has many different products that they can invest in within the capital structure, but it's mainly class B and class A apartment buildings. Right now, they are operating two funds at Origin Investments and their IncomePlus Fund is for the income-oriented investor. The advantage of that fund is that people can invest all of their capital at once into a diversified portfolio of assets that's made up of preferred equity, common equity, and also 20% of the fund is dedicated towards ground up development. So they are investing immediately into assets that are cash-flowing assets. Their QOZ Fund is a qualified opportunity zone fund, that is meant to deliver high-risk adjusted returns through development, but the real benefit is taking advantage of the tax benefits.
We then talk about the scope of Origin Investments. They have about $600 million in equity and the assets under management are $2 billion. Michael believes that their biggest strength is that they have a lot of skin in the game and they're investing side-by-side with investors. They also have a great Investor Relations Department and understand the service side and the psychology behind the individual investors. They currently have 30 members in their team divided into five areas: marketing team, investor relations team, investment management team, acquisitions team and corporate operations (accounting and legal).
Lastly, we talk about the marketing strategy that Michael uses with Origin Investments. According to him, there is no magic bullet. The most important thing is to be consistent and put yourself out there. The first step to having a good marketing strategy is to have a good product. Only then can you think about the ways to market it and put it in front of people and show your competitive advantages.
Don’t miss this highly educational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Michael Episcope that is all about creating and growing real wealth!
Notable Quotes:
“When I was 36 years old, I had a great career but I was also young. I didn't want to retire, I wanted to do something and I think it was that early exposure to real estate that really interested me in that asset class.”
- Michael Episcope
“The reality was, it was a family office. We were two guys buying real estate, putting our money to work and then we ended up bringing in friends and family, syndicating and growing a fun business, and just doing more deals and generating returns and providing people with great service.”
- Michael Episcope
“Our belief is that you buy great real estate and you take care of the downside, the upside takes care of itself.”
- Michael Episcope
“When I started trading I couldn't rub two nickels to my name. So, I went and traded, and decided to take that kind of risk, because I had nothing to lose.”
- Michael Episcope
“What I was really good at is reacting to the information at hand and doing it faster than anybody else around me.”
- Michael Episcope
“The market is the market. What you do and how you react, and how you pivot or adjust your approach, is really what makes all the difference.”
- Mike Simmons
“We have very flexible capital because, in times like this, you have to be able to navigate across the risk spectrum when you don't see the kind of risk-return that you think is appropriate with the money you're putting out.”
- Michael Episcope
“That's what real estate is about - it's about taking advantage of the tax efficiencies.”
- Michael Episcope
“You don't buy, fix and sell a great asset. You buy, fix, and hold a great asset for a long duration. That's how the most amount of wealth has been created in this country.”
- Michael Episcope
“The only thing that matters is what you get after paying the manager and Uncle Sam.”
- Michael Episcope
“1031 exchange, depreciation, and the ability to refinance. That's the trifecta of real estate right there.”
- Michael Episcope
“If you have a great product and you put it in front of enough people, they're going to buy it.”
- Michael Episcope
“During COVID when the world just kind of blew up all of a sudden, we didn't know what was going on, but we knew that we had to communicate to investors.”
- Michael Episcope
“Tell them the truth right away. Everybody understands the risk of what they're doing.”
- Michael Episcope
“Nobody likes a black hole. Over-communicate, tell them what's happening - good and bad.”
- Mike Simmons
“The best thing you can do is be consistent and put yourself out there.”
- Michael Episcope
“In order to be good at marketing, you have to have a really good product. Period.”
- Michael Episcope
“If you can't quantify your competitive advantage, then you don't have a competitive advantage.”
- Michael Episcope
“We really go above and beyond to get people comfortable. And it's not just for their benefit, it's for our benefit as well.”
- Michael Episcope
“The best investors to us are the ones who downloaded the information, they read, they come to the table ready with questions, understanding what they want to invest in or at least talk about.”
- Michael Episcope
Links:
Origin Investments
Origin Investments on Facebook
Origin Investments on Instagram
Origin Investments on LinkedIn
Origin Investments on Twitter
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s show, I am joined by Michael Episcope. Michael is principal of Origin Investments, in which he co-chairs the Investment Committee and oversees investor relations, marketing, and company operations. He brings 25 years of investment and risk management experience to the company and believes that calculated risk-taking in inefficient markets is the key to building wealth. He also regularly contributes to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Huff Post, and frequently speaks on real estate investment panels and podcasts.
We first talk about Michael’s background story and how he got into real estate. At a very young age, Michael was exposed to the investment side of real estate by his grandfather, who was in real estate at the time. He used to spend his summers with his grandfather, who was very hands-on when it came to his business. These experiences gave Michael first taste of the real estate world and allowed him to see the lifestyle it can provide, without even realizing what a profound effect that was going to have on him later in life. After college, Michael started working for Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he spent the next 17 years building his career as a commodities trader. After 17 years, he decided to retire from this career and this is when Origin Investments was created.
Michael then goes on to explain in detail why he decided to retire from his first career as a commodities trader. He explains that when he first got into trading he had nothing to lose, so he could take all the risk that he wanted. But, as he was moving up the ranks in his company, he realized that he was headed to a point where the risk was simply too big, where he had far more to lose than to gain. So, he retired in 2006 and in his words, it was the best thing he ever did.
We then discuss what it is that Michael is actually buying, when it comes to real estate and the two funds that they are operating at Origin Investments. Michael shares that they buy class B or better apartment buildings and they also do preferred equity, meaning they lend to certain projects. Their fund has many different products that they can invest in within the capital structure, but it's mainly class B and class A apartment buildings. Right now, they are operating two funds at Origin Investments and their IncomePlus Fund is for the income-oriented investor. The advantage of that fund is that people can invest all of their capital at once into a diversified portfolio of assets that's made up of preferred equity, common equity, and also 20% of the fund is dedicated towards ground up development. So they are investing immediately into assets that are cash-flowing assets. Their QOZ Fund is a qualified opportunity zone fund, that is meant to deliver high-risk adjusted returns through development, but the real benefit is taking advantage of the tax benefits.
We then talk about the scope of Origin Investments. They have about $600 million in equity and the assets under management are $2 billion. Michael believes that their biggest strength is that they have a lot of skin in the game and they're investing side-by-side with investors. They also have a great Investor Relations Department and understand the service side and the psychology behind the individual investors. They currently have 30 members in their team divided into five areas: marketing team, investor relations team, investment management team, acquisitions team and corporate operations (accounting and legal).
Lastly, we talk about the marketing strategy that Michael uses with Origin Investments. According to him, there is no magic bullet. The most important thing is to be consistent and put yourself out there. The first step to having a good marketing strategy is to have a good product. Only then can you think about the ways to market it and put it in front of people and show your competitive advantages.
Don’t miss this highly educational episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Michael Episcope that is all about creating and growing real wealth!
Notable Quotes:
“When I was 36 years old, I had a great career but I was also young. I didn't want to retire, I wanted to do something and I think it was that early exposure to real estate that really interested me in that asset class.”
- Michael Episcope
“The reality was, it was a family office. We were two guys buying real estate, putting our money to work and then we ended up bringing in friends and family, syndicating and growing a fun business, and just doing more deals and generating returns and providing people with great service.”
- Michael Episcope
“Our belief is that you buy great real estate and you take care of the downside, the upside takes care of itself.”
- Michael Episcope
“When I started trading I couldn't rub two nickels to my name. So, I went and traded, and decided to take that kind of risk, because I had nothing to lose.”
- Michael Episcope
“What I was really good at is reacting to the information at hand and doing it faster than anybody else around me.”
- Michael Episcope
“The market is the market. What you do and how you react, and how you pivot or adjust your approach, is really what makes all the difference.”
- Mike Simmons
“We have very flexible capital because, in times like this, you have to be able to navigate across the risk spectrum when you don't see the kind of risk-return that you think is appropriate with the money you're putting out.”
- Michael Episcope
“That's what real estate is about - it's about taking advantage of the tax efficiencies.”
- Michael Episcope
“You don't buy, fix and sell a great asset. You buy, fix, and hold a great asset for a long duration. That's how the most amount of wealth has been created in this country.”
- Michael Episcope
“The only thing that matters is what you get after paying the manager and Uncle Sam.”
- Michael Episcope
“1031 exchange, depreciation, and the ability to refinance. That's the trifecta of real estate right there.”
- Michael Episcope
“If you have a great product and you put it in front of enough people, they're going to buy it.”
- Michael Episcope
“During COVID when the world just kind of blew up all of a sudden, we didn't know what was going on, but we knew that we had to communicate to investors.”
- Michael Episcope
“Tell them the truth right away. Everybody understands the risk of what they're doing.”
- Michael Episcope
“Nobody likes a black hole. Over-communicate, tell them what's happening - good and bad.”
- Mike Simmons
“The best thing you can do is be consistent and put yourself out there.”
- Michael Episcope
“In order to be good at marketing, you have to have a really good product. Period.”
- Michael Episcope
“If you can't quantify your competitive advantage, then you don't have a competitive advantage.”
- Michael Episcope
“We really go above and beyond to get people comfortable. And it's not just for their benefit, it's for our benefit as well.”
- Michael Episcope
“The best investors to us are the ones who downloaded the information, they read, they come to the table ready with questions, understanding what they want to invest in or at least talk about.”
- Michael Episcope
Links:
Origin Investments
Origin Investments on Facebook
Origin Investments on Instagram
Origin Investments on LinkedIn
Origin Investments on Twitter
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 2nd and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I know that I can impact you and your business, but it all begins with asking for help and realizing you can’t do it on your own.”
“I have experienced waiting in my life, like waiting for conditions to be right, and I can tell you it is just another excuse for not getting started.”
“Everyone I know that is successful has an abundance mentality.”
“One of the big regrets of my life is not starting sooner.”
“The second biggest regret of my life is not asking for, seeking out, and paying for help sooner.”
“Just keep making offers, stick to your numbers, don’t worry about losing out on deals.”
“Some people advise not to use a property management company to handle your rentals until you get to a certain number of them, like 10.”
“Real estate investing is a common denominator in a lot of people who have achieved a high level of financial success.”
“A benefit of investing in real estate is that if I buy a property for $100,000, I know tomorrow it won’t be worth $0, which is a real possibility with other forms of investing.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on June 2nd and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I know that I can impact you and your business, but it all begins with asking for help and realizing you can’t do it on your own.”
“I have experienced waiting in my life, like waiting for conditions to be right, and I can tell you it is just another excuse for not getting started.”
“Everyone I know that is successful has an abundance mentality.”
“One of the big regrets of my life is not starting sooner.”
“The second biggest regret of my life is not asking for, seeking out, and paying for help sooner.”
“Just keep making offers, stick to your numbers, don’t worry about losing out on deals.”
“Some people advise not to use a property management company to handle your rentals until you get to a certain number of them, like 10.”
“Real estate investing is a common denominator in a lot of people who have achieved a high level of financial success.”
“A benefit of investing in real estate is that if I buy a property for $100,000, I know tomorrow it won’t be worth $0, which is a real possibility with other forms of investing.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today’s guest is my friend and fellow podcaster and investor, Danny Johnson. I had Danny on the show about a year ago and am thrilled to welcome him back. Danny started flipping houses in 2003, made it successfully through the housing market crash in 2008, and started scaling his business up about 5 years ago. As a software developer prior to flipping houses, Danny started developing real estate investor websites by creating the software called LeadPropeller. Danny is also the host of the ever-popular Flipping Junkie Podcast and Flipping Junkie Blog.
Danny updates our new listeners with his background and how he got started in real estate investing. He began investing right after he had gotten his computer science degree in college because his dad had gotten into investing and was having a blast. Danny describes how passionate his dad became about flipping houses and was so excited to just do more each time Danny spoke with him. His dad’s mentor started Danny along his own investing path and Danny shared that he had to actually get fired from his full-time job before he was brave enough to invest full-time.
Danny talks about how and why he began his blog and wrote his book, Flipping Houses Exposed. His flipping business had slowed down because he had gotten interested in learning to fly airplanes, and he felt like he wanted to use the internet to hold himself accountable. He noticed that the popular television shows about flipping houses never showed how they got the leads and deals, so he decided to document every call he received in order to illustrate that side of the business. Danny also talks about the challenge of growing his business from an endeavor in which he and his wife at the time did everything, to the stage where he could comfortably take a vacation without thinking about the deals he might be missing.
Danny shares with us his passion for developing software in order to help other real estate investors on their journey. He just launched his new CRM software called Forefront and I asked him to explain with is different about this product. He tried to get back to the basics with this software on what he really needed it to do, which is to keep track of his leads and the follow-up. Danny talks about how this product is like a visual whiteboard, a visual representation of his business that is easy to just log in and get started. We talked quite a bit about the importance of follow-up and how this is an automated feature of Forefront CRM. We talk a lot about the details of this feature and different ways to customize it in order to achieve the results you desire and increase how many deals you close.
I asked Danny to explain the motivation behind starting a new podcast. Danny said he definitely sees the value of having a show for investors that are a little bit further along on their journey. He wants to be the encouragement to other people that they can grow their business as other investors have been to him. He has named it “Braver” and he really wants to focus on the fears that keep people from growing their business.
Danny is incredibly honest, transparent, and overflowing with integrity so you don’t want to miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! This is a great opportunity to learn all about his new software product and how it can help you grow your business!
Notable Quotes:
“Flipping houses while working a full-time job taught me how to maximize my time.”
- Danny Johnson
“I didn’t waste time because I didn’t have time to waste.”
- Danny Johnson
“A lot of people don’t even know it is an option to get off the hamster wheel.”
- Mike Simmons
“Trying to compete with other CRMs on features is ridiculous.”
- Danny Johnson
“I have talked to hundreds of investors who have no great system for following up on their leads.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to follow-up and when you do, it is all about being top of mind.”
- Danny Johnson
“Automation that feels automated feels worse than doing nothing.”
- Danny Johnson
“My hamster wheel was going fast and if I stopped, I was going to tumble and be thrown right off.”
- Danny Johnson
“If you don’t think you need better follow-up, you are either wrong or exceptional and the outlier because I do not know many investors who are truly good at this.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are not really generating leads now, work on that before buying this software.”
- Danny Johnson
“People need encouragement.”
- Danny Johnson
“It’s not that people become less afraid… they become braver.”
- Jordan Peterson
“The skills it takes to start a business are different than the skills it takes to build a team.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Forefront CRM
LeadPropeller
Flipping Junkie Podcast
Danny’s Email
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today’s guest is my friend and fellow podcaster and investor, Danny Johnson. I had Danny on the show about a year ago and am thrilled to welcome him back. Danny started flipping houses in 2003, made it successfully through the housing market crash in 2008, and started scaling his business up about 5 years ago. As a software developer prior to flipping houses, Danny started developing real estate investor websites by creating the software called LeadPropeller. Danny is also the host of the ever-popular Flipping Junkie Podcast and Flipping Junkie Blog.
Danny updates our new listeners with his background and how he got started in real estate investing. He began investing right after he had gotten his computer science degree in college because his dad had gotten into investing and was having a blast. Danny describes how passionate his dad became about flipping houses and was so excited to just do more each time Danny spoke with him. His dad’s mentor started Danny along his own investing path and Danny shared that he had to actually get fired from his full-time job before he was brave enough to invest full-time.
Danny talks about how and why he began his blog and wrote his book, Flipping Houses Exposed. His flipping business had slowed down because he had gotten interested in learning to fly airplanes, and he felt like he wanted to use the internet to hold himself accountable. He noticed that the popular television shows about flipping houses never showed how they got the leads and deals, so he decided to document every call he received in order to illustrate that side of the business. Danny also talks about the challenge of growing his business from an endeavor in which he and his wife at the time did everything, to the stage where he could comfortably take a vacation without thinking about the deals he might be missing.
Danny shares with us his passion for developing software in order to help other real estate investors on their journey. He just launched his new CRM software called Forefront and I asked him to explain with is different about this product. He tried to get back to the basics with this software on what he really needed it to do, which is to keep track of his leads and the follow-up. Danny talks about how this product is like a visual whiteboard, a visual representation of his business that is easy to just log in and get started. We talked quite a bit about the importance of follow-up and how this is an automated feature of Forefront CRM. We talk a lot about the details of this feature and different ways to customize it in order to achieve the results you desire and increase how many deals you close.
I asked Danny to explain the motivation behind starting a new podcast. Danny said he definitely sees the value of having a show for investors that are a little bit further along on their journey. He wants to be the encouragement to other people that they can grow their business as other investors have been to him. He has named it “Braver” and he really wants to focus on the fears that keep people from growing their business.
Danny is incredibly honest, transparent, and overflowing with integrity so you don’t want to miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! This is a great opportunity to learn all about his new software product and how it can help you grow your business!
Notable Quotes:
“Flipping houses while working a full-time job taught me how to maximize my time.”
- Danny Johnson
“I didn’t waste time because I didn’t have time to waste.”
- Danny Johnson
“A lot of people don’t even know it is an option to get off the hamster wheel.”
- Mike Simmons
“Trying to compete with other CRMs on features is ridiculous.”
- Danny Johnson
“I have talked to hundreds of investors who have no great system for following up on their leads.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to follow-up and when you do, it is all about being top of mind.”
- Danny Johnson
“Automation that feels automated feels worse than doing nothing.”
- Danny Johnson
“My hamster wheel was going fast and if I stopped, I was going to tumble and be thrown right off.”
- Danny Johnson
“If you don’t think you need better follow-up, you are either wrong or exceptional and the outlier because I do not know many investors who are truly good at this.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are not really generating leads now, work on that before buying this software.”
- Danny Johnson
“People need encouragement.”
- Danny Johnson
“It’s not that people become less afraid… they become braver.”
- Jordan Peterson
“The skills it takes to start a business are different than the skills it takes to build a team.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Forefront CRM
LeadPropeller
Flipping Junkie Podcast
Danny’s Email
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 19th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“When you are buying someone’s house, you want to help them out with whatever their problem is.”
“Don’t solve a problem for them that they don’t have.”
“Most people are more than happy to tell you what they need from you.”
“If you are a workaholic, you better partner with a workaholic.”
“If you are the same person, with the same skillset, it is an unnecessary partnership.”
“Can I survive the money and the time it is going to take for me to move forward with that decision?”
“What sort of accountability am I going to put into place in order to execute on this decision?”
“The leads that I have marketed to for the last five years grew my business to over a million dollars.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 19th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“When you are buying someone’s house, you want to help them out with whatever their problem is.”
“Don’t solve a problem for them that they don’t have.”
“Most people are more than happy to tell you what they need from you.”
“If you are a workaholic, you better partner with a workaholic.”
“If you are the same person, with the same skillset, it is an unnecessary partnership.”
“Can I survive the money and the time it is going to take for me to move forward with that decision?”
“What sort of accountability am I going to put into place in order to execute on this decision?”
“The leads that I have marketed to for the last five years grew my business to over a million dollars.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest in today’s episode is a highly successful realtor, Josh Anderson. Josh is a top Real Estate Consultant in Nashville and owner of The Anderson Group Real Estate Services. He first came into the real estate business 15 years ago and he closed last year with over $135 million dollars in real estate sold. He has been a guest on several popular shows such as Hiban Digital and Real Estate Uncensored.
We start off with Josh sharing his background story. Right after college, Josh started working for an investment bank. He was working 9 to 5, making $31,000 and he felt like he wasn’t being challenged and wasn’t being mentored. He also knew that he wanted to get into real estate and buy some investment properties. So, in 2006 he decided to go all-in - he gave his two-week notice and started his real estate journey.
We then moved on to discussing how Josh was able to grow his business, year after year, even during the market crash in 2008. He shares that growing up as the youngest of four, in a fairly competitive family, taught him to always be the hardest working guy in the room. His work ethic and his consistency allowed him to grow his business 50% to 100% each year, for the first six years.
Together we then dive into discussing specific tactics that Josh uses in order to drive leads and how much it has changed in the last 15 years. Josh believes that the general idea is always going to be the same. Technology does change it up along the way, but the basic things stay the same. It’s all about building your database, adding value, and following up on leads. Another important part, according to Josh, is your mindset. Because, it doesn't matter how great your database is, or how much you want to sell a $5 million house, if your mindset around that isn't right, then you're not going to do it.
We then talk about Josh’s market predictions for the next 12-18 months. He believes that nothing is really going to change in 2021 when it comes to the real estate market. His prediction is that we've got several months of this market before it either softens or interest rates go up.
Josh also shares some advice for any new realtors out there. According to him, the key to winning in today’s market is going back to basics. Building your database, doing open houses, and doubling down on the number of phone calls, handshakes and texts, compared to the market 5 or 10 years ago. The market is moving way too fast at the moment and the best thing for a new realtor might be to join a team for a couple of years and to learn as much as possible.
Josh then goes on to share some advice for buyers as well. The most important thing for buyers right now is to sit down with a local agent and figure out what exactly is going on in the market at the moment. He also urges buyers to pick their agents carefully, to make sure that they get a full-time agent, a person who sees contracts and offers all the time, somebody that's got experience negotiating.
Lastly, we dive more into the topic of interest rates. Josh believes that there's too much craziness going on in the world and in business right now, but that interest rates won’t experience any major changes this year. While keeping in mind that there are so many variables that go into it, interest rates are currently so artificially low that at some point we have to get back up to normal numbers.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Josh Anderson and learn how to win as a realtor in today’s market by going back to basics!
Notable Quotes:
“I'd always wanted to get my real estate license because I wanted to buy some investment properties. And so I kind of just went all in. One day, I came into work and put in my two-week notice. That was my last normal paycheck.”
- Josh Anderson
“I didn't really have any money starting out, so I had to be successful.”
- Josh Anderson
“I'm not the smartest guy in the room but I will outwork anybody if it's something that I want.”
- Josh Anderson
“If you're the smartest person in the room, you're probably in the wrong room.”
- Josh Anderson
“It's the never stopping, getting out there, and showing up every day. That's the mindset that really makes a difference.”
- Mike Simmons
“The most successful people in every industry are really great at consistency.”
- Josh Anderson
“When it doesn't work the first 10 times you do it, you have to be willing to do it the 11th time.”
- Josh Anderson
“I did 23 deals my first year in the business. This past year, we did 255 for about 130 million dollars in volume.”
- Josh Anderson
“Having listings controls the business.”
- Josh Anderson
“I literally follow up with people until they buy or die.”
- Josh Anderson
“In this market, as a buyer or a seller, you're either all in or you're on the sidelines.”
- Josh Anderson
“People do business with people they know, like, and trust. I don't think that ever changes.”
- Josh Anderson
Links:
Nashville Realty Group Facebook
The Anderson Group Nashville Pinterest
The Anderson Group Real Estate Instagram
Nashville Real Estate The Anderson Group Youtube
The Anderson Group Real Estate LinkedIn
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest in today’s episode is a highly successful realtor, Josh Anderson. Josh is a top Real Estate Consultant in Nashville and owner of The Anderson Group Real Estate Services. He first came into the real estate business 15 years ago and he closed last year with over $135 million dollars in real estate sold. He has been a guest on several popular shows such as Hiban Digital and Real Estate Uncensored.
We start off with Josh sharing his background story. Right after college, Josh started working for an investment bank. He was working 9 to 5, making $31,000 and he felt like he wasn’t being challenged and wasn’t being mentored. He also knew that he wanted to get into real estate and buy some investment properties. So, in 2006 he decided to go all-in - he gave his two-week notice and started his real estate journey.
We then moved on to discussing how Josh was able to grow his business, year after year, even during the market crash in 2008. He shares that growing up as the youngest of four, in a fairly competitive family, taught him to always be the hardest working guy in the room. His work ethic and his consistency allowed him to grow his business 50% to 100% each year, for the first six years.
Together we then dive into discussing specific tactics that Josh uses in order to drive leads and how much it has changed in the last 15 years. Josh believes that the general idea is always going to be the same. Technology does change it up along the way, but the basic things stay the same. It’s all about building your database, adding value, and following up on leads. Another important part, according to Josh, is your mindset. Because, it doesn't matter how great your database is, or how much you want to sell a $5 million house, if your mindset around that isn't right, then you're not going to do it.
We then talk about Josh’s market predictions for the next 12-18 months. He believes that nothing is really going to change in 2021 when it comes to the real estate market. His prediction is that we've got several months of this market before it either softens or interest rates go up.
Josh also shares some advice for any new realtors out there. According to him, the key to winning in today’s market is going back to basics. Building your database, doing open houses, and doubling down on the number of phone calls, handshakes and texts, compared to the market 5 or 10 years ago. The market is moving way too fast at the moment and the best thing for a new realtor might be to join a team for a couple of years and to learn as much as possible.
Josh then goes on to share some advice for buyers as well. The most important thing for buyers right now is to sit down with a local agent and figure out what exactly is going on in the market at the moment. He also urges buyers to pick their agents carefully, to make sure that they get a full-time agent, a person who sees contracts and offers all the time, somebody that's got experience negotiating.
Lastly, we dive more into the topic of interest rates. Josh believes that there's too much craziness going on in the world and in business right now, but that interest rates won’t experience any major changes this year. While keeping in mind that there are so many variables that go into it, interest rates are currently so artificially low that at some point we have to get back up to normal numbers.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Josh Anderson and learn how to win as a realtor in today’s market by going back to basics!
Notable Quotes:
“I'd always wanted to get my real estate license because I wanted to buy some investment properties. And so I kind of just went all in. One day, I came into work and put in my two-week notice. That was my last normal paycheck.”
- Josh Anderson
“I didn't really have any money starting out, so I had to be successful.”
- Josh Anderson
“I'm not the smartest guy in the room but I will outwork anybody if it's something that I want.”
- Josh Anderson
“If you're the smartest person in the room, you're probably in the wrong room.”
- Josh Anderson
“It's the never stopping, getting out there, and showing up every day. That's the mindset that really makes a difference.”
- Mike Simmons
“The most successful people in every industry are really great at consistency.”
- Josh Anderson
“When it doesn't work the first 10 times you do it, you have to be willing to do it the 11th time.”
- Josh Anderson
“I did 23 deals my first year in the business. This past year, we did 255 for about 130 million dollars in volume.”
- Josh Anderson
“Having listings controls the business.”
- Josh Anderson
“I literally follow up with people until they buy or die.”
- Josh Anderson
“In this market, as a buyer or a seller, you're either all in or you're on the sidelines.”
- Josh Anderson
“People do business with people they know, like, and trust. I don't think that ever changes.”
- Josh Anderson
Links:
Nashville Realty Group Facebook
The Anderson Group Nashville Pinterest
The Anderson Group Real Estate Instagram
Nashville Real Estate The Anderson Group Youtube
The Anderson Group Real Estate LinkedIn
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 12th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“One of the advantages to investing in several single-family properties is that you can spread out the risk of one particular area going bad so that one area can’t kill your entire portfolio.”
“The economies of scale are so much better if you are dealing with one multi-family building with several units in it, rather than several single-family homes.”
“The short answer is: hire a coach as soon as possible.”
“I tried to do it without a coach, but my mindset and my belief systems and what I thought was possible were completely broken and I didn’t even know it.”
“Nothing significant changed for me in my business until I got help.”
“In the mentorship group, I finally had access to people who had already built the business I wanted to have.”
“Coaching and masterminds are an expense to my company, but it is also an investment.”
“If you really want to move forward faster and you really want to understand what it takes to build a business successfully, the best way is to get help from someone.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 12th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“One of the advantages to investing in several single-family properties is that you can spread out the risk of one particular area going bad so that one area can’t kill your entire portfolio.”
“The economies of scale are so much better if you are dealing with one multi-family building with several units in it, rather than several single-family homes.”
“The short answer is: hire a coach as soon as possible.”
“I tried to do it without a coach, but my mindset and my belief systems and what I thought was possible were completely broken and I didn’t even know it.”
“Nothing significant changed for me in my business until I got help.”
“In the mentorship group, I finally had access to people who had already built the business I wanted to have.”
“Coaching and masterminds are an expense to my company, but it is also an investment.”
“If you really want to move forward faster and you really want to understand what it takes to build a business successfully, the best way is to get help from someone.”
Links:
Business Fast Track Blueprint
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome a self-storage investing expert, Scott Meyers. Scott is the Founder and Owner of Kingdom Storage Holdings. He is also a leading expert in self-storage investments and owns and operates 3 multi-million dollar businesses. During his career, Scott has been featured on CNNMoney, Forbes, BBC, and many others.
Scott first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After college, Scott started working for a Fortune 500 company. After getting his first paycheck, he started looking for ways to invest, and pretty soon he realized that real estate was the way to go. He bought his first house, fix it up, and rented it out. After that, he bought two more, but he wasn’t able to get the cash flow and the freedom that he expected, so he decided to give apartments a go. After building an impressive portfolio of 400 apartments in 2005, he and his wife decided that it wasn’t worth all the time that they were putting in, and their only two options (without tenants and toilets) were parking lots or self-storage. Today, they are approaching a number of 2.4 million square feet of self-storage and 14,000 doors.
We then moved on to discussing how one finds a self-storage facility that is a good investment. Scott explains that with commercial real estate, the value is based upon the net operating income, meaning how much money it brings in after you subtract expenses. Then you apply a market capitalization rate to it and that's how you get the value of commercial real estate. The first step in determining whether or not a self-storage facility is a good investment is looking at all the income sources. Next, you need to figure out what all the expenses are. And finally, you need to have an exit strategy and know how much you can increase the NOI (net operating income) after you purchase it.
Together, we then dive into discussing cap rates applied to self-storage facilities. Scott shares that class A facilities are two to three stories, all temperature-controlled, gleaming facilities that are right on the road in the major metropolitan statistical areas, all electronic; class B: usually single story, maybe on the outskirts, may have asphalt may have gravel, still has security professionally managed; and class C: rural, a little further out, less professionally managed, smaller, older, maybe some obsolete sizes, etc.
Scott then talks about the types of facilities that he usually invests in. He usually goes for the C class, buying a facility that's in the path of progress. Approximately a five-acre parcel that’s got buildings on three or four acres, not managed well, the owner hasn't raised rates in ten years because they like to stay full, they don't have a website, and they don't know how to market. He turns them around by reducing the manager's hours or his payroll hours, marketing the heck out of it, raising rates, and then adding buildings onto the additional four and five acres, continuing to raise rates, and eventually, he refinances it or sells it off to a bigger player.
Eventually, we discuss how someone, with no prior experience in real estate, can start with self-storage. Scott shares some good news, which is that when it comes to commercial real estate, banks look more at the strength of the asset than the strength of the borrower. Scott’s advice, for someone who is just starting out, is to bring in somebody, not necessarily to sign on the loan, but just to be a part of the LLC. They could have 2%-3% of the shares in exchange because banks just want to see that you have somebody on your team that has some skin in the game and that you have someone to guide you.
Scott then shares some of his deal-breakers when it comes to buying a self-storage facility. First on his list are facilities that are functionally obsolete, meaning a first-generation facility, built in the 70s or early 80s that is 5’ x 5’ (the most popular size now is 15’ x 10’). Next on his list of deal breakers are rural areas, simply because there is no activity and no competition. Simply put, he is just trying to stay away from the markets where he can't really drive the performance.
We also talked about other streams of income, other than the rent of the facility. Scott shares different ways to generate income other than the rent itself. These include a non-refundable move-in fee, renter's insurance, selling locks and moving supplies, and detailing services, for example.
Lastly, we discuss the future of self-storage and Scott explains why he believes that self-storage is very recession-resistant and inflation-resistant. He also shares how you can start investing in self-storage properties alongside him and his team, completely passively and still learn about the business while getting an ownership position that includes shares of the LLC, a percentage of cash flow, a percentage of the profits upon a sale, and a percentage of the depreciation.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is filled with amazing advice from a true expert who is not holding anything back on commercial investing, Scott Meyers.
Notable Quotes:
“You know what? The richest people in the world don’t make their money in the stock market, they make it in real estate.”
- Scott Meyers
“In the beginning, it was really just the skillset, understanding the business, and talking to as many people as possible.”
- Scott Meyers
“It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a real estate community to raise a strong self-storage investor.”
- Scott Meyers
“As long as we've got a rockstar team, which we have, and I got air in my lungs, I'm going to continue to create value and move that money.”
- Scott Meyers
“Well, the good news is that banks look more to the strength of the asset than the strength of the borrower when it comes to commercial real estate.”
- Scott Meyers
“If that's what you want, go straight toward that. Don't take a bunch of detours that maybe don't have to be taken.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think that's where people make a lot of mistakes, they just get excited about it and they don't do their homework. They don't know what they don't know.”
- Scott Meyers
“I'll never say self-storage investing is recession-proof or inflation-proof but it is very recession-resistant and inflation-resistant.”
- Scott Meyers
“We don't we don't celebrate pandemics, we don't celebrate recessions, but our industry does extremely well.”
- Scott Meyers
Links:
Passive Storage Investing
Self Storage Investing Website
Self Storage Investing on Facebook
Scott on Twitter
Scott on LinkedIn
Self Storage Investing on Youtube
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome a self-storage investing expert, Scott Meyers. Scott is the Founder and Owner of Kingdom Storage Holdings. He is also a leading expert in self-storage investments and owns and operates 3 multi-million dollar businesses. During his career, Scott has been featured on CNNMoney, Forbes, BBC, and many others.
Scott first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After college, Scott started working for a Fortune 500 company. After getting his first paycheck, he started looking for ways to invest, and pretty soon he realized that real estate was the way to go. He bought his first house, fix it up, and rented it out. After that, he bought two more, but he wasn’t able to get the cash flow and the freedom that he expected, so he decided to give apartments a go. After building an impressive portfolio of 400 apartments in 2005, he and his wife decided that it wasn’t worth all the time that they were putting in, and their only two options (without tenants and toilets) were parking lots or self-storage. Today, they are approaching a number of 2.4 million square feet of self-storage and 14,000 doors.
We then moved on to discussing how one finds a self-storage facility that is a good investment. Scott explains that with commercial real estate, the value is based upon the net operating income, meaning how much money it brings in after you subtract expenses. Then you apply a market capitalization rate to it and that's how you get the value of commercial real estate. The first step in determining whether or not a self-storage facility is a good investment is looking at all the income sources. Next, you need to figure out what all the expenses are. And finally, you need to have an exit strategy and know how much you can increase the NOI (net operating income) after you purchase it.
Together, we then dive into discussing cap rates applied to self-storage facilities. Scott shares that class A facilities are two to three stories, all temperature-controlled, gleaming facilities that are right on the road in the major metropolitan statistical areas, all electronic; class B: usually single story, maybe on the outskirts, may have asphalt may have gravel, still has security professionally managed; and class C: rural, a little further out, less professionally managed, smaller, older, maybe some obsolete sizes, etc.
Scott then talks about the types of facilities that he usually invests in. He usually goes for the C class, buying a facility that's in the path of progress. Approximately a five-acre parcel that’s got buildings on three or four acres, not managed well, the owner hasn't raised rates in ten years because they like to stay full, they don't have a website, and they don't know how to market. He turns them around by reducing the manager's hours or his payroll hours, marketing the heck out of it, raising rates, and then adding buildings onto the additional four and five acres, continuing to raise rates, and eventually, he refinances it or sells it off to a bigger player.
Eventually, we discuss how someone, with no prior experience in real estate, can start with self-storage. Scott shares some good news, which is that when it comes to commercial real estate, banks look more at the strength of the asset than the strength of the borrower. Scott’s advice, for someone who is just starting out, is to bring in somebody, not necessarily to sign on the loan, but just to be a part of the LLC. They could have 2%-3% of the shares in exchange because banks just want to see that you have somebody on your team that has some skin in the game and that you have someone to guide you.
Scott then shares some of his deal-breakers when it comes to buying a self-storage facility. First on his list are facilities that are functionally obsolete, meaning a first-generation facility, built in the 70s or early 80s that is 5’ x 5’ (the most popular size now is 15’ x 10’). Next on his list of deal breakers are rural areas, simply because there is no activity and no competition. Simply put, he is just trying to stay away from the markets where he can't really drive the performance.
We also talked about other streams of income, other than the rent of the facility. Scott shares different ways to generate income other than the rent itself. These include a non-refundable move-in fee, renter's insurance, selling locks and moving supplies, and detailing services, for example.
Lastly, we discuss the future of self-storage and Scott explains why he believes that self-storage is very recession-resistant and inflation-resistant. He also shares how you can start investing in self-storage properties alongside him and his team, completely passively and still learn about the business while getting an ownership position that includes shares of the LLC, a percentage of cash flow, a percentage of the profits upon a sale, and a percentage of the depreciation.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is filled with amazing advice from a true expert who is not holding anything back on commercial investing, Scott Meyers.
Notable Quotes:
“You know what? The richest people in the world don’t make their money in the stock market, they make it in real estate.”
- Scott Meyers
“In the beginning, it was really just the skillset, understanding the business, and talking to as many people as possible.”
- Scott Meyers
“It takes a village to raise a child and it takes a real estate community to raise a strong self-storage investor.”
- Scott Meyers
“As long as we've got a rockstar team, which we have, and I got air in my lungs, I'm going to continue to create value and move that money.”
- Scott Meyers
“Well, the good news is that banks look more to the strength of the asset than the strength of the borrower when it comes to commercial real estate.”
- Scott Meyers
“If that's what you want, go straight toward that. Don't take a bunch of detours that maybe don't have to be taken.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think that's where people make a lot of mistakes, they just get excited about it and they don't do their homework. They don't know what they don't know.”
- Scott Meyers
“I'll never say self-storage investing is recession-proof or inflation-proof but it is very recession-resistant and inflation-resistant.”
- Scott Meyers
“We don't we don't celebrate pandemics, we don't celebrate recessions, but our industry does extremely well.”
- Scott Meyers
Links:
Passive Storage Investing
Self Storage Investing Website
Self Storage Investing on Facebook
Scott on Twitter
Scott on LinkedIn
Self Storage Investing on Youtube
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 5th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Seventy percent of the houses I have bought in the last six years have been because the postcard I sent arrived when that seller needed that message.”
“The desire to create that business and time-freedom has to be greater than your fear of actually doing it. Or you have to come up with something that scares you more than starting the business.”
“The fear of regret and not starting my business became scarier than actually just doing it.”
“One great way to build a buyers list is to go to local meetups and REIAs and meet people, shake their hands, and ask them what they need.”
“I initially thought that COVID was going to crush the short-term rental property market, but it looks like it is only going to strengthen it in the long run.”
“If you look at the history of the real estate market, it always goes up and down.”
“I would suggest, as a wholesaler, that you get on the buyers’ list of all the other wholesalers in your market.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on May 5th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Seventy percent of the houses I have bought in the last six years have been because the postcard I sent arrived when that seller needed that message.”
“The desire to create that business and time-freedom has to be greater than your fear of actually doing it. Or you have to come up with something that scares you more than starting the business.”
“The fear of regret and not starting my business became scarier than actually just doing it.”
“One great way to build a buyers list is to go to local meetups and REIAs and meet people, shake their hands, and ask them what they need.”
“I initially thought that COVID was going to crush the short-term rental property market, but it looks like it is only going to strengthen it in the long run.”
“If you look at the history of the real estate market, it always goes up and down.”
“I would suggest, as a wholesaler, that you get on the buyers’ list of all the other wholesalers in your market.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest in today’s episode is Lyndsay Phillips. Lyndsay is the CEO and Captain of Smooth Sailing Business Growth. She is your content marketing strategic partner, a serial entrepreneur, and also proud owner of Smooth Business Podcasting & Real Estate Investors Marketing. Lyndsay has been featured on MSN, NBC, Fox, published in Huffington Post, and has been a guest on John Lee Dumas’s “Entrepreneurs On Fire” and Joe Fairless’ “Best Real Estate Investing Podcast Ever.” She loves helping entrepreneurs build their authority and increase visibility through the power of podcasting with her full-service podcasting and content marketing services.
We first talk about Lyndsay’s background story and how she got into marketing. As a mom who could work only part-time, Lyndsay started out as a virtual assistant to one of her friends. As her client list grew, she started getting more real-estate clients and decided to niche down her business and change her business model. She quickly realized that marketing agencies don’t really understand the perspective of real-estate investors and decided to focus more on content marketing.
We then moved on to talking about some of the practical things that you can do today to help you with your leads. Lyndsay shares that the first thing you should do is make sure that you are showing yourself authentically on your website and that your messaging is very clear on who you're speaking to and who your avatar is. This will help your potential clients connect with you in a way that will allow you to turn your leads into your clients.
Together we then dive into discussing whether or not social media is a good place to generate leads. Lyndsay explains that in today’s online world it is all about relationships. Engaging with people, commenting, being in various online groups, and simply offering value and being “on the ground” will get you much further than Facebook ads. There is a sea of that out there and it is overwhelming, so you need to set yourself apart as an authority, as a go-to person that people want to engage with.
Lastly, we discuss the type of marketing Lyndsay provides for her client and her specific superpower. Lyndsay is an expert in helping people establish themselves as an authority. She believes that you need to have a consistent brand, a consistent message, and be consistent on social media if you want your business to grow. She explains different ways in which you can repurpose your content in order to uplevel your authority, and also why you need to have a simple sales funnel.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is filled with invaluable nuggets from Lyndsay Phillips on how to build your authority online in order to drive attention to your business and drive leads into your funnel!
Notable Quotes:
“When it comes to real estate investing, there are two things that have always been needed desperately and that have never changed: money and leads.”
- Mike Simmons
“I believe in just diving in, even if you're freaking out.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“I find that a lot of marketing companies are very focused on just online marketing or coaches. They're not quite understanding the perspective of a real estate investor.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“Real estate investors are like sharks in the water: if there is somebody who we think can help us get more leads, we flock to it like a shark to blood.”
- Mike Simmons
“Really leaning into yourself and who you're attracting in your messaging - that to me is like half of the equation.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“If you're talking to everybody, you're talking to nobody.”
- Mike Simmons
“Everyone's sort of struggling to figure out social media and how to apply that to lead generation.”
- Mike Simmons
“To me, the secret sauce nowadays is really setting yourself apart as an authority.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“There are different ways to elevate your authority platform so that you're setting yourself apart as the go-to person, and you're not lost in the sea of everybody else.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“Talking to people is always going to be more valuable than blasting ads.”
- Mike Simmons
“You need to have a consistent brand, a consistent message, and consistent social media.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“You're showing that you're everywhere and that you're giving information, and that's gonna uplevel your authority.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
Links:
Smooth Sailing Business Growth on Facebook
Smooth Sailing Business Growth on Twitter
Smooth Sailing Business Growth on Instagram
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest in today’s episode is Lyndsay Phillips. Lyndsay is the CEO and Captain of Smooth Sailing Business Growth. She is your content marketing strategic partner, a serial entrepreneur, and also proud owner of Smooth Business Podcasting & Real Estate Investors Marketing. Lyndsay has been featured on MSN, NBC, Fox, published in Huffington Post, and has been a guest on John Lee Dumas’s “Entrepreneurs On Fire” and Joe Fairless’ “Best Real Estate Investing Podcast Ever.” She loves helping entrepreneurs build their authority and increase visibility through the power of podcasting with her full-service podcasting and content marketing services.
We first talk about Lyndsay’s background story and how she got into marketing. As a mom who could work only part-time, Lyndsay started out as a virtual assistant to one of her friends. As her client list grew, she started getting more real-estate clients and decided to niche down her business and change her business model. She quickly realized that marketing agencies don’t really understand the perspective of real-estate investors and decided to focus more on content marketing.
We then moved on to talking about some of the practical things that you can do today to help you with your leads. Lyndsay shares that the first thing you should do is make sure that you are showing yourself authentically on your website and that your messaging is very clear on who you're speaking to and who your avatar is. This will help your potential clients connect with you in a way that will allow you to turn your leads into your clients.
Together we then dive into discussing whether or not social media is a good place to generate leads. Lyndsay explains that in today’s online world it is all about relationships. Engaging with people, commenting, being in various online groups, and simply offering value and being “on the ground” will get you much further than Facebook ads. There is a sea of that out there and it is overwhelming, so you need to set yourself apart as an authority, as a go-to person that people want to engage with.
Lastly, we discuss the type of marketing Lyndsay provides for her client and her specific superpower. Lyndsay is an expert in helping people establish themselves as an authority. She believes that you need to have a consistent brand, a consistent message, and be consistent on social media if you want your business to grow. She explains different ways in which you can repurpose your content in order to uplevel your authority, and also why you need to have a simple sales funnel.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is filled with invaluable nuggets from Lyndsay Phillips on how to build your authority online in order to drive attention to your business and drive leads into your funnel!
Notable Quotes:
“When it comes to real estate investing, there are two things that have always been needed desperately and that have never changed: money and leads.”
- Mike Simmons
“I believe in just diving in, even if you're freaking out.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“I find that a lot of marketing companies are very focused on just online marketing or coaches. They're not quite understanding the perspective of a real estate investor.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“Real estate investors are like sharks in the water: if there is somebody who we think can help us get more leads, we flock to it like a shark to blood.”
- Mike Simmons
“Really leaning into yourself and who you're attracting in your messaging - that to me is like half of the equation.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“If you're talking to everybody, you're talking to nobody.”
- Mike Simmons
“Everyone's sort of struggling to figure out social media and how to apply that to lead generation.”
- Mike Simmons
“To me, the secret sauce nowadays is really setting yourself apart as an authority.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“There are different ways to elevate your authority platform so that you're setting yourself apart as the go-to person, and you're not lost in the sea of everybody else.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“Talking to people is always going to be more valuable than blasting ads.”
- Mike Simmons
“You need to have a consistent brand, a consistent message, and consistent social media.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
“You're showing that you're everywhere and that you're giving information, and that's gonna uplevel your authority.”
- Lyndsay Phillips
Links:
Smooth Sailing Business Growth on Facebook
Smooth Sailing Business Growth on Twitter
Smooth Sailing Business Growth on Instagram
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on April 28th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“So after that first deal, I leveraged other people’s money, either hard money or private money, going forward. From that point, I never once had to invest my own money in a deal.”
“People are the number one thing that helps you scale and grow your business effectively.”
“I look for tools that keep me going and keep me productive.”
“Taking strategic risks is almost like a military operation.”
“I think paralysis analysis keeps more people on the starting block than any other factor.”
“Everyone has stuff going on in their personal life, so you can’t really use that as an excuse for not getting started.”
“Sometimes you need to be scrappy.”
“There is no better testimonial for your willingness to put everything on the line if you actually have skin in the game and are investing your own money.”
“Most businesses fail because they don’t know their numbers.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on April 28th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“So after that first deal, I leveraged other people’s money, either hard money or private money, going forward. From that point, I never once had to invest my own money in a deal.”
“People are the number one thing that helps you scale and grow your business effectively.”
“I look for tools that keep me going and keep me productive.”
“Taking strategic risks is almost like a military operation.”
“I think paralysis analysis keeps more people on the starting block than any other factor.”
“Everyone has stuff going on in their personal life, so you can’t really use that as an excuse for not getting started.”
“Sometimes you need to be scrappy.”
“There is no better testimonial for your willingness to put everything on the line if you actually have skin in the game and are investing your own money.”
“Most businesses fail because they don’t know their numbers.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Bill Wooditch. After spending a year at a dead-end job with a foreclosed future, Bill Wooditch created his renowned “Always Forward” mindset and forged his way from the impoverished backwoods of western Pennsylvania to create a multi-million-dollar company, which he continues to lead today. As a professional speaker, Bill uses his experiences to inspire individuals to pursue personal development and professional success. He is the author of Always Forward and Fail More, a Wall Street Journal bestseller. The hard-won lessons he shares in his books and keynotes are designed to shorten the distance between where you are now and where you are determined to go in the future.
We open this episode with Bill sharing his background story. Bill grew up in western Pennsylvania, having to march to a certain drum all the time because his father was a Pennsylvania state policeman. Ironically, Bill was a rebel from a very young age and didn’t deal well with authority. His rebellious nature got him a job in a factory and while his friends went to school, he had to stay home and go to work. Bill shares how living this life, feeling like there is no future in front of him, scared him to death. This is when his parents decided to give him one more chance and send him to school.
Bill then talks about his experiences during his college years, and how the biggest lesson he learned was how to connect with people. Bill believes that college is still important today for the right industry, for engineers and scientists, but he doesn’t believe that it is the only way to become successful. This was a tough mind shift for him because he was a huge believer in college experience because it worked for him.
Together we then dive into discussing the good and the bad that Bill learned during his career that served him in moving forward. He explains how doing things the “corporate way” never came naturally to him, and he discovered the magic formula the hard way, by failing. He found that the true formula was to simply connect with people. Bill is a firm believer that putting people in a box and trying to make them conform to the “rules'' is not beneficial for anyone. His philosophy is that only a great leader can hire exceptional people and allow them to be great.
We also discussed what Bill’s company does and how he discovered his niche. He shares how his regional insurance brokerage firm The Wooditch Group is a holding company for a couple of companies that transact property and casualty insurance-related business. This platform allowed Bill to follow one of his other passions, which is public speaking. Eventually, all of this led to him writing his books, in which he poured his essence into, Always Forward and Fail More. Today, he doesn’t spend that much time on the corporate insurance side because he has an amazing team behind him, so he is able to focus on having high-end conversations with successful people.
Eventually, Bill explains the difference between large and small goals. According to Bill, it is important to have huge aspirations in life, but you have to have small goals in between because accomplishing those small goals will give you the boost that you need in order to keep moving forward and eventually accomplishing your large goals. Otherwise, you will just have a fantasy that will eventually disappoint you and set you back. Bill shares that the difference between inspiration and motivation is that motivation will go away after a while.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of first giving value. Bill believes that in order to differentiate yourself from the masses you have to think in terms of value. You need to keep in mind that the arbiter of the value is the client. This, as he called it, “servant mentality” attracted his customers and made him stand out. He built his entire business on giving value first.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bill Wooditch! This was an incredibly fun conversation, but it’s also filled with great value, important messages, and amazing lessons, so make sure you tune in!
Notable Quotes:
“I was a rebel without a clue.”
- Bill Wooditch
“I hated the most important thing that we have to do to make success real and that is work.”
- Bill Wooditch
“We all need a little fear in our lives to be able to move forward, and I had a big dose of fear: doing the same things for 8 hours a day, with no future in front of me.”
- Bill Wooditch
“When I was growing up, there was no discussion - you are going to go to college, that's what you do, otherwise you're a loser, high school education is not enough. I just don't think it's the case anymore for a lot of folks.”
- Mike Simmons
“I found the magic formula the hard way, by failing. The magic formula was just to connect with people.”
- Bill Wooditch
“You are not going to win every heart, you are not going to influence every mind. Why don’t you just meet them as people? ”
- Bill Wooditch
“People who were born to communicate, people who were born to connect, born to have that really dynamic interaction with people, if you hide them away you're just weakening them. Like Superman with kryptonite.”
- Mike Simmons
“Great people will be great, you just have to get out of their way a little bit.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is not about controlling. It is about inspiring, cultivating, and working together as a team.”
- Bill Wooditch
“If you don't have a lot of activity in sales, you have nothing.”
- Bill Wooditch
“So many people are stymied and paralyzed by the anxiety of doing something wrong. Just do it.”
- Bill Wooditch
“It’s great to have huge aspirations, but you have to have mini-goals in between them.”
- Bill Wooditch
“The customer is king and it was always that way. We just kind of forgot about that royal throne.”
- Bill Wooditch
“You have to keep your soul.”
- Bill Wooditch
“People are not stupid, they can smell a liar.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bill’s Website
Bill on LinkedIn
Bill on Facebook
Bill on Twitter
Bill on Instagram
Bill on YouTube
Always Forward! Discover the 7 Secrets of Sales Success
Fail More
The Unstoppables Podcast
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Bill Wooditch. After spending a year at a dead-end job with a foreclosed future, Bill Wooditch created his renowned “Always Forward” mindset and forged his way from the impoverished backwoods of western Pennsylvania to create a multi-million-dollar company, which he continues to lead today. As a professional speaker, Bill uses his experiences to inspire individuals to pursue personal development and professional success. He is the author of Always Forward and Fail More, a Wall Street Journal bestseller. The hard-won lessons he shares in his books and keynotes are designed to shorten the distance between where you are now and where you are determined to go in the future.
We open this episode with Bill sharing his background story. Bill grew up in western Pennsylvania, having to march to a certain drum all the time because his father was a Pennsylvania state policeman. Ironically, Bill was a rebel from a very young age and didn’t deal well with authority. His rebellious nature got him a job in a factory and while his friends went to school, he had to stay home and go to work. Bill shares how living this life, feeling like there is no future in front of him, scared him to death. This is when his parents decided to give him one more chance and send him to school.
Bill then talks about his experiences during his college years, and how the biggest lesson he learned was how to connect with people. Bill believes that college is still important today for the right industry, for engineers and scientists, but he doesn’t believe that it is the only way to become successful. This was a tough mind shift for him because he was a huge believer in college experience because it worked for him.
Together we then dive into discussing the good and the bad that Bill learned during his career that served him in moving forward. He explains how doing things the “corporate way” never came naturally to him, and he discovered the magic formula the hard way, by failing. He found that the true formula was to simply connect with people. Bill is a firm believer that putting people in a box and trying to make them conform to the “rules'' is not beneficial for anyone. His philosophy is that only a great leader can hire exceptional people and allow them to be great.
We also discussed what Bill’s company does and how he discovered his niche. He shares how his regional insurance brokerage firm The Wooditch Group is a holding company for a couple of companies that transact property and casualty insurance-related business. This platform allowed Bill to follow one of his other passions, which is public speaking. Eventually, all of this led to him writing his books, in which he poured his essence into, Always Forward and Fail More. Today, he doesn’t spend that much time on the corporate insurance side because he has an amazing team behind him, so he is able to focus on having high-end conversations with successful people.
Eventually, Bill explains the difference between large and small goals. According to Bill, it is important to have huge aspirations in life, but you have to have small goals in between because accomplishing those small goals will give you the boost that you need in order to keep moving forward and eventually accomplishing your large goals. Otherwise, you will just have a fantasy that will eventually disappoint you and set you back. Bill shares that the difference between inspiration and motivation is that motivation will go away after a while.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of first giving value. Bill believes that in order to differentiate yourself from the masses you have to think in terms of value. You need to keep in mind that the arbiter of the value is the client. This, as he called it, “servant mentality” attracted his customers and made him stand out. He built his entire business on giving value first.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Bill Wooditch! This was an incredibly fun conversation, but it’s also filled with great value, important messages, and amazing lessons, so make sure you tune in!
Notable Quotes:
“I was a rebel without a clue.”
- Bill Wooditch
“I hated the most important thing that we have to do to make success real and that is work.”
- Bill Wooditch
“We all need a little fear in our lives to be able to move forward, and I had a big dose of fear: doing the same things for 8 hours a day, with no future in front of me.”
- Bill Wooditch
“When I was growing up, there was no discussion - you are going to go to college, that's what you do, otherwise you're a loser, high school education is not enough. I just don't think it's the case anymore for a lot of folks.”
- Mike Simmons
“I found the magic formula the hard way, by failing. The magic formula was just to connect with people.”
- Bill Wooditch
“You are not going to win every heart, you are not going to influence every mind. Why don’t you just meet them as people? ”
- Bill Wooditch
“People who were born to communicate, people who were born to connect, born to have that really dynamic interaction with people, if you hide them away you're just weakening them. Like Superman with kryptonite.”
- Mike Simmons
“Great people will be great, you just have to get out of their way a little bit.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is not about controlling. It is about inspiring, cultivating, and working together as a team.”
- Bill Wooditch
“If you don't have a lot of activity in sales, you have nothing.”
- Bill Wooditch
“So many people are stymied and paralyzed by the anxiety of doing something wrong. Just do it.”
- Bill Wooditch
“It’s great to have huge aspirations, but you have to have mini-goals in between them.”
- Bill Wooditch
“The customer is king and it was always that way. We just kind of forgot about that royal throne.”
- Bill Wooditch
“You have to keep your soul.”
- Bill Wooditch
“People are not stupid, they can smell a liar.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bill’s Website
Bill on LinkedIn
Bill on Facebook
Bill on Twitter
Bill on Instagram
Bill on YouTube
Always Forward! Discover the 7 Secrets of Sales Success
Fail More
The Unstoppables Podcast
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited about this new feature that I am going to be bringing you on Thursdays - the replay of each week’s Facebook Live Question and Answer session. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on April 14th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you can’t convince your loved ones of what you want to do, I don’t think you believe it.”
“You’re desperate to start a business? Then explain that to your loved ones.”
“If you are trying to get from A to Z you don’t have to understand what’s involved with Z, but you have to know how to get from A to B.”
“Get in touch with why you want to do something new.”
“Educate yourself. Figure out how to get from A to B.”
“The goal has to be achievable, the ‘why’ has to be the motivation.”
“My ‘why’ is I want freedom of time.”
“I want to build something that will last beyond me and will help take care of my family.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited about this new feature that I am going to be bringing you on Thursdays - the replay of each week’s Facebook Live Question and Answer session. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on April 14th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“If you can’t convince your loved ones of what you want to do, I don’t think you believe it.”
“You’re desperate to start a business? Then explain that to your loved ones.”
“If you are trying to get from A to Z you don’t have to understand what’s involved with Z, but you have to know how to get from A to B.”
“Get in touch with why you want to do something new.”
“Educate yourself. Figure out how to get from A to B.”
“The goal has to be achievable, the ‘why’ has to be the motivation.”
“My ‘why’ is I want freedom of time.”
“I want to build something that will last beyond me and will help take care of my family.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome fellow real estate investor, Rick Sapio. Rick is a life-long entrepreneur, #1 best-selling author, and TEDx speaker. He has founded more than twenty companies, taken nine companies public, led seventeen corporate turnarounds, and completed capital raises for over thirty companies and funds. Rick also founded The 100-Year Savings Solution, which helps real estate investors become their own source of financing by leveraging the cash value inside of whole life insurance policies.
Rick first shares his background story. He is the seventh of nine children. When he was a kid, his mom suffered a nervous breakdown from which she never recovered. When Rick was eleven years old, his dad got diagnosed with cancer. He was given only 6 more weeks to live, but ended up having another two and a half years which he spent teaching Rick and his siblings how to be resourceful. Rick believes that it was his father who instilled in him good values from which he was able to make good decisions.
Rick then goes on to talk about the first business he started. He earned his first income by delivering New York Daily News to over 200 doorsteps each morning, seven days a week. Then when he was thirteen years old, he opened a bicycle shop with one of his friends. He would buy used bikes, fix them up and sell them. This later evolved into him building engines and cars through college. At the age of twenty-three, he was able to buy three rental properties.
We then move on to talking about the one thing that Rick believes really changed his life. After his father died, Rick was determined to find mentors. His first mentor advised him to get an engineering degree and even though Rick never thought about college before, after that one conversation his path was set. He was able to get a scholarship and after he graduated he got a job in a company that bought bonds of bankrupt companies. As a result of doing that in the late 80s and early 90s he got to interact with some amazing people that were in that same space, people like Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and Leon Black. This led to Rick starting his own company, which he still has twenty-seven years later.
Then we discuss what value-based decision-making means to Rick. He explains that every decision we make in our life that is not aligned with our values, has a high probability of going against the grain and causing issues. He also shares that his main values are simplicity, probability, and leverage and how his values allow him to do all the things that are important to him, both personally and professionally.
Eventually, we discuss Rick’s amazing project of interviewing 40 billionaires and the lessons he learned from them. It all started with Rick visiting Thomas Boone Pickens on his ranch (that was bigger than the state of Rhode Island). This was his first billionaire interview and it just kept growing from there. Rick explains that it’s all about providing value. He learned that they needed a relationship with him as much as he needed one with them because it was all about value exchange.
Lastly, we talk about the 100 Year Saving Solution. A long time ago, one of Rick’s friends turned him to dividend-paying whole life insurances. This led Rick to partner with an insurance agency and that is how the 100 year real estate investor was created. The thing that Rick loves most about it is it keeps people focused on the long term. With the 100 Year Saving Solution, the money you invest goes into the policy first, and then you borrow against the policy and buy the asset. This way, you have two assets and a way to leverage.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Rick Sapio, and get advice from a man who has talked to the best of the best in the world!
Notable Quotes:
“My whole life has been about finding mentors and making something from nothing.”
- Rick Sapio
“If you instill in people values to make decisions from, they don't make as many mistakes.”
- Rick Sapio
“When you make a mistake, it sets you back five steps.”
- Rick Sapio
“Simplicity, probability, and leverage are the operating values that I use in my personal and business life.”
- Rick Sapio
“New York Daily News and 200 people on my route. Didn't matter if it was raining, if there were hurricanes or ice on the ground. It had to be delivered before 5:30a.”
- Rick Sapio
“There was no such thing as sick, there was no such thing as tired, there's no such thing as I don't want to.”
- Rick Sapio
“You have no idea what one conversation can do if you're committed to somebody.”
- Rick Sapio
“Your values are really your DNA and I believe everybody has a unique list of values that they're born with.”
- Rick Sapio
“How do you meet these people? The answer is you provide value.”
- Rick Sapio
“Provide value and people will tend to give you their time.”
- Mike Simmons
“Long-term thinking informs what you do today.”
- Rick Sapio
Links:
100 Year Saving Solution
100 Year Saving Solution on Facebook
100 Year Saving Solution on Twitter
100 Year Saving Solution on Instagram
100 Year Saving Solution on LinkedIn
Who's in Your Room: The Secret to Creating Your Best Life
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome fellow real estate investor, Rick Sapio. Rick is a life-long entrepreneur, #1 best-selling author, and TEDx speaker. He has founded more than twenty companies, taken nine companies public, led seventeen corporate turnarounds, and completed capital raises for over thirty companies and funds. Rick also founded The 100-Year Savings Solution, which helps real estate investors become their own source of financing by leveraging the cash value inside of whole life insurance policies.
Rick first shares his background story. He is the seventh of nine children. When he was a kid, his mom suffered a nervous breakdown from which she never recovered. When Rick was eleven years old, his dad got diagnosed with cancer. He was given only 6 more weeks to live, but ended up having another two and a half years which he spent teaching Rick and his siblings how to be resourceful. Rick believes that it was his father who instilled in him good values from which he was able to make good decisions.
Rick then goes on to talk about the first business he started. He earned his first income by delivering New York Daily News to over 200 doorsteps each morning, seven days a week. Then when he was thirteen years old, he opened a bicycle shop with one of his friends. He would buy used bikes, fix them up and sell them. This later evolved into him building engines and cars through college. At the age of twenty-three, he was able to buy three rental properties.
We then move on to talking about the one thing that Rick believes really changed his life. After his father died, Rick was determined to find mentors. His first mentor advised him to get an engineering degree and even though Rick never thought about college before, after that one conversation his path was set. He was able to get a scholarship and after he graduated he got a job in a company that bought bonds of bankrupt companies. As a result of doing that in the late 80s and early 90s he got to interact with some amazing people that were in that same space, people like Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and Leon Black. This led to Rick starting his own company, which he still has twenty-seven years later.
Then we discuss what value-based decision-making means to Rick. He explains that every decision we make in our life that is not aligned with our values, has a high probability of going against the grain and causing issues. He also shares that his main values are simplicity, probability, and leverage and how his values allow him to do all the things that are important to him, both personally and professionally.
Eventually, we discuss Rick’s amazing project of interviewing 40 billionaires and the lessons he learned from them. It all started with Rick visiting Thomas Boone Pickens on his ranch (that was bigger than the state of Rhode Island). This was his first billionaire interview and it just kept growing from there. Rick explains that it’s all about providing value. He learned that they needed a relationship with him as much as he needed one with them because it was all about value exchange.
Lastly, we talk about the 100 Year Saving Solution. A long time ago, one of Rick’s friends turned him to dividend-paying whole life insurances. This led Rick to partner with an insurance agency and that is how the 100 year real estate investor was created. The thing that Rick loves most about it is it keeps people focused on the long term. With the 100 Year Saving Solution, the money you invest goes into the policy first, and then you borrow against the policy and buy the asset. This way, you have two assets and a way to leverage.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Rick Sapio, and get advice from a man who has talked to the best of the best in the world!
Notable Quotes:
“My whole life has been about finding mentors and making something from nothing.”
- Rick Sapio
“If you instill in people values to make decisions from, they don't make as many mistakes.”
- Rick Sapio
“When you make a mistake, it sets you back five steps.”
- Rick Sapio
“Simplicity, probability, and leverage are the operating values that I use in my personal and business life.”
- Rick Sapio
“New York Daily News and 200 people on my route. Didn't matter if it was raining, if there were hurricanes or ice on the ground. It had to be delivered before 5:30a.”
- Rick Sapio
“There was no such thing as sick, there was no such thing as tired, there's no such thing as I don't want to.”
- Rick Sapio
“You have no idea what one conversation can do if you're committed to somebody.”
- Rick Sapio
“Your values are really your DNA and I believe everybody has a unique list of values that they're born with.”
- Rick Sapio
“How do you meet these people? The answer is you provide value.”
- Rick Sapio
“Provide value and people will tend to give you their time.”
- Mike Simmons
“Long-term thinking informs what you do today.”
- Rick Sapio
Links:
100 Year Saving Solution
100 Year Saving Solution on Facebook
100 Year Saving Solution on Twitter
100 Year Saving Solution on Instagram
100 Year Saving Solution on LinkedIn
Who's in Your Room: The Secret to Creating Your Best Life
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited about this new feature that I am going to be bringing you on Thursdays - the replay of each week’s Facebook Live Question and Answer session. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This was the first live Q&A that I did on April 7th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Convincing yourself is not something you do when you are evaluating a specific property that you want to invest in.”
“How do you triangulate the truth in any situation? You ask a lot of different sources, right?”
“Another great idea is to join a mastermind because now you are in a curated community of people who are doing great things in their businesses, and coming together to share that.”
“How long will the market stay hot? Short answer - nobody knows!”
“If you want to be a real estate investor, be a real estate investor. I don’t care what the market cycle is. You have to be aware of where you are in the market cycle, but it doesn’t mean that you wait.”
“I regret every risk that I wanted to take, but didn’t take, because the reason I didn’t take it, in almost every case, was because I was afraid.”
“Time is something that people blame a lot for not taking a risk.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited about this new feature that I am going to be bringing you on Thursdays - the replay of each week’s Facebook Live Question and Answer session. I just started doing these live forums last month and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.
This was the first live Q&A that I did on April 7th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Convincing yourself is not something you do when you are evaluating a specific property that you want to invest in.”
“How do you triangulate the truth in any situation? You ask a lot of different sources, right?”
“Another great idea is to join a mastermind because now you are in a curated community of people who are doing great things in their businesses, and coming together to share that.”
“How long will the market stay hot? Short answer - nobody knows!”
“If you want to be a real estate investor, be a real estate investor. I don’t care what the market cycle is. You have to be aware of where you are in the market cycle, but it doesn’t mean that you wait.”
“I regret every risk that I wanted to take, but didn’t take, because the reason I didn’t take it, in almost every case, was because I was afraid.”
“Time is something that people blame a lot for not taking a risk.”
Links:
Blitzar Capital Investing Opportunity
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Chris Watters. Chris is the Founder and CEO of Watters International Realty and he hosts his own show entitled CEO Secrets Podcast. Chris also co-authored the book The Million Dollar Real Estate Team with his business partner, Bradley Pounds. His other ventures, investments, and advisory roles include Mint Title, WHD Investments Inc, WIR Publishing Inc, and #RealDeal.
We start this episode with Chris sharing his background story. Back when he was in college, Chris owned a lawn mowing business and was able to pay his way through college and get a degree in finance. During his senior year, he got interested in real estate, but he was still very young and impatient, so he turned to the oil and gas industry. After the market crashed in 2009, Chris lost his job. That’s when he decided to use his savings and open a restaurant. Unfortunately, with the market being so bad, he wasn’t able to sustain his business in the service industry. So, in 2010 Chris got his broker’s license and started recruiting people to be a part of his team.
Chris then goes on to explain how he was able to recruit new people to his team. He knew, from his own experience, that the first thing a realtor needs is a good lead. But he also knew that this can get pretty expensive. So, he decided to create a co-op fund with other local businesses, and pretty soon he got up to $5,000 per month. This was more than enough to allow Chris to grow his business and his team by using leads. He used leads as value propositions to get agents.
Together we then dive into discussing the importance of building a good team. Chris points out that there are three key things when it comes to building a team. First, you need to know who to recruit and select. Second, you need to know how to actually train people and build a roadmap that will help them be successful. And third, to distinguish between quality and quantity when it comes to leads because not all leads are equal. Once he had answers to these questions, his team grew pretty fast and they netted 1 million dollars in their third year.
Eventually, we discuss Chris’s motive for starting his podcast CEO Secrets. He shares that as a student, he was a part of a number of different organizations that allowed him to come in contact with some amazing and smart people. Chris believes that learning from those people was his biggest shortcut when it comes to his growth. Wanting to share his own journey and help others through his experience, he first co-wrote The Million Dollar Real Estate Team. After he started expanding into other markets, he started to explore coaches outside of real estate and quickly realized that a lot of people in the real estate business think like a salesman, and not as a CEO. This is why he decided to start his own podcast as well as his non-profit masterclass - to teach real estate agents to think like CEOs and make strategic shifts in their business.
Lastly, Chris shares the plethora of different non-profit organizations that he supports (and you can too) through his business, with sales from his book and his amazing 90-day masterclass.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Chris Watters and learn how to build an amazing team, have transformational success, and grow your business!
Notable Quotes:
“I wanted to grow fast and skip all the steps, versus developing my skills as a salesperson.”
- Chris Watters
“I wasn't even practicing as a real estate agent, I was just fascinated with the idea of lead generation in the real estate industry.”
- Chris Watters
“I was dead broke, sleeping on my girlfriend's red IKEA couch. And being 24 or 25 years old, the only thing I knew at that point was how to prospect on the phone from a sales perspective and the internet lead generation side.”
- Chris Watters
“One of the things I needed early in my career, when I didn't sell that many houses and I was dead broke, was money to pay for lead generation.”
- Chris Watters
“I used the leads as the value proposition to get agents.”
- Chris Watters
“You can generate a lot of really cheap leads but you can burn your salespeople out and they may not even make any money because they have to work 100 leads to close one deal.”
- Chris Watters
“We grew super fast. In our third year, we netted a million bucks.”
- Chris Watters
“Leads are just oxygen - you can only go so long without leads before you die.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of people get into real estate and they don't think like a CEO, they think like a salesperson.”
- Chris Watters
“It's not to the benefit of a lot of these real estate companies to help you build a big business.”
- Chris Watters
“If you just make a couple of tweaks by thinking like a CEO, you're going to be able to have transformational success to take your business to the next level.”
- Chris Watters
Links:
Chris on LinkedIn
Chris on Facebook
Chris on Instagram
Chris on YouTube
Chris’s website
CEO Secrets Podcast
CEO Masterclass
Real Synch
GET YOUR FREE COPY: The Million Dollar Real Estate Team
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Chris Watters. Chris is the Founder and CEO of Watters International Realty and he hosts his own show entitled CEO Secrets Podcast. Chris also co-authored the book The Million Dollar Real Estate Team with his business partner, Bradley Pounds. His other ventures, investments, and advisory roles include Mint Title, WHD Investments Inc, WIR Publishing Inc, and #RealDeal.
We start this episode with Chris sharing his background story. Back when he was in college, Chris owned a lawn mowing business and was able to pay his way through college and get a degree in finance. During his senior year, he got interested in real estate, but he was still very young and impatient, so he turned to the oil and gas industry. After the market crashed in 2009, Chris lost his job. That’s when he decided to use his savings and open a restaurant. Unfortunately, with the market being so bad, he wasn’t able to sustain his business in the service industry. So, in 2010 Chris got his broker’s license and started recruiting people to be a part of his team.
Chris then goes on to explain how he was able to recruit new people to his team. He knew, from his own experience, that the first thing a realtor needs is a good lead. But he also knew that this can get pretty expensive. So, he decided to create a co-op fund with other local businesses, and pretty soon he got up to $5,000 per month. This was more than enough to allow Chris to grow his business and his team by using leads. He used leads as value propositions to get agents.
Together we then dive into discussing the importance of building a good team. Chris points out that there are three key things when it comes to building a team. First, you need to know who to recruit and select. Second, you need to know how to actually train people and build a roadmap that will help them be successful. And third, to distinguish between quality and quantity when it comes to leads because not all leads are equal. Once he had answers to these questions, his team grew pretty fast and they netted 1 million dollars in their third year.
Eventually, we discuss Chris’s motive for starting his podcast CEO Secrets. He shares that as a student, he was a part of a number of different organizations that allowed him to come in contact with some amazing and smart people. Chris believes that learning from those people was his biggest shortcut when it comes to his growth. Wanting to share his own journey and help others through his experience, he first co-wrote The Million Dollar Real Estate Team. After he started expanding into other markets, he started to explore coaches outside of real estate and quickly realized that a lot of people in the real estate business think like a salesman, and not as a CEO. This is why he decided to start his own podcast as well as his non-profit masterclass - to teach real estate agents to think like CEOs and make strategic shifts in their business.
Lastly, Chris shares the plethora of different non-profit organizations that he supports (and you can too) through his business, with sales from his book and his amazing 90-day masterclass.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Chris Watters and learn how to build an amazing team, have transformational success, and grow your business!
Notable Quotes:
“I wanted to grow fast and skip all the steps, versus developing my skills as a salesperson.”
- Chris Watters
“I wasn't even practicing as a real estate agent, I was just fascinated with the idea of lead generation in the real estate industry.”
- Chris Watters
“I was dead broke, sleeping on my girlfriend's red IKEA couch. And being 24 or 25 years old, the only thing I knew at that point was how to prospect on the phone from a sales perspective and the internet lead generation side.”
- Chris Watters
“One of the things I needed early in my career, when I didn't sell that many houses and I was dead broke, was money to pay for lead generation.”
- Chris Watters
“I used the leads as the value proposition to get agents.”
- Chris Watters
“You can generate a lot of really cheap leads but you can burn your salespeople out and they may not even make any money because they have to work 100 leads to close one deal.”
- Chris Watters
“We grew super fast. In our third year, we netted a million bucks.”
- Chris Watters
“Leads are just oxygen - you can only go so long without leads before you die.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of people get into real estate and they don't think like a CEO, they think like a salesperson.”
- Chris Watters
“It's not to the benefit of a lot of these real estate companies to help you build a big business.”
- Chris Watters
“If you just make a couple of tweaks by thinking like a CEO, you're going to be able to have transformational success to take your business to the next level.”
- Chris Watters
Links:
Chris on LinkedIn
Chris on Facebook
Chris on Instagram
Chris on YouTube
Chris’s website
CEO Secrets Podcast
CEO Masterclass
Real Synch
GET YOUR FREE COPY: The Million Dollar Real Estate Team
Multifamily Live Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome a former MMA fighter and current real estate agent, Tim Stout. Tim is a super successful and highly-awarded real estate agent in Georgia who uses innovative marketing methods to win over customers. He is the owner and operator of Tim Stout and Associates. His team of experts represents the best and brightest in the industry, and they are always striving to lead the field in research, innovation, and consumer education.
Tim first shares his background story. Growing up in a small town, he started boxing when he was a kid and after dropping out of high school, he decided that he wanted to become a professional MMA fighter. During his MMA career, he met his wife and got married. He explains how after he got married, he lost the desire “to hurt people” and decided to retire from the MMA world.
We then moved on to discussing how Tim transitioned from being an MMA fighter to being a full-time real estate agent. After retiring from the octagon, Tim decided that his next career would be in sales, and very soon he realized that it should be in real estate. His initial plan was to sell one house a month, but he ended up selling 16 houses in his first 7 months.
Together we then dive into discussing what fueled Tim’s interest in investing and what part of investing applied most to him. He is a buy-and-hold investor and believes that every real estate agent who is not investing in real estate is missing out on a great opportunity. Tim’s portfolio consists of fourteen doors, an office building, and his personal property. He shares that investing in real estate has allowed him to accumulate a decent net worth.
Tim also shares his short-term and long-term goals when it comes to real estate. His short-term goal is to buy eight properties without spending any of his own money and he already has three of them. His long-term goal is to be making $50,000 - $75,000 a month. We then talk about Tim’s motivation and what keeps him going forward. His main motivation is his family, and he wants to be able to create more for them. He is also motivated by the agents he gets to create and work with. Currently, he has around twenty people on his team, whom he introduced to real estate investing so that they are able to create a better life for themselves and their families.
Eventually, Tim talks about the books that had the biggest impact on him and changed his life. His number one recommendation, which comes as no surprise, is Rich Dad Poor Dad. His other recommendations include Start with Why by Simon Sinek, and Never Split the Difference with Chris Voss. Tim believes that leaders are readers and when you stop educating yourself you are giving somebody else an advantage in your market.
Lastly, Tim shares his view of the real estate market in the midst of the pandemic. He believes that the market is going to have to even out eventually and that the changes that are happening won't be enough to upset the market, because we are at such a deficit, nationally.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Tim Stout, who after retiring from MMA, approaches his career as a real estate agent from a standpoint of helping people!
Notable Quotes:
“I've always been the hardest worker in the room. I've always done more than everybody else.”
- Tim Stout
“I texted my wife at that second - ‘I'm gonna sell real estate.’”
- Tim Stout
“In the first six to eight months, I sold like sixteen houses. ”
- Tim Stout
“When you buy $100,000 in stock, you spend $100,000. I can buy $100,000 in real estate, and pay $20,000.”
- Tim Stout
“The best way to invest in commercial is to be your own tenant, so you don't have to worry about vacancies.”
- Mike Simmons
“Real estate is so forgiving. It's okay to make a bad decision, it's okay to overpay for a property if you're making cash flow.”
- Tim Stout
“I think the biggest risk in life is risking regretting when you're old and it's too late.”
- Mike Simmons
“Regret is the only emotion that you can’t do anything about.”
- Tim Stout
“People who are high achievers, almost always, are consumers of books. Whether it's audio or whether they are reading it, it's all about education. All successful people I know put a huge value on education in whatever form.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you quit educating yourself, you're giving somebody else an advantage in your market.”
- Tim Stout
“If you have a team of people who all completely embrace that philosophy and all of them refuse to blame anybody, will take responsibility for anything that goes wrong, and fix it, there's no stopping that team.”
- Mike Simmons
“Having a leader that is willing to take responsibility and truly believes that they are at fault for what goes on in their organization is not only good leadership but also makes the people that work for and with them very, very loyal.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Tim on Facebook
Tim on Instagram
Tim on LinkedIn
Tim on YouTube
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
June Multifamily Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome a former MMA fighter and current real estate agent, Tim Stout. Tim is a super successful and highly-awarded real estate agent in Georgia who uses innovative marketing methods to win over customers. He is the owner and operator of Tim Stout and Associates. His team of experts represents the best and brightest in the industry, and they are always striving to lead the field in research, innovation, and consumer education.
Tim first shares his background story. Growing up in a small town, he started boxing when he was a kid and after dropping out of high school, he decided that he wanted to become a professional MMA fighter. During his MMA career, he met his wife and got married. He explains how after he got married, he lost the desire “to hurt people” and decided to retire from the MMA world.
We then moved on to discussing how Tim transitioned from being an MMA fighter to being a full-time real estate agent. After retiring from the octagon, Tim decided that his next career would be in sales, and very soon he realized that it should be in real estate. His initial plan was to sell one house a month, but he ended up selling 16 houses in his first 7 months.
Together we then dive into discussing what fueled Tim’s interest in investing and what part of investing applied most to him. He is a buy-and-hold investor and believes that every real estate agent who is not investing in real estate is missing out on a great opportunity. Tim’s portfolio consists of fourteen doors, an office building, and his personal property. He shares that investing in real estate has allowed him to accumulate a decent net worth.
Tim also shares his short-term and long-term goals when it comes to real estate. His short-term goal is to buy eight properties without spending any of his own money and he already has three of them. His long-term goal is to be making $50,000 - $75,000 a month. We then talk about Tim’s motivation and what keeps him going forward. His main motivation is his family, and he wants to be able to create more for them. He is also motivated by the agents he gets to create and work with. Currently, he has around twenty people on his team, whom he introduced to real estate investing so that they are able to create a better life for themselves and their families.
Eventually, Tim talks about the books that had the biggest impact on him and changed his life. His number one recommendation, which comes as no surprise, is Rich Dad Poor Dad. His other recommendations include Start with Why by Simon Sinek, and Never Split the Difference with Chris Voss. Tim believes that leaders are readers and when you stop educating yourself you are giving somebody else an advantage in your market.
Lastly, Tim shares his view of the real estate market in the midst of the pandemic. He believes that the market is going to have to even out eventually and that the changes that are happening won't be enough to upset the market, because we are at such a deficit, nationally.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Tim Stout, who after retiring from MMA, approaches his career as a real estate agent from a standpoint of helping people!
Notable Quotes:
“I've always been the hardest worker in the room. I've always done more than everybody else.”
- Tim Stout
“I texted my wife at that second - ‘I'm gonna sell real estate.’”
- Tim Stout
“In the first six to eight months, I sold like sixteen houses. ”
- Tim Stout
“When you buy $100,000 in stock, you spend $100,000. I can buy $100,000 in real estate, and pay $20,000.”
- Tim Stout
“The best way to invest in commercial is to be your own tenant, so you don't have to worry about vacancies.”
- Mike Simmons
“Real estate is so forgiving. It's okay to make a bad decision, it's okay to overpay for a property if you're making cash flow.”
- Tim Stout
“I think the biggest risk in life is risking regretting when you're old and it's too late.”
- Mike Simmons
“Regret is the only emotion that you can’t do anything about.”
- Tim Stout
“People who are high achievers, almost always, are consumers of books. Whether it's audio or whether they are reading it, it's all about education. All successful people I know put a huge value on education in whatever form.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you quit educating yourself, you're giving somebody else an advantage in your market.”
- Tim Stout
“If you have a team of people who all completely embrace that philosophy and all of them refuse to blame anybody, will take responsibility for anything that goes wrong, and fix it, there's no stopping that team.”
- Mike Simmons
“Having a leader that is willing to take responsibility and truly believes that they are at fault for what goes on in their organization is not only good leadership but also makes the people that work for and with them very, very loyal.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Tim on Facebook
Tim on Instagram
Tim on LinkedIn
Tim on YouTube
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It
June Multifamily Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today’s episode is a bit different because I am joined by a guest that does not come from the real-estate realm. Joining me today is Chris Michael Harris. Chris is a serial entrepreneur, business and performance coach, keynote speaker, and an online expert. He is also the founder and CEO of Startup U and the host of the popular Startup U Podcast.
We begin this episode with Chris sharing his background story. Chris grew up in Georgia and throughout his childhood and his teenage years, he always had an entrepreneurial spirit. As a kid, he spent his summers mowing lawns, detailing cars, and doing all different kinds of DIY projects. He was able to build his business to a point where he made $16,000 over the course of one summer. This side-hustling continued well into his college years, where he made $43,000 in only two weeks by reselling clothing items on eBay and he continued to make thousands of dollars with a moving company that he started with his brother. After he graduated from college, Chris got a “real job” but continued working with his moving company over the weekends. Six months into his new job, while he was on a vacation in Vegas, he decided to quit his job to dedicate all of his time to his moving company. Within 36 months, they were a multimillionaire dollar company doing business in thirty-two states.
We then move on to discussing how this rapid growth affected his business. He explains how his business grew faster than his ability to stay on top of things. Chris found himself not being able to keep up and soon his dream became his nightmare. He eventually ended up spending 95% of his time plugging holes, managing cash flow, basically being in survival mode, instead of actually building a sustainable business. He shares some of the problems he encountered during this time, one of which was hiring crews in a short amount of time, and not really being able to vet people probably before hiring them.
Chris then goes on to talk about the effects of this rapid growth on his health. In January of 2016, the state of Georgia no longer allowed moving companies to use rental trucks, unless they had one of their own. On top of the fact that they had to buy their own truck, as a new company, they had to pay outrageous insurance rates as well. So, $200,000 later, Chris was able to get a single truck. By May, Chris’s health got so bad to a point that he had to seek medical help. After running some tests, they came to the conclusion that his gut was in a really bad shape, his thyroid was not working properly, and he had almost every vitamin and mineral deficiency. He was told that if he continued to live like this, he would be gone by the time he was 50 years old.
Next, we talk about how Chris realized that he needed capital. He pitched 725 different investors in three months. He got several commitment letters from people who wanted to sit down with him, have a look at his business and go over all the details. He was able to get a loan of $100,000, but in August of 2016, his moving truck was coming back from Florida and got into an accident on the freeway. At this point, Chris believed that he was going to jail because workman’s comp for his workers had expired, and he couldn’t afford to renew it. Fortunately, none of the people were injured, but Chris realized then and there that his business was finished.
We then talk about how after losing his business, Chris focused on his health. Seeing his father suffer from Crohn’s disease, he knew that he didn’t want to go the pharmaceutical route. He immersed himself in learning about health, wellness, and natural ways to get his health back. He also started to look for motivation externally, and because of that, he created his podcast. During this time, his greatest support was his wife who started her own online business and was able to get him everything he needed to continue in his path of recovery. Very soon, his podcast was in the trending top five podcasts in the world in business, health, and education. He was able to interview some of the most successful people in the world and get some great advice and much-needed inspiration. Chris then goes on to share some of his best advice when it comes to sleep, diet, and stress management.
Lastly, we talk about Chris’s business at the moment and what he does now. He explains how after he started his podcast, he decided to focus completely on wisdom work. He started with mentorship and coaching for different companies, and he founded the StartupU Training Programs to help entrepreneurs navigate some of the things that he experienced.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with the amazing Chris Michael Harris, that will help you not only take care of your business but your health as well!
Notable Quotes:
“80% of business is fundamentally the same, it's the 20% that’s the nuance, the trade-specific stuff.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“There was a time when entrepreneurship meant unemployed.”
- Mike Simmons
“Eventually I just fell into it and realized that entrepreneurship for me was a lifestyle, not a career.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“Real estate investors struggle with where they find their groove and they start growing, and then the business grows faster than their ability to stay on top of it.”
- Mike Simmons
“My dream became my nightmare so quickly because of growth.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“What you end up experiencing is that you spend 95% of your time plugging holes or managing cash flow or doing things in survival mode, not actually building a sustainable business.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“Revenue is for vanity, profitably is for sanity.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“I pitched 725 investors in three months.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“If my guys die because my work comp just expired because I couldn't afford to renew it, I'm going to jail.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“2020 for me, after going through 2016, was a walk in the park.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“We always hear the story at a high level. We never hear like the true depths of where people are.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“Not only did I have a health crisis, but I had an existential crisis. ”
- Chris Michael Harris
“My superpower as an entrepreneur was to work hard. I was willing to outwork anybody.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“In any business, you can accelerate the steps but you can't skip the steps.”
- Chris Michael Harris
Links:
Chris on LinkedIn
Chris on Twitter
Startup U Podcast
Chris on Instagram
Startup U Training Programs
Chris on Facebook
Chris on YouTube
Chris’s Website
Garmin Vivosmart
June Multifamily Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today’s episode is a bit different because I am joined by a guest that does not come from the real-estate realm. Joining me today is Chris Michael Harris. Chris is a serial entrepreneur, business and performance coach, keynote speaker, and an online expert. He is also the founder and CEO of Startup U and the host of the popular Startup U Podcast.
We begin this episode with Chris sharing his background story. Chris grew up in Georgia and throughout his childhood and his teenage years, he always had an entrepreneurial spirit. As a kid, he spent his summers mowing lawns, detailing cars, and doing all different kinds of DIY projects. He was able to build his business to a point where he made $16,000 over the course of one summer. This side-hustling continued well into his college years, where he made $43,000 in only two weeks by reselling clothing items on eBay and he continued to make thousands of dollars with a moving company that he started with his brother. After he graduated from college, Chris got a “real job” but continued working with his moving company over the weekends. Six months into his new job, while he was on a vacation in Vegas, he decided to quit his job to dedicate all of his time to his moving company. Within 36 months, they were a multimillionaire dollar company doing business in thirty-two states.
We then move on to discussing how this rapid growth affected his business. He explains how his business grew faster than his ability to stay on top of things. Chris found himself not being able to keep up and soon his dream became his nightmare. He eventually ended up spending 95% of his time plugging holes, managing cash flow, basically being in survival mode, instead of actually building a sustainable business. He shares some of the problems he encountered during this time, one of which was hiring crews in a short amount of time, and not really being able to vet people probably before hiring them.
Chris then goes on to talk about the effects of this rapid growth on his health. In January of 2016, the state of Georgia no longer allowed moving companies to use rental trucks, unless they had one of their own. On top of the fact that they had to buy their own truck, as a new company, they had to pay outrageous insurance rates as well. So, $200,000 later, Chris was able to get a single truck. By May, Chris’s health got so bad to a point that he had to seek medical help. After running some tests, they came to the conclusion that his gut was in a really bad shape, his thyroid was not working properly, and he had almost every vitamin and mineral deficiency. He was told that if he continued to live like this, he would be gone by the time he was 50 years old.
Next, we talk about how Chris realized that he needed capital. He pitched 725 different investors in three months. He got several commitment letters from people who wanted to sit down with him, have a look at his business and go over all the details. He was able to get a loan of $100,000, but in August of 2016, his moving truck was coming back from Florida and got into an accident on the freeway. At this point, Chris believed that he was going to jail because workman’s comp for his workers had expired, and he couldn’t afford to renew it. Fortunately, none of the people were injured, but Chris realized then and there that his business was finished.
We then talk about how after losing his business, Chris focused on his health. Seeing his father suffer from Crohn’s disease, he knew that he didn’t want to go the pharmaceutical route. He immersed himself in learning about health, wellness, and natural ways to get his health back. He also started to look for motivation externally, and because of that, he created his podcast. During this time, his greatest support was his wife who started her own online business and was able to get him everything he needed to continue in his path of recovery. Very soon, his podcast was in the trending top five podcasts in the world in business, health, and education. He was able to interview some of the most successful people in the world and get some great advice and much-needed inspiration. Chris then goes on to share some of his best advice when it comes to sleep, diet, and stress management.
Lastly, we talk about Chris’s business at the moment and what he does now. He explains how after he started his podcast, he decided to focus completely on wisdom work. He started with mentorship and coaching for different companies, and he founded the StartupU Training Programs to help entrepreneurs navigate some of the things that he experienced.
Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with the amazing Chris Michael Harris, that will help you not only take care of your business but your health as well!
Notable Quotes:
“80% of business is fundamentally the same, it's the 20% that’s the nuance, the trade-specific stuff.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“There was a time when entrepreneurship meant unemployed.”
- Mike Simmons
“Eventually I just fell into it and realized that entrepreneurship for me was a lifestyle, not a career.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“Real estate investors struggle with where they find their groove and they start growing, and then the business grows faster than their ability to stay on top of it.”
- Mike Simmons
“My dream became my nightmare so quickly because of growth.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“What you end up experiencing is that you spend 95% of your time plugging holes or managing cash flow or doing things in survival mode, not actually building a sustainable business.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“Revenue is for vanity, profitably is for sanity.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“I pitched 725 investors in three months.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“If my guys die because my work comp just expired because I couldn't afford to renew it, I'm going to jail.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“2020 for me, after going through 2016, was a walk in the park.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“We always hear the story at a high level. We never hear like the true depths of where people are.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“Not only did I have a health crisis, but I had an existential crisis. ”
- Chris Michael Harris
“My superpower as an entrepreneur was to work hard. I was willing to outwork anybody.”
- Chris Michael Harris
“In any business, you can accelerate the steps but you can't skip the steps.”
- Chris Michael Harris
Links:
Chris on LinkedIn
Chris on Twitter
Startup U Podcast
Chris on Instagram
Startup U Training Programs
Chris on Facebook
Chris on YouTube
Chris’s Website
Garmin Vivosmart
June Multifamily Event
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am happy to welcome Hoss Pratt. Hoss is the CEO and founder of Hoss Pratt International, the premier resource for agents and firms that want to take their business to the next level. He is the best-selling author of Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success and the creator of the super successful and popular “Listing Boss'' real estate course. Hoss is a nationally known authority when it comes to lead generation and lead conversion. He has a reach of tens of thousands through social media, speaking engagements, guest podcasting, and seminars. Hoss has been featured in major and local publications throughout his career including the Wall Street Select, Small Business Trendsetters, and the Daily Herald.
We begin this episode with Hoss sharing his background story. Growing up on a farm in northwest Missouri, as he likes to say, the odds were against him. But despite those odds, Hoss was showing his entrepreneurial spirit even as a teenager, when he started his own lawn care business. He built up a book of business, over 100 lawns, and got one of the biggest commercial contracts in the Midwest when he was just a teenager. Even though his brothers were athletes, Hoss’s role model was his father. He watched his father go to work every day, wearing a suit and a tie, and he wanted to be just like him.
Our next topic is the beginning of Hoss’s entrepreneurial journey. After his lawn care business took off, his mentor at the time advised him to go where the money is, which was Dallas, Texas. So, when he was 21 years old, he decided to sell his lawn business and move to Dallas. He sold his business to his brother, who still runs it with the same contracts that Hoss got back in the day. He explains how this was his first lesson in leaving the good to go to great and being willing to lose it all in order to gain everything.
Hoss then dives into explaining his first business moves in Texas. He shares that his first job was as a door-to-door salesman, and he believes that this is where he learned how to deal with rejection. After spending a few years in sales, he decided that it was time to elevate his skills. He got his real estate license and became a realtor. In the first six months of his real estate career, he lost his life savings. But he shares how he was able to turn that around and finish his year with nine million dollars in closed sales by going only after listings.
We dive deeper into Hoss’s strategy that helped him turn his business around in his first year as a real estate agent. He explains that his turning point was discovering the for sale by owner niche. He found people who wanted to sell their house, who were unrepresented and didn't have a licensed agent. At that point, it was a matter of him just calling and offering them his services. He would have these conversations over and over, for hours a day, just like he did when he went door to door, just like he did when he started his lawn service because it works every time.
We then move on to talking about how Hoss managed to recover his business after the financial crisis in 2008. Reflecting back on his business journey, he explains how pivoting has helped him stay in business and become successful. He pivots every 10 years; he pivoted after 9/11, and he pivoted right before the crash in 2008. He sold his business and decided to travel around the country teaching others how to become successful real estate agents and helping them through that crash. During that time, he did 1000 seminars in 48 states, teaching people everything he knew, from investing in real estate, selling more real estate, to making their business more successful through the best marketing and systems.
Hoss then shares his motives for writing his book, Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success. For him, it was a calling. He loves telling his story because he believes that's why he is living that story. So, he wanted to create a model that other agents and other people can follow. He believes that every successful agent, every successful entrepreneur should put their experience into a book in order to help other people.
Lastly, we talk about Hoss’s pivoting during COVID. He talks about his partnership with eXp, the world's fastest-growing cloud-based brokerage. He also explains why he believes that it's the only model out there that can help agents achieve financial freedom, from having equity in the brokerage to revenue sharing and increasing commissions. Hoss also gives his views of the market during the pandemic. He believes that, on the residential side, it's the greatest time in the history of real estate to sell a house.
Don’t miss the newest episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with super inspiring entrepreneur, Hoss Pratt, who shares some amazing actionable steps and instructions for achieving real estate success!
Notable Quotes:
“For as long as I remember, I had that curiosity and desire to make money.”
- Hoss Pratt
“That was my first lesson in leaving the good to go to great, being willing to lose it all to gain everything, and not letting my fear stop me.”
- Hoss Pratt
“As an entrepreneur, you have to cut the cord and trim the branches off the tree so you can bear fruit.”
- Hoss Pratt
“I wouldn't have become who I am today without that change of environment. Leaving the nest, where you come from, is such an important part of growth.”
- Hoss Pratt
“A key thing that I've seen in successful people is that there's a period of time where they had a season of repetitious selling.”
- Hoss Pratt
“I think what scares people about sales is hearing that ‘no.’ The best salespeople I've ever talked to and worked with, they don't even care, it doesn't bother them to hear a ‘no.’”
- Mike Simmons
“If you're struggling with selling, think in terms of repetitions. Instead of having five conversations a day, you need to have a hundred.”
- Hoss Pratt
“The first year I got into real estate, I lost my entire life savings in my first six months working 80 hours a week.”
- Hoss Pratt
“I finished my first year with nine million in closed sales, all of which came from the second part of my first year. I was Rookie of the Year.”
- Hoss Pratt
“There's riches and niches. And the nicher the niche, the richer the rich.”
- Hoss Pratt
“Find niches. Stop trying to be everything to all people. When you focus on a niche, it's easy to position yourself as the expert.”
- Hoss Pratt
“In those few years of me being on the road, I wasn't trying to get rich. I was building my skill, I was building my list, I was building relationships, I was building the audience.”
- Hoss Pratt
“In this industry, 95% of transactions are done by 5% of the agents.”
- Hoss Pratt
“Everything in life is about focus. What you focus on, you're gonna get better at.”
- Mike Simmons
“I love telling my story because I believe that's why I'm living this story.”
- Hoss Pratt
“The skillset of organizing my thoughts was probably the highest paying skillset that I've ever developed for myself.”
- Hoss Pratt
“If you are considering selling your house, now's the time.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Hoss on Facebook
Hoss on Twitter
Hoss on Instagram
Hoss on LinkedIn
Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success - COMPLETELY FREE
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am happy to welcome Hoss Pratt. Hoss is the CEO and founder of Hoss Pratt International, the premier resource for agents and firms that want to take their business to the next level. He is the best-selling author of Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success and the creator of the super successful and popular “Listing Boss'' real estate course. Hoss is a nationally known authority when it comes to lead generation and lead conversion. He has a reach of tens of thousands through social media, speaking engagements, guest podcasting, and seminars. Hoss has been featured in major and local publications throughout his career including the Wall Street Select, Small Business Trendsetters, and the Daily Herald.
We begin this episode with Hoss sharing his background story. Growing up on a farm in northwest Missouri, as he likes to say, the odds were against him. But despite those odds, Hoss was showing his entrepreneurial spirit even as a teenager, when he started his own lawn care business. He built up a book of business, over 100 lawns, and got one of the biggest commercial contracts in the Midwest when he was just a teenager. Even though his brothers were athletes, Hoss’s role model was his father. He watched his father go to work every day, wearing a suit and a tie, and he wanted to be just like him.
Our next topic is the beginning of Hoss’s entrepreneurial journey. After his lawn care business took off, his mentor at the time advised him to go where the money is, which was Dallas, Texas. So, when he was 21 years old, he decided to sell his lawn business and move to Dallas. He sold his business to his brother, who still runs it with the same contracts that Hoss got back in the day. He explains how this was his first lesson in leaving the good to go to great and being willing to lose it all in order to gain everything.
Hoss then dives into explaining his first business moves in Texas. He shares that his first job was as a door-to-door salesman, and he believes that this is where he learned how to deal with rejection. After spending a few years in sales, he decided that it was time to elevate his skills. He got his real estate license and became a realtor. In the first six months of his real estate career, he lost his life savings. But he shares how he was able to turn that around and finish his year with nine million dollars in closed sales by going only after listings.
We dive deeper into Hoss’s strategy that helped him turn his business around in his first year as a real estate agent. He explains that his turning point was discovering the for sale by owner niche. He found people who wanted to sell their house, who were unrepresented and didn't have a licensed agent. At that point, it was a matter of him just calling and offering them his services. He would have these conversations over and over, for hours a day, just like he did when he went door to door, just like he did when he started his lawn service because it works every time.
We then move on to talking about how Hoss managed to recover his business after the financial crisis in 2008. Reflecting back on his business journey, he explains how pivoting has helped him stay in business and become successful. He pivots every 10 years; he pivoted after 9/11, and he pivoted right before the crash in 2008. He sold his business and decided to travel around the country teaching others how to become successful real estate agents and helping them through that crash. During that time, he did 1000 seminars in 48 states, teaching people everything he knew, from investing in real estate, selling more real estate, to making their business more successful through the best marketing and systems.
Hoss then shares his motives for writing his book, Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success. For him, it was a calling. He loves telling his story because he believes that's why he is living that story. So, he wanted to create a model that other agents and other people can follow. He believes that every successful agent, every successful entrepreneur should put their experience into a book in order to help other people.
Lastly, we talk about Hoss’s pivoting during COVID. He talks about his partnership with eXp, the world's fastest-growing cloud-based brokerage. He also explains why he believes that it's the only model out there that can help agents achieve financial freedom, from having equity in the brokerage to revenue sharing and increasing commissions. Hoss also gives his views of the market during the pandemic. He believes that, on the residential side, it's the greatest time in the history of real estate to sell a house.
Don’t miss the newest episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with super inspiring entrepreneur, Hoss Pratt, who shares some amazing actionable steps and instructions for achieving real estate success!
Notable Quotes:
“For as long as I remember, I had that curiosity and desire to make money.”
- Hoss Pratt
“That was my first lesson in leaving the good to go to great, being willing to lose it all to gain everything, and not letting my fear stop me.”
- Hoss Pratt
“As an entrepreneur, you have to cut the cord and trim the branches off the tree so you can bear fruit.”
- Hoss Pratt
“I wouldn't have become who I am today without that change of environment. Leaving the nest, where you come from, is such an important part of growth.”
- Hoss Pratt
“A key thing that I've seen in successful people is that there's a period of time where they had a season of repetitious selling.”
- Hoss Pratt
“I think what scares people about sales is hearing that ‘no.’ The best salespeople I've ever talked to and worked with, they don't even care, it doesn't bother them to hear a ‘no.’”
- Mike Simmons
“If you're struggling with selling, think in terms of repetitions. Instead of having five conversations a day, you need to have a hundred.”
- Hoss Pratt
“The first year I got into real estate, I lost my entire life savings in my first six months working 80 hours a week.”
- Hoss Pratt
“I finished my first year with nine million in closed sales, all of which came from the second part of my first year. I was Rookie of the Year.”
- Hoss Pratt
“There's riches and niches. And the nicher the niche, the richer the rich.”
- Hoss Pratt
“Find niches. Stop trying to be everything to all people. When you focus on a niche, it's easy to position yourself as the expert.”
- Hoss Pratt
“In those few years of me being on the road, I wasn't trying to get rich. I was building my skill, I was building my list, I was building relationships, I was building the audience.”
- Hoss Pratt
“In this industry, 95% of transactions are done by 5% of the agents.”
- Hoss Pratt
“Everything in life is about focus. What you focus on, you're gonna get better at.”
- Mike Simmons
“I love telling my story because I believe that's why I'm living this story.”
- Hoss Pratt
“The skillset of organizing my thoughts was probably the highest paying skillset that I've ever developed for myself.”
- Hoss Pratt
“If you are considering selling your house, now's the time.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Hoss on Facebook
Hoss on Twitter
Hoss on Instagram
Hoss on LinkedIn
Listing Boss: The Definitive Blueprint for Real Estate Success - COMPLETELY FREE
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Stephen Scoggins. Stephen is an award-winning, successful, multi-million-dollar serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, and creator of Transform U. He has been featured all over the country in notable outlets such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, NBC, ABC, and many more. Stephen takes his 43+ years of setbacks, failures, breakdowns, losses, successes, and comebacks, and transparently uses them to provide simple yet effective step-by-step exercises to help anyone break through their limitations.
We start this episode with Stephen sharing his background story. He shares that his background reads a lot like Forrest Gump or Joseph from the Bible, depending on the perspective you come from. Growing up in a very difficult household, he was forced to grow up very quickly. He found himself homeless at the age of 21 and a lot of that had to do with him not knowing who he was and the value that he could provide. After what he calls a faith conversion, his entire life changed and within a year and a half, he went from being homeless to developing a multimillion dollar business.
We then moved on to discussing Stephen’s journey. He talks about the epiphany that led him to ask for a second chance. With the help of his father, he started working in construction with his first mentor. He made his first tools out of the lumber that was in the trash. He says that construction taught him how to use his hands, which taught him how to use his head which later taught him how to use his heart. Today, as an extremely successful entrepreneur, he believes that the greatest purpose you'll ever have in life is serving the person you used to be. His mission today is to help others achieve a higher level of success, whatever that may be for them.
Stephen also briefly reflects on his relationship with his parents. He shares how his whole perspective changed when he started thinking about his parents as wounded children that they once were. He talks about how this realization was one of the most pivotal moments in his life.
We then dive into discussing the importance of platforms that Stephen has today. When he first noticed that he had the ability to speak out, Stephen made a promise to himself that he was going to serve one person to the best of his ability and if that leads him to a greater platform, fantastic; if it doesn't, he's still going to serve that one person to the best of his ability. He believes that too many people today chase the platforms, rather than chasing the impact. But, helping the one will eventually lead to helping the many.
Lastly, we talk about what holds people back. Stephen explains why he believes that everything that is business-related is actually personally related. According to him, people’s pain points are hidden in one of three places: (1) who am I, (2) why am I here, (3) how do I do it. And if you want to move forward, in whatever way you think that you want to move forward, these are the things that you need to work on.
Don’t miss this incredible episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with some amazing life lessons that will help you figure out what is stopping you and allow you to go from stuck to unstoppable with the help of Stephen Scoggins!
Notable Quotes:
“I found myself homeless at the age of 21 and a lot of that had to do with me not knowing who I was, not knowing the value that I bring, not really doing any kind of talent assessment to really nail that down.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“My entire life is really dedicated to going back and serving the person that I used to be.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“I wanted to control the people, my outcomes, my results, every daily step. It’s like the tighter I tried to put a control factor on it, the more and more difficult life became for me, as a result.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“It was almost like I was walking around the world wearing a permanent pair of sunglasses. It didn't matter how bright the skies were or who I came in contact with, I always saw a dark tint, so to speak.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“You can't blame your parents, your entire life for how you are. At some point, you have to take control and break that chain.”
- Mike Simmons
“It pisses me off when people tell me they don't have the tools, they don't have the advantage. Like man, pull them out of the metaphorical garbage and get to work.”
- Mike Simmons
“People are not aware of what is around them, because they are not looking for it.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“When you're in business for yourself, you're gonna have an evolution of your identity.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The greatest mistake that I ever made in building a business was not building myself.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The construction industry taught me how to use my hands. That taught me how to use my head, which later taught me how to use my heart. And now every single endeavor that I take advantage of or pursue, comes out of that combination of heart, head, and hands.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The greatest purpose you'll ever have in life is serving the person you used to be.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The place that I find the greatest freedom, the greatest joy, the greatest purpose, the greatest passion, the things that inspire me the most, all have come from learning things along the journey from the homeless kid to here.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“Your money or influence don’t matter, you know what you needed at certain points in your life, and if you just take a moment to try to help people out who are in those same spots, what a great way to give back.”
- Mike Simmons
“Helping the one will eventually lead to helping the many.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“I think far too many people in general, chase a platform, rather than chasing the impact.”
- Stephen Scoggins
Links:
Stephen on Facebook
Stephen on Twitter
Stephen on Instagram
Stephen on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is Stephen Scoggins. Stephen is an award-winning, successful, multi-million-dollar serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, and creator of Transform U. He has been featured all over the country in notable outlets such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, NBC, ABC, and many more. Stephen takes his 43+ years of setbacks, failures, breakdowns, losses, successes, and comebacks, and transparently uses them to provide simple yet effective step-by-step exercises to help anyone break through their limitations.
We start this episode with Stephen sharing his background story. He shares that his background reads a lot like Forrest Gump or Joseph from the Bible, depending on the perspective you come from. Growing up in a very difficult household, he was forced to grow up very quickly. He found himself homeless at the age of 21 and a lot of that had to do with him not knowing who he was and the value that he could provide. After what he calls a faith conversion, his entire life changed and within a year and a half, he went from being homeless to developing a multimillion dollar business.
We then moved on to discussing Stephen’s journey. He talks about the epiphany that led him to ask for a second chance. With the help of his father, he started working in construction with his first mentor. He made his first tools out of the lumber that was in the trash. He says that construction taught him how to use his hands, which taught him how to use his head which later taught him how to use his heart. Today, as an extremely successful entrepreneur, he believes that the greatest purpose you'll ever have in life is serving the person you used to be. His mission today is to help others achieve a higher level of success, whatever that may be for them.
Stephen also briefly reflects on his relationship with his parents. He shares how his whole perspective changed when he started thinking about his parents as wounded children that they once were. He talks about how this realization was one of the most pivotal moments in his life.
We then dive into discussing the importance of platforms that Stephen has today. When he first noticed that he had the ability to speak out, Stephen made a promise to himself that he was going to serve one person to the best of his ability and if that leads him to a greater platform, fantastic; if it doesn't, he's still going to serve that one person to the best of his ability. He believes that too many people today chase the platforms, rather than chasing the impact. But, helping the one will eventually lead to helping the many.
Lastly, we talk about what holds people back. Stephen explains why he believes that everything that is business-related is actually personally related. According to him, people’s pain points are hidden in one of three places: (1) who am I, (2) why am I here, (3) how do I do it. And if you want to move forward, in whatever way you think that you want to move forward, these are the things that you need to work on.
Don’t miss this incredible episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with some amazing life lessons that will help you figure out what is stopping you and allow you to go from stuck to unstoppable with the help of Stephen Scoggins!
Notable Quotes:
“I found myself homeless at the age of 21 and a lot of that had to do with me not knowing who I was, not knowing the value that I bring, not really doing any kind of talent assessment to really nail that down.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“My entire life is really dedicated to going back and serving the person that I used to be.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“I wanted to control the people, my outcomes, my results, every daily step. It’s like the tighter I tried to put a control factor on it, the more and more difficult life became for me, as a result.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“It was almost like I was walking around the world wearing a permanent pair of sunglasses. It didn't matter how bright the skies were or who I came in contact with, I always saw a dark tint, so to speak.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“You can't blame your parents, your entire life for how you are. At some point, you have to take control and break that chain.”
- Mike Simmons
“It pisses me off when people tell me they don't have the tools, they don't have the advantage. Like man, pull them out of the metaphorical garbage and get to work.”
- Mike Simmons
“People are not aware of what is around them, because they are not looking for it.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“When you're in business for yourself, you're gonna have an evolution of your identity.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The greatest mistake that I ever made in building a business was not building myself.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The construction industry taught me how to use my hands. That taught me how to use my head, which later taught me how to use my heart. And now every single endeavor that I take advantage of or pursue, comes out of that combination of heart, head, and hands.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The greatest purpose you'll ever have in life is serving the person you used to be.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“The place that I find the greatest freedom, the greatest joy, the greatest purpose, the greatest passion, the things that inspire me the most, all have come from learning things along the journey from the homeless kid to here.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“Your money or influence don’t matter, you know what you needed at certain points in your life, and if you just take a moment to try to help people out who are in those same spots, what a great way to give back.”
- Mike Simmons
“Helping the one will eventually lead to helping the many.”
- Stephen Scoggins
“I think far too many people in general, chase a platform, rather than chasing the impact.”
- Stephen Scoggins
Links:
Stephen on Facebook
Stephen on Twitter
Stephen on Instagram
Stephen on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Ben Leybovich. Ben is an author, business owner, real estate investor, popular podcast host, and featured writer on the BiggerPockets Blog. He was professionally trained as a classical violinist but a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in college spelled the end of his dream of becoming a professional musician. Today, he is managing partner of WhiteHaven Capital, a private equity investment firm specializing in the acquisition and repositioning of underperforming multifamily assets in high-growth markets. In the past 7 years, he has managed to assemble a $1.5M personal real estate portfolio with 28 doors, generating over $165K of annual rent revenue with an annual cash flow of around $40K.
We start today’s episode with Ben’s background story. Around 2013, Ben grew his portfolio in Ohio and he got to a place where he realized that he could continue doing what he was doing and be somewhat successful, achieve financial independence, and a passive cash flow. But, he reached what he refers to as an inflection point. He wasn’t growing, he wasn't getting smarter or better. He realized that he needed to raise capital, he needed to attract equity, he needed to buy big deals, syndicate big deals. But he didn't want to do that in the Midwest, because he understood the Midwest very well and knew that it wasn’t a growth market. So, he decided to move to Phoenix with his family. He bought a house there and rented it out on Airbnb, but his plan was always to syndicate.
We then moved on to discussing how Ben got the knowledge he needed to tackle syndication. He shares with us that he was always blessed with people in his life who would, not necessarily give him all the answers, but shine the light on the important stuff to point him in the right direction to figure things out. This was true before he bought his first duplex and this was also true before he bought his first 100 unit community.
Ben then goes on to share his strategy for syndicating a building, how to navigate this dynamic area and all the challenges that come with it. His strategy is all about doing more, not less, and he explains how this acts as his safety trigger. If you spend less money and ten other people spend less money when there's a downturn, you are racing everybody to the bottom and you have exactly the same product that everybody else has. There's no daylight between the product you're offering to the marketplace and the product everybody else is offering to the marketplace. So, you are taking on a lot of risks, but you are also reaping a lot of rewards for it.
We discuss Ben’s strategy for finding potential syndication properties in Phoenix. These types of deals are extraordinarily hard to come by and most of it comes to Ben off-market through brokers. He also shares what are some of the things that he looks for in a deal that a broker brings to him, to determine whether or not it's something he is interested in pursuing and moving to the next step. These include location, vintage, type of mechanical setup, unit mix, and unit size.
We then move on to the topic of financing these multimillion-dollar deals. Here, Ben explains that it is all done through private placements and through private networks, without advertisement. Ben has been in the real estate business for some time, and he is a known commodity, and he got there by realizing that the best way to be known is to be helpful. This is the reason why he wrote his book, created his course, and started his podcast; he wanted to create content that is real, actionable, and helpful.
Lastly, Ben shares why he doesn’t care how the COVID pandemic will affect his business in the next 18-24 months. There are few reasons for this - first, all of his projects are capitalized; second, he is prepared to hold for a decade if he needs to; and third, if times are good, he is selling and making a bunch of money and if times are bad, he is buying at a discount and making a bunch of money. He explains that his business operates on both defense and offense and what that actually means in the real estate world.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is filled with honest, real, and actionable content from syndicator, Ben Leybovich!
Notable Quotes:
“In a man’s life, there comes a point, and if you look at successful people this happens several times, let's call them an inflection point, where you look at yourself in the mirror and you realize that the cup that was you yesterday, that's overflowing now. There's nothing more that is going in that cup, and now it's spilling over, And you may not know exactly what you are today but you do know that you're not the same thing you were yesterday.”
- Ben Leybovich
“For me, it was just all about education, it's all about feeling that the intellectual worth is taking the next step and the next step and the next step because the money always follows.”
- Ben Leybovich
“We just sit there and we look at the marketplace, and we look at the asset, and we ask the question: Who can we pair this with, what kind of buyer profile, buyer avatar, will be interested in this. And every month, we go through his exercise.”
- Ben Leybovich
“We underwrite everything presuming we have to stay in for ten years, but we're happy to get out in a year and a half if the right opportunity presents itself.”
- Ben Leybovich
“Most people think it's safer to spend less money because the less you spend, the less you can lose. Yeah, but if you spend less money and ten other people spend less money, then when there's a downturn, you are racing everybody to the bottom and you have exactly the same sh*t that everybody else has.”
- Ben Leybovich
“At every stage in the property cycle, it's a slightly different buyer profile that's interested in it.”
- Ben Leybovich
“You're prepared to stay there for a long time if need be if you can't find an exit. But in order to find the exit, you need to be looking for that and you got to position the property for that and that's what we do. That's my job.”
- Ben Leybovich
“Don't try to be anonymous in this industry. Don't think that you can operate under a rock and never talk about anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“Somewhere down the line, I realized that being helpful is the best way to be known.”
- Ben Leybovich
“If I want to know something, I bet you there's a bunch of people who want to know the same thing, about the same stuff, for the same reasons that I want to know about it.”
- Ben Leybovich
“The whole premise that underlines everything in entrepreneurship is that you are filling a knowledge gap for someone. The more people you fill that knowledge gap for, the more pay off you're going to see in the end.”
- Ben Leybovich
Links:
WhiteHaven Capital
Just Ask Ben on Facebook
Just Ask Ben on Twitter
Just Ask Ben on YouTube
Just Ask Ben on Instagram
Ben on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Ben Leybovich. Ben is an author, business owner, real estate investor, popular podcast host, and featured writer on the BiggerPockets Blog. He was professionally trained as a classical violinist but a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in college spelled the end of his dream of becoming a professional musician. Today, he is managing partner of WhiteHaven Capital, a private equity investment firm specializing in the acquisition and repositioning of underperforming multifamily assets in high-growth markets. In the past 7 years, he has managed to assemble a $1.5M personal real estate portfolio with 28 doors, generating over $165K of annual rent revenue with an annual cash flow of around $40K.
We start today’s episode with Ben’s background story. Around 2013, Ben grew his portfolio in Ohio and he got to a place where he realized that he could continue doing what he was doing and be somewhat successful, achieve financial independence, and a passive cash flow. But, he reached what he refers to as an inflection point. He wasn’t growing, he wasn't getting smarter or better. He realized that he needed to raise capital, he needed to attract equity, he needed to buy big deals, syndicate big deals. But he didn't want to do that in the Midwest, because he understood the Midwest very well and knew that it wasn’t a growth market. So, he decided to move to Phoenix with his family. He bought a house there and rented it out on Airbnb, but his plan was always to syndicate.
We then moved on to discussing how Ben got the knowledge he needed to tackle syndication. He shares with us that he was always blessed with people in his life who would, not necessarily give him all the answers, but shine the light on the important stuff to point him in the right direction to figure things out. This was true before he bought his first duplex and this was also true before he bought his first 100 unit community.
Ben then goes on to share his strategy for syndicating a building, how to navigate this dynamic area and all the challenges that come with it. His strategy is all about doing more, not less, and he explains how this acts as his safety trigger. If you spend less money and ten other people spend less money when there's a downturn, you are racing everybody to the bottom and you have exactly the same product that everybody else has. There's no daylight between the product you're offering to the marketplace and the product everybody else is offering to the marketplace. So, you are taking on a lot of risks, but you are also reaping a lot of rewards for it.
We discuss Ben’s strategy for finding potential syndication properties in Phoenix. These types of deals are extraordinarily hard to come by and most of it comes to Ben off-market through brokers. He also shares what are some of the things that he looks for in a deal that a broker brings to him, to determine whether or not it's something he is interested in pursuing and moving to the next step. These include location, vintage, type of mechanical setup, unit mix, and unit size.
We then move on to the topic of financing these multimillion-dollar deals. Here, Ben explains that it is all done through private placements and through private networks, without advertisement. Ben has been in the real estate business for some time, and he is a known commodity, and he got there by realizing that the best way to be known is to be helpful. This is the reason why he wrote his book, created his course, and started his podcast; he wanted to create content that is real, actionable, and helpful.
Lastly, Ben shares why he doesn’t care how the COVID pandemic will affect his business in the next 18-24 months. There are few reasons for this - first, all of his projects are capitalized; second, he is prepared to hold for a decade if he needs to; and third, if times are good, he is selling and making a bunch of money and if times are bad, he is buying at a discount and making a bunch of money. He explains that his business operates on both defense and offense and what that actually means in the real estate world.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is filled with honest, real, and actionable content from syndicator, Ben Leybovich!
Notable Quotes:
“In a man’s life, there comes a point, and if you look at successful people this happens several times, let's call them an inflection point, where you look at yourself in the mirror and you realize that the cup that was you yesterday, that's overflowing now. There's nothing more that is going in that cup, and now it's spilling over, And you may not know exactly what you are today but you do know that you're not the same thing you were yesterday.”
- Ben Leybovich
“For me, it was just all about education, it's all about feeling that the intellectual worth is taking the next step and the next step and the next step because the money always follows.”
- Ben Leybovich
“We just sit there and we look at the marketplace, and we look at the asset, and we ask the question: Who can we pair this with, what kind of buyer profile, buyer avatar, will be interested in this. And every month, we go through his exercise.”
- Ben Leybovich
“We underwrite everything presuming we have to stay in for ten years, but we're happy to get out in a year and a half if the right opportunity presents itself.”
- Ben Leybovich
“Most people think it's safer to spend less money because the less you spend, the less you can lose. Yeah, but if you spend less money and ten other people spend less money, then when there's a downturn, you are racing everybody to the bottom and you have exactly the same sh*t that everybody else has.”
- Ben Leybovich
“At every stage in the property cycle, it's a slightly different buyer profile that's interested in it.”
- Ben Leybovich
“You're prepared to stay there for a long time if need be if you can't find an exit. But in order to find the exit, you need to be looking for that and you got to position the property for that and that's what we do. That's my job.”
- Ben Leybovich
“Don't try to be anonymous in this industry. Don't think that you can operate under a rock and never talk about anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“Somewhere down the line, I realized that being helpful is the best way to be known.”
- Ben Leybovich
“If I want to know something, I bet you there's a bunch of people who want to know the same thing, about the same stuff, for the same reasons that I want to know about it.”
- Ben Leybovich
“The whole premise that underlines everything in entrepreneurship is that you are filling a knowledge gap for someone. The more people you fill that knowledge gap for, the more pay off you're going to see in the end.”
- Ben Leybovich
Links:
WhiteHaven Capital
Just Ask Ben on Facebook
Just Ask Ben on Twitter
Just Ask Ben on YouTube
Just Ask Ben on Instagram
Ben on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is self-storage expert, Stacy Rossetti. Stacy is a real estate investing expert, speaker, and coach, who is focusing on self-storage properties and renovations. She owns and operates the REI USA, an online education and networking platform, and StorageNerds, a self-storage investing mastermind, and group coaching mentorship. Together with her husband Pete, she currently owns and operates eight storage facilities. Stacy has overcome many trials and tribulations and today runs several successful small businesses.
We start today’s episode, as we usually do, with Stacy sharing her background story. After her college graduation, Stacy started her career working for a company that built wind turbines. She loved her job but felt burned out from all the traveling she had to do. So, after eight years she decided to quit her job. During that time, her husband started his own home inspection company and encouraged her to get into real estate investing.
We then moved on to discussing how and why Stacy got into self-storage investing. She explains how at one point after she began investing, she found herself working on fifteen rehabs at the same time. She decided that it was time to stop buying properties and she started convincing her lenders to switch to something else. That is when her realtor found a storage facility that was just twenty minutes away from her house and had been on the market for five years. She drove up, saw it, and decided that this was the perfect path to passive income.
We then dive into discussing how Stacy figured out the entire process with storage facilities. She first explains how the storage investing world is a very small niche and there are only about 15,000 units in the country. She also explains how managing storage facilities can be totally virtual, and if you learn how to run one of them, you’ll know how to run them all and you are not bound by their location. She goes on to tell us how she has delegated her acquisitions process and that employee is the one who is trying to find new storage facilities for her to buy.
Our next topic of conversation is four things to look at when you are buying a storage facility. Those four things are purchase price, annual income, vacancy rate, and annual expenses. When you have those four things you can calculate your cap rate, and your cap rate is really based on your location. The way that cap rate works is you're going to have a 5%-7% cap rate when you're inside a major city and as you go out of that primary area to your secondary market, the cap rate is 8%-9%. The further that you go out from a primary market, your cap rate gets higher. When you get into what's called tertiary markets, that's when you can have a 10+% cap rate.
We then discussed how Stacy funds her storage facilities. She shares that there are three ways to fund a storage facility deal: private money, hard money, and bank or SBA loans. The funding essentially depends on what kind of property you want to get. If it's a mismanaged property, a bank is not going to fund that, so you'd have to get a private lender or a hard money lender to fund that deal. When you want to buy an income-producing property, you can go to a bank or get an SBA loan.
Lastly, we talk about five ways that people can make money in self-storage. According to Stacy, those five ways are mismanaged facilities, cash-flowing properties, new construction, conversions, and wholesaling. She explains that conversions are retail buildings that are now being converted into storage facilities. Stacy also tells us how wholesaling storage facilities is nothing like wholesaling residential properties. In the storage investing world, you need to prepare a package, a whole presentation with all the details and all of the numbers.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, which is all about an amazing segment of our industry, self-storage investing, and get some valuable lessons from Stacy Rossetti!
Notable Quotes:
“I just became more and more confident in just telling my lenders what my terms are.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“As a mother, what I wanted was security.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“The storage investing world is a very small niche. There are only 15,000 storage facilities in the country.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“Don't be afraid to run your business and make a profit, because that's the whole point of buying these properties.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“If you learn how to run storage facilities, they are totally virtual. They're totally electronic, totally passive, so you can really be anywhere in the country and run them.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“You have to really look at the bigger picture and run the numbers. That's the hardest part of the whole thing.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“The higher the cap rate, the riskier the property.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“Start educating yourself on the population of your towns, and then what you do is you reverse engineer how much money do you have or you can come up with.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“Storage facilities are considered recession-resistant.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“If you want to do new construction, you can triple your investment. New construction is the way to go right now, especially for storage facilities.”
- Stacy Rossetti
Links:
Stacy on Facebook
Stacy on Instagram
Stacy on YouTube
Stacy’s Website
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is self-storage expert, Stacy Rossetti. Stacy is a real estate investing expert, speaker, and coach, who is focusing on self-storage properties and renovations. She owns and operates the REI USA, an online education and networking platform, and StorageNerds, a self-storage investing mastermind, and group coaching mentorship. Together with her husband Pete, she currently owns and operates eight storage facilities. Stacy has overcome many trials and tribulations and today runs several successful small businesses.
We start today’s episode, as we usually do, with Stacy sharing her background story. After her college graduation, Stacy started her career working for a company that built wind turbines. She loved her job but felt burned out from all the traveling she had to do. So, after eight years she decided to quit her job. During that time, her husband started his own home inspection company and encouraged her to get into real estate investing.
We then moved on to discussing how and why Stacy got into self-storage investing. She explains how at one point after she began investing, she found herself working on fifteen rehabs at the same time. She decided that it was time to stop buying properties and she started convincing her lenders to switch to something else. That is when her realtor found a storage facility that was just twenty minutes away from her house and had been on the market for five years. She drove up, saw it, and decided that this was the perfect path to passive income.
We then dive into discussing how Stacy figured out the entire process with storage facilities. She first explains how the storage investing world is a very small niche and there are only about 15,000 units in the country. She also explains how managing storage facilities can be totally virtual, and if you learn how to run one of them, you’ll know how to run them all and you are not bound by their location. She goes on to tell us how she has delegated her acquisitions process and that employee is the one who is trying to find new storage facilities for her to buy.
Our next topic of conversation is four things to look at when you are buying a storage facility. Those four things are purchase price, annual income, vacancy rate, and annual expenses. When you have those four things you can calculate your cap rate, and your cap rate is really based on your location. The way that cap rate works is you're going to have a 5%-7% cap rate when you're inside a major city and as you go out of that primary area to your secondary market, the cap rate is 8%-9%. The further that you go out from a primary market, your cap rate gets higher. When you get into what's called tertiary markets, that's when you can have a 10+% cap rate.
We then discussed how Stacy funds her storage facilities. She shares that there are three ways to fund a storage facility deal: private money, hard money, and bank or SBA loans. The funding essentially depends on what kind of property you want to get. If it's a mismanaged property, a bank is not going to fund that, so you'd have to get a private lender or a hard money lender to fund that deal. When you want to buy an income-producing property, you can go to a bank or get an SBA loan.
Lastly, we talk about five ways that people can make money in self-storage. According to Stacy, those five ways are mismanaged facilities, cash-flowing properties, new construction, conversions, and wholesaling. She explains that conversions are retail buildings that are now being converted into storage facilities. Stacy also tells us how wholesaling storage facilities is nothing like wholesaling residential properties. In the storage investing world, you need to prepare a package, a whole presentation with all the details and all of the numbers.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, which is all about an amazing segment of our industry, self-storage investing, and get some valuable lessons from Stacy Rossetti!
Notable Quotes:
“I just became more and more confident in just telling my lenders what my terms are.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“As a mother, what I wanted was security.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“The storage investing world is a very small niche. There are only 15,000 storage facilities in the country.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“Don't be afraid to run your business and make a profit, because that's the whole point of buying these properties.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“If you learn how to run storage facilities, they are totally virtual. They're totally electronic, totally passive, so you can really be anywhere in the country and run them.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“You have to really look at the bigger picture and run the numbers. That's the hardest part of the whole thing.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“The higher the cap rate, the riskier the property.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“Start educating yourself on the population of your towns, and then what you do is you reverse engineer how much money do you have or you can come up with.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“Storage facilities are considered recession-resistant.”
- Stacy Rossetti
“If you want to do new construction, you can triple your investment. New construction is the way to go right now, especially for storage facilities.”
- Stacy Rossetti
Links:
Stacy on Facebook
Stacy on Instagram
Stacy on YouTube
Stacy’s Website
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is the legitimate social media celebrity, Daniel Iles! Daniel is a TikTok and Youtube creator who bought a staggering $1,000,000 in real estate during his first year of investing while only putting $23,000 down. He did this by leveraging credit to invest, and in the process, he accumulated almost 1M travel points, enabling him to see the world. His goal now is to teach others absolutely everything they need to know to live a life free of financial struggles.
We start the episode with Daniel sharing his background story and how he started his career as an entrepreneur. After he graduated from university with his degrees in Accounting and Business Administration, he knew that he wanted to be an entrepreneur. As he was trying to learn as much as he could about entrepreneurship, he didn’t have a real focus on intentionally getting into real estate. He started by reading a bunch of books because he didn't have any experience in real estate prior to that, and he didn't know anyone in the field. So, he basically had to start from scratch, just using what he learned through books and podcasts.
We then move on to talk about Daniel’s career in social media and how real estate has allowed him to leave his 9-5 job to focus on his career as a social media creator. When he first started, he simply couldn't devote enough time to content creation. It wasn't until he was able to leave his 9-5 accounting job, thanks to the cash flow he was receiving from his rental properties, that he could really put a solid effort into social media and really learn what works in the social media world. Daniel shares that this was a two-year journey where he faced a lot of failures and difficult experiences trying to improve himself, and then all of a sudden, this last November, he was able to leave his accounting job and from there it's just been a snowball effect, allowing him to rapidly grow.
Our next topic is why and how Daniel got into real estate. He was 22 when he bought his first duplex with an FHA loan, and what really got him into it was the understanding that he didn't need most of what many people think you need to start in real estate: a long employment history, a huge income, and a lot of money saved up, all of which he didn't have because he had just gotten out of college. He was able to find strategies that allowed him to invest in real estate just by accumulating knowledge from other real estate investors. So, his first property ended up being an FHA-backed property, FHA insured, which means he was able to get in the property with 3.5% down.
Daniel then shares with us some of his creative financing options when it comes to buying properties. He used more flexible lenders, private lenders, credit unions to purchase his other properties with $0 down. He was still right out of college, he still didn't have much money, but he was saving a lot more because his rentals were covering his monthly living expenses. He would find flexible lenders and negotiate the purchase price down, and he would be able to buy it using that spread between the purchase price and what the property is actually worth as his down payment, rather than having to pay that himself. He did do some renovations on those properties and he was able to increase the value even more. Then he could go about selling the property or refinancing them to be able to get all that money out and then some.
Eventually, we talk about Daniel’s goals when he first got started in real estate versus his goals now. When he first started out, he had the goal to buy tons of rental properties so he would just be able to sit back and collect the profits. But once he started buying into them, he realized that his mindset at the time was really limited by what he knew about real estate. Once he actually started doing it, his goals shifted. He realized that he could get paid large sums of potentially tax-free money just from buying a property with no money down, and then somehow liquidating that equity. Almost like a wholesale, but he is the only person involved in the transaction. This was a much better option because he is able to keep the asset in many of the cases.
Lastly, we talk about the scope of what Daniel has done so far. He did have an aggressive outlook on what he wanted to do in real estate and he’s been able to accumulate quite an impressive portfolio in a short amount of time, at a pretty young age. He was 23 years old when he bought his second property, and at that point, he had about half a million dollars in total assets. Right now, he is at 1.4 million dollars and is looking at another acquisition. So basically, he went from half a million dollars in real estate to upwards of 2 million, in just two years and at the age of 24.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with an amazing young real-estate investor Daniel Iles, who was able to generate incredible results by educating himself, really going for it, and putting himself out there!
Notable Quotes:
“So much wealth is created in real estate, it just seemed like it's something that I had to give a solid try to.”
- Daniel Iles
“I hope it encourages some of the newer real estate investors, who are potentially listening, to understand that you really can change your life extremely quickly with real estate. It really is that powerful.”
- Daniel Iles
“Having an actual plan that has a conservative component to it or that doesn't just wreck you if you don't succeed immediately, is really, really smart.”
- Mike Simmons
“If I didn't at least give it my best shot, it would be something that I continue to regret for years on. Because I knew that accounting wasn't my destiny. I knew that it wasn't my end goal in life to be an accountant.”
- Daniel Iles
“I think that there are many times where I came across this where I wasn't ready to go all in. I wasn't ready to spend a little bit of money. I wasn't ready to invest in something that I knew could improve me, and that's really what ended up holding me back.”
- Daniel Iles
“I just took everything a lot more seriously, once I made that investment. There's like a mental switch.”
- Daniel Iles
“If you're creating video or audio content of any kind, I think the lesson here is to up your game a little and take it seriously.”
- Mike Simmons
“Whether you're a realtor, whether you're a rental property manager, whether you're just a construction contractor, it is only going to benefit you if you want to put yourself out there.”
- Daniel Iles
“I was able to find strategies that allowed me to invest in real estate, just by accumulating knowledge from other real estate investors.”
- Daniel Iles
“It's all about just being creative in general, being someone who just won't take no for an answer or won't accept not getting to where they want to go.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think the books about mindset had the biggest impact on me because I thought about giving up many times.”
- Daniel Iles
“I still definitely believe in real estate as a vehicle of investment because you can buy a property and instantly increase your net worth by $20,000, $30,000, or $40,000.”
- Daniel Iles
“I spent a number of years thinking about real estate, planning and thinking that it's too hard and I really have to take my time. I wasted time completely, and I think a lot of people spend their life wasting time.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Daniel on YouTube
Daniel on TikTok
Daniel on Instagram
The Book on Investing In Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down
How We Bought a 24-Unit Apartment Building for (Almost) No Money Down
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is the legitimate social media celebrity, Daniel Iles! Daniel is a TikTok and Youtube creator who bought a staggering $1,000,000 in real estate during his first year of investing while only putting $23,000 down. He did this by leveraging credit to invest, and in the process, he accumulated almost 1M travel points, enabling him to see the world. His goal now is to teach others absolutely everything they need to know to live a life free of financial struggles.
We start the episode with Daniel sharing his background story and how he started his career as an entrepreneur. After he graduated from university with his degrees in Accounting and Business Administration, he knew that he wanted to be an entrepreneur. As he was trying to learn as much as he could about entrepreneurship, he didn’t have a real focus on intentionally getting into real estate. He started by reading a bunch of books because he didn't have any experience in real estate prior to that, and he didn't know anyone in the field. So, he basically had to start from scratch, just using what he learned through books and podcasts.
We then move on to talk about Daniel’s career in social media and how real estate has allowed him to leave his 9-5 job to focus on his career as a social media creator. When he first started, he simply couldn't devote enough time to content creation. It wasn't until he was able to leave his 9-5 accounting job, thanks to the cash flow he was receiving from his rental properties, that he could really put a solid effort into social media and really learn what works in the social media world. Daniel shares that this was a two-year journey where he faced a lot of failures and difficult experiences trying to improve himself, and then all of a sudden, this last November, he was able to leave his accounting job and from there it's just been a snowball effect, allowing him to rapidly grow.
Our next topic is why and how Daniel got into real estate. He was 22 when he bought his first duplex with an FHA loan, and what really got him into it was the understanding that he didn't need most of what many people think you need to start in real estate: a long employment history, a huge income, and a lot of money saved up, all of which he didn't have because he had just gotten out of college. He was able to find strategies that allowed him to invest in real estate just by accumulating knowledge from other real estate investors. So, his first property ended up being an FHA-backed property, FHA insured, which means he was able to get in the property with 3.5% down.
Daniel then shares with us some of his creative financing options when it comes to buying properties. He used more flexible lenders, private lenders, credit unions to purchase his other properties with $0 down. He was still right out of college, he still didn't have much money, but he was saving a lot more because his rentals were covering his monthly living expenses. He would find flexible lenders and negotiate the purchase price down, and he would be able to buy it using that spread between the purchase price and what the property is actually worth as his down payment, rather than having to pay that himself. He did do some renovations on those properties and he was able to increase the value even more. Then he could go about selling the property or refinancing them to be able to get all that money out and then some.
Eventually, we talk about Daniel’s goals when he first got started in real estate versus his goals now. When he first started out, he had the goal to buy tons of rental properties so he would just be able to sit back and collect the profits. But once he started buying into them, he realized that his mindset at the time was really limited by what he knew about real estate. Once he actually started doing it, his goals shifted. He realized that he could get paid large sums of potentially tax-free money just from buying a property with no money down, and then somehow liquidating that equity. Almost like a wholesale, but he is the only person involved in the transaction. This was a much better option because he is able to keep the asset in many of the cases.
Lastly, we talk about the scope of what Daniel has done so far. He did have an aggressive outlook on what he wanted to do in real estate and he’s been able to accumulate quite an impressive portfolio in a short amount of time, at a pretty young age. He was 23 years old when he bought his second property, and at that point, he had about half a million dollars in total assets. Right now, he is at 1.4 million dollars and is looking at another acquisition. So basically, he went from half a million dollars in real estate to upwards of 2 million, in just two years and at the age of 24.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, with an amazing young real-estate investor Daniel Iles, who was able to generate incredible results by educating himself, really going for it, and putting himself out there!
Notable Quotes:
“So much wealth is created in real estate, it just seemed like it's something that I had to give a solid try to.”
- Daniel Iles
“I hope it encourages some of the newer real estate investors, who are potentially listening, to understand that you really can change your life extremely quickly with real estate. It really is that powerful.”
- Daniel Iles
“Having an actual plan that has a conservative component to it or that doesn't just wreck you if you don't succeed immediately, is really, really smart.”
- Mike Simmons
“If I didn't at least give it my best shot, it would be something that I continue to regret for years on. Because I knew that accounting wasn't my destiny. I knew that it wasn't my end goal in life to be an accountant.”
- Daniel Iles
“I think that there are many times where I came across this where I wasn't ready to go all in. I wasn't ready to spend a little bit of money. I wasn't ready to invest in something that I knew could improve me, and that's really what ended up holding me back.”
- Daniel Iles
“I just took everything a lot more seriously, once I made that investment. There's like a mental switch.”
- Daniel Iles
“If you're creating video or audio content of any kind, I think the lesson here is to up your game a little and take it seriously.”
- Mike Simmons
“Whether you're a realtor, whether you're a rental property manager, whether you're just a construction contractor, it is only going to benefit you if you want to put yourself out there.”
- Daniel Iles
“I was able to find strategies that allowed me to invest in real estate, just by accumulating knowledge from other real estate investors.”
- Daniel Iles
“It's all about just being creative in general, being someone who just won't take no for an answer or won't accept not getting to where they want to go.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think the books about mindset had the biggest impact on me because I thought about giving up many times.”
- Daniel Iles
“I still definitely believe in real estate as a vehicle of investment because you can buy a property and instantly increase your net worth by $20,000, $30,000, or $40,000.”
- Daniel Iles
“I spent a number of years thinking about real estate, planning and thinking that it's too hard and I really have to take my time. I wasted time completely, and I think a lot of people spend their life wasting time.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Daniel on YouTube
Daniel on TikTok
Daniel on Instagram
The Book on Investing In Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down
How We Bought a 24-Unit Apartment Building for (Almost) No Money Down
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am truly excited for today’s episode because I am joined by the amazing Gino Wickman! Gino has been an entrepreneur since the age of 21 and he always had an obsession for learning what makes businesses thrive. After taking over and transforming his family business at the age of 25, Gino then set out to help business leaders achieve their goals. Based on his years of real-world experience, he created the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a practical method for helping companies achieve greatness. The EOS Tools are being used by more than 70,000 companies. He is also the author of the award-winning, best-selling book Traction: Get a Grip on your Business and his newest endeavor, The Entrepreneurial Leap. The mission of Entrepreneurial Leap is to find all of the entrepreneurs-in-the-making, at any age, wherever they are to help them realize their purpose and live the life they were born to live.
We begin the episode with Gino’s background story and how he found his true passion, which is helping other entrepreneurs. After turning his father’s company around and ultimately selling it, he spent the next five years creating the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). He then decided to leverage it by writing a book and building a team of EOS implementers. Fast forward to today, they now have 425 implementers all over the world, 100,000 companies running on that system, and over a million copies of the book sold!
Our next topic is Gino’s new book, The Entrepreneurial Leap. According to his new book, there are six traits that every entrepreneur needs in order to be successful: visionary, passionate, problem-solver, driven, risk-taker, and responsible. Gino wrote this book in three parts: confirm, glimpse and path. There is a psychology and a reason behind that linear approach: confirm is about confirming whether or not you have those six essential traits, glimpse is about showing you a glimpse of all the possibilities, and path is about showing you a path to greatly increase your odds of success.
We continue our discussion about Gino’s book, but we move onto the characteristics of entrepreneurs. The characteristics of an entrepreneur are different than the six essential traits and Gino uses more of what he calls the 80% rule, meaning you don't have to have 100% of these characteristics but you should have most of them. Some of these characteristics are: idea generator, dreamer, earner, curious, always thinking about the future, and great strategic thinker. But also some challenging ones, like: trouble staying focused, get bored easily, disorganized, control freak, perfectionist, not necessarily financially savvy, etc. According to Gino, it is extremely important to know your weaknesses as an entrepreneur, because that allows you to go hire someone to handle all those weaknesses for you.
We then discuss the 6th essential skill, which is responsible. One of the ways that Gino explains about being responsible is to blame no one. In Gino’s own words: if you're an entrepreneur who owns a building and that building gets hit by a meteor, that was your fault. In other words, a responsible person will say: I chose that building, I built that building, I moved there, that's my fault and this is my problem to solve. And an irresponsible person will blame everyone else for what happened. This is one of the reasons why Gino believes that people are born with these traits and that they can't be taught, and it’s nature over nurture.
Our next topic is the eight critical mistakes that create a nightmare scenario for entrepreneurs: not having a vision, hiring wrong people, not spending time with your people, not knowing who your customer is, not charging enough, not staying true to your core, not knowing your numbers and not crystalizing roles and responsibilities. In his book, Gino shares countless real-world stories, so that you can see entrepreneurs who were where you are and what they built. We also discuss the importance of mentorship. Having a mentor will get you there faster, but please know that not having a mentor doesn't mean that you're going to fail. A mentor is simply someone who is where you want to be and an opportunity for them to share their wisdom and for you to share your problems, insights, thoughts, questions, challenges, and they can help you because they've experienced all that.
Eventually, we discuss the difference between passion and passionate. Passionate is an essential trait, one of the six you must have to be an entrepreneur. What Gino teaches in his book is the vital necessity of a passion, and how to discover your passion. He believes that the number one reason you're going to succeed as an entrepreneur is by having a passion for something. Because as an entrepreneur, you're going to get knocked down often, and the only thing that gets an entrepreneur to pick themselves up and continue to go against all odds is passion. Passion is the thing that keeps you in the game and gives you the energy to continue going forward.
We then move on to the topic of eight disciplines to increase your odds of success: clarify your vision, decide if you are a partner person, know that the bigger the problem you solve, the more successful you'll be, get feedback from customers and clients early and often, always have a plan B, work hard, take criticism and doubt with a grain of salt, and see it every night. Gino explains that having a plan B is crucial because plan A is going to change. It's either going to change drastically, or there will be some minor tweaks along the way. And so you've got to be on your toes and know what you're going to do if this plan doesn't work.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of capitalizing on coaching, training, and mentoring. Gino shares that in the last 30 years, he has spent an average of 5% of his income on education. He truly believes that knowledge is power and that there are a number of great ways to educate yourself in today’s world. The most important thing is to find the right person for you because one coach for one entrepreneur is not a great coach for another entrepreneur, so you have to find your perfect fit.
Make sure that you don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, which is filled with incredible and invaluable information from a real hero in the business world, Gino Wickman!
Notable Quotes:
“I have been an entrepreneur in the making since I was probably seven years old when I started selling stuff. So, it's always been in my blood.”
- Gino Wickman
“The thing about Traction is that it is very easy to implement. The concepts are relatively simple but effective and I think it's digestible, to the point that it's extremely effective, yet not overwhelming.”
- Mike Simmons
“A true entrepreneur has six essential traits, and I believe that those six essential traits cannot be taught. I believe you're born with them, it’s nature over nurture.”
- Gino Wickman
“If you don't have these, you're not an entrepreneur. Do yourself a favor, avoid a life of hell and just stop and go work for somebody and be happy because that’s what you want to do and that’s okay.”
- Mike Simmons
“This is a passion project, to impact a million entrepreneurs in the making in the next 10 years.”
- Gino Wickman
“Four percent of the world are entrepreneurs. Four percent of the world have these six essential traits which mean 96% don't. And this book is the piano I want to put in front of the prodigy that is the entrepreneur.”
- Gino Wickman
“There's pre-med, there's pre-law, this is pre-entrepreneurship. It is 100% intended to filter you, and I'm not doing it because I'm some ruthless prick and I want to break your heart, I am doing it to save your life.”
- Gino Wickman
“To be frank, I'm going to do everything I can to scare you away from being an entrepreneur.”
- Gino Wickman
“I think your book is really well-timed because right now, it's never been so sexy to say you're an entrepreneur.”
- Mike Simmons
“With great strengths come great weaknesses.”
- Gino Wickman
“Entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur is not like this ultimate career destination; it's not the pinnacle in life. It's one of many career choices, and it's hard and it's brutal and most entrepreneurs die broke.”
- Gino Wickman
“One of the traits that is missing from a lot of people who tell me they're entrepreneurs is they are not driven, they don't have a sense of urgency.”
- Mike Simmons
“I don't motivate people. What I teach is motivating to motivated people.”
- Gino Wickman
“Having a mentor will get you there faster, but please know that not having a mentor doesn't mean you're gonna fail.”
- Gino Wickman
“If you want to build a $10 million furniture company, go find somebody who has a $10 million furniture company. It'll speed up your learning.”
- Gino Wickman
“The number one reason you're going to succeed as an entrepreneur is having a passion for something. Because, as an entrepreneur, when you take your entrepreneurial leap, for 10 years you're gonna get knocked on your ass often, and the only thing that gets an entrepreneur to pick themselves up and continue to go against every odd is passion.”
- Gino Wickman
“Your passion tends to stem from a past wound, a pain, a suffering, an experience.”
- Gino Wickman
“If your passion is money, you become a banker or an investor.”
- Gino Wickman
“When you pursue your passion and go build something in the world, and create value in the world, the money follows.”
- Gino Wickman
“You'll fall into a death spiral if you start to let that criticism eat you alive.”
- Gino Wickman
“People have lots of freaking opinions, and most of them are bad, with all due respect. You gotta take it all with a grain of salt.”
- Gino Wickman
“Let other people's hindsight be your foresight. The things that you can accomplish when you have that mentality are off-the-charts amazing.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Entrepreneurial Leap
Entrepreneurial Leap on Amazon
Take the Free Entrepreneur-in-the-Making Assessment
Create a 1-2-3 Roadmap for Your Start-up
Leap Lessons
The Entrepreneurial Leap YouTube Channel
Entrepreneurial Leap on Facebook
Entrepreneurial Leap on Instagram
Entrepreneurial Leap on LinkedIn
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Strategic Coach Program
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am truly excited for today’s episode because I am joined by the amazing Gino Wickman! Gino has been an entrepreneur since the age of 21 and he always had an obsession for learning what makes businesses thrive. After taking over and transforming his family business at the age of 25, Gino then set out to help business leaders achieve their goals. Based on his years of real-world experience, he created the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a practical method for helping companies achieve greatness. The EOS Tools are being used by more than 70,000 companies. He is also the author of the award-winning, best-selling book Traction: Get a Grip on your Business and his newest endeavor, The Entrepreneurial Leap. The mission of Entrepreneurial Leap is to find all of the entrepreneurs-in-the-making, at any age, wherever they are to help them realize their purpose and live the life they were born to live.
We begin the episode with Gino’s background story and how he found his true passion, which is helping other entrepreneurs. After turning his father’s company around and ultimately selling it, he spent the next five years creating the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). He then decided to leverage it by writing a book and building a team of EOS implementers. Fast forward to today, they now have 425 implementers all over the world, 100,000 companies running on that system, and over a million copies of the book sold!
Our next topic is Gino’s new book, The Entrepreneurial Leap. According to his new book, there are six traits that every entrepreneur needs in order to be successful: visionary, passionate, problem-solver, driven, risk-taker, and responsible. Gino wrote this book in three parts: confirm, glimpse and path. There is a psychology and a reason behind that linear approach: confirm is about confirming whether or not you have those six essential traits, glimpse is about showing you a glimpse of all the possibilities, and path is about showing you a path to greatly increase your odds of success.
We continue our discussion about Gino’s book, but we move onto the characteristics of entrepreneurs. The characteristics of an entrepreneur are different than the six essential traits and Gino uses more of what he calls the 80% rule, meaning you don't have to have 100% of these characteristics but you should have most of them. Some of these characteristics are: idea generator, dreamer, earner, curious, always thinking about the future, and great strategic thinker. But also some challenging ones, like: trouble staying focused, get bored easily, disorganized, control freak, perfectionist, not necessarily financially savvy, etc. According to Gino, it is extremely important to know your weaknesses as an entrepreneur, because that allows you to go hire someone to handle all those weaknesses for you.
We then discuss the 6th essential skill, which is responsible. One of the ways that Gino explains about being responsible is to blame no one. In Gino’s own words: if you're an entrepreneur who owns a building and that building gets hit by a meteor, that was your fault. In other words, a responsible person will say: I chose that building, I built that building, I moved there, that's my fault and this is my problem to solve. And an irresponsible person will blame everyone else for what happened. This is one of the reasons why Gino believes that people are born with these traits and that they can't be taught, and it’s nature over nurture.
Our next topic is the eight critical mistakes that create a nightmare scenario for entrepreneurs: not having a vision, hiring wrong people, not spending time with your people, not knowing who your customer is, not charging enough, not staying true to your core, not knowing your numbers and not crystalizing roles and responsibilities. In his book, Gino shares countless real-world stories, so that you can see entrepreneurs who were where you are and what they built. We also discuss the importance of mentorship. Having a mentor will get you there faster, but please know that not having a mentor doesn't mean that you're going to fail. A mentor is simply someone who is where you want to be and an opportunity for them to share their wisdom and for you to share your problems, insights, thoughts, questions, challenges, and they can help you because they've experienced all that.
Eventually, we discuss the difference between passion and passionate. Passionate is an essential trait, one of the six you must have to be an entrepreneur. What Gino teaches in his book is the vital necessity of a passion, and how to discover your passion. He believes that the number one reason you're going to succeed as an entrepreneur is by having a passion for something. Because as an entrepreneur, you're going to get knocked down often, and the only thing that gets an entrepreneur to pick themselves up and continue to go against all odds is passion. Passion is the thing that keeps you in the game and gives you the energy to continue going forward.
We then move on to the topic of eight disciplines to increase your odds of success: clarify your vision, decide if you are a partner person, know that the bigger the problem you solve, the more successful you'll be, get feedback from customers and clients early and often, always have a plan B, work hard, take criticism and doubt with a grain of salt, and see it every night. Gino explains that having a plan B is crucial because plan A is going to change. It's either going to change drastically, or there will be some minor tweaks along the way. And so you've got to be on your toes and know what you're going to do if this plan doesn't work.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of capitalizing on coaching, training, and mentoring. Gino shares that in the last 30 years, he has spent an average of 5% of his income on education. He truly believes that knowledge is power and that there are a number of great ways to educate yourself in today’s world. The most important thing is to find the right person for you because one coach for one entrepreneur is not a great coach for another entrepreneur, so you have to find your perfect fit.
Make sure that you don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, which is filled with incredible and invaluable information from a real hero in the business world, Gino Wickman!
Notable Quotes:
“I have been an entrepreneur in the making since I was probably seven years old when I started selling stuff. So, it's always been in my blood.”
- Gino Wickman
“The thing about Traction is that it is very easy to implement. The concepts are relatively simple but effective and I think it's digestible, to the point that it's extremely effective, yet not overwhelming.”
- Mike Simmons
“A true entrepreneur has six essential traits, and I believe that those six essential traits cannot be taught. I believe you're born with them, it’s nature over nurture.”
- Gino Wickman
“If you don't have these, you're not an entrepreneur. Do yourself a favor, avoid a life of hell and just stop and go work for somebody and be happy because that’s what you want to do and that’s okay.”
- Mike Simmons
“This is a passion project, to impact a million entrepreneurs in the making in the next 10 years.”
- Gino Wickman
“Four percent of the world are entrepreneurs. Four percent of the world have these six essential traits which mean 96% don't. And this book is the piano I want to put in front of the prodigy that is the entrepreneur.”
- Gino Wickman
“There's pre-med, there's pre-law, this is pre-entrepreneurship. It is 100% intended to filter you, and I'm not doing it because I'm some ruthless prick and I want to break your heart, I am doing it to save your life.”
- Gino Wickman
“To be frank, I'm going to do everything I can to scare you away from being an entrepreneur.”
- Gino Wickman
“I think your book is really well-timed because right now, it's never been so sexy to say you're an entrepreneur.”
- Mike Simmons
“With great strengths come great weaknesses.”
- Gino Wickman
“Entrepreneurship and being an entrepreneur is not like this ultimate career destination; it's not the pinnacle in life. It's one of many career choices, and it's hard and it's brutal and most entrepreneurs die broke.”
- Gino Wickman
“One of the traits that is missing from a lot of people who tell me they're entrepreneurs is they are not driven, they don't have a sense of urgency.”
- Mike Simmons
“I don't motivate people. What I teach is motivating to motivated people.”
- Gino Wickman
“Having a mentor will get you there faster, but please know that not having a mentor doesn't mean you're gonna fail.”
- Gino Wickman
“If you want to build a $10 million furniture company, go find somebody who has a $10 million furniture company. It'll speed up your learning.”
- Gino Wickman
“The number one reason you're going to succeed as an entrepreneur is having a passion for something. Because, as an entrepreneur, when you take your entrepreneurial leap, for 10 years you're gonna get knocked on your ass often, and the only thing that gets an entrepreneur to pick themselves up and continue to go against every odd is passion.”
- Gino Wickman
“Your passion tends to stem from a past wound, a pain, a suffering, an experience.”
- Gino Wickman
“If your passion is money, you become a banker or an investor.”
- Gino Wickman
“When you pursue your passion and go build something in the world, and create value in the world, the money follows.”
- Gino Wickman
“You'll fall into a death spiral if you start to let that criticism eat you alive.”
- Gino Wickman
“People have lots of freaking opinions, and most of them are bad, with all due respect. You gotta take it all with a grain of salt.”
- Gino Wickman
“Let other people's hindsight be your foresight. The things that you can accomplish when you have that mentality are off-the-charts amazing.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Entrepreneurial Leap
Entrepreneurial Leap on Amazon
Take the Free Entrepreneur-in-the-Making Assessment
Create a 1-2-3 Roadmap for Your Start-up
Leap Lessons
The Entrepreneurial Leap YouTube Channel
Entrepreneurial Leap on Facebook
Entrepreneurial Leap on Instagram
Entrepreneurial Leap on LinkedIn
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Strategic Coach Program
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode, I’m happy to be interviewing Jay Harvey. Jay and his wife Samera are investors, consultants, and educators and they are passionate about helping others gain financial freedom through mobile home investing. After completing over 400 mobile home transitions, they have perfected the process and now train beginner investors on how to close their first mobile home real estate deal in under 30 days with little or no money. They are also the founders of Trailer Cash Academy, which they started in 2019 and is the fastest-growing mobile home investing education and training program in the country.
First, Jay shares his background story and how his home investing journey started in 2017 with a loss of over $90,000 in unsuccessful real estate deals. We then moved on to discuss how Jay and his wife had to learn their way out of that loss. Jay explains how they had to embrace the ”accept the challenge” mindset, and how going back to their old jobs was not an option. They knew that going back was detrimental to their vision and, possibly, their marriage. Luckily, they were able to move on from that with help of family and friends.
Jay also shares how going to a seminar about mobile homes intrigued him to start his own mobile home investing journey. After some research, they found that not only was this niche their way out but that there were a lot of people who needed this type of housing. They took action and became more and more enticed by the idea.
We then move on to talking about their first deal. Even though they were looking for passive income, their first deal turned out to be a fix-and-flip property. The next few deals helped them create a consistent cash flow, and today they own 15 mobile homes that cash-flow from $300 to $700 per month. Additionally, they are also wholesaling deals.
Jay helps me dispel a few myths. He explains how to find deals for mobile homes, shares his strategies, and explains how networking works in mobile home investing. He goes in-depth explaining the no-money strategies that he teaches to his students and how to find buyers.
We also touch on the topic of choosing the right mobile homes to invest in. Jay shares his rule of thumb when it comes to picking mobile home parks and good areas where the demand is. He also talks about important characteristics of good communities.
After that Jay walks us through the sale process for a mobile home. Selling a mobile home is a lot different than selling a house and is much more like selling a car. There is no deed, there is only title and bill of sale. Additionally, Jay takes us through a sample conversation with a seller when he is wholesaling. He also explains the process of estimating the value of a mobile home.
You don’t want to miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! Jay Harvey shares some amazing and incredibly actionable advice when it comes to the overlooked market of mobile home investing!
Notable Quotes:
“We hated our jobs; we hated our lives. You are supposed to go to your job and look at your managers as models for what you are striving to become and we didn’t want that.”
- Jay Harvey
“We learned our way up to this point; we have to learn our way out.”
- Jay Harvey
“Knowledge and information are so readily available, but I think what stops people is that they never quit their job, and if something goes wrong, they bail out and they go back to their 9-to-5.”
- Mike Simmons
“Rule of thumb: just ask yourself would you want your mother or grandmother or living there. If the answer is no, just get out of there.”
- Jay Harvey
“Don’t overpromise and underdeliver. If you say you are going to buy it, buy it.”
- Jay Harvey
“Because there are not a lot of mobile home parks being built and there are so many people going through this pandemic, they need affordable housing.”
- Jay Harvey
Links:
Trailer Cash Academy
Trailer Cash Academy on Facebook
Trailer Cash Academy on YouTube
Jay and Samera's Story
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode, I’m happy to be interviewing Jay Harvey. Jay and his wife Samera are investors, consultants, and educators and they are passionate about helping others gain financial freedom through mobile home investing. After completing over 400 mobile home transitions, they have perfected the process and now train beginner investors on how to close their first mobile home real estate deal in under 30 days with little or no money. They are also the founders of Trailer Cash Academy, which they started in 2019 and is the fastest-growing mobile home investing education and training program in the country.
First, Jay shares his background story and how his home investing journey started in 2017 with a loss of over $90,000 in unsuccessful real estate deals. We then moved on to discuss how Jay and his wife had to learn their way out of that loss. Jay explains how they had to embrace the ”accept the challenge” mindset, and how going back to their old jobs was not an option. They knew that going back was detrimental to their vision and, possibly, their marriage. Luckily, they were able to move on from that with help of family and friends.
Jay also shares how going to a seminar about mobile homes intrigued him to start his own mobile home investing journey. After some research, they found that not only was this niche their way out but that there were a lot of people who needed this type of housing. They took action and became more and more enticed by the idea.
We then move on to talking about their first deal. Even though they were looking for passive income, their first deal turned out to be a fix-and-flip property. The next few deals helped them create a consistent cash flow, and today they own 15 mobile homes that cash-flow from $300 to $700 per month. Additionally, they are also wholesaling deals.
Jay helps me dispel a few myths. He explains how to find deals for mobile homes, shares his strategies, and explains how networking works in mobile home investing. He goes in-depth explaining the no-money strategies that he teaches to his students and how to find buyers.
We also touch on the topic of choosing the right mobile homes to invest in. Jay shares his rule of thumb when it comes to picking mobile home parks and good areas where the demand is. He also talks about important characteristics of good communities.
After that Jay walks us through the sale process for a mobile home. Selling a mobile home is a lot different than selling a house and is much more like selling a car. There is no deed, there is only title and bill of sale. Additionally, Jay takes us through a sample conversation with a seller when he is wholesaling. He also explains the process of estimating the value of a mobile home.
You don’t want to miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! Jay Harvey shares some amazing and incredibly actionable advice when it comes to the overlooked market of mobile home investing!
Notable Quotes:
“We hated our jobs; we hated our lives. You are supposed to go to your job and look at your managers as models for what you are striving to become and we didn’t want that.”
- Jay Harvey
“We learned our way up to this point; we have to learn our way out.”
- Jay Harvey
“Knowledge and information are so readily available, but I think what stops people is that they never quit their job, and if something goes wrong, they bail out and they go back to their 9-to-5.”
- Mike Simmons
“Rule of thumb: just ask yourself would you want your mother or grandmother or living there. If the answer is no, just get out of there.”
- Jay Harvey
“Don’t overpromise and underdeliver. If you say you are going to buy it, buy it.”
- Jay Harvey
“Because there are not a lot of mobile home parks being built and there are so many people going through this pandemic, they need affordable housing.”
- Jay Harvey
Links:
Trailer Cash Academy
Trailer Cash Academy on Facebook
Trailer Cash Academy on YouTube
Jay and Samera's Story
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome popular podcaster Moneeka Sawyer to the show today! Moneeka is the best-selling author of the book Choose Bliss: The Power and Practice of Joy and Contentment. She is the host of Real Estate Investing for Women, as well as the creator of the Blissful Real Estate Investor Formula that shows smart women how to use real estate investing to retire rich. Moneeka's expertise, and joyous laugh, have been featured in over 50 podcasts, on various stages, radio programs, and TV stations, including ABC, CBS, FOX, and CW.
Moneeka first shares her background story. Her real estate story actually begins before she was even born. Her parents, after coming to America as newlyweds, found that their way to wealth was through real estate. They saved up and they got their very first rental property when Moneeka was just three years old. So, real estate has been a part of her life from the beginning. When she graduated from college during the recession, she struggled for a couple of years and started thinking about real estate. But, even though she saw how good real estate was to her family, she also saw her dad running around at two o'clock in the morning, having problems with the toilets, the tenants, the mortgages, and decided at a very young age that no amount of money was worth it.
One night, after not being able to find a job for some time, she was sitting at the kitchen table with her dad, talking about the stress of it all and he told her something that changed her life. Her father said: “You know Moneeka, everybody has stress, and everybody has money problems. Do you want poor people money problems or do you want rich people money problems?” And that is when she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Moneeka then shares with us how she actually got started in real estate. She explains how she and her husband used the money that they got as a wedding gift (around $10,000) as a down payment for their primary residence and over the next four years, the house grew to $150,000 in equity. They then got a loan for $100,000 and used it to buy another primary residence and they rented their old house. Things were going so great after five years, they decided to sell it. Within the next couple of years, they bought three more houses with the intention to make it easy and joyful and her portfolio grew from there. She now owns a $12 million-dollar business in which she invested only $300,000 of her own money.
Moneeka then further explains her business model and what it looks like now. She started her business by buying the worst places in nice neighborhoods, she would fix them up then she would put someone in there who wanted to take care of the house, and she would train them on how to do that. That is how she created her system over time and is now only renting houses to executives. Moneeka also explains how she did start her business with a negative cash flow and how that was a risk she was willing to take because she knew what her ultimate goal was.
Lastly, we discuss Moneeka’s plans for the future and her expectations when it comes to the real estate market. She believes that real estate has been surprisingly stable. Even though she lost 50% of her value at one point, she was able to hold on to her properties, with the rents covering her expenses, and she made some adjustments and made it through. This is why Moneeka believes that with real estate timing the market is not as important as giving yourself the time to be right.
If you want to learn how to create a blissful life and career through investing in real estate, don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with amazing Moneeka Sawyer!
Notable Quotes:
“You know, Moneeka, everybody has stress, and everybody has money problems. Do you want poor people money problems or do you want rich people money problems?”
- Moneeka Sawyer’s Father
“Unfortunately, I think most people get into this industry and their only focus is money and how to make as much as possible. What they realize is if your only motivation is money, you will inevitably become unhappy with the process.”
- Mike Simmons
“How much sacrifice is enough to create the life that you really, really want? Happiness is the end goal for everybody.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“If everyone who decided they wanted to be a real estate investor or an entrepreneur became one, we would have 1000 times more because most people never get out of their chair and actually do it.”
- Mike Simmons
“We have an entrepreneurial spirit, it is part of who we are. It is painful to be in corporate if you are an entrepreneur.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“But as business people, we need to make decisions that are best for the business and bring our spouses along for the ride in a way that they're comfortable.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“Courtesy, common sense, and respect both for and from your spouse are all big parts of the picture of bliss.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“When you start, you don't know what you don't know, and you get in there and make things happen.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“I did it backward. I decided what kind of renter I wanted for my houses and I started looking for houses that they would want to live in.“
- Moneeka Sawyer
“These are decisions that people have to make when they're going into real estate: what is your goal, what is your risk tolerance, what kind of business are you looking to run?”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“If you are in for the long haul, the cycles in the real estate market don’t matter that much if you bought right.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“My thing with real estate is timing. The market is not as important as giving yourself the time to be right.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“The market is never bad, it's whether or not you're adapting and adjusting what you're doing to the market if you're in a short-term play. As long as you're aware of the market, the market is fine.”
- Mike Simmons
“When people get tied to one exit strategy and that's the only thing that can possibly work and then the market changes, they're in trouble. But that's on them, it's not the market. You know that the market is gonna change eventually.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Blissful Investor
Moneeka on Facebook
Moneeka on Twitter
Moneeka on Instagram
Moneeka on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I am excited to welcome popular podcaster Moneeka Sawyer to the show today! Moneeka is the best-selling author of the book Choose Bliss: The Power and Practice of Joy and Contentment. She is the host of Real Estate Investing for Women, as well as the creator of the Blissful Real Estate Investor Formula that shows smart women how to use real estate investing to retire rich. Moneeka's expertise, and joyous laugh, have been featured in over 50 podcasts, on various stages, radio programs, and TV stations, including ABC, CBS, FOX, and CW.
Moneeka first shares her background story. Her real estate story actually begins before she was even born. Her parents, after coming to America as newlyweds, found that their way to wealth was through real estate. They saved up and they got their very first rental property when Moneeka was just three years old. So, real estate has been a part of her life from the beginning. When she graduated from college during the recession, she struggled for a couple of years and started thinking about real estate. But, even though she saw how good real estate was to her family, she also saw her dad running around at two o'clock in the morning, having problems with the toilets, the tenants, the mortgages, and decided at a very young age that no amount of money was worth it.
One night, after not being able to find a job for some time, she was sitting at the kitchen table with her dad, talking about the stress of it all and he told her something that changed her life. Her father said: “You know Moneeka, everybody has stress, and everybody has money problems. Do you want poor people money problems or do you want rich people money problems?” And that is when she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps.
Moneeka then shares with us how she actually got started in real estate. She explains how she and her husband used the money that they got as a wedding gift (around $10,000) as a down payment for their primary residence and over the next four years, the house grew to $150,000 in equity. They then got a loan for $100,000 and used it to buy another primary residence and they rented their old house. Things were going so great after five years, they decided to sell it. Within the next couple of years, they bought three more houses with the intention to make it easy and joyful and her portfolio grew from there. She now owns a $12 million-dollar business in which she invested only $300,000 of her own money.
Moneeka then further explains her business model and what it looks like now. She started her business by buying the worst places in nice neighborhoods, she would fix them up then she would put someone in there who wanted to take care of the house, and she would train them on how to do that. That is how she created her system over time and is now only renting houses to executives. Moneeka also explains how she did start her business with a negative cash flow and how that was a risk she was willing to take because she knew what her ultimate goal was.
Lastly, we discuss Moneeka’s plans for the future and her expectations when it comes to the real estate market. She believes that real estate has been surprisingly stable. Even though she lost 50% of her value at one point, she was able to hold on to her properties, with the rents covering her expenses, and she made some adjustments and made it through. This is why Moneeka believes that with real estate timing the market is not as important as giving yourself the time to be right.
If you want to learn how to create a blissful life and career through investing in real estate, don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with amazing Moneeka Sawyer!
Notable Quotes:
“You know, Moneeka, everybody has stress, and everybody has money problems. Do you want poor people money problems or do you want rich people money problems?”
- Moneeka Sawyer’s Father
“Unfortunately, I think most people get into this industry and their only focus is money and how to make as much as possible. What they realize is if your only motivation is money, you will inevitably become unhappy with the process.”
- Mike Simmons
“How much sacrifice is enough to create the life that you really, really want? Happiness is the end goal for everybody.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“If everyone who decided they wanted to be a real estate investor or an entrepreneur became one, we would have 1000 times more because most people never get out of their chair and actually do it.”
- Mike Simmons
“We have an entrepreneurial spirit, it is part of who we are. It is painful to be in corporate if you are an entrepreneur.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“But as business people, we need to make decisions that are best for the business and bring our spouses along for the ride in a way that they're comfortable.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“Courtesy, common sense, and respect both for and from your spouse are all big parts of the picture of bliss.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“When you start, you don't know what you don't know, and you get in there and make things happen.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“I did it backward. I decided what kind of renter I wanted for my houses and I started looking for houses that they would want to live in.“
- Moneeka Sawyer
“These are decisions that people have to make when they're going into real estate: what is your goal, what is your risk tolerance, what kind of business are you looking to run?”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“If you are in for the long haul, the cycles in the real estate market don’t matter that much if you bought right.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“My thing with real estate is timing. The market is not as important as giving yourself the time to be right.”
- Moneeka Sawyer
“The market is never bad, it's whether or not you're adapting and adjusting what you're doing to the market if you're in a short-term play. As long as you're aware of the market, the market is fine.”
- Mike Simmons
“When people get tied to one exit strategy and that's the only thing that can possibly work and then the market changes, they're in trouble. But that's on them, it's not the market. You know that the market is gonna change eventually.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Blissful Investor
Moneeka on Facebook
Moneeka on Twitter
Moneeka on Instagram
Moneeka on LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by MC Laubscher. He is a cashflow coach and investor, and serial entrepreneur. He is also the creator and popular host of the Cashflow Ninja Podcast and Cashflow Investing Secrets Podcast, as well as the President & Chief Executive Officer at Producers Wealth, a virtual wealth creation firm that assists investors and business owners to set up and implement Infinite Banking. MC has shared his strategies in Forbes Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Grant Cardone TV, and the BiggerPockets podcast.
We begin this episode with MC’s background story. He is originally from South Africa and he started his journey playing sports, which is how he ended up in the United States. He was playing in a national league and while traveling from one city to another, he started reading books. On one of those trips, he came across a book that his mom gave him called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and it completely changed his paradigm. This huge shift in his thinking made him take action and in 2001 he bought his first property. He got his first tenants in, collected the rent, paid the bills, and at the end of the month, he still had money left. That is where his real estate journey started.
We then move on to discussing his “a-ha moments.” The first thing he realized is that cashflow in real estate is amazing, which is why he became super passionate about it. As he dove deep into the financial world, learning more about economics, history, and finance, he eventually ended up looking at banks. He realized that there is a business model there that is unmatched and because they are the creators of the game, they own the chessboard, everyone else is just moving pieces on it. His second “a-ha moment” happened after he reread Rich Dad, Poor Dad and realized that you have to be the bank and you have to become your own banker.
We talked about MC’s beginning stages and how he had to change his belief system in order to take action. This applies in all areas of your life, such as your health, your marriage or relationships, your wealth; nothing is going to happen until you change the lens through which you view the world. MC also believes that if you're married, you have to bring your partner with you on that journey, otherwise, it's going to be a very tough relationship.
Our next topic of conversation is the first property that MC bought back in 2001. He purchased it in South Africa because he grew up in the area, he knew the market, and he knew where the market was going. He bought a two-bedroom condo a couple of blocks from the ocean with a great view and very close to Cape Town. The interest on that mortgage was a double-digit rate, but he was still able to make it work.
We then move on to talking about being your own banker and the strategies that he is using. MC breaks down the banking model, going into detail on how the system operates. He then shares with us the five pillars of a wealth strategy, a framework that we use to make our money. First, we all make our money somewhere, we have a skill that we provide to the marketplace, which we get paid for; second, we've got to position our capital somewhere; third, we have to deploy it to go make more money; fourth, using different growth opportunities; and finally protecting our money through tax strategy, asset protection, and estate planning. So, if you are looking to become your own banker, you have to start by building up reserves and savings first. MC suggested getting six to twelve months of cash reserves and then look at other places to put capital in. But the most important thing that you need to do is position assets so that you can eventually collateralize them.
Finally, MC shares with us what his business looks like today and what his plans are moving forward. One of his businesses is Producers Wealth, where they help people with wealth strategies as well as the infinite banking strategy, which is based on insurance, and that's completely virtual. His other company is Cashflow Ninja, which is an education company and its core principle and philosophy is to empower people to become self-reliant through education.
Join us for another episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the amazing MC Laubscher and learn everything you need to become your own banker and build your wealth!
Notable Quotes:
“It wasn't until I understood the history, the financial history of the world, that it actually all started to make sense.”
- MC Laubscher
“Being a real estate investor, you're obviously going to end up with debt. And the big part of the game is leveraging debt and good debt. And another part of the game is leveraging the tax code and inflation. And a lot of folks suffer because of those three things.”
- MC Laubscher
“You have to change your belief systems, otherwise, nothing will change. And you can put this into other areas of your life, such as your health, your marriage or relationships, your wealth. Nothing is going to happen until you change the lens through which you view the world.”
- MC Laubscher
“If you surround yourself with people who think a certain way, you tend to think that way, for the better or the worse.”
- Mike Simmons
“You can read about driving a car, you can look at all the pictures of what a car looks like inside. But at some stage, you're going to have to get in that car and actually learn how to drive.”
- MC Laubscher
“People are afraid. Afraid to make mistakes, afraid to risk what they have, even though what they have isn't what they want. It's just sort of a crazy mindset.”
- Mike Simmons
“Why real estate investors and business owners are so successful is because they have tunnel vision, and they laser-focus on generating assets that cash flow. But if they look at moving a couple of pieces around, it may amplify their results.”
- MC Laubscher
“Once I started doing these strategies, it just put rocket fuel on what I was already doing.”
- MC Laubscher
Links:
Cashflow Ninja on Facebook
MC Laubscher on Twitter
Cashflow Ninja on Instagram
Cashflow Ninja on LinkedIn
Cashflow Ninja on YouTube
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by MC Laubscher. He is a cashflow coach and investor, and serial entrepreneur. He is also the creator and popular host of the Cashflow Ninja Podcast and Cashflow Investing Secrets Podcast, as well as the President & Chief Executive Officer at Producers Wealth, a virtual wealth creation firm that assists investors and business owners to set up and implement Infinite Banking. MC has shared his strategies in Forbes Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Grant Cardone TV, and the BiggerPockets podcast.
We begin this episode with MC’s background story. He is originally from South Africa and he started his journey playing sports, which is how he ended up in the United States. He was playing in a national league and while traveling from one city to another, he started reading books. On one of those trips, he came across a book that his mom gave him called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and it completely changed his paradigm. This huge shift in his thinking made him take action and in 2001 he bought his first property. He got his first tenants in, collected the rent, paid the bills, and at the end of the month, he still had money left. That is where his real estate journey started.
We then move on to discussing his “a-ha moments.” The first thing he realized is that cashflow in real estate is amazing, which is why he became super passionate about it. As he dove deep into the financial world, learning more about economics, history, and finance, he eventually ended up looking at banks. He realized that there is a business model there that is unmatched and because they are the creators of the game, they own the chessboard, everyone else is just moving pieces on it. His second “a-ha moment” happened after he reread Rich Dad, Poor Dad and realized that you have to be the bank and you have to become your own banker.
We talked about MC’s beginning stages and how he had to change his belief system in order to take action. This applies in all areas of your life, such as your health, your marriage or relationships, your wealth; nothing is going to happen until you change the lens through which you view the world. MC also believes that if you're married, you have to bring your partner with you on that journey, otherwise, it's going to be a very tough relationship.
Our next topic of conversation is the first property that MC bought back in 2001. He purchased it in South Africa because he grew up in the area, he knew the market, and he knew where the market was going. He bought a two-bedroom condo a couple of blocks from the ocean with a great view and very close to Cape Town. The interest on that mortgage was a double-digit rate, but he was still able to make it work.
We then move on to talking about being your own banker and the strategies that he is using. MC breaks down the banking model, going into detail on how the system operates. He then shares with us the five pillars of a wealth strategy, a framework that we use to make our money. First, we all make our money somewhere, we have a skill that we provide to the marketplace, which we get paid for; second, we've got to position our capital somewhere; third, we have to deploy it to go make more money; fourth, using different growth opportunities; and finally protecting our money through tax strategy, asset protection, and estate planning. So, if you are looking to become your own banker, you have to start by building up reserves and savings first. MC suggested getting six to twelve months of cash reserves and then look at other places to put capital in. But the most important thing that you need to do is position assets so that you can eventually collateralize them.
Finally, MC shares with us what his business looks like today and what his plans are moving forward. One of his businesses is Producers Wealth, where they help people with wealth strategies as well as the infinite banking strategy, which is based on insurance, and that's completely virtual. His other company is Cashflow Ninja, which is an education company and its core principle and philosophy is to empower people to become self-reliant through education.
Join us for another episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the amazing MC Laubscher and learn everything you need to become your own banker and build your wealth!
Notable Quotes:
“It wasn't until I understood the history, the financial history of the world, that it actually all started to make sense.”
- MC Laubscher
“Being a real estate investor, you're obviously going to end up with debt. And the big part of the game is leveraging debt and good debt. And another part of the game is leveraging the tax code and inflation. And a lot of folks suffer because of those three things.”
- MC Laubscher
“You have to change your belief systems, otherwise, nothing will change. And you can put this into other areas of your life, such as your health, your marriage or relationships, your wealth. Nothing is going to happen until you change the lens through which you view the world.”
- MC Laubscher
“If you surround yourself with people who think a certain way, you tend to think that way, for the better or the worse.”
- Mike Simmons
“You can read about driving a car, you can look at all the pictures of what a car looks like inside. But at some stage, you're going to have to get in that car and actually learn how to drive.”
- MC Laubscher
“People are afraid. Afraid to make mistakes, afraid to risk what they have, even though what they have isn't what they want. It's just sort of a crazy mindset.”
- Mike Simmons
“Why real estate investors and business owners are so successful is because they have tunnel vision, and they laser-focus on generating assets that cash flow. But if they look at moving a couple of pieces around, it may amplify their results.”
- MC Laubscher
“Once I started doing these strategies, it just put rocket fuel on what I was already doing.”
- MC Laubscher
Links:
Cashflow Ninja on Facebook
MC Laubscher on Twitter
Cashflow Ninja on Instagram
Cashflow Ninja on LinkedIn
Cashflow Ninja on YouTube
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is a fellow real estate investor Frank Scappaticci. Frank is a Westpoint graduate who is on a mission to become a premier buyer and seller, as well as a thought leader, in markets around the United States while placing a high priority on integrity. Together with his partner, John Plumstead, Frank founded Gray Line Investments in 2020. They are a real estate solutions and investment firm that specializes in helping homeowners get rid of burdensome houses quickly. Their goal is to help people improve their lives through real estate investing, education, mentorship, and giving back to veterans.
Our conversion started with Frank’s backstory. His background, for most of his adult life, has been in financial services. Prior to moving full-time into real estate, he worked at JP Morgan, and prior to that, he was an army officer. Frank says that he was not interested in real estate until he hit the age of 30, after buying his primary residence in Westchester. During that time, he fell in love with the house search process. In February 2020, John Plumstead, who had been investing in real estate for five years, reached out to him and they started their company Gray Line Investments.
After learning about Frank’s background, we move on to talking about the concept of tired landlords. This strategy has helped Frank and his partner close four deals in 45 days in the Oklahoma market. Frank explains their process of finding tired landlords by using the PropStream app to filter high equity and years of ownership into property searches. They would then pull that list, put it into CSV, and upload it to Lead Sherpa, an SMS texting platform. By doing this, they were able to get an enormous number of leads.
We then talk about the conversation that Frank had with his wife, after realizing that real estate was the way to go. Frank shares that the conversation about starting real estate wasn’t particularly difficult. The difficult part for him was explaining to his wife that he wanted to completely quit his full-time job. He wanted at least three months of operating expenses in the bank account for the company and a consistent deal flow before quitting his job.
Our next topic of conversation was the structure of Frank’s company. Their business model is wholesaling and fix-and-flip. In percentage, it is 80% wholesale and 20% fix-and-flip from a volume perspective and 30% revenue from flipping and 70% revenue from wholesaling. They operate in over 10 cities, but they only have really strong contractors in a handful of those cities and Frank recognizes how important it is to have a good contractor when it comes to flipping.
We also walk through the structure of Frank’s company, from a personnel standpoint. They have an acquisition manager, who manages the lead specialists. Lead specialists screen the sellers and notify the acquisition manager when a seller is ready for an appointment. Frank then shares his systems when it comes to wholesaling and flipping remotely across the country.
Lastly, we talk about Frank’s vision for 2021. Frank shares with us that his company is getting incredible buyer demand lately in their wholesaling operation. Their goal for the first quarter is to sustain a pace where they're closing three deals per week, for an overall 150-200 deals in 2021. They are also looking at other ways to expand their brand at this point.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the super inspiring Frank Scappaticci! As a relative newbie in the world of investing, Frank shares some great insight and attitude with our listeners!
Notable Quotes:
“People who try to get their entire business automated and systemized are the ones who never get off the ground because they're always preparing to prepare.”
- Mike Simmons
“I want to play offense as much as possible. Once you have a really good offense, play some defense to defend the business you have.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“You need to play defense, but you never stop playing offense. If offense becomes backseat to defense, your business will start sliding downhill.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s not cheap to wholesale, especially once you scale.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“I don't nickel and dime my contractors at the beginning. If I find a trustworthy person, I don't try to knock them down on their pricing.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“I try to treat them as a consultant and then good contractors feel valued. They're doing it to make money but it doesn't hurt to have them psychologically invested in the project.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“I don't think real estate needs to be crazy and creative. You need to be good at blocking and tackling the fundamentals, and then you'll do just fine, you'll scale up.”
- Mike Simmons
“You create expectations on your team. If you raise the expectations, the game changes, and then the activities change, and the results can change.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Gray Line Investments Website
Gray Line Investments on Facebook
Gray Line Investments on Instagram
PropStream Software
Lead Sherpa
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
My guest today is a fellow real estate investor Frank Scappaticci. Frank is a Westpoint graduate who is on a mission to become a premier buyer and seller, as well as a thought leader, in markets around the United States while placing a high priority on integrity. Together with his partner, John Plumstead, Frank founded Gray Line Investments in 2020. They are a real estate solutions and investment firm that specializes in helping homeowners get rid of burdensome houses quickly. Their goal is to help people improve their lives through real estate investing, education, mentorship, and giving back to veterans.
Our conversion started with Frank’s backstory. His background, for most of his adult life, has been in financial services. Prior to moving full-time into real estate, he worked at JP Morgan, and prior to that, he was an army officer. Frank says that he was not interested in real estate until he hit the age of 30, after buying his primary residence in Westchester. During that time, he fell in love with the house search process. In February 2020, John Plumstead, who had been investing in real estate for five years, reached out to him and they started their company Gray Line Investments.
After learning about Frank’s background, we move on to talking about the concept of tired landlords. This strategy has helped Frank and his partner close four deals in 45 days in the Oklahoma market. Frank explains their process of finding tired landlords by using the PropStream app to filter high equity and years of ownership into property searches. They would then pull that list, put it into CSV, and upload it to Lead Sherpa, an SMS texting platform. By doing this, they were able to get an enormous number of leads.
We then talk about the conversation that Frank had with his wife, after realizing that real estate was the way to go. Frank shares that the conversation about starting real estate wasn’t particularly difficult. The difficult part for him was explaining to his wife that he wanted to completely quit his full-time job. He wanted at least three months of operating expenses in the bank account for the company and a consistent deal flow before quitting his job.
Our next topic of conversation was the structure of Frank’s company. Their business model is wholesaling and fix-and-flip. In percentage, it is 80% wholesale and 20% fix-and-flip from a volume perspective and 30% revenue from flipping and 70% revenue from wholesaling. They operate in over 10 cities, but they only have really strong contractors in a handful of those cities and Frank recognizes how important it is to have a good contractor when it comes to flipping.
We also walk through the structure of Frank’s company, from a personnel standpoint. They have an acquisition manager, who manages the lead specialists. Lead specialists screen the sellers and notify the acquisition manager when a seller is ready for an appointment. Frank then shares his systems when it comes to wholesaling and flipping remotely across the country.
Lastly, we talk about Frank’s vision for 2021. Frank shares with us that his company is getting incredible buyer demand lately in their wholesaling operation. Their goal for the first quarter is to sustain a pace where they're closing three deals per week, for an overall 150-200 deals in 2021. They are also looking at other ways to expand their brand at this point.
Don’t miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the super inspiring Frank Scappaticci! As a relative newbie in the world of investing, Frank shares some great insight and attitude with our listeners!
Notable Quotes:
“People who try to get their entire business automated and systemized are the ones who never get off the ground because they're always preparing to prepare.”
- Mike Simmons
“I want to play offense as much as possible. Once you have a really good offense, play some defense to defend the business you have.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“You need to play defense, but you never stop playing offense. If offense becomes backseat to defense, your business will start sliding downhill.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s not cheap to wholesale, especially once you scale.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“I don't nickel and dime my contractors at the beginning. If I find a trustworthy person, I don't try to knock them down on their pricing.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“I try to treat them as a consultant and then good contractors feel valued. They're doing it to make money but it doesn't hurt to have them psychologically invested in the project.”
- Frank Scappaticci
“I don't think real estate needs to be crazy and creative. You need to be good at blocking and tackling the fundamentals, and then you'll do just fine, you'll scale up.”
- Mike Simmons
“You create expectations on your team. If you raise the expectations, the game changes, and then the activities change, and the results can change.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Gray Line Investments Website
Gray Line Investments on Facebook
Gray Line Investments on Instagram
PropStream Software
Lead Sherpa
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I interview Justin Hannah, a successful real estate investor and host of the popular “Real Estate Investing 365” podcast. He discusses how he increased his net worth from $5,000 at 20 years old to over 7 figures by 31 years old and quit his job as a lineman to pursue real estate full-time. Today, Justin owns over $2 million worth of real estate, which consists of 12 rental units and a single-family home.
Justin shares his background story. He explains his entry into real estate starting as a product of his competitive relationship with his cousin who, at the time bought a house, causing him to do so, too. Working on power lines had been Justin's job, and although it paid well, it was too demanding for someone who wanted to spend more time with family. It was mostly coincidental that he got into real estate at such a lucrative period.
Justin explains that his decision to go into real estate investing was after buying his first rental property. While admitting that over the past ten years he could have made much more progress, he walks us through how he essentially acquired his first three rental units and his primary house for $18,000. It is important to note that he never wanted to stay working as a lineman, and this motivated him to use real estate as his exit strategy. Comparatively, he realized he could make his entire pension as a lineman from one rental facility in a couple of years.
Going forward, Justin’s goal would be to buy more rental properties and to get involved with the single-family market, because of how lucrative it is currently. His story reflects that you don't need to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to start; you just need a little money and trade upwards.
I asked Justin to describe what his business would ideally look like in five years. He shares that he would like to have 100 units, and $15,000 per month in passive income, noting the practical steps he is taking towards achieving that. His immediate goal this year is to get ten more units and do twenty off-market deals. One way he is trying to achieve these goals is by doing a 30-day challenge to raise half a million dollars. I explain that part of being a real estate investor is fundraising, especially in cases like Justin's where the investor is not currently bankable.
Justin admits that he is working on his mindset to be less negative and improve on his psychological well-being. When you're in your job for hours a day, you're focused on that, so it's hard for your mind to let go and start being creative. After quitting his job, Justin notes that his mind started thinking expansively, both personally and in his business, and so the growth is exponential.
We talked about Justin’s podcast, Real Estate Investing 365. He shares that the podcast was started because he was having difficulty finding people who were above him in real estate, so the goal was Networking. Additionally, it helped him offer advice to people and help others avoid the mistakes he had made.
You will not want to miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with up-and-coming investor and podcaster, Justin Hannah!
Notable Quotes:
"My main goal is not to be a wholesaler; I want to find more properties that meet my criteria to own as rental properties."
- Justin Hannah
"In five years, I would like to own one hundred units. Right now, I'm not bankable so I have to be creative."
- Justin Hannah
"Something as simple as not waking up to an alarm clock is magical."
- Mike Simmons
"When you are an entrepreneur, you can decide what works best for you."
- Mike Simmons
“It is so important to work on your mindset, to be more positive, and improve your psychological well-being.”
- Justin Hannah
Links:
Justin’s Podcast
Justin on Instagram
500k Challenge
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I interview Justin Hannah, a successful real estate investor and host of the popular “Real Estate Investing 365” podcast. He discusses how he increased his net worth from $5,000 at 20 years old to over 7 figures by 31 years old and quit his job as a lineman to pursue real estate full-time. Today, Justin owns over $2 million worth of real estate, which consists of 12 rental units and a single-family home.
Justin shares his background story. He explains his entry into real estate starting as a product of his competitive relationship with his cousin who, at the time bought a house, causing him to do so, too. Working on power lines had been Justin's job, and although it paid well, it was too demanding for someone who wanted to spend more time with family. It was mostly coincidental that he got into real estate at such a lucrative period.
Justin explains that his decision to go into real estate investing was after buying his first rental property. While admitting that over the past ten years he could have made much more progress, he walks us through how he essentially acquired his first three rental units and his primary house for $18,000. It is important to note that he never wanted to stay working as a lineman, and this motivated him to use real estate as his exit strategy. Comparatively, he realized he could make his entire pension as a lineman from one rental facility in a couple of years.
Going forward, Justin’s goal would be to buy more rental properties and to get involved with the single-family market, because of how lucrative it is currently. His story reflects that you don't need to have hundreds of thousands of dollars to start; you just need a little money and trade upwards.
I asked Justin to describe what his business would ideally look like in five years. He shares that he would like to have 100 units, and $15,000 per month in passive income, noting the practical steps he is taking towards achieving that. His immediate goal this year is to get ten more units and do twenty off-market deals. One way he is trying to achieve these goals is by doing a 30-day challenge to raise half a million dollars. I explain that part of being a real estate investor is fundraising, especially in cases like Justin's where the investor is not currently bankable.
Justin admits that he is working on his mindset to be less negative and improve on his psychological well-being. When you're in your job for hours a day, you're focused on that, so it's hard for your mind to let go and start being creative. After quitting his job, Justin notes that his mind started thinking expansively, both personally and in his business, and so the growth is exponential.
We talked about Justin’s podcast, Real Estate Investing 365. He shares that the podcast was started because he was having difficulty finding people who were above him in real estate, so the goal was Networking. Additionally, it helped him offer advice to people and help others avoid the mistakes he had made.
You will not want to miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with up-and-coming investor and podcaster, Justin Hannah!
Notable Quotes:
"My main goal is not to be a wholesaler; I want to find more properties that meet my criteria to own as rental properties."
- Justin Hannah
"In five years, I would like to own one hundred units. Right now, I'm not bankable so I have to be creative."
- Justin Hannah
"Something as simple as not waking up to an alarm clock is magical."
- Mike Simmons
"When you are an entrepreneur, you can decide what works best for you."
- Mike Simmons
“It is so important to work on your mindset, to be more positive, and improve your psychological well-being.”
- Justin Hannah
Links:
Justin’s Podcast
Justin on Instagram
500k Challenge
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today's episode, I gladly welcome realtor turned investor Bentley Pugh, who joins us to discuss his incredible journey in life and business so far. In 2006, Bentley sold his landscaping company and became an agent most interested in commercial real estate. Since then, he's evolved from a real estate broker to managing his family-owned real estate investment firm, Beachworks LLC.
At first, we learn how Bentley's backstory has profoundly impacted his career and business. He studied business and marketing, and while in college, started a landscaping company to have a passive income source. He spent the next five to six years as a realtor and then turned to real estate as an investor. Bentley has shared with us today why he chose to do that and how the pivot helped him in the long run.
He shares how having the capital to start with was advantageous for them as it was rare for anybody just beginning to have enough to invest. Bentley also shares why it is essential to keep adjusting to the market's changing trends and ways. We discuss why it's important to know both knowledgeable and neutral people in life and how both can positively shape your path. If you know smarter people, you could get valuable tips to scaling and expanding your business, and if you have friends and mentors outside of the business, you have a fair chance of getting unbiased, heartfelt input from them.
Bentley also shares how relationships with contractors and others in the business are extremely important. Your business can have phenomenal growth if you find people who are really into it. He also discusses his plans and where he wishes to take his business moving forward. He still focuses on their core business, which is single-family, construction, or townhome sites, while still doing some wholesaling and flipping of properties.
We also learn how these unprecedented times of the pandemic have added to his choices on spending. Bentley has cut his expenses by 10 to 15% by filtering out what he doesn't need. He stressed what an important lesson this is for each of us to benefit us in life and business.
Please tune in to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast to know all that this extraordinary businessman has shared with us today and take your business to another level. Do not miss out on this insightful episode with Bentley Pugh!
Notable Quotes:
“We can't use our new construction contractors on a flip because they're just not into that. ”
- Bentley Pugh
“For us, we had capital when we started out, which was very rare at the time. We were going after large, untitled, distressed development properties.”
- Bentley Pugh
“Real estate's sort of like a chameleon - you have to be constantly adjusting and thinking where the market is going to go.”
- Bentley Pugh
“Don't try to change the recipe. If the recipe works, use it. If you apply it and it doesn't work as well, then change it for sure.”
- Mike Simmons
“During the pandemic, I've cut my spending probably 10% to 15%. It isn’t really affecting my business.”
- Bentley Pugh
“You surround yourself with some people that are smarter than you, they answer your questions, and then you can feed the end results to your buyers”
- Bentley Pugh
“So it's really all about relationships. Our relational foundation is a model that has never changed.”
- Bentley Pugh
“Helping people helps to reinforce what you already know. It also makes you realize some of the things that maybe you're not doing as well as you used to do.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bentleys Website
Bentley’s LinkedIn
Mike’s Free Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today's episode, I gladly welcome realtor turned investor Bentley Pugh, who joins us to discuss his incredible journey in life and business so far. In 2006, Bentley sold his landscaping company and became an agent most interested in commercial real estate. Since then, he's evolved from a real estate broker to managing his family-owned real estate investment firm, Beachworks LLC.
At first, we learn how Bentley's backstory has profoundly impacted his career and business. He studied business and marketing, and while in college, started a landscaping company to have a passive income source. He spent the next five to six years as a realtor and then turned to real estate as an investor. Bentley has shared with us today why he chose to do that and how the pivot helped him in the long run.
He shares how having the capital to start with was advantageous for them as it was rare for anybody just beginning to have enough to invest. Bentley also shares why it is essential to keep adjusting to the market's changing trends and ways. We discuss why it's important to know both knowledgeable and neutral people in life and how both can positively shape your path. If you know smarter people, you could get valuable tips to scaling and expanding your business, and if you have friends and mentors outside of the business, you have a fair chance of getting unbiased, heartfelt input from them.
Bentley also shares how relationships with contractors and others in the business are extremely important. Your business can have phenomenal growth if you find people who are really into it. He also discusses his plans and where he wishes to take his business moving forward. He still focuses on their core business, which is single-family, construction, or townhome sites, while still doing some wholesaling and flipping of properties.
We also learn how these unprecedented times of the pandemic have added to his choices on spending. Bentley has cut his expenses by 10 to 15% by filtering out what he doesn't need. He stressed what an important lesson this is for each of us to benefit us in life and business.
Please tune in to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast to know all that this extraordinary businessman has shared with us today and take your business to another level. Do not miss out on this insightful episode with Bentley Pugh!
Notable Quotes:
“We can't use our new construction contractors on a flip because they're just not into that. ”
- Bentley Pugh
“For us, we had capital when we started out, which was very rare at the time. We were going after large, untitled, distressed development properties.”
- Bentley Pugh
“Real estate's sort of like a chameleon - you have to be constantly adjusting and thinking where the market is going to go.”
- Bentley Pugh
“Don't try to change the recipe. If the recipe works, use it. If you apply it and it doesn't work as well, then change it for sure.”
- Mike Simmons
“During the pandemic, I've cut my spending probably 10% to 15%. It isn’t really affecting my business.”
- Bentley Pugh
“You surround yourself with some people that are smarter than you, they answer your questions, and then you can feed the end results to your buyers”
- Bentley Pugh
“So it's really all about relationships. Our relational foundation is a model that has never changed.”
- Bentley Pugh
“Helping people helps to reinforce what you already know. It also makes you realize some of the things that maybe you're not doing as well as you used to do.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bentleys Website
Bentley’s LinkedIn
Mike’s Free Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am happy to welcome Jason Yarusi. Jason and his wife, Pili, are active Real Estate Syndicators and Real Estate Investors. In 2016 they founded Yarusi Holdings, a multifamily investment firm and they are General Partners on over 850 units across four states with 450 units under management. The firm repositions properties through operational efficiencies, moderate to extensive renovations and complete rebranding. They are also hosts of the popular Multifamily Live Podcast and The Jason and Pili Project on Youtube. Jason and Pili are founders of the Tennessee, Kentucky and New Jersey Multifamily Foundation Club with over 2,200 members that focuses on Real Estate Syndication and Multifamily Investing.
I start by letting the audience know that Jason and his wife and I are friends and have known each other for several years, so that I will be asking him questions I already know the answers to! I know that they both started working in other fields before moving into real estate, so I asked Jason to give us some of his background. He talks about how they first met, when he was invited to perform some restoration construction work on the barge bar that Pili worked at. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, they began working for Jason’s dad who owned a company which moves and lifts houses in New Jersey. They loved supporting and assisting in the running of their family business, but they knew they also wanted more for themselves.
When they first started in real estate investing, they were flipping and wholesaling single family homes like crazy, but they felt like they had filled their plate to overflowing and wanted a more passive income model of investing. A friend of theirs was investing in out-of-town rentals, which seemed attractive to them, but they decided to start looking at multifamily units. In 2017, they bought their first apartment building and learned the process of that kind of property investing.
Jason explained that part of the reason that flipping and wholesaling wasn’t working for them was because they were doing it locally and kept throwing themselves in the process. Not only did this take away their free-time but it often slowed down the process itself! Investing in out-of-town multifamily properties really benefited them because they were forced to hire a team and put processes in place to handle and manage these assets. Jason talks extensively about the advantages of being involved in multifamily versus single family homes.
We then discussed how Jason and Pili are reaching out and educating people in the multifamily investing model. I asked Jason to explain why they decided to do this because I know they are a super busy, young family. Jason explained how they developed relationships and made mistakes, but their hope is to have others avoid those same mistakes and realize their goals more quickly.
Jason talked about the Multifamily Live Virtual Summit that they are hosting on March 25th and 26th and he stressed how beneficial these events and meetings are for new investors. Jason explained they are having twelve active multifamily investors speak at this event and each of them have a particular superpower in order to impart as much varied information as possible to the attendees. Not only is the information provided going to be extremely actionable, but it is also FREE!
The people I trust the most in this business all definitively say that Jason is the man when it comes to multifamily investing so you will not want to miss this awesome episode the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! And don’t forget to sign up for next week’s Multifamily Live Virtual Summit today by clicking the link below!
Notable Quotes:
“Like most people, we were just trying to figure it out.”
- Jason Yarusi
“We knew we needed to get back to where we were controlling our time.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Active effort produces money, but at that point, you are trading time for money.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Most people think they need to say ‘yes’ to everything to maximize their opportunities, but they risk diluting themselves and not being great at anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“What can I do today to meet the potential of this property?”
- Jason Yarusi
“When starting a new venture you need to understand the mindset, understand the terms, and how to talk the talk.”
- Jason Yarusi
“People look at the mountain top and think, ‘Too big, too tall, can’t even imagine it.’ But you don’t need to get to the top in the first step.”
- Mike Simmons
“Ultimately, it is a team sport. Working together is more beneficial and gratuitous because we are all serving a bigger purpose.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Where people get stuck is that they feel they have to accomplish all of these things on their own.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Educating others is about making the line straighter for them so it isn’t a gigantic bell curve for them to get to where they want to be.”
- Jason Yarusi
“That’s the key… connecting the dots so that people know what they have to do to get started.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Multifamily Live Virtual Summit
Yarousi Holdings
Mike’s Free Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am happy to welcome Jason Yarusi. Jason and his wife, Pili, are active Real Estate Syndicators and Real Estate Investors. In 2016 they founded Yarusi Holdings, a multifamily investment firm and they are General Partners on over 850 units across four states with 450 units under management. The firm repositions properties through operational efficiencies, moderate to extensive renovations and complete rebranding. They are also hosts of the popular Multifamily Live Podcast and The Jason and Pili Project on Youtube. Jason and Pili are founders of the Tennessee, Kentucky and New Jersey Multifamily Foundation Club with over 2,200 members that focuses on Real Estate Syndication and Multifamily Investing.
I start by letting the audience know that Jason and his wife and I are friends and have known each other for several years, so that I will be asking him questions I already know the answers to! I know that they both started working in other fields before moving into real estate, so I asked Jason to give us some of his background. He talks about how they first met, when he was invited to perform some restoration construction work on the barge bar that Pili worked at. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, they began working for Jason’s dad who owned a company which moves and lifts houses in New Jersey. They loved supporting and assisting in the running of their family business, but they knew they also wanted more for themselves.
When they first started in real estate investing, they were flipping and wholesaling single family homes like crazy, but they felt like they had filled their plate to overflowing and wanted a more passive income model of investing. A friend of theirs was investing in out-of-town rentals, which seemed attractive to them, but they decided to start looking at multifamily units. In 2017, they bought their first apartment building and learned the process of that kind of property investing.
Jason explained that part of the reason that flipping and wholesaling wasn’t working for them was because they were doing it locally and kept throwing themselves in the process. Not only did this take away their free-time but it often slowed down the process itself! Investing in out-of-town multifamily properties really benefited them because they were forced to hire a team and put processes in place to handle and manage these assets. Jason talks extensively about the advantages of being involved in multifamily versus single family homes.
We then discussed how Jason and Pili are reaching out and educating people in the multifamily investing model. I asked Jason to explain why they decided to do this because I know they are a super busy, young family. Jason explained how they developed relationships and made mistakes, but their hope is to have others avoid those same mistakes and realize their goals more quickly.
Jason talked about the Multifamily Live Virtual Summit that they are hosting on March 25th and 26th and he stressed how beneficial these events and meetings are for new investors. Jason explained they are having twelve active multifamily investors speak at this event and each of them have a particular superpower in order to impart as much varied information as possible to the attendees. Not only is the information provided going to be extremely actionable, but it is also FREE!
The people I trust the most in this business all definitively say that Jason is the man when it comes to multifamily investing so you will not want to miss this awesome episode the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! And don’t forget to sign up for next week’s Multifamily Live Virtual Summit today by clicking the link below!
Notable Quotes:
“Like most people, we were just trying to figure it out.”
- Jason Yarusi
“We knew we needed to get back to where we were controlling our time.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Active effort produces money, but at that point, you are trading time for money.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Most people think they need to say ‘yes’ to everything to maximize their opportunities, but they risk diluting themselves and not being great at anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“What can I do today to meet the potential of this property?”
- Jason Yarusi
“When starting a new venture you need to understand the mindset, understand the terms, and how to talk the talk.”
- Jason Yarusi
“People look at the mountain top and think, ‘Too big, too tall, can’t even imagine it.’ But you don’t need to get to the top in the first step.”
- Mike Simmons
“Ultimately, it is a team sport. Working together is more beneficial and gratuitous because we are all serving a bigger purpose.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Where people get stuck is that they feel they have to accomplish all of these things on their own.”
- Jason Yarusi
“Educating others is about making the line straighter for them so it isn’t a gigantic bell curve for them to get to where they want to be.”
- Jason Yarusi
“That’s the key… connecting the dots so that people know what they have to do to get started.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Multifamily Live Virtual Summit
Yarousi Holdings
Mike’s Free Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to welcome Johnny Wimbrey, an internationally-acclaimed talk show host, #1 best-selling author, and motivational speaker whose charismatic nature inspires everyone from inner-city youth to corporate moguls and celebrities. Author and writer of the best-selling book, From the Hood to Doing Good, Johnny has just released his new book, Building a Millionaire Mindset: How to Use the Pillars of Entrepreneurship to Gain, Maintain, and Sustain Long-Lasting Wealth. Johnny Wimbrey expounds on critical concepts in his book and also shares his incredible rags-to-riches story with us in this powerful interview.
Johnny introduces himself and shares his personal and professional history. He describes his rough past and run-ins with the law, noting how this affected his ability to get a job since it deterred companies from hiring him.
Talking about his book, Building a Millionaire Mindset, Johnny points out how it focuses on the mindset regarding wealth, describing that he wrote it like he was writing to teach his descendants how to keep making wealth. He strongly recommends the book for first-generation millionaires as it explains the impact of your inner voice on your success and the success of your children.
We discuss the need to walk away from negative or harmful situations that you may encounter in life. This is done by exercising your mental muscle, the muscle of being able to walk away from controversy and acting as if you have something to lose. Mike also explains the importance of a successful mindset over being spoon-fed with tactics or methods. Johnny agrees that the inheritance for his kids is not his money but the principles to manage the money.
Johnny narrates the experience of trying to turn his life around, what he characterizes as participating in your own rescue. He describes his work as a temporary insurance agent and trying to get his license during this time. He details the many failures along the way, and the persistent effort he put at each point of failing, taking part in rescuing himself from the impending demise that would have been a fallout of his previous actions.
Johnny explains the importance of having a mentor to hold you accountable for actions taken and how dangerous it can be to not have another person’s council. A mentor can't just be a cheerleader as they are supposed to shake you up and help you make real change in your life. Johnny stressed that you can't mentor anybody unless you have a genuine interest to see them level up in life.
I asked Johnny to describe what he means by being busy versus being productive. He said when people equate this to be the same thing it is a huge lie. Being productive requires intention and direction. If someone takes a step towards something and it has nothing to do with their goal, even if it is helpful in another area, it cannot be considered as truly productive in regard to what they have said is important to them. Additionally, if being busy doesn't mean being productive, it follows that you can be productive without constantly being busy.
We also discussed how adopting someone else's mentality wholesale should not your reality. In every industry there are influencers and you have to be able to discern between voices that are in line with your goals and voices of disruption. How people around you see the world should not affect you and you have to break out of such a mindset. Johnny points out that a friend is a person, place, or thing that's going to push you towards your goals while a foe is a person, place, or thing that's going to pull you away from your goals. You can't allow someone else's thinking to become your reality because if you do, it could change the DNA that you were designed to put out in this lifetime.
Johnny’s book is filled with actionable steps and instructions to provide the reader an opportunity to live each experience that goes beyond the written words. You will not want to miss this powerful interview on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with popular influencer and successful businessman, Johnny Wimbrey!
Notable Quotes:
"My story is basically this: where you come from doesn't have to dictate where you're going, your past doesn't have to determine your future."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"It's just amazing what abundance some people start with and not appreciate how much farther ahead they actually started."
- Mike Simmons
"The bottom line is, what voice are you going to entertain the most? That is the reality you are going to manifest."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"How do you develop muscles if you're not forced to lift anything?"
- Mike Simmons
"We are not raising 'try' babies. We are raising 'do' babies"
- Johnny Wimbrey
"One of the worst things you can do to someone is to give them something they didn't earn or have no idea what to do with."
- Mike Simmons
"If I give you fish, I rescued you. If I teach you how to fish, you rescued yourself."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"You can't mentor someone unless you have a genuine interest to see them level up in life."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"You don't need permission to create accountability."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"Taking risks takes a moment, but not taking that risk becomes a lifestyle that leads to regret."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"You either do or you don't."
- Johnny Wimbrey
Links:
From the Hood to Doing Good
Building a Millionaire Mindset
Johnny’s Website
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to welcome Johnny Wimbrey, an internationally-acclaimed talk show host, #1 best-selling author, and motivational speaker whose charismatic nature inspires everyone from inner-city youth to corporate moguls and celebrities. Author and writer of the best-selling book, From the Hood to Doing Good, Johnny has just released his new book, Building a Millionaire Mindset: How to Use the Pillars of Entrepreneurship to Gain, Maintain, and Sustain Long-Lasting Wealth. Johnny Wimbrey expounds on critical concepts in his book and also shares his incredible rags-to-riches story with us in this powerful interview.
Johnny introduces himself and shares his personal and professional history. He describes his rough past and run-ins with the law, noting how this affected his ability to get a job since it deterred companies from hiring him.
Talking about his book, Building a Millionaire Mindset, Johnny points out how it focuses on the mindset regarding wealth, describing that he wrote it like he was writing to teach his descendants how to keep making wealth. He strongly recommends the book for first-generation millionaires as it explains the impact of your inner voice on your success and the success of your children.
We discuss the need to walk away from negative or harmful situations that you may encounter in life. This is done by exercising your mental muscle, the muscle of being able to walk away from controversy and acting as if you have something to lose. Mike also explains the importance of a successful mindset over being spoon-fed with tactics or methods. Johnny agrees that the inheritance for his kids is not his money but the principles to manage the money.
Johnny narrates the experience of trying to turn his life around, what he characterizes as participating in your own rescue. He describes his work as a temporary insurance agent and trying to get his license during this time. He details the many failures along the way, and the persistent effort he put at each point of failing, taking part in rescuing himself from the impending demise that would have been a fallout of his previous actions.
Johnny explains the importance of having a mentor to hold you accountable for actions taken and how dangerous it can be to not have another person’s council. A mentor can't just be a cheerleader as they are supposed to shake you up and help you make real change in your life. Johnny stressed that you can't mentor anybody unless you have a genuine interest to see them level up in life.
I asked Johnny to describe what he means by being busy versus being productive. He said when people equate this to be the same thing it is a huge lie. Being productive requires intention and direction. If someone takes a step towards something and it has nothing to do with their goal, even if it is helpful in another area, it cannot be considered as truly productive in regard to what they have said is important to them. Additionally, if being busy doesn't mean being productive, it follows that you can be productive without constantly being busy.
We also discussed how adopting someone else's mentality wholesale should not your reality. In every industry there are influencers and you have to be able to discern between voices that are in line with your goals and voices of disruption. How people around you see the world should not affect you and you have to break out of such a mindset. Johnny points out that a friend is a person, place, or thing that's going to push you towards your goals while a foe is a person, place, or thing that's going to pull you away from your goals. You can't allow someone else's thinking to become your reality because if you do, it could change the DNA that you were designed to put out in this lifetime.
Johnny’s book is filled with actionable steps and instructions to provide the reader an opportunity to live each experience that goes beyond the written words. You will not want to miss this powerful interview on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with popular influencer and successful businessman, Johnny Wimbrey!
Notable Quotes:
"My story is basically this: where you come from doesn't have to dictate where you're going, your past doesn't have to determine your future."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"It's just amazing what abundance some people start with and not appreciate how much farther ahead they actually started."
- Mike Simmons
"The bottom line is, what voice are you going to entertain the most? That is the reality you are going to manifest."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"How do you develop muscles if you're not forced to lift anything?"
- Mike Simmons
"We are not raising 'try' babies. We are raising 'do' babies"
- Johnny Wimbrey
"One of the worst things you can do to someone is to give them something they didn't earn or have no idea what to do with."
- Mike Simmons
"If I give you fish, I rescued you. If I teach you how to fish, you rescued yourself."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"You can't mentor someone unless you have a genuine interest to see them level up in life."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"You don't need permission to create accountability."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"Taking risks takes a moment, but not taking that risk becomes a lifestyle that leads to regret."
- Johnny Wimbrey
"You either do or you don't."
- Johnny Wimbrey
Links:
From the Hood to Doing Good
Building a Millionaire Mindset
Johnny’s Website
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, our guest, Brent Kesler, who was a Chiropractor and Chiropractic coach for over 14 years, shares a very unique strategy that got him out of $984,711 in third-party debt. He accomplished this in 39 months after implementing The Money Multiplier (TMM) Method. He became so passionate about how powerful this concept was, he began sharing it with others, and he breaks down the basic principles in this interview.
Brent shares his background, explaining how he grew up in Florida and worked his way up the ranks in a grocery store. He had always wanted to be a Chiropractor but was financially constrained. Following a transfer to St. Louis, where he met his wife, she encouraged him to go to chiropractic school and gave him immense support. In the end, though, he found himself with some pretty substantial debts to pay off.
Explaining how he ended up with five chiropractic clinics, Brent notes that he moved from his first clinic upon realizing that the location wouldn't work for his family. He trained an associate doctor to work there and opened another. Subsequently, he did the same for the second clinic when he was craving more free time. After eventually selling all the clinics, Brent believes he should have kept part ownership of the business since it was such a great profit center.
Brent explains that he was recommended a talk called, "The Infinite Banking Concept: How to Become Your Own Banker," based on a book by Nelson Nash. After hearing from his colleagues the power of this particular strategy, and with almost a million dollars in debt, he decided to apply it. He paid off all his debts within 39 months of beginning the use of this strategy, without changing cash flow, working harder, or taking more risk.
Brent said that all he needed to do was change one thing in his financial life and that was developing his own infinite banking concept process. This involves building your wealth with a specifically designed whole life insurance policy in a mutual company that pays dividends. It is a huge cash value policy and you're able to start using money paid into premium within the first 30 days. The idea is that anytime Brent uses money in the policy, he doesn't take money from the policy but instead puts the policy up for collateral to take a loan from the general fund of the insurance company. This means his money is untouched and still growing tax-free.
Brent discusses the details of buying policies and taking loans in this way. He also noted that you never have to pay back your policy loan, because the loan is simply a prepayment of the death benefit and the death benefit is usually far more than the loan or cash available. Also, the insurance company cannot lose because you're guaranteed to die at some point and any outstanding loan you have on the policy will be paid by the death benefit. The difference between the death benefit and the loan will be paid to your beneficiaries.
Brent Kesler describes how to fund your real estate deals using this strategy in his book, Mapping Out The Millionaire Mystery, which he wrote with Chris Naugle, a client of his. Chris is active in real estate investing, and he shows how he uses all his policies to fund his deals. Brent shares that although Chris was a financial adviser, he never learned about this strategy until they met. He explains that insurance companies don't teach agents about designing the policy this way because the agents have to take a huge hit in their commission.
Brent explains that he never tells anyone where to start with their premium and that you don't need to have a huge amount of money to start. He shares that 91% of the clients that have been with him for a year or more, come back and add onto their policy. Before Brent sets up a call with a potential client, he advises them to watch the presentation at the top of his website’s home page, under the Resources tab, to get acquainted with his investing strategies.
Brent shares that all listeners of Mike's podcast can contact him to get his Mapping Out The Millionaire Mystery ebook for free or choose to pay for postage to get the hardback copy. You don’t want to miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast to get this unique, exciting, and helpful advice for achieving financial freedom with The Money Multiplier, Brent Kesler!
Notable Quotes:
"Love doesn't buy your lunch."
- Brent Kesler
“I told my wife at age 28, ‘If I go and do this, by the time I'm done, I'm going to be 34 years old.’ My wife said, ‘Well, if you don't do it, you will still be 34 years old in 6 years.’”
- Brent Kesler
"People think if they're older than their early 20s, they're locked into what they are doing, but they're not."
- Mike Simmons
"Make a decision...you can either play for the next 10 years and then have to work the rest of your life, or you can work for the next 10 years and play for the rest of your life."
- Brent Kesler
"The decisions that you make today are going to affect the next 5 years of your life."
- Brent Kesler
"So I thought to myself, there has to be something to this right? There's no way 10 or 12 of my closest colleagues are lying to me."
- Brent Kesler
"All I did was add one step in my financial life and it drastically changed my financial life."
- Brent Kesler
"I don't care if you make $10 an hour or $10,000 an hour, everybody needs to break the bonds of financial slavery they don't even realize they're in and start taking control of their wealth."
- Brent Kesler
Links:
Brent’s Website
Brent’s Email
Chris Naugle's Email
Hannah's Email
Chris Naugle’s Website
Mike's FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
MMike on Twitter
Mike on LinkedIn
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, our guest, Brent Kesler, who was a Chiropractor and Chiropractic coach for over 14 years, shares a very unique strategy that got him out of $984,711 in third-party debt. He accomplished this in 39 months after implementing The Money Multiplier (TMM) Method. He became so passionate about how powerful this concept was, he began sharing it with others, and he breaks down the basic principles in this interview.
Brent shares his background, explaining how he grew up in Florida and worked his way up the ranks in a grocery store. He had always wanted to be a Chiropractor but was financially constrained. Following a transfer to St. Louis, where he met his wife, she encouraged him to go to chiropractic school and gave him immense support. In the end, though, he found himself with some pretty substantial debts to pay off.
Explaining how he ended up with five chiropractic clinics, Brent notes that he moved from his first clinic upon realizing that the location wouldn't work for his family. He trained an associate doctor to work there and opened another. Subsequently, he did the same for the second clinic when he was craving more free time. After eventually selling all the clinics, Brent believes he should have kept part ownership of the business since it was such a great profit center.
Brent explains that he was recommended a talk called, "The Infinite Banking Concept: How to Become Your Own Banker," based on a book by Nelson Nash. After hearing from his colleagues the power of this particular strategy, and with almost a million dollars in debt, he decided to apply it. He paid off all his debts within 39 months of beginning the use of this strategy, without changing cash flow, working harder, or taking more risk.
Brent said that all he needed to do was change one thing in his financial life and that was developing his own infinite banking concept process. This involves building your wealth with a specifically designed whole life insurance policy in a mutual company that pays dividends. It is a huge cash value policy and you're able to start using money paid into premium within the first 30 days. The idea is that anytime Brent uses money in the policy, he doesn't take money from the policy but instead puts the policy up for collateral to take a loan from the general fund of the insurance company. This means his money is untouched and still growing tax-free.
Brent discusses the details of buying policies and taking loans in this way. He also noted that you never have to pay back your policy loan, because the loan is simply a prepayment of the death benefit and the death benefit is usually far more than the loan or cash available. Also, the insurance company cannot lose because you're guaranteed to die at some point and any outstanding loan you have on the policy will be paid by the death benefit. The difference between the death benefit and the loan will be paid to your beneficiaries.
Brent Kesler describes how to fund your real estate deals using this strategy in his book, Mapping Out The Millionaire Mystery, which he wrote with Chris Naugle, a client of his. Chris is active in real estate investing, and he shows how he uses all his policies to fund his deals. Brent shares that although Chris was a financial adviser, he never learned about this strategy until they met. He explains that insurance companies don't teach agents about designing the policy this way because the agents have to take a huge hit in their commission.
Brent explains that he never tells anyone where to start with their premium and that you don't need to have a huge amount of money to start. He shares that 91% of the clients that have been with him for a year or more, come back and add onto their policy. Before Brent sets up a call with a potential client, he advises them to watch the presentation at the top of his website’s home page, under the Resources tab, to get acquainted with his investing strategies.
Brent shares that all listeners of Mike's podcast can contact him to get his Mapping Out The Millionaire Mystery ebook for free or choose to pay for postage to get the hardback copy. You don’t want to miss this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast to get this unique, exciting, and helpful advice for achieving financial freedom with The Money Multiplier, Brent Kesler!
Notable Quotes:
"Love doesn't buy your lunch."
- Brent Kesler
“I told my wife at age 28, ‘If I go and do this, by the time I'm done, I'm going to be 34 years old.’ My wife said, ‘Well, if you don't do it, you will still be 34 years old in 6 years.’”
- Brent Kesler
"People think if they're older than their early 20s, they're locked into what they are doing, but they're not."
- Mike Simmons
"Make a decision...you can either play for the next 10 years and then have to work the rest of your life, or you can work for the next 10 years and play for the rest of your life."
- Brent Kesler
"The decisions that you make today are going to affect the next 5 years of your life."
- Brent Kesler
"So I thought to myself, there has to be something to this right? There's no way 10 or 12 of my closest colleagues are lying to me."
- Brent Kesler
"All I did was add one step in my financial life and it drastically changed my financial life."
- Brent Kesler
"I don't care if you make $10 an hour or $10,000 an hour, everybody needs to break the bonds of financial slavery they don't even realize they're in and start taking control of their wealth."
- Brent Kesler
Links:
Brent’s Website
Brent’s Email
Chris Naugle's Email
Hannah's Email
Chris Naugle’s Website
Mike's FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
MMike on Twitter
Mike on LinkedIn
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Kris Reid to the show. Kris is a business growth expert and founder of Ardor SEO. He developed a simple system to get your message in front of your ideal audience to predictably grow your business. Now, he works with diverse companies and brands all over the world to help them get customers and make the profits that they've always envisioned. His own passion for entrepreneurship, small businesses, veganism, and helping sustainable, ethical businesses directs his vision for Ardor and the company's impact on the world.
Kris first shares with us his background story. After getting his degree as a Software Engineer, Kris moved from Brisbane, Australia to London, UK, and worked with investment banks. When the 2008 global financial crisis hit, his career was destroyed. He moved back to Australia and decided to build an online computer game. Like many online businesses, he struggled to get visitors to his website to play the game. So, Kris put his analytical mind to work and by learning the rules of search engine optimization (SEO), he developed a simple system to get people to his website. He then started building websites to sell backlinks and that started his SEO journey.
Without having any previous knowledge about SEO, Kris is completely self-taught. We talk about the importance of backlinks, which Kris believes are fundamentals of how Google works. The more backlinks you have from more credible sources that are in your niche, the more trusted you are and the better you are going to rank.
We then move on to talking about Google making changes in their algorithm and how it can affect SEO marketing. Kris then goes on to explain the difference between two different types of SEO: whitehat SEO (things that Google likes) and blackhat SEO (things that Google doesn’t like). If you are doing blackhat SEO and Google discovers it, you will receive penalties and you can lose all of your traffic. Google’s algorithm is getting better and better at finding good websites and good, quality content online. So, if you have a good website, changes to Google’s algorithm will not affect you.
Kris shares with us some of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to SEO. One of the most noticeable things for him is that he believes people spend too much time on their websites talking about themselves. Your page needs to be simple: show the person that you can solve their problem, show examples of your work, and make it easy for people to do business with you.
Kris believes that most marketing is a waste of money. He says this is mostly true when it comes to traditional marketing: TV ads, radio ads, paper ads because it is almost impossible for you to track if anybody is paying attention to your ads. With digital marketing, you can track everything and you know exactly where your customers are coming from. SEO is the best form of digital marketing because it has a compounding type of return.
I also asked Kris for his advice on how to grow a podcast. His main advice is, just like with SEO, to do some keyword research. If you have a podcast once a week and you rank it for a hundred search volume keywords, it is a hundred searches a month. In the span of a year, you have a website that is generating 5,200 visitors a month and that translates into a million-dollar website.
Our next topic was marketing agencies. When looking for an agency you want someone who is going to focus on your goals and help you grow your business to where you want it to be. You want an agency that will show you a report of your revenue growth, tell you where your leads came from, and where your money came from. You want that type of personal approach in a firm for the best possible outcome.
Kris also talks about how often a website represents a part of the problem. He explains that there are two ways to generate more customers: to increase traffic or to increase conversions. The easiest way is to increase traffic and once you get enough traffic then you focus on the website to see if the conversion is good or not.
Do not miss out on this amazing and super informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with business growth and SEO expert, Kris Reid!
Notable Quotes:
“When you are building a business, you are building it for the long game.”
- Kris Reid
“The longer you are around, Google appreciates that and trusts you more.”
- Kris Reid
“Backlinks are super important. They are the fundamentals of how Google works.”
- Kris Reid
“The more backlinks you have from more credible sources that are in your niche, the more trusted you are and the better you are going to rank.”
- Kris Reid
“A website is designed to get in front of people who don’t know who you are.”
- Kris Reid
“Google’s algorithm, all it is ever doing, is getting better at finding quality websites and getting rid of the crappy ones.”
- Kris Reid
“Your action needs to be equivalent to the amount of value that you provide.”
- Kris Reid
“One part of why SEO is better than all of the other forms of digital marketing that you pay for is that it’s compounding.”
- Kris Reid
“That is how you grow a podcast. Don’t go after massive keywords, just rank each episode for a hundred searches a month and in one year you are going to be sitting pretty.”
- Kris Reid
“What you need to do is grow in a sustainable way that is right for your business.”
- Kris Reid
“One keyword might generate more leads, but another type of keyword might generate more customers. That is where we want to focus on.”
- Kris Reid
“You have two ways to generate customers: increase traffic or increase conversions.”
- Kris Reid
“Generally, fixing your ugly websites is not the most important thing; it is getting people to your ugly website because ugly websites still convert.”
- Kris Reid
Links:
ArdorSEO Landing Page
Kris on Facebook
Kris’ Podcast on YouTube
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Kris Reid to the show. Kris is a business growth expert and founder of Ardor SEO. He developed a simple system to get your message in front of your ideal audience to predictably grow your business. Now, he works with diverse companies and brands all over the world to help them get customers and make the profits that they've always envisioned. His own passion for entrepreneurship, small businesses, veganism, and helping sustainable, ethical businesses directs his vision for Ardor and the company's impact on the world.
Kris first shares with us his background story. After getting his degree as a Software Engineer, Kris moved from Brisbane, Australia to London, UK, and worked with investment banks. When the 2008 global financial crisis hit, his career was destroyed. He moved back to Australia and decided to build an online computer game. Like many online businesses, he struggled to get visitors to his website to play the game. So, Kris put his analytical mind to work and by learning the rules of search engine optimization (SEO), he developed a simple system to get people to his website. He then started building websites to sell backlinks and that started his SEO journey.
Without having any previous knowledge about SEO, Kris is completely self-taught. We talk about the importance of backlinks, which Kris believes are fundamentals of how Google works. The more backlinks you have from more credible sources that are in your niche, the more trusted you are and the better you are going to rank.
We then move on to talking about Google making changes in their algorithm and how it can affect SEO marketing. Kris then goes on to explain the difference between two different types of SEO: whitehat SEO (things that Google likes) and blackhat SEO (things that Google doesn’t like). If you are doing blackhat SEO and Google discovers it, you will receive penalties and you can lose all of your traffic. Google’s algorithm is getting better and better at finding good websites and good, quality content online. So, if you have a good website, changes to Google’s algorithm will not affect you.
Kris shares with us some of the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to SEO. One of the most noticeable things for him is that he believes people spend too much time on their websites talking about themselves. Your page needs to be simple: show the person that you can solve their problem, show examples of your work, and make it easy for people to do business with you.
Kris believes that most marketing is a waste of money. He says this is mostly true when it comes to traditional marketing: TV ads, radio ads, paper ads because it is almost impossible for you to track if anybody is paying attention to your ads. With digital marketing, you can track everything and you know exactly where your customers are coming from. SEO is the best form of digital marketing because it has a compounding type of return.
I also asked Kris for his advice on how to grow a podcast. His main advice is, just like with SEO, to do some keyword research. If you have a podcast once a week and you rank it for a hundred search volume keywords, it is a hundred searches a month. In the span of a year, you have a website that is generating 5,200 visitors a month and that translates into a million-dollar website.
Our next topic was marketing agencies. When looking for an agency you want someone who is going to focus on your goals and help you grow your business to where you want it to be. You want an agency that will show you a report of your revenue growth, tell you where your leads came from, and where your money came from. You want that type of personal approach in a firm for the best possible outcome.
Kris also talks about how often a website represents a part of the problem. He explains that there are two ways to generate more customers: to increase traffic or to increase conversions. The easiest way is to increase traffic and once you get enough traffic then you focus on the website to see if the conversion is good or not.
Do not miss out on this amazing and super informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with business growth and SEO expert, Kris Reid!
Notable Quotes:
“When you are building a business, you are building it for the long game.”
- Kris Reid
“The longer you are around, Google appreciates that and trusts you more.”
- Kris Reid
“Backlinks are super important. They are the fundamentals of how Google works.”
- Kris Reid
“The more backlinks you have from more credible sources that are in your niche, the more trusted you are and the better you are going to rank.”
- Kris Reid
“A website is designed to get in front of people who don’t know who you are.”
- Kris Reid
“Google’s algorithm, all it is ever doing, is getting better at finding quality websites and getting rid of the crappy ones.”
- Kris Reid
“Your action needs to be equivalent to the amount of value that you provide.”
- Kris Reid
“One part of why SEO is better than all of the other forms of digital marketing that you pay for is that it’s compounding.”
- Kris Reid
“That is how you grow a podcast. Don’t go after massive keywords, just rank each episode for a hundred searches a month and in one year you are going to be sitting pretty.”
- Kris Reid
“What you need to do is grow in a sustainable way that is right for your business.”
- Kris Reid
“One keyword might generate more leads, but another type of keyword might generate more customers. That is where we want to focus on.”
- Kris Reid
“You have two ways to generate customers: increase traffic or increase conversions.”
- Kris Reid
“Generally, fixing your ugly websites is not the most important thing; it is getting people to your ugly website because ugly websites still convert.”
- Kris Reid
Links:
ArdorSEO Landing Page
Kris on Facebook
Kris’ Podcast on YouTube
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to welcome Sean Castrina. Sean is a serial entrepreneur, having started more than 20 companies over the last 20 years, and still seeks to launch a new venture annually. He is an amazing investor, teacher, and highly-sought-after speaker who communicates with humor and a bluntness that engages and captures his audience. His podcast The 10 Minute Entrepreneur, is one of iTunes’ most popular business shows. Sean is also the author of 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success, The Greatest Entrepreneur in the World, and World’s Greatest Business Plan.
We start this episode with Sean’s background story. After graduating from college, he was able to secure his dream job. But five years later, he got fired overnight with no warning, after just having a newborn child. This was the moment he realized that he would never again work for anybody but himself. He went on to create a car detailing company that brought in $35,000 of passive income. He repeated that formula with service companies over the next 25 years.
Sean started a lot of businesses in his lifetime and along the way he learned that you don’t have to love that business, you don’t even have to be a part of it, in order to make a profit. As an entrepreneur, his goal is to systematize them and make them passive at some level. Sean goes on to talk about how the fact that he was born legally blind affected his childhood and his adult life. He explains how it taught him to work with that, around that, and defeat any obstacle that came his way.
We then move on to learn more about Sean’s entrepreneurial career. He talks about how, after creating his detailing business, he started working with other service companies. At one point, he wanted to turn his dining room into an office, but he soon realized that it was impossible to find a handyman in his community. Led by his entrepreneurial spirit, he started a company named Advantage Handyman Service that ended up being a multimillion-dollar company within the first three years, and soon it will be an 8-figure company. It was always the same formula that turned out to be successful for him - service companies.
We then move on to talking about Sean’s plans for the future. His goal is to start a new company every single year. He explains how some business owners have an entrepreneurial moment - they start a business and they are happy with that, but that is where it stops. Some entrepreneurs are addicted to looking for the next thing that they can get involved in, an opportunity that is within what they know and understand.
Sean and I then dive into discussing one of his books called 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success. He shares his perspective about the book and walks us through all eight rules that helped him become a successful business owner. Among other things, he explains why you need a great team, why you need to know your numbers, and how important marketing is.
Lastly, Sean shares his amazing advice on how to learn from other successful entrepreneurs. Business owners love to get a pat on the back and they love to tell you what they are doing. His advice is to go to any business owner, tell them you love their business and you would just love to bring them a cup of coffee once a month and pick their brain for twenty minutes. You will get a wealth of wisdom from doing this simple task!
Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is filled with practical and incredibly actionable advice from an amazing, and most definitely serial, entrepreneur, Sean Castrina!
Notable Quotes:
“A job is not security. At the very least, you have to put up with stuff that you don't even like.”
- Sean Castrina
“There are very few jobs that are like being an entrepreneur.”
- Sean Castrina
“Business is nothing but chess pieces; every chess piece moves a little bit differently. Employment is playing checkers; you move linear, trying to get to the end of the board.”
- Sean Castrina
“You are not going to be good if you do everything. Do a couple of things really, really well.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you face an obstacle, you climb over it and that paints the picture of who you become.”
- Sean Castrina
“Do the craft that you are good at.”
- Sean Castrina
“Entrepreneurs are addicted to the next thing they can get involved in.”
- Sean Castrina
“When you are an entrepreneur, you are constantly looking for something that works within what you know and understand.”
- Sean Castrina
“This is a hard game to win if you don’t know any of the rules.”
- Sean Castrina
Links:
Download a FREE COPY of Sean’s book, 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success
Sean on Instagram
Sean on Facebook
Sean on LinkedIn
Sean on YouTube
Sean on Twitter
Mike's FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to welcome Sean Castrina. Sean is a serial entrepreneur, having started more than 20 companies over the last 20 years, and still seeks to launch a new venture annually. He is an amazing investor, teacher, and highly-sought-after speaker who communicates with humor and a bluntness that engages and captures his audience. His podcast The 10 Minute Entrepreneur, is one of iTunes’ most popular business shows. Sean is also the author of 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success, The Greatest Entrepreneur in the World, and World’s Greatest Business Plan.
We start this episode with Sean’s background story. After graduating from college, he was able to secure his dream job. But five years later, he got fired overnight with no warning, after just having a newborn child. This was the moment he realized that he would never again work for anybody but himself. He went on to create a car detailing company that brought in $35,000 of passive income. He repeated that formula with service companies over the next 25 years.
Sean started a lot of businesses in his lifetime and along the way he learned that you don’t have to love that business, you don’t even have to be a part of it, in order to make a profit. As an entrepreneur, his goal is to systematize them and make them passive at some level. Sean goes on to talk about how the fact that he was born legally blind affected his childhood and his adult life. He explains how it taught him to work with that, around that, and defeat any obstacle that came his way.
We then move on to learn more about Sean’s entrepreneurial career. He talks about how, after creating his detailing business, he started working with other service companies. At one point, he wanted to turn his dining room into an office, but he soon realized that it was impossible to find a handyman in his community. Led by his entrepreneurial spirit, he started a company named Advantage Handyman Service that ended up being a multimillion-dollar company within the first three years, and soon it will be an 8-figure company. It was always the same formula that turned out to be successful for him - service companies.
We then move on to talking about Sean’s plans for the future. His goal is to start a new company every single year. He explains how some business owners have an entrepreneurial moment - they start a business and they are happy with that, but that is where it stops. Some entrepreneurs are addicted to looking for the next thing that they can get involved in, an opportunity that is within what they know and understand.
Sean and I then dive into discussing one of his books called 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success. He shares his perspective about the book and walks us through all eight rules that helped him become a successful business owner. Among other things, he explains why you need a great team, why you need to know your numbers, and how important marketing is.
Lastly, Sean shares his amazing advice on how to learn from other successful entrepreneurs. Business owners love to get a pat on the back and they love to tell you what they are doing. His advice is to go to any business owner, tell them you love their business and you would just love to bring them a cup of coffee once a month and pick their brain for twenty minutes. You will get a wealth of wisdom from doing this simple task!
Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is filled with practical and incredibly actionable advice from an amazing, and most definitely serial, entrepreneur, Sean Castrina!
Notable Quotes:
“A job is not security. At the very least, you have to put up with stuff that you don't even like.”
- Sean Castrina
“There are very few jobs that are like being an entrepreneur.”
- Sean Castrina
“Business is nothing but chess pieces; every chess piece moves a little bit differently. Employment is playing checkers; you move linear, trying to get to the end of the board.”
- Sean Castrina
“You are not going to be good if you do everything. Do a couple of things really, really well.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you face an obstacle, you climb over it and that paints the picture of who you become.”
- Sean Castrina
“Do the craft that you are good at.”
- Sean Castrina
“Entrepreneurs are addicted to the next thing they can get involved in.”
- Sean Castrina
“When you are an entrepreneur, you are constantly looking for something that works within what you know and understand.”
- Sean Castrina
“This is a hard game to win if you don’t know any of the rules.”
- Sean Castrina
Links:
Download a FREE COPY of Sean’s book, 8 Unbreakable Rules for Business Startup Success
Sean on Instagram
Sean on Facebook
Sean on LinkedIn
Sean on YouTube
Sean on Twitter
Mike's FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am so excited to welcome Tom Wheelwright! Tom is known as a tax and wealth expert, he is a CPA, and the CEO of WealthAbility®. He is the Best-Selling Author of Tax-Free Wealth (part of the Rich Dad Advisors Series). Tom is a speaker, entrepreneur, and host of two popular podcasts: The WealthAbility™ Show and The WealthAbility® for CPAs Show. He is a contributor to Entrepreneur magazine, and his work has been seen in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, FOX and Friends, and many other media outlets.
We begin this episode, as we often do, with Tom’s background. Tom began his career doing bookkeeping for his father’s company. After getting his master's of Professional Accounting degree from the University of Texas, he managed and led the professional training for thousands of CPAs at Ernst & Young’s National Tax Department in Washington, D.C. He was an in-house tax advisor for Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, at the time a Fortune 1000 company and he also served as an adjunct professor in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University for 14 years, where he created the course for teaching multi-state tax planning techniques. Tom now teaches the Rich Dad Education Advanced Tax and Asset Protection class and he is also currently building a network of CPA firms around the world in order to serve more people.
We then talk about the importance of planning and thinking ahead when it comes to taxes. Having these discussions with your CPA early on in the tax year helps you to prepare properly. As a successful business owner, you need to know your numbers every single day. And when you know where you stand, it is much easier to plan out your taxes.
We briefly touch on the differences between bookkeepers and CPAs. According to Tom, your bookkeeper is there to provide accurate records that help you make right decisions. Your CPA is there to analyze those records. The role of your bookkeeper is to keep you accountable, and it is that accountability that creates profitability.
Tom then talks about buying and selling CPA firms, as well as creating them from scratch. He walks us through the process of turning around a CPA firm after the purchase. For Tom, it was all about building appropriate systems. For example, very few CPAs have a system for meeting with clients: when, how often, what is the goal, etc. Tom believes that systems are what creates value in a business, that they are the primary asset of the business.
We then move on to talking about Tom's partnership with Robert Kiyosaki. The two met when Tom bought a CPA firm that had Robert as one of the clients. This just proves that you never know where your contacts can lead you. Tom goes into detail explaining how all the pieces came together at the right time and led to him becoming Robert’s tax advisor.
We then discuss the current political situation. We talk about how political changes affect us and what should we know from a small-business standpoint. Tom’s estimate is that the taxes will probably go up in the next four years. The incentives will probably shift to clean, renewable energy. From a real-estate point of view, if you have a real estate with solar production or hydroelectric production, that will be a great source of cash-flow. These changes will require an adjustment to how we think when it comes to real estate.
Lastly, we dive into the stimulus bill. Tom takes us through some of the most important parts of the bill as far as taxes are concerned: restaurant business meals (both takeout and dine-in) are 100% deductible for the next two years, extending the universal charitable deduction through 2021, and qualifying for PPP loans. Tom then goes on to explain PPP loans even further in regards to the new act.
You do not want to miss this amazing and advice-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the legendary tax expert, Tom Wheelwright!
Notable Quotes:
“One of the mistakes that new entrepreneurs, new investors get into is that they are catching up on their taxes, instead of staying ahead.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“Good tax records and good tax practices are also good business practices.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“If you are running a good, tight business and you know your numbers, tax season won’t be so stressful because you will have the information available.”
- Mike Simmons
“Your bookkeeper is there to create accuracy, accurate records that you can make good decisions from and your CPA should be there to analyze those records.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“If you don't have the documentation, you don’t get to deduct that expense.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“What a system does is actually create value. Because if you don’t have a system, really all you are doing is constantly selling. If you constantly have to sell, you don’t really have a business, you have a job as a salesman. ”
- Tom Wheelwright
“You can sell a business, but a business has to have assets and primary assets are going to be the systems of the business”
- Tom Wheelwright
“A sellable business is also a well-run business.”
- Mike Simmons
“Once you find the formula that you can repeat over and over again, all of a sudden business is easy. When you are making a new decision every day, that makes business hard.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“I happen to believe that business produces income; workers are necessary but they are not the reason that business survives. The business survives because of the assets in the business.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“Never turn down free money.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“A tax strategy should be a long-term tax strategy.”
- Tom Wheelwright
Links:
Tom’s Website
Tom on Facebook
Tom on LinkedIn
WealthAbility Website
WealthAbility on Facebook
WealthAbility on Twitter
WealthAbility on Instagram
WealthAbility on LinkedIn
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am so excited to welcome Tom Wheelwright! Tom is known as a tax and wealth expert, he is a CPA, and the CEO of WealthAbility®. He is the Best-Selling Author of Tax-Free Wealth (part of the Rich Dad Advisors Series). Tom is a speaker, entrepreneur, and host of two popular podcasts: The WealthAbility™ Show and The WealthAbility® for CPAs Show. He is a contributor to Entrepreneur magazine, and his work has been seen in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, FOX and Friends, and many other media outlets.
We begin this episode, as we often do, with Tom’s background. Tom began his career doing bookkeeping for his father’s company. After getting his master's of Professional Accounting degree from the University of Texas, he managed and led the professional training for thousands of CPAs at Ernst & Young’s National Tax Department in Washington, D.C. He was an in-house tax advisor for Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, at the time a Fortune 1000 company and he also served as an adjunct professor in the Masters of Tax program at Arizona State University for 14 years, where he created the course for teaching multi-state tax planning techniques. Tom now teaches the Rich Dad Education Advanced Tax and Asset Protection class and he is also currently building a network of CPA firms around the world in order to serve more people.
We then talk about the importance of planning and thinking ahead when it comes to taxes. Having these discussions with your CPA early on in the tax year helps you to prepare properly. As a successful business owner, you need to know your numbers every single day. And when you know where you stand, it is much easier to plan out your taxes.
We briefly touch on the differences between bookkeepers and CPAs. According to Tom, your bookkeeper is there to provide accurate records that help you make right decisions. Your CPA is there to analyze those records. The role of your bookkeeper is to keep you accountable, and it is that accountability that creates profitability.
Tom then talks about buying and selling CPA firms, as well as creating them from scratch. He walks us through the process of turning around a CPA firm after the purchase. For Tom, it was all about building appropriate systems. For example, very few CPAs have a system for meeting with clients: when, how often, what is the goal, etc. Tom believes that systems are what creates value in a business, that they are the primary asset of the business.
We then move on to talking about Tom's partnership with Robert Kiyosaki. The two met when Tom bought a CPA firm that had Robert as one of the clients. This just proves that you never know where your contacts can lead you. Tom goes into detail explaining how all the pieces came together at the right time and led to him becoming Robert’s tax advisor.
We then discuss the current political situation. We talk about how political changes affect us and what should we know from a small-business standpoint. Tom’s estimate is that the taxes will probably go up in the next four years. The incentives will probably shift to clean, renewable energy. From a real-estate point of view, if you have a real estate with solar production or hydroelectric production, that will be a great source of cash-flow. These changes will require an adjustment to how we think when it comes to real estate.
Lastly, we dive into the stimulus bill. Tom takes us through some of the most important parts of the bill as far as taxes are concerned: restaurant business meals (both takeout and dine-in) are 100% deductible for the next two years, extending the universal charitable deduction through 2021, and qualifying for PPP loans. Tom then goes on to explain PPP loans even further in regards to the new act.
You do not want to miss this amazing and advice-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the legendary tax expert, Tom Wheelwright!
Notable Quotes:
“One of the mistakes that new entrepreneurs, new investors get into is that they are catching up on their taxes, instead of staying ahead.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“Good tax records and good tax practices are also good business practices.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“If you are running a good, tight business and you know your numbers, tax season won’t be so stressful because you will have the information available.”
- Mike Simmons
“Your bookkeeper is there to create accuracy, accurate records that you can make good decisions from and your CPA should be there to analyze those records.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“If you don't have the documentation, you don’t get to deduct that expense.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“What a system does is actually create value. Because if you don’t have a system, really all you are doing is constantly selling. If you constantly have to sell, you don’t really have a business, you have a job as a salesman. ”
- Tom Wheelwright
“You can sell a business, but a business has to have assets and primary assets are going to be the systems of the business”
- Tom Wheelwright
“A sellable business is also a well-run business.”
- Mike Simmons
“Once you find the formula that you can repeat over and over again, all of a sudden business is easy. When you are making a new decision every day, that makes business hard.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“I happen to believe that business produces income; workers are necessary but they are not the reason that business survives. The business survives because of the assets in the business.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“Never turn down free money.”
- Tom Wheelwright
“A tax strategy should be a long-term tax strategy.”
- Tom Wheelwright
Links:
Tom’s Website
Tom on Facebook
Tom on LinkedIn
WealthAbility Website
WealthAbility on Facebook
WealthAbility on Twitter
WealthAbility on Instagram
WealthAbility on LinkedIn
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I am happy to host Dave Dubeau, a real-estate investor, investor attraction expert, and a best selling author based in British Columbia, Canada. Dave famously began his career back in 2003, doing 18 deals in 18 months, and has continued to grow ever since, doing a remarkable number of client-first, rent-to-own deals, and later investing in multifamily properties. He is truly a master at what he does and has a proprietary 5 Step Money Partner Formula with which he continues to help his clients grow their portfolios significantly in record time by attracting investors.
Dave gives an insight into his childhood when he used to live in a 6-plex, where there were always tenants around, and the idea of rentals was not alien to him. He also gives credits to his mother, who was no slouch at real estate investing herself and racked up a sizable portfolio of over 50 doors while being a working mom. So, the seeds of real estate investing were planted into his mind from an early age.
Dave recalls that when his daughter was getting to school age, they decided to move to North America since it offered better opportunities and a safer environment for kids to grow up in. So, they moved to Canada and started all over again from scratch in 2003. He remembers coming across a Ron LeGrand commercial, saying that you could get into real estate investing with little or no money down, and thinking to himself that it’s perfect because that’s exactly what he had. He immediately took it to action and did 18 deals in 18 months.
Dave then went on to work with a real estate guru, who was pretty much the Canadian version of Robert Kiyosaki who saw what he was doing with marketing and other business dealings. He became the Director of Marketing for his companies and helped him grow from two employees to 128 employees with seven branch offices, clocking in $200 million a year.
Dave shares his non-conventional ways of making deals like instead of starting with the house, and then trying to find somebody for that house, he starts by finding the person and then buying a house for their requirements. He shares his philosophy of raising capital. He says, when it comes to the chicken and the egg, which comes first, the money or the deal, he says the money always comes first, which means that before you go around trying to make deals, you’ve got to have the capital to back you up. That's when you can go after the best deals, that's when you can negotiate the hardest, that's when you can go in with the Mojo because you know, you've got the money to back you up.
Dave then goes ahead and gives a glimpse of his 5 Steps Money Partner Formula. Step number one is to come up with a list of prospective investors, a list of 150 to 200 people. Hit your cell phone, take a look at your contacts, email, Linkedin, and all other profiles, and start making a solid list. Then, reconnect with these people. Before talking business, build a genuine relationship and gradually find out if or not they could be a potential investor. You’ll probably get 30 to 50 replies out of that list you’ve made.
Step number two is to go with a good presentation for when somebody puts up their hand and says, hey, I'm interested, tell me more. Most people aren't super experienced with raising capital as they aren't natural salespeople. So having a really good, well structured, well-laid out, attractive slideshow presentation can serve you very well.
Step number three is all about marketing. Dave stresses the importance of constant, consistent communication. Ideally, you want to be reaching out to your list of prospective investors once a week, but at the very least, consistently do it once a month. Keep in mind that the person coming in may not care about real estate investing, but they do like the idea of getting a good return on their money.
Step number four is all about demonstrating your authority and credibility. You only need to be seen as the expert, as an authority in the eyes of those people on your list. Again, keep in mind that the vast majority of those people have never purchased a single revenue property. So, if you even have closed one deal, you're already light years ahead of them. When you're meeting with somebody, even if it's on zoom, and you're talking about money, dress up professionally and show them respect. Dave advises that people speak knowledgeably about your strategy and your market.
Lastly, step number five, once you get a couple of investors on board, it's so much easier to get more of them with effective testimonials and referrals. If your investors are happy with what you're doing for them, if you do it properly, you can get referrals and testimonials from them, which will greatly boost your growth. Dave says that he firmly believes that a good real estate deal is the best way for everyday folks to make an above-average return on the money, backed by a solid, tangible asset, a real property.
What a fabulous episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! So much great information and value from this wonderful conversation with Dave Dubeau!
Notable quotes:
“If I were going to write a book on the keys to success, there would absolutely be a chapter on self-awareness.”
- Mike Simmons
“Instead of starting with the house, and then trying to find somebody for that house, we start by finding the person and then we buy them a house.”
- Dave Dubeau
“Find a good deal and the money will find you.”
- Dave Dubeau
“You need to turn every conversation into a real estate conversation. You have to get out there.”
- Dave Dubeau
“I always tell people the best time to raise money is when you don't need it.”
- Mike Simmons
“When it comes to the chicken and the egg idea, which comes first, the money or the deal? I say that the money always comes first.”
- Dave Dubeau
“When it comes to raising capital, especially for people who are just getting started, just go after the low hanging fruit.”
- Dave Dubeau
“Marketing is all about having constant, consistent communication, so we're planting the seed of real estate investing.”
- Dave Dubeau
“When you're meeting with somebody, even if it's on zoom, and you're talking about money, dress up.”
- Dave Dubeau
“I think it is really important to say that you firmly believe that a good real estate deal is the best way for everyday folks to make an above-average return on their money, backed by solid, tangible property.”
- Dave Dubeau
Links:
Dave Dubeau’s Website
Dave Dubeau’s Book
Dave Dubeau Facebook
Dave Dubeau Instagram
Dave Dubeau LinkedIn
Mike’s Free Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I am happy to host Dave Dubeau, a real-estate investor, investor attraction expert, and a best selling author based in British Columbia, Canada. Dave famously began his career back in 2003, doing 18 deals in 18 months, and has continued to grow ever since, doing a remarkable number of client-first, rent-to-own deals, and later investing in multifamily properties. He is truly a master at what he does and has a proprietary 5 Step Money Partner Formula with which he continues to help his clients grow their portfolios significantly in record time by attracting investors.
Dave gives an insight into his childhood when he used to live in a 6-plex, where there were always tenants around, and the idea of rentals was not alien to him. He also gives credits to his mother, who was no slouch at real estate investing herself and racked up a sizable portfolio of over 50 doors while being a working mom. So, the seeds of real estate investing were planted into his mind from an early age.
Dave recalls that when his daughter was getting to school age, they decided to move to North America since it offered better opportunities and a safer environment for kids to grow up in. So, they moved to Canada and started all over again from scratch in 2003. He remembers coming across a Ron LeGrand commercial, saying that you could get into real estate investing with little or no money down, and thinking to himself that it’s perfect because that’s exactly what he had. He immediately took it to action and did 18 deals in 18 months.
Dave then went on to work with a real estate guru, who was pretty much the Canadian version of Robert Kiyosaki who saw what he was doing with marketing and other business dealings. He became the Director of Marketing for his companies and helped him grow from two employees to 128 employees with seven branch offices, clocking in $200 million a year.
Dave shares his non-conventional ways of making deals like instead of starting with the house, and then trying to find somebody for that house, he starts by finding the person and then buying a house for their requirements. He shares his philosophy of raising capital. He says, when it comes to the chicken and the egg, which comes first, the money or the deal, he says the money always comes first, which means that before you go around trying to make deals, you’ve got to have the capital to back you up. That's when you can go after the best deals, that's when you can negotiate the hardest, that's when you can go in with the Mojo because you know, you've got the money to back you up.
Dave then goes ahead and gives a glimpse of his 5 Steps Money Partner Formula. Step number one is to come up with a list of prospective investors, a list of 150 to 200 people. Hit your cell phone, take a look at your contacts, email, Linkedin, and all other profiles, and start making a solid list. Then, reconnect with these people. Before talking business, build a genuine relationship and gradually find out if or not they could be a potential investor. You’ll probably get 30 to 50 replies out of that list you’ve made.
Step number two is to go with a good presentation for when somebody puts up their hand and says, hey, I'm interested, tell me more. Most people aren't super experienced with raising capital as they aren't natural salespeople. So having a really good, well structured, well-laid out, attractive slideshow presentation can serve you very well.
Step number three is all about marketing. Dave stresses the importance of constant, consistent communication. Ideally, you want to be reaching out to your list of prospective investors once a week, but at the very least, consistently do it once a month. Keep in mind that the person coming in may not care about real estate investing, but they do like the idea of getting a good return on their money.
Step number four is all about demonstrating your authority and credibility. You only need to be seen as the expert, as an authority in the eyes of those people on your list. Again, keep in mind that the vast majority of those people have never purchased a single revenue property. So, if you even have closed one deal, you're already light years ahead of them. When you're meeting with somebody, even if it's on zoom, and you're talking about money, dress up professionally and show them respect. Dave advises that people speak knowledgeably about your strategy and your market.
Lastly, step number five, once you get a couple of investors on board, it's so much easier to get more of them with effective testimonials and referrals. If your investors are happy with what you're doing for them, if you do it properly, you can get referrals and testimonials from them, which will greatly boost your growth. Dave says that he firmly believes that a good real estate deal is the best way for everyday folks to make an above-average return on the money, backed by a solid, tangible asset, a real property.
What a fabulous episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! So much great information and value from this wonderful conversation with Dave Dubeau!
Notable quotes:
“If I were going to write a book on the keys to success, there would absolutely be a chapter on self-awareness.”
- Mike Simmons
“Instead of starting with the house, and then trying to find somebody for that house, we start by finding the person and then we buy them a house.”
- Dave Dubeau
“Find a good deal and the money will find you.”
- Dave Dubeau
“You need to turn every conversation into a real estate conversation. You have to get out there.”
- Dave Dubeau
“I always tell people the best time to raise money is when you don't need it.”
- Mike Simmons
“When it comes to the chicken and the egg idea, which comes first, the money or the deal? I say that the money always comes first.”
- Dave Dubeau
“When it comes to raising capital, especially for people who are just getting started, just go after the low hanging fruit.”
- Dave Dubeau
“Marketing is all about having constant, consistent communication, so we're planting the seed of real estate investing.”
- Dave Dubeau
“When you're meeting with somebody, even if it's on zoom, and you're talking about money, dress up.”
- Dave Dubeau
“I think it is really important to say that you firmly believe that a good real estate deal is the best way for everyday folks to make an above-average return on their money, backed by solid, tangible property.”
- Dave Dubeau
Links:
Dave Dubeau’s Website
Dave Dubeau’s Book
Dave Dubeau Facebook
Dave Dubeau Instagram
Dave Dubeau LinkedIn
Mike’s Free Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today's episode, I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome Jimmy Murray. Jimmy is a millennial house hacker turned corporate dropout, a specialist in flipping 2-4 unit multifamilies, and the Co-Founder of Lyon Property Management Company that operates across Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts. Jimmy also co-hosts the Cashflow Kings Podcast along with fellow millionaire investor Frank Patalano.
Jimmy opens up and talks about his childhood and that his family had no background in real estate investing. His dad was a contractor, one of the best finish carpenters in New England, he said his dad did not want Jimmy to end up like him. He frequently advised Jimmy to take up some books and start learning and he always insisted that everyone must work smarter, not harder. Jimmy credits his parents with his strong work ethic that was instilled in him from a very young age.
Jimmy went on to get a degree in finance, but his mind was on starting a business to buy multifamily properties. He remembers the dismissal he received when he presented this idea to his father, who thought it was nothing but nonsense. Jimmy was certain that multifamily would help set him up financially, and when he finally did buy one, his dad told Jimmy that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. He conveys the idea that even though parents are acting out of their love and are simply trying to protect you, you can be set back by their opinions, especially if it concerns a topic they are not aware of. Jimmy stresses how important it is to realize that you need to continue to follow what's important for you and educate yourself. Jimmy claims that anyone capable of elementary mathematics could get into investing in multifamily properties.
Initially, Jimmy says his goal was to make it to Wall Street, make a ton of money, and eventually get into real estate. Jimmy then landed a dream job with a huge private firm after graduation, only to realize that it was not his dream job. The job definitely set him up financially, though, and made him capable of venturing into the real estate world.
On starting a company of his own after quitting the corporate job, Jimmy shares that it can be a struggle to focus on the right things. There are some things that naturally we like to do and we really need to have this self-awareness. There are other things that we don't want to do, so for those tasks, Jimmy recommends hiring people as quickly as possible. Along the way, it is helpful to make a list of the things you most enjoy and the things you least enjoy, so you can hire appropriately and start to pivot as you grow your company.
Jimmy said the biggest thing is actually making the jump. People always hold themselves back, thinking about hitting rock bottom. But the truth is, if you really screw up and you hit that rock bottom, you can always rebuild, and you just gotta figure it out, and you gotta be willing to put in the work. Being successful is really about having the right systems in place and recognizing what's really important that you need to jump on right away. Jimmy stresses that real estate is a relationship-based business and it is very important to network and build strong relationships with your tenants and contractors.
We talk about his podcast, Cashflow Kings, and Jimmy shares the goal has never been to monetize the podcast, but use it as a way to give back and educate other investors. Jimmy lets us know that financial freedom is a massive thing for him. Having financial freedom over your time and assets is huge. He says it is easy to become a millionaire in the stock market, but it's much more exciting for him to leverage his retirement assets to invest in real estate.
His thing is to just wake up every day and take action. He recalls listening to a guest on the podcast who said that massive actions equals massive results. And that's one of the things he puts to work every single day, go out, take action, and you're going to learn a tremendous amount. That's what's really going to fuel your growth.
You do not want to miss this fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is packed with actionable advice! Just a ton of truth bombs to learn from in this engaging and educational conversation with Jimmy Murray!
Notable quotes:
“If you can add, subtract, and divide, you can buy multifamily.”
- Jimmy Murray
“Now that I know what I know, I would have tried to leverage everything to the hills to really grow the portfolio to gain that momentum.”
- Jimmy Murray
“If I could go back and talk to my 2008 self, I'd go, dude, you need to figure it out, raise money, buy properties, and build a portfolio.”
- Mike Simmons
“My whole life is guided by the books that I read to shape my mind.”
- Jimmy Murray
“My advice would be to lean on other people that have had that experience. Ask them what the feeling was, what was the big thing that got them over the hump.”
- Jimmy Murray
“If you really screw up and hit rock bottom, you can always rebuild. You just have to figure it out and be willing to put in the work.”
- Jimmy Murray
“I like unstable buildings because that's where you really create the value as an investor.”
- Jimmy Murray
“You need to take care of your tenants, because your tenants are going to take care of your cash flow.”
- Jimmy Murray
“I think that COVID introduces a whole another layer of complexity in terms of structural changes that we'll see in the market.”
- Jimmy Murray
Links:
Cashflow Kings on Facebook
Jimmy on Facebook
Cashflow Kings on Instagram
Jimmy on Instagram
Cashflow Kings on Twitter
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today's episode, I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome Jimmy Murray. Jimmy is a millennial house hacker turned corporate dropout, a specialist in flipping 2-4 unit multifamilies, and the Co-Founder of Lyon Property Management Company that operates across Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts. Jimmy also co-hosts the Cashflow Kings Podcast along with fellow millionaire investor Frank Patalano.
Jimmy opens up and talks about his childhood and that his family had no background in real estate investing. His dad was a contractor, one of the best finish carpenters in New England, he said his dad did not want Jimmy to end up like him. He frequently advised Jimmy to take up some books and start learning and he always insisted that everyone must work smarter, not harder. Jimmy credits his parents with his strong work ethic that was instilled in him from a very young age.
Jimmy went on to get a degree in finance, but his mind was on starting a business to buy multifamily properties. He remembers the dismissal he received when he presented this idea to his father, who thought it was nothing but nonsense. Jimmy was certain that multifamily would help set him up financially, and when he finally did buy one, his dad told Jimmy that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. He conveys the idea that even though parents are acting out of their love and are simply trying to protect you, you can be set back by their opinions, especially if it concerns a topic they are not aware of. Jimmy stresses how important it is to realize that you need to continue to follow what's important for you and educate yourself. Jimmy claims that anyone capable of elementary mathematics could get into investing in multifamily properties.
Initially, Jimmy says his goal was to make it to Wall Street, make a ton of money, and eventually get into real estate. Jimmy then landed a dream job with a huge private firm after graduation, only to realize that it was not his dream job. The job definitely set him up financially, though, and made him capable of venturing into the real estate world.
On starting a company of his own after quitting the corporate job, Jimmy shares that it can be a struggle to focus on the right things. There are some things that naturally we like to do and we really need to have this self-awareness. There are other things that we don't want to do, so for those tasks, Jimmy recommends hiring people as quickly as possible. Along the way, it is helpful to make a list of the things you most enjoy and the things you least enjoy, so you can hire appropriately and start to pivot as you grow your company.
Jimmy said the biggest thing is actually making the jump. People always hold themselves back, thinking about hitting rock bottom. But the truth is, if you really screw up and you hit that rock bottom, you can always rebuild, and you just gotta figure it out, and you gotta be willing to put in the work. Being successful is really about having the right systems in place and recognizing what's really important that you need to jump on right away. Jimmy stresses that real estate is a relationship-based business and it is very important to network and build strong relationships with your tenants and contractors.
We talk about his podcast, Cashflow Kings, and Jimmy shares the goal has never been to monetize the podcast, but use it as a way to give back and educate other investors. Jimmy lets us know that financial freedom is a massive thing for him. Having financial freedom over your time and assets is huge. He says it is easy to become a millionaire in the stock market, but it's much more exciting for him to leverage his retirement assets to invest in real estate.
His thing is to just wake up every day and take action. He recalls listening to a guest on the podcast who said that massive actions equals massive results. And that's one of the things he puts to work every single day, go out, take action, and you're going to learn a tremendous amount. That's what's really going to fuel your growth.
You do not want to miss this fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that is packed with actionable advice! Just a ton of truth bombs to learn from in this engaging and educational conversation with Jimmy Murray!
Notable quotes:
“If you can add, subtract, and divide, you can buy multifamily.”
- Jimmy Murray
“Now that I know what I know, I would have tried to leverage everything to the hills to really grow the portfolio to gain that momentum.”
- Jimmy Murray
“If I could go back and talk to my 2008 self, I'd go, dude, you need to figure it out, raise money, buy properties, and build a portfolio.”
- Mike Simmons
“My whole life is guided by the books that I read to shape my mind.”
- Jimmy Murray
“My advice would be to lean on other people that have had that experience. Ask them what the feeling was, what was the big thing that got them over the hump.”
- Jimmy Murray
“If you really screw up and hit rock bottom, you can always rebuild. You just have to figure it out and be willing to put in the work.”
- Jimmy Murray
“I like unstable buildings because that's where you really create the value as an investor.”
- Jimmy Murray
“You need to take care of your tenants, because your tenants are going to take care of your cash flow.”
- Jimmy Murray
“I think that COVID introduces a whole another layer of complexity in terms of structural changes that we'll see in the market.”
- Jimmy Murray
Links:
Cashflow Kings on Facebook
Jimmy on Facebook
Cashflow Kings on Instagram
Jimmy on Instagram
Cashflow Kings on Twitter
Mike’s FREE Coaching
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I’m excited to welcome real estate investor, developer, and founder of LiveFree Investments, Logan Freeman. He has found his niche in the industry acting as an investment property specialist, actually representing buyers instead of sellers in the transaction process. Completing over 120 transactions in less than a year, Logan relies on his established processes and priorities to guide his profit-producing activities. He continually invests in himself so that he can provide great value to his investors, making sure to pivot and listen to what the market is providing. Logan is also the host of the LiveFree Investors Podcast where he interviews business owners and investors from around the country.
Logan first shares his background story with us. He finds his home town to have more of a fixed mindset and says he’s always had a growth mindset. He believes this fixed mindset was ingrained in him because of two reasons, which he is still reflecting on. His mother worked two jobs to provide for their family. And that was one reason he thinks that even though she's not really a growth mindset type of person, she did what she had to do. And then the second one is that his dad, from an early age, instilled in him the feeling that you can do whatever you want to, but you have to set your mind to it.
Logan talks about the menial jobs he had when he was a teenager and the lessons they taught him. He also talks about the role that playing sports had in his life. He had the awesome opportunity to play football both in college and in the NFL, and he shared the difficulties related to this, but also how it shaped who he would become. In the course of a six month period, he got cut from the NFL, was no longer an athlete and had to find his identity, lost 120 pounds, went back to school while working full-time, and he lost his father after a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. It was a very tumultuous period for Logan, but really formed his journey forward.
Logan shares how he completed his first live-in flip in 2013. He discusses the different ways he found the money to finance his real estate deals and how he expanded into the multifamily market. Logan also discusses more creative financing options such as a Delaware Statutory Trust Structure (DST). We also talked about affordable housing and how Logan uses it for his business.
Logan takes the time to explain the concept of syndication to our listeners. Logan’s favorite book on this topic is Principles of Real Estate Syndication by Samuel K. Freshman. He calls it “the textbook for syndication” and he tells us how it helped him immensely in building the sector of his business. Logan talks about the different ways that his company, Live Free Investments, works with investors in the Kansas City area. They act as a broker with their clients, placing the tenants, managing the property, and providing visibility into any rehab work that needs to be done. They also are involved in equity syndications, sourcing investment opportunities to investors which allow them to be part of an asset class they may not have otherwise been able to invest in.
Don’t miss this incredibly honest and informative conversation with businessman and podcaster, Logan Freeman! Make today the day you become a faithful listener of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast as we provide you with insight into actionable real estate investing and business development wisdom!
Notable Quotes:
“What I learned as I was going through collegiate sports was that you get to affect your results and you are impacted by the decisions and the choices that you make.”
- Logan Freeman
“I'm a big believer that I can't sell or be a part of something I don't believe in.”
- Logan Freeman
“There are certain types of investors and there's a big difference between active and passive investors.”
- Logan Freeman
“I created what I call a capital raising machine. It all starts with reputation, leadership, and visibility. ”
- Logan Freeman
“I have built a massive following of over 10.5K people on LinkedIn that engage with me on a regular basis.”
- Logan Freeman
“It's my job as a real estate broker to build relationships with sellers.”
- Logan Freeman
“People want to understand who you are. People invest in a person, not necessarily a brand unless you are Apple or something.”
- Logan Freeman
Links:
Logan’s Website
Logan’s Instagram
Logan’s Twitter
Logan’s LinkedIn
Logan’s Facebook
Principles of Real Estate Syndication
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I’m excited to welcome real estate investor, developer, and founder of LiveFree Investments, Logan Freeman. He has found his niche in the industry acting as an investment property specialist, actually representing buyers instead of sellers in the transaction process. Completing over 120 transactions in less than a year, Logan relies on his established processes and priorities to guide his profit-producing activities. He continually invests in himself so that he can provide great value to his investors, making sure to pivot and listen to what the market is providing. Logan is also the host of the LiveFree Investors Podcast where he interviews business owners and investors from around the country.
Logan first shares his background story with us. He finds his home town to have more of a fixed mindset and says he’s always had a growth mindset. He believes this fixed mindset was ingrained in him because of two reasons, which he is still reflecting on. His mother worked two jobs to provide for their family. And that was one reason he thinks that even though she's not really a growth mindset type of person, she did what she had to do. And then the second one is that his dad, from an early age, instilled in him the feeling that you can do whatever you want to, but you have to set your mind to it.
Logan talks about the menial jobs he had when he was a teenager and the lessons they taught him. He also talks about the role that playing sports had in his life. He had the awesome opportunity to play football both in college and in the NFL, and he shared the difficulties related to this, but also how it shaped who he would become. In the course of a six month period, he got cut from the NFL, was no longer an athlete and had to find his identity, lost 120 pounds, went back to school while working full-time, and he lost his father after a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. It was a very tumultuous period for Logan, but really formed his journey forward.
Logan shares how he completed his first live-in flip in 2013. He discusses the different ways he found the money to finance his real estate deals and how he expanded into the multifamily market. Logan also discusses more creative financing options such as a Delaware Statutory Trust Structure (DST). We also talked about affordable housing and how Logan uses it for his business.
Logan takes the time to explain the concept of syndication to our listeners. Logan’s favorite book on this topic is Principles of Real Estate Syndication by Samuel K. Freshman. He calls it “the textbook for syndication” and he tells us how it helped him immensely in building the sector of his business. Logan talks about the different ways that his company, Live Free Investments, works with investors in the Kansas City area. They act as a broker with their clients, placing the tenants, managing the property, and providing visibility into any rehab work that needs to be done. They also are involved in equity syndications, sourcing investment opportunities to investors which allow them to be part of an asset class they may not have otherwise been able to invest in.
Don’t miss this incredibly honest and informative conversation with businessman and podcaster, Logan Freeman! Make today the day you become a faithful listener of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast as we provide you with insight into actionable real estate investing and business development wisdom!
Notable Quotes:
“What I learned as I was going through collegiate sports was that you get to affect your results and you are impacted by the decisions and the choices that you make.”
- Logan Freeman
“I'm a big believer that I can't sell or be a part of something I don't believe in.”
- Logan Freeman
“There are certain types of investors and there's a big difference between active and passive investors.”
- Logan Freeman
“I created what I call a capital raising machine. It all starts with reputation, leadership, and visibility. ”
- Logan Freeman
“I have built a massive following of over 10.5K people on LinkedIn that engage with me on a regular basis.”
- Logan Freeman
“It's my job as a real estate broker to build relationships with sellers.”
- Logan Freeman
“People want to understand who you are. People invest in a person, not necessarily a brand unless you are Apple or something.”
- Logan Freeman
Links:
Logan’s Website
Logan’s Instagram
Logan’s Twitter
Logan’s LinkedIn
Logan’s Facebook
Principles of Real Estate Syndication
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I'm excited to welcome fellow real estate investor, Aaron Chapman for today's episode. Aaron is a successful branch manager at SecurityNational Mortgage Company, a veteran in the finance industry since 1997, a real estate entrepreneur, and a popular podcast guest. He is also the author of four books and dozens of magazine articles. Join us on the show today as we discuss the incredibly inspiring journey Aaron has taken in life, as he shares the hard work and determination that went into starting and growing his successful business.
Aaron shares how he had spent his high school years on a cattle ranch where he learned basic business methodology. He left high school halfway through his senior year and went to work in mining and oil fields, ran heavy equipment, and drove a truck. He recollects the opportunity to be 700 feet underground, drilling and blasting and playing with explosives and says he loved it! He enjoyed the toughness that the role offered him.
Aaron was referred to the real estate industry by someone he just ran into and, since then, has never stepped back. Though his initial days were hard, and he barely got one deal a month, he stuck with it. He explains that he took a job as a telemarketer during this time to help pay the bills. He absolutely despised this job, but it taught him the art of the sale. Aaron also learned that communication and conversation can really help you succeed in business.
Aaron explained that he worked in many different jobs and really struggled as he tried to make real estate investing work. He worked in long haul trucking and as an equipment operator, working very long hours and sleeping very little, but he was committed to finding a way to make investing work for him. The real turnaround happened for him at the end of 2018 and from there, it was an incredible journey forward. He now has a group of 30 employees, closed 145 transactions last month, over 1,100 so far in 2020, and is on track to do 200 transactions a month soon.
Aaron takes the time today to talk about how inflation is a crucial factor that determines your cash flow and how you can make the best out of changing times. For instance, he has seen as much as a 17% decline in rents just during the COVID situation and it is vital for an investor to be able to pivot based on the current market. Aaron and I do some math to get you an idea of how things work in practice. He also shares why real estate investors these days fail and strategies they need to look into. Aaron stresses the importance of being creative and always analyzing the deal before jumping in.
Aaron also shares about his other interests. He really enjoys sharing videos on his YouTube channel in order to share information and help others. Writing his books has been very gratifying and he hopes to be helpful as well to others through this medium. He also shares his love for going outdoors. He loves hunting, fishing, and hiking.
I absolutely loved this conversation with Aaron today, for the wealth of knowledge that he shares on various topics and the amazing life he has made out for himself. Do not miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with successful author and businessman, Aaron Chapman!
Notable Quotes:
“Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.”
- Aaron Chapman
“I just want to produce, I want to talk to investors, I just want to help them become successful in their investments. ”
- Aaron Chapman
“I found that if you try to be everything to everyone, you become nothing to no one. ”
- Aaron Chapman
“The biggest thing I have noticed is that new investors are initially focused in the wrong direction. They go at it from a consumer’s perspective, like they're spending money and going into debt.”
- Aaron Chapman
“I tell investors to look at me as not just a lender. We close loans. But I'm also here to give you things to consider from a financial perspective, as you're making decisions about your business.”
- Aaron Chapman
“Be patient, be deliberate, take the time to understand what you're getting into, and look at it from a CEO perspective. ”
- Aaron Chapman
“I am violently opposed to failure. And because of that, I am very, very interested in ensuring the success of those I work with.”
- Aaron Chapman
Links:
Aaron Chapman Facebook
Aaron Chapman Instagram
Aaron Chapman LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I'm excited to welcome fellow real estate investor, Aaron Chapman for today's episode. Aaron is a successful branch manager at SecurityNational Mortgage Company, a veteran in the finance industry since 1997, a real estate entrepreneur, and a popular podcast guest. He is also the author of four books and dozens of magazine articles. Join us on the show today as we discuss the incredibly inspiring journey Aaron has taken in life, as he shares the hard work and determination that went into starting and growing his successful business.
Aaron shares how he had spent his high school years on a cattle ranch where he learned basic business methodology. He left high school halfway through his senior year and went to work in mining and oil fields, ran heavy equipment, and drove a truck. He recollects the opportunity to be 700 feet underground, drilling and blasting and playing with explosives and says he loved it! He enjoyed the toughness that the role offered him.
Aaron was referred to the real estate industry by someone he just ran into and, since then, has never stepped back. Though his initial days were hard, and he barely got one deal a month, he stuck with it. He explains that he took a job as a telemarketer during this time to help pay the bills. He absolutely despised this job, but it taught him the art of the sale. Aaron also learned that communication and conversation can really help you succeed in business.
Aaron explained that he worked in many different jobs and really struggled as he tried to make real estate investing work. He worked in long haul trucking and as an equipment operator, working very long hours and sleeping very little, but he was committed to finding a way to make investing work for him. The real turnaround happened for him at the end of 2018 and from there, it was an incredible journey forward. He now has a group of 30 employees, closed 145 transactions last month, over 1,100 so far in 2020, and is on track to do 200 transactions a month soon.
Aaron takes the time today to talk about how inflation is a crucial factor that determines your cash flow and how you can make the best out of changing times. For instance, he has seen as much as a 17% decline in rents just during the COVID situation and it is vital for an investor to be able to pivot based on the current market. Aaron and I do some math to get you an idea of how things work in practice. He also shares why real estate investors these days fail and strategies they need to look into. Aaron stresses the importance of being creative and always analyzing the deal before jumping in.
Aaron also shares about his other interests. He really enjoys sharing videos on his YouTube channel in order to share information and help others. Writing his books has been very gratifying and he hopes to be helpful as well to others through this medium. He also shares his love for going outdoors. He loves hunting, fishing, and hiking.
I absolutely loved this conversation with Aaron today, for the wealth of knowledge that he shares on various topics and the amazing life he has made out for himself. Do not miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with successful author and businessman, Aaron Chapman!
Notable Quotes:
“Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.”
- Aaron Chapman
“I just want to produce, I want to talk to investors, I just want to help them become successful in their investments. ”
- Aaron Chapman
“I found that if you try to be everything to everyone, you become nothing to no one. ”
- Aaron Chapman
“The biggest thing I have noticed is that new investors are initially focused in the wrong direction. They go at it from a consumer’s perspective, like they're spending money and going into debt.”
- Aaron Chapman
“I tell investors to look at me as not just a lender. We close loans. But I'm also here to give you things to consider from a financial perspective, as you're making decisions about your business.”
- Aaron Chapman
“Be patient, be deliberate, take the time to understand what you're getting into, and look at it from a CEO perspective. ”
- Aaron Chapman
“I am violently opposed to failure. And because of that, I am very, very interested in ensuring the success of those I work with.”
- Aaron Chapman
Links:
Aaron Chapman Facebook
Aaron Chapman Instagram
Aaron Chapman LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am very excited to interview Mario Fachini, who is the Founder and CEO of Mario Fachini Consulting and is a sought-after motivational speaker, author, and marketing trainer. He is also the Founder and CEO of Freedom Platform Wordpress Website Builder, and the popular podcast host of The Expert Authority Effect Interviews. Mario helps to educate other marketers through coaching and training on how to start up successful marketing companies of their own and attract clients by using systems and leverage. Mario discusses the numerous advantages of publishing your own book, entrepreneurship and how to become successful at it, and why you should always strive to be the best at your field of business.
Mario first shares his thoughts on whether entrepreneurs are born or made. He says it's a personal choice. Mario shares his background story and explains how he's done all he could to make money, including power-washing, painting, lawn maintenance, and care, all since the age of twelve years old. Mario's parents gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted as long as he paid for it. That has helped him always strive for more and enjoy great success in both his business and personal life.
Mario then talks about his continually changing dreams and ambitions in life. He initially wanted to be a doctor when in grade school, an FBI or CIA agent in middle school, and in high school, he wanted to become a lawyer. Mario discusses how college was the denial stage for him. At twenty-five years old, after becoming a lawyer, he continues to explore different projects such as producing commercials, music videos, and video content for people as part of their marketing strategy.
Mario says you get to choose what you want and whom you want to attract. He makes us realize that there are endless things we can do in life if we wish to. He shares why publishing a book is way easier than doing a podcast and is more effective than printing business cards to share with clients. People want to know the real you so that they can connect with you and writing a book is perhaps the most effective way of doing that.
We discuss why it is imperative to strive to be an expert at what you're doing. It is important to surround yourself with people who are further along in their business journey so that you have them to look to as role models and have something to strive toward. Continuously expanding and refining your knowledge is essential to growing your business!
We also dive deeper into marketing and promotion and learn why it is paramount for scaling your business. Mario discusses the kind of books he has written, such as business books, specific nonfiction books, and business books distinct to help people with generating profit, finding leads, networking, and growing their businesses.
Don’t miss this super interesting conversation with marketing expert, Mario Fachini! The Just Start Real Estate Podcast continues to deliver excellent content to help all of its listeners start, grow, and scale their businesses in order to achieve financial freedom… join us today!
Notable Quotes:
“There's something you have that you can lead with right now in marketing. You don't need to do anything else or refine it - just lead with what you have and grow and enjoy the journey over the next six to twelve months.”
- Mario Fachini
“I was turning everyone into clients because it was easy. And I knew they wanted to be on this ride.”
- Mario Fachini
“You get to choose what you want and who you want to attract.”
- Mario Fachini
“But the whole ‘should I get a job or start a company’ thing? I think that is a very personal choice.”
- Mario Fachini
“For every minute someone puts into marketing, it's going to amplify it at least 10 times over. ”
- Mario Fachini
“Everyone has business cards, anyone can talk a good game, but not many people put the time and effort into whatever they are passionate about.”
- Mike Simmons
“People don't want to do business with corporations and entities. They want to do it with people. Show them your person.”
- Mario Fachini
“I don't think any of us have a problem being critical of ourselves.”
- Mario Fachini
“The point is, you get to choose what you want and who you want to attract.“
- Mario Fachini
“On the business aside, it's like, ‘what are we doing here?’ It is important to serve and be in community with each other. “
- Mario Fachini
Links:
Mario’s Website
Mario’s LinkedIn
Free Gift Link
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am very excited to interview Mario Fachini, who is the Founder and CEO of Mario Fachini Consulting and is a sought-after motivational speaker, author, and marketing trainer. He is also the Founder and CEO of Freedom Platform Wordpress Website Builder, and the popular podcast host of The Expert Authority Effect Interviews. Mario helps to educate other marketers through coaching and training on how to start up successful marketing companies of their own and attract clients by using systems and leverage. Mario discusses the numerous advantages of publishing your own book, entrepreneurship and how to become successful at it, and why you should always strive to be the best at your field of business.
Mario first shares his thoughts on whether entrepreneurs are born or made. He says it's a personal choice. Mario shares his background story and explains how he's done all he could to make money, including power-washing, painting, lawn maintenance, and care, all since the age of twelve years old. Mario's parents gave him the freedom to do whatever he wanted as long as he paid for it. That has helped him always strive for more and enjoy great success in both his business and personal life.
Mario then talks about his continually changing dreams and ambitions in life. He initially wanted to be a doctor when in grade school, an FBI or CIA agent in middle school, and in high school, he wanted to become a lawyer. Mario discusses how college was the denial stage for him. At twenty-five years old, after becoming a lawyer, he continues to explore different projects such as producing commercials, music videos, and video content for people as part of their marketing strategy.
Mario says you get to choose what you want and whom you want to attract. He makes us realize that there are endless things we can do in life if we wish to. He shares why publishing a book is way easier than doing a podcast and is more effective than printing business cards to share with clients. People want to know the real you so that they can connect with you and writing a book is perhaps the most effective way of doing that.
We discuss why it is imperative to strive to be an expert at what you're doing. It is important to surround yourself with people who are further along in their business journey so that you have them to look to as role models and have something to strive toward. Continuously expanding and refining your knowledge is essential to growing your business!
We also dive deeper into marketing and promotion and learn why it is paramount for scaling your business. Mario discusses the kind of books he has written, such as business books, specific nonfiction books, and business books distinct to help people with generating profit, finding leads, networking, and growing their businesses.
Don’t miss this super interesting conversation with marketing expert, Mario Fachini! The Just Start Real Estate Podcast continues to deliver excellent content to help all of its listeners start, grow, and scale their businesses in order to achieve financial freedom… join us today!
Notable Quotes:
“There's something you have that you can lead with right now in marketing. You don't need to do anything else or refine it - just lead with what you have and grow and enjoy the journey over the next six to twelve months.”
- Mario Fachini
“I was turning everyone into clients because it was easy. And I knew they wanted to be on this ride.”
- Mario Fachini
“You get to choose what you want and who you want to attract.”
- Mario Fachini
“But the whole ‘should I get a job or start a company’ thing? I think that is a very personal choice.”
- Mario Fachini
“For every minute someone puts into marketing, it's going to amplify it at least 10 times over. ”
- Mario Fachini
“Everyone has business cards, anyone can talk a good game, but not many people put the time and effort into whatever they are passionate about.”
- Mike Simmons
“People don't want to do business with corporations and entities. They want to do it with people. Show them your person.”
- Mario Fachini
“I don't think any of us have a problem being critical of ourselves.”
- Mario Fachini
“The point is, you get to choose what you want and who you want to attract.“
- Mario Fachini
“On the business aside, it's like, ‘what are we doing here?’ It is important to serve and be in community with each other. “
- Mario Fachini
Links:
Mario’s Website
Mario’s LinkedIn
Free Gift Link
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today's episode, I'm excited to welcome engineer turned real estate investor, Jacob Ayers. Jacob is the managing partner of Ayers Acquisitions and host of The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom Podcast. He started buying real estate in 2015 and has grown his portfolio with multifamily properties. He joins us today to discuss his fantastic journey in real estate while he continues to work his full-time engineering job.
First, he shares his background story with us and how he got the “stable, corporate job” mentality from his parents like so many of us do. His parents were entrepreneurs, but they considered themselves lower to middle class and wanted Jacob to have an excellent, long-term, meaningful corporate job.
Jacob shares with us the reasons he decided to start investing in real estate. He says that he did not find any milestones to complete while working on his full-time job and wanted to make more out of life. He could only see retirement looming far down the road of his life and had a deep desire to do something more.
Jacob also talks about his interest in houses and how his engineering mind always wanted to fix and feel things, drawing him into the industry. He decided to take the risk and invest in it. Jacob bought his first rental property in July of 2015, which was a single-family home in his home market of Oklahoma. Jacob shares the details of the purchase, how he financed the deal, and the specific costs and how much he was able to rent it for.
Jacob then discusses the financial sources he uses to help himself in the business. He generally uses traditional financing routes, either the conventional Fannie or Freddie loans or local lenders with portfolio loans. We also discuss how to find the right marketing channels for your business. Jacob says he uses local Facebook pages while explaining how it has worked for him in the long run.
We get to know the quick check filters Jacob uses to decide whether or not you want to dive deeper into a property. Jacob investigates what type of property it is, its rent-to-value ratio, and whether there are any value-add opportunities in the property.
Toward the end of the interview, we learn about Jacob's favorite podcasts and why he chooses them over certain others. He really loves the Get Rich Education podcast by Keith Weinhold and suggests that all the listeners should check it out.
Join us for this power-packed conversation with the very knowledgeable and ambitious engineer-investor, Jacob Ayers. Do not miss out on this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I was born and raised with this blueprint: Go to school, get good grades, so you can get into college, study something hard, so you can get a good, stable day job.”
- Jacob Ayers
“I started going down this rabbit hole of personal finance, and I just found myself naturally drawn to real estate investing.”
- Jacob Ayers
“Over time, I found myself becoming more entrepreneurial, trying to build up a real estate portfolio and strive to be that full-time entrepreneur.”
- Jacob Ayers
“I'm not one of those guys who just is absolutely miserable at work and hates my day job. I got into this because I like it and I've got that engineering mind.”
- Jacob Ayers
“If we look at our schedule and look at what we're spending time on, I guarantee we are all wasting a lot of time.”
- Jacob Ayers
“Being comfortable is a very easy place to be in, but you're not going to grow being in that place. That's where I think a lot of people find themselves.”
- Jacob Ayers
“I think sometimes people are born entrepreneurs, but they're not put in the right environment, they're not given the right stimulus for it to come out.”
- Mike Simmons
“I've got a pretty good way of just breaking things down step by step, tackling things one day at a time, one most important next step at a time”
- Jacob Ayers
“I see myself in three to five years really growing and scaling this to a significant size, achieving financial freedom, building wealth along the way, and living life on my own terms.“
- Jacob Ayers
Links:
Jacob’s Website
Jacob’s Podcast
Get Rich Education Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today's episode, I'm excited to welcome engineer turned real estate investor, Jacob Ayers. Jacob is the managing partner of Ayers Acquisitions and host of The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom Podcast. He started buying real estate in 2015 and has grown his portfolio with multifamily properties. He joins us today to discuss his fantastic journey in real estate while he continues to work his full-time engineering job.
First, he shares his background story with us and how he got the “stable, corporate job” mentality from his parents like so many of us do. His parents were entrepreneurs, but they considered themselves lower to middle class and wanted Jacob to have an excellent, long-term, meaningful corporate job.
Jacob shares with us the reasons he decided to start investing in real estate. He says that he did not find any milestones to complete while working on his full-time job and wanted to make more out of life. He could only see retirement looming far down the road of his life and had a deep desire to do something more.
Jacob also talks about his interest in houses and how his engineering mind always wanted to fix and feel things, drawing him into the industry. He decided to take the risk and invest in it. Jacob bought his first rental property in July of 2015, which was a single-family home in his home market of Oklahoma. Jacob shares the details of the purchase, how he financed the deal, and the specific costs and how much he was able to rent it for.
Jacob then discusses the financial sources he uses to help himself in the business. He generally uses traditional financing routes, either the conventional Fannie or Freddie loans or local lenders with portfolio loans. We also discuss how to find the right marketing channels for your business. Jacob says he uses local Facebook pages while explaining how it has worked for him in the long run.
We get to know the quick check filters Jacob uses to decide whether or not you want to dive deeper into a property. Jacob investigates what type of property it is, its rent-to-value ratio, and whether there are any value-add opportunities in the property.
Toward the end of the interview, we learn about Jacob's favorite podcasts and why he chooses them over certain others. He really loves the Get Rich Education podcast by Keith Weinhold and suggests that all the listeners should check it out.
Join us for this power-packed conversation with the very knowledgeable and ambitious engineer-investor, Jacob Ayers. Do not miss out on this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I was born and raised with this blueprint: Go to school, get good grades, so you can get into college, study something hard, so you can get a good, stable day job.”
- Jacob Ayers
“I started going down this rabbit hole of personal finance, and I just found myself naturally drawn to real estate investing.”
- Jacob Ayers
“Over time, I found myself becoming more entrepreneurial, trying to build up a real estate portfolio and strive to be that full-time entrepreneur.”
- Jacob Ayers
“I'm not one of those guys who just is absolutely miserable at work and hates my day job. I got into this because I like it and I've got that engineering mind.”
- Jacob Ayers
“If we look at our schedule and look at what we're spending time on, I guarantee we are all wasting a lot of time.”
- Jacob Ayers
“Being comfortable is a very easy place to be in, but you're not going to grow being in that place. That's where I think a lot of people find themselves.”
- Jacob Ayers
“I think sometimes people are born entrepreneurs, but they're not put in the right environment, they're not given the right stimulus for it to come out.”
- Mike Simmons
“I've got a pretty good way of just breaking things down step by step, tackling things one day at a time, one most important next step at a time”
- Jacob Ayers
“I see myself in three to five years really growing and scaling this to a significant size, achieving financial freedom, building wealth along the way, and living life on my own terms.“
- Jacob Ayers
Links:
Jacob’s Website
Jacob’s Podcast
Get Rich Education Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am happy to welcome real-estate investor and multi-family syndicator, Ola Dantis. Ola is also the host of the Dwellynn Podcast, with which he unpacks real estate investing strategies and helps people start or continue their journey toward financial freedom.
First, Ola shares his background story with us. He shares how his real estate business started with an invite from one of his friends who wanted him to join his company. Since then, there has been no stepping back. As Ola realized the opportunities and financial liberty this profession gave him, he dove deeper to explore every possibility that could be.
Ola shares how he achieved the success he has today and how it all started with the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. He also shares how he financed his first deal. Ola talks about his experience dealing with contractors and why it hasn’t mostly been a very good experience for him. He used to visit the site he undertook almost every day, and this was not very welcome to the contractors he dealt with.
Related to this, I talked about why it is good that you keep an eye on the work that is going on at a site because that is when you realize the littlest things you could save on or could be saved from being misled on. Ola also talks about transitioning his business to making bigger and bigger deals and how he mastered the skills needed to soar in the industry.
Ola also discusses the importance of having a good partnership. The quickest way that helped him scale his business well was understanding his business partners. He also shares the massive role of a mentor in shaping your career for the good and why investing on that end would always benefit you in the long run.
One other key point of discussion is the importance of branding in growing and expanding your business and how you can put that into practice. Ola says branding has a crucial role in his business and shares how he uses social media platforms like Instagram to engage with the audience and get his brand to rank high in the search results and feed. He shares his research and the results of social media algorithms and using them to your advantage and why putting out five Instagram stories a day can massively help you in that.
Join in the conversation today as successful investor Ola Dantis shares his wealth of experience with you in order to help you succeed in your real estate business. You don’t want to miss this fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Success never comes in a golden box with a red ribbon around it.”
- Ola Dantis
“So I did fantastically well with this duplex and I was like, I think I should do more of this.”
- Ola Dantis
“You have to be obsessive to be successful.”
- Ola Dantis
“I did not have the temperament. I was a perfectionist. I was always on site every day.”
- Ola Dantis
“I always tell people err on the side of being on the jobsite too much. Even if you go and you're kind of in their way and you annoy them, at least it's not costing you a lot of money because they're doing something you didn't want them to do.”
- Mike Simmons
“In life, there's always a price to pay. And there is never a discount.”
- Ola Dantis
“You have to really understand what position you are exuding.”
- Ola Dantis
“For me, branding is everything, like we try to be as ubiquitous as we can. You go on social media, you can't miss me, we're pretty out there.”
- Ola Dantis
Links:
Ola's Website
Ola’s Multifamily Tribe
Ola’s Instagram
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am happy to welcome real-estate investor and multi-family syndicator, Ola Dantis. Ola is also the host of the Dwellynn Podcast, with which he unpacks real estate investing strategies and helps people start or continue their journey toward financial freedom.
First, Ola shares his background story with us. He shares how his real estate business started with an invite from one of his friends who wanted him to join his company. Since then, there has been no stepping back. As Ola realized the opportunities and financial liberty this profession gave him, he dove deeper to explore every possibility that could be.
Ola shares how he achieved the success he has today and how it all started with the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. He also shares how he financed his first deal. Ola talks about his experience dealing with contractors and why it hasn’t mostly been a very good experience for him. He used to visit the site he undertook almost every day, and this was not very welcome to the contractors he dealt with.
Related to this, I talked about why it is good that you keep an eye on the work that is going on at a site because that is when you realize the littlest things you could save on or could be saved from being misled on. Ola also talks about transitioning his business to making bigger and bigger deals and how he mastered the skills needed to soar in the industry.
Ola also discusses the importance of having a good partnership. The quickest way that helped him scale his business well was understanding his business partners. He also shares the massive role of a mentor in shaping your career for the good and why investing on that end would always benefit you in the long run.
One other key point of discussion is the importance of branding in growing and expanding your business and how you can put that into practice. Ola says branding has a crucial role in his business and shares how he uses social media platforms like Instagram to engage with the audience and get his brand to rank high in the search results and feed. He shares his research and the results of social media algorithms and using them to your advantage and why putting out five Instagram stories a day can massively help you in that.
Join in the conversation today as successful investor Ola Dantis shares his wealth of experience with you in order to help you succeed in your real estate business. You don’t want to miss this fantastic episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Success never comes in a golden box with a red ribbon around it.”
- Ola Dantis
“So I did fantastically well with this duplex and I was like, I think I should do more of this.”
- Ola Dantis
“You have to be obsessive to be successful.”
- Ola Dantis
“I did not have the temperament. I was a perfectionist. I was always on site every day.”
- Ola Dantis
“I always tell people err on the side of being on the jobsite too much. Even if you go and you're kind of in their way and you annoy them, at least it's not costing you a lot of money because they're doing something you didn't want them to do.”
- Mike Simmons
“In life, there's always a price to pay. And there is never a discount.”
- Ola Dantis
“You have to really understand what position you are exuding.”
- Ola Dantis
“For me, branding is everything, like we try to be as ubiquitous as we can. You go on social media, you can't miss me, we're pretty out there.”
- Ola Dantis
Links:
Ola's Website
Ola’s Multifamily Tribe
Ola’s Instagram
Rich Dad Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am super excited to welcome lifestyle entrepreneur, author, and real estate investor Ali Boone to the show. After leaving her 9-to-5 corporate job to pursue ultimate freedom through entrepreneurship, her company Hipster Investments managed to facilitate over $18M in real estate transactions in its first five years of business. She has Master’s degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Spiritual Psychology. Ali also teaches flying and can often be found snowboarding or volunteering in prisons.
We start off as we always do with Ali sharing her background with us. She said she initially wanted to study to be a pilot because of the influence of her family, but ended up in aerospace engineering. After earning her advanced degree, she shared that on her very first day of work, upon walking into her cubicle, she realized she did not want to work in the corporate world. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do and took the next five years reading everything she could get her hands on. Ali eventually started investing in real estate for personal wealth growth and turned it into the venture that would get her out of her corporate job, which she left in 2012. Ali started her own company named Hipster Investments that deals in mostly turnkey rental properties.
Because of my research into Ali, I knew that she had a Spiritual Psychology degree in addition to her technical degrees and I wanted her to explain how she ended up pursuing that. She said she actually started the program because she thought it would be hilarious to tell people she has such diverse degrees, but it ended up being the biggest game-changer of her life. Because it involves an aspect of psychology, she can apply the principles to every aspect of her work and life.
Then we dove into the specifics of Ali’s real estate adventures. She first tried to invest in a deal in Nicaragua that didn’t end up being successful, but then turned to the burgeoning Atlanta market. I asked specifically why she chose turnkey rentals in lieu of other strategies like flipping houses. She said it wasn’t as though she couldn’t learn and be good at putting a lot of work into properties to rehab them, but she wasn’t passionate about it. She got out of the corporate world to have the freedom and flexibility to do what she loves, not to make more work for herself. We discuss a lot of the pros and cons of turnkey rental investing and some of the difficult situations we have both found ourselves in with this strategy.
I then asked Ali to explain the services that Hipster Investments provides. She said they are basically a referral service because when she first started investing in turnkey rentals, everyone she knew wanted to learn more about what she was doing. Ali ended up writing articles about turnkeys for BiggerPockets and this led to so many people asking her for advice, her company ended up being a “glorified matchmaker” between investors and the providers she could recommend for this investing strategy. Ali also feels very rewarded by staying on to help support the investors who she consults with. She also explained her process for analyzing and vetting new turnkey providers for her clients.
I then asked Ali to tell us about her first book, NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing: Life Lessons on Hacking Your Mind Before You Hack Your Wallet. She said that she had started several books but had no interest in learning how to go about publishing a book, so she was constantly getting stalled in this process. But with the coronavirus lockdowns, she had no excuses left and it really provided her with the time and space that she needed to finally get her book completed and published. Ali explains that she really wanted to focus on the self-examination a person needs to make before jumping into real estate investing so that they know their strengths and weaknesses and what strategy might work the best for them.
Because Ali is all about lifestyle, we wrapped up with her telling us about the lifestyle she is cultivating and how she spends her days. We discuss how important it is to find what really brings you joy and take advantage of the freedom provided by being in business for yourself. You really don’t want to miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate… Ali and I just have a blast! She provides us with so much wisdom and actionable advice in a completely laid-back and fun manner so be sure to take the time to listen and learn from this fantastic guest, Ali Boone!
Notable quotes:
“After nine years of school, I didn’t even sit down in my cubicle before I realized I wanted out of my corporate job.”
- Ali Boone
“If you ask me to make a spreadsheet, stand back. I love a good spreadsheet.”
- Ali Boone
“If I am going to leave corporate, I need to be able to say I actually tried to make it work.”
- Ali Boone
“I was doing the coolest of the cool and it really was a dream job, it just wasn’t my dream job.”
- Ali Boone
“I was epically left-brained.”
- Ali Boone
“I care about people's experience and them not getting burned in real estate.”
- Ali Boone
“I hate when people have a bad experience just because they don’t know what they are doing.”
- Ali Boone
“For me, it is all about freedom.”
- Ali Boone
“Not getting up with an alarm clock might be my favorite thing about being financially free.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Think Realty
Ali’s Free Ebook: NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing
NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing: Life Lessons on Hacking Your Mind Before You Hack Your Wallet
Hipster Investments
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I am super excited to welcome lifestyle entrepreneur, author, and real estate investor Ali Boone to the show. After leaving her 9-to-5 corporate job to pursue ultimate freedom through entrepreneurship, her company Hipster Investments managed to facilitate over $18M in real estate transactions in its first five years of business. She has Master’s degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Spiritual Psychology. Ali also teaches flying and can often be found snowboarding or volunteering in prisons.
We start off as we always do with Ali sharing her background with us. She said she initially wanted to study to be a pilot because of the influence of her family, but ended up in aerospace engineering. After earning her advanced degree, she shared that on her very first day of work, upon walking into her cubicle, she realized she did not want to work in the corporate world. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do and took the next five years reading everything she could get her hands on. Ali eventually started investing in real estate for personal wealth growth and turned it into the venture that would get her out of her corporate job, which she left in 2012. Ali started her own company named Hipster Investments that deals in mostly turnkey rental properties.
Because of my research into Ali, I knew that she had a Spiritual Psychology degree in addition to her technical degrees and I wanted her to explain how she ended up pursuing that. She said she actually started the program because she thought it would be hilarious to tell people she has such diverse degrees, but it ended up being the biggest game-changer of her life. Because it involves an aspect of psychology, she can apply the principles to every aspect of her work and life.
Then we dove into the specifics of Ali’s real estate adventures. She first tried to invest in a deal in Nicaragua that didn’t end up being successful, but then turned to the burgeoning Atlanta market. I asked specifically why she chose turnkey rentals in lieu of other strategies like flipping houses. She said it wasn’t as though she couldn’t learn and be good at putting a lot of work into properties to rehab them, but she wasn’t passionate about it. She got out of the corporate world to have the freedom and flexibility to do what she loves, not to make more work for herself. We discuss a lot of the pros and cons of turnkey rental investing and some of the difficult situations we have both found ourselves in with this strategy.
I then asked Ali to explain the services that Hipster Investments provides. She said they are basically a referral service because when she first started investing in turnkey rentals, everyone she knew wanted to learn more about what she was doing. Ali ended up writing articles about turnkeys for BiggerPockets and this led to so many people asking her for advice, her company ended up being a “glorified matchmaker” between investors and the providers she could recommend for this investing strategy. Ali also feels very rewarded by staying on to help support the investors who she consults with. She also explained her process for analyzing and vetting new turnkey providers for her clients.
I then asked Ali to tell us about her first book, NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing: Life Lessons on Hacking Your Mind Before You Hack Your Wallet. She said that she had started several books but had no interest in learning how to go about publishing a book, so she was constantly getting stalled in this process. But with the coronavirus lockdowns, she had no excuses left and it really provided her with the time and space that she needed to finally get her book completed and published. Ali explains that she really wanted to focus on the self-examination a person needs to make before jumping into real estate investing so that they know their strengths and weaknesses and what strategy might work the best for them.
Because Ali is all about lifestyle, we wrapped up with her telling us about the lifestyle she is cultivating and how she spends her days. We discuss how important it is to find what really brings you joy and take advantage of the freedom provided by being in business for yourself. You really don’t want to miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate… Ali and I just have a blast! She provides us with so much wisdom and actionable advice in a completely laid-back and fun manner so be sure to take the time to listen and learn from this fantastic guest, Ali Boone!
Notable quotes:
“After nine years of school, I didn’t even sit down in my cubicle before I realized I wanted out of my corporate job.”
- Ali Boone
“If you ask me to make a spreadsheet, stand back. I love a good spreadsheet.”
- Ali Boone
“If I am going to leave corporate, I need to be able to say I actually tried to make it work.”
- Ali Boone
“I was doing the coolest of the cool and it really was a dream job, it just wasn’t my dream job.”
- Ali Boone
“I was epically left-brained.”
- Ali Boone
“I care about people's experience and them not getting burned in real estate.”
- Ali Boone
“I hate when people have a bad experience just because they don’t know what they are doing.”
- Ali Boone
“For me, it is all about freedom.”
- Ali Boone
“Not getting up with an alarm clock might be my favorite thing about being financially free.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Think Realty
Ali’s Free Ebook: NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing
NOT Your How-To Guide to Real Estate Investing: Life Lessons on Hacking Your Mind Before You Hack Your Wallet
Hipster Investments
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today we are joined by real estate entrepreneur, business owner, and author, Eric Martel. While seeking mentorship from a professor at his university, Eric began building his empire from the age of eighteen years old by purchasing an 8-unit apartment building as his first property. After graduation, in his position as an actuary, he was dismayed to see hundreds of company pension plans being rolled over into 401(k)s, shifting the retirement risk to employees. This made him reconsider traditional beliefs about saving for retirement. Eric worked in the technology field up until the dotcom crash when he began to focus on ways to create passive income to achieve financial freedom.
As usual, we start by having our guest share how they came to real estate investing. After testing out numerous markets, the idea of flipping houses came to Eric through one of his sons so, from that point on, their real estate investing ventures began. Eric shares a lot of the challenges of getting started in investing, going out of state to invest in turnkey rentals, and the strategies he uses to find houses to buy.
We talked quite a bit about building a strong team, working effectively with others, and Eric made several suggestions about tools to use when working with remote teams. Eric also shares the rewards and challenges of working with family members in running their company MartelTurnkey, which services investors by helping them acquire rental properties in strong economic markets across the country.
I wanted Eric to talk about his new book, Stop Trading Your Time for Money: A How-To Guide for the Middle Class to Achieve Financial Freedom, Early Retirement, and Provide a Legacy for Future Generations. Eric is passionate about teaching people that passive income is the key to a stress-free lifestyle and true freedom. He is also interested in helping people build a legacy for their own families by breaking through the barriers they may encounter in getting started in this business.
I asked Eric to talk about his podcast, Break Away from the Rat Race, which focuses on interviewing other entrepreneurs to find out how they are investing and generating passive income streams. Not only does he do shows where he answers specific investing and business-oriented questions, but he has also had the opportunity to host some excellent entrepreneurial guests! Be sure to check it out by following the link below.
If you are interested in being truly financially free and working toward the life you dream of, you will not want to miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with successful real estate entrepreneur, Eric Martel!
Quotes:
“The key is taking action. It doesn’t mean you have to take risk but there’s only so much you can do pre-investment.”
- Eric Martel
“You’re #1 goal in life should be to achieve financial freedom.”
- Eric Martel
“I like that you are data-driven and not giving us emotional answers to real estate investing questions.”
- Mike Simmons
“The turn key model you have is just phenomenal.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
MartelTurnkey
Investor List
Break Away from the Rat Race Podcast
Stop Trading Your Time for Money: A How-To Guide for the Middle Class to Achieve Financial Freedom, Early Retirement, and Provide a Legacy for Future Generations
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today we are joined by real estate entrepreneur, business owner, and author, Eric Martel. While seeking mentorship from a professor at his university, Eric began building his empire from the age of eighteen years old by purchasing an 8-unit apartment building as his first property. After graduation, in his position as an actuary, he was dismayed to see hundreds of company pension plans being rolled over into 401(k)s, shifting the retirement risk to employees. This made him reconsider traditional beliefs about saving for retirement. Eric worked in the technology field up until the dotcom crash when he began to focus on ways to create passive income to achieve financial freedom.
As usual, we start by having our guest share how they came to real estate investing. After testing out numerous markets, the idea of flipping houses came to Eric through one of his sons so, from that point on, their real estate investing ventures began. Eric shares a lot of the challenges of getting started in investing, going out of state to invest in turnkey rentals, and the strategies he uses to find houses to buy.
We talked quite a bit about building a strong team, working effectively with others, and Eric made several suggestions about tools to use when working with remote teams. Eric also shares the rewards and challenges of working with family members in running their company MartelTurnkey, which services investors by helping them acquire rental properties in strong economic markets across the country.
I wanted Eric to talk about his new book, Stop Trading Your Time for Money: A How-To Guide for the Middle Class to Achieve Financial Freedom, Early Retirement, and Provide a Legacy for Future Generations. Eric is passionate about teaching people that passive income is the key to a stress-free lifestyle and true freedom. He is also interested in helping people build a legacy for their own families by breaking through the barriers they may encounter in getting started in this business.
I asked Eric to talk about his podcast, Break Away from the Rat Race, which focuses on interviewing other entrepreneurs to find out how they are investing and generating passive income streams. Not only does he do shows where he answers specific investing and business-oriented questions, but he has also had the opportunity to host some excellent entrepreneurial guests! Be sure to check it out by following the link below.
If you are interested in being truly financially free and working toward the life you dream of, you will not want to miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with successful real estate entrepreneur, Eric Martel!
Quotes:
“The key is taking action. It doesn’t mean you have to take risk but there’s only so much you can do pre-investment.”
- Eric Martel
“You’re #1 goal in life should be to achieve financial freedom.”
- Eric Martel
“I like that you are data-driven and not giving us emotional answers to real estate investing questions.”
- Mike Simmons
“The turn key model you have is just phenomenal.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
MartelTurnkey
Investor List
Break Away from the Rat Race Podcast
Stop Trading Your Time for Money: A How-To Guide for the Middle Class to Achieve Financial Freedom, Early Retirement, and Provide a Legacy for Future Generations
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome fellow real estate investor, Mark Khuri. Mark is the co-founder of SMK Capital Management, which is an investment firm that provides investors with passive income and growth through the creation of partnerships in private commercial real estate opportunities. He has been an avid real estate investor for over 15 years and has sourced, underwritten, acquired, raised capital, renovated, managed, and sold both residential and commercial real estate investments throughout multiple markets in the US. Over the last decade, Mark and the affiliates of his company have invested in over forty-five commercial real estate opportunities across numerous asset classes including mobile home parks, self-storage facilities, multifamily communities, retail shopping centers, and much more.
Mark first shares his life before he got into real estate and the progression to when he quit corporate life and started investing full-time. Mark says that it was a difficult time but he began by partnering with his family members, buying properties that were very deeply discounted, and renovated them. Mark felt like there was a lot more that they could still do, so he and his father decided to partner together and create their own firm.
I asked Mark if he still does any single-family home investing or are they now focused on different aspects of the market. Mark says he still has a small portfolio of SFH rentals, primarily in the midwest, but it is hard to scale a business in that segment of the market so they began to focus more on commercial investments.
Mark shares how they evolved into other asset classes fairly organically. In 2012, they invested in a mobile-home park fund passively by giving up control of the day-to-day operations. Mark discussed how he keeps organized and makes sure he isn’t getting taken advantage of while working in multiple markets. He said that there’s a lot of quality control that they put in place along with different phases of the investment timeline.
We discussed in detail the types of investment classes that Mark really enjoys as his company has diversified in so many areas. Mark explained how they offer different types of deals, or conglomerations of different properties, to their investors. We then talked about the impact of the pandemic on the real estate market and how their company will perform in the coming months if we do hit some sort of a recession or a serious downturn in the market. Mark said that it is important to be sustainable and consistent, to keep occupancy up, and provide good services for the community.
Mark shares all of the different markets that his company is invested in and some of his favorites for investing. He advises that there are many strategies to becoming a successful real estate investor, but everything always came down to surrounding yourself with the right people. You have to build relationships, evaluate the qualities of your partners and the people that have helped you along the way. Mark recommended hiring slowly when you are building your team and getting to know the people you’re working with to make sure they are of similar mind and share your goals.
In this great episode, we discuss value-add investing, deal analysis and underwriting, investment structure, and so much more! You won’t want to miss this installment of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the diverse and phenomenally-successful investor, Mark Khouri!
Notable Quotes:
“I learned along the way that climbing the corporate ladder wasn’t for me.”
- Mark Khuri
“If you have a property with good access to transit and jobs, and you are a good landlord and take good care of your residence, you’ve got a very good recipe for success.”
- Mark Khuri
“You really need to create that community feel so that people are happy to live there.”
- Mark Khuri
“At the end of the day, you can have the nicest property in the best part of town. But if you have the wrong people, you’re going to lose money every day.”
- Mark Khuri
“If you have to build your own team, hire slow.”
- Mark Khuri
“People first.”
- Mark Khuri
Links:
SMK Capital Investment
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome fellow real estate investor, Mark Khuri. Mark is the co-founder of SMK Capital Management, which is an investment firm that provides investors with passive income and growth through the creation of partnerships in private commercial real estate opportunities. He has been an avid real estate investor for over 15 years and has sourced, underwritten, acquired, raised capital, renovated, managed, and sold both residential and commercial real estate investments throughout multiple markets in the US. Over the last decade, Mark and the affiliates of his company have invested in over forty-five commercial real estate opportunities across numerous asset classes including mobile home parks, self-storage facilities, multifamily communities, retail shopping centers, and much more.
Mark first shares his life before he got into real estate and the progression to when he quit corporate life and started investing full-time. Mark says that it was a difficult time but he began by partnering with his family members, buying properties that were very deeply discounted, and renovated them. Mark felt like there was a lot more that they could still do, so he and his father decided to partner together and create their own firm.
I asked Mark if he still does any single-family home investing or are they now focused on different aspects of the market. Mark says he still has a small portfolio of SFH rentals, primarily in the midwest, but it is hard to scale a business in that segment of the market so they began to focus more on commercial investments.
Mark shares how they evolved into other asset classes fairly organically. In 2012, they invested in a mobile-home park fund passively by giving up control of the day-to-day operations. Mark discussed how he keeps organized and makes sure he isn’t getting taken advantage of while working in multiple markets. He said that there’s a lot of quality control that they put in place along with different phases of the investment timeline.
We discussed in detail the types of investment classes that Mark really enjoys as his company has diversified in so many areas. Mark explained how they offer different types of deals, or conglomerations of different properties, to their investors. We then talked about the impact of the pandemic on the real estate market and how their company will perform in the coming months if we do hit some sort of a recession or a serious downturn in the market. Mark said that it is important to be sustainable and consistent, to keep occupancy up, and provide good services for the community.
Mark shares all of the different markets that his company is invested in and some of his favorites for investing. He advises that there are many strategies to becoming a successful real estate investor, but everything always came down to surrounding yourself with the right people. You have to build relationships, evaluate the qualities of your partners and the people that have helped you along the way. Mark recommended hiring slowly when you are building your team and getting to know the people you’re working with to make sure they are of similar mind and share your goals.
In this great episode, we discuss value-add investing, deal analysis and underwriting, investment structure, and so much more! You won’t want to miss this installment of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the diverse and phenomenally-successful investor, Mark Khouri!
Notable Quotes:
“I learned along the way that climbing the corporate ladder wasn’t for me.”
- Mark Khuri
“If you have a property with good access to transit and jobs, and you are a good landlord and take good care of your residence, you’ve got a very good recipe for success.”
- Mark Khuri
“You really need to create that community feel so that people are happy to live there.”
- Mark Khuri
“At the end of the day, you can have the nicest property in the best part of town. But if you have the wrong people, you’re going to lose money every day.”
- Mark Khuri
“If you have to build your own team, hire slow.”
- Mark Khuri
“People first.”
- Mark Khuri
Links:
SMK Capital Investment
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to interview Cory Nemoto. Cory is the co-owner & founder of KECO Capital. He began his real estate investing career in 2011 in Southern California while in college. After graduating, Cory moved back to Hawaii, where he currently manages his business. Cory has been involved in multiple investment deals ranging from relocation, renovation, and new home development projects. He has also been featured on multiple nationally-renowned investment podcasts, as well as a guest speaker at several local real estate meetings.
Cory first shares his background story and how he initially got into real estate investing. He talks about how he got interested in business towards the later part of his degree. Cory thinks that he always has the entrepreneurial spirit and just didn't know where it would take him. We discussed the question if entrepreneurs are born or made. Cory thinks that many people are born to be entrepreneurs, but they just need the right environment or the right circumstances to bring it out of them.
We talk about Cory’s perspective of the real estate market over the next twelve to eighteen months. The market is in such an interesting position right now, being white-hot because of the low inventory and low-interest rates. Cory says that they are optimistic now, but in the practical mindset where their company is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
Cory talks about the mission of his company, KECO Capital. He and his partner had borrowed millions of dollars themselves for investing across markets and saw a huge need in the marketplace to provide affordable capital to other investors. They have a passion to serve new and seasoned investors with not only financing for their deals, but also practical guidance, trusted advice, and genuine encouragement and support. They understand the critical role they can play in helping other investors to scale their businesses to provide more jobs, great housing, and stimulate local economies. We discussed at length how their process works and how it is dealing with other investors.
We talked about the strategies that Cory utilizes to keep his pipeline full. According to Cory, the basic key to deal flow is establishing great relationships. We discuss the reasons why people might not want to get into real estate investing. Cory points out the need to have the stamina to keep going and have perseverance through difficulties in order to be successful in this business. We talk about the level of risk-taking that investors need and how to evaluate how much risk each person can bear because it is subjective.
This fantastic episode with Cory Nemoto is filled with actionable advice and great investing insight so don’t miss this installment of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It didn’t seem like a good business plan to work a corporate job, save for retirement, and just pray I would have enough to last.”
- Cory Nemoto
“I felt lazy and a little bit ashamed to have the feeling that I didn’t want to work forever.”
- Cory Nemoto
“I was on the corporate track for many years and had no interest in starting my own business. But when I did, I was like ‘Woah. This feels right.’”
- Mike Simmons
“I always say that it's best to figure out what value you can offer in order to start networking and building relationships.”
- Cory Nemoto
“You want to build genuine, mutually-beneficial, lifelong relationships with people.”
- Cory Nemoto
“I think the true goal is to find financial freedom so you can build a nice piggy bank and explore other opportunities.”
- Cory Nemoto
Links:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
KECO Capital
KECO Capital on Instagram
Cory on Instagram
Cory on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to interview Cory Nemoto. Cory is the co-owner & founder of KECO Capital. He began his real estate investing career in 2011 in Southern California while in college. After graduating, Cory moved back to Hawaii, where he currently manages his business. Cory has been involved in multiple investment deals ranging from relocation, renovation, and new home development projects. He has also been featured on multiple nationally-renowned investment podcasts, as well as a guest speaker at several local real estate meetings.
Cory first shares his background story and how he initially got into real estate investing. He talks about how he got interested in business towards the later part of his degree. Cory thinks that he always has the entrepreneurial spirit and just didn't know where it would take him. We discussed the question if entrepreneurs are born or made. Cory thinks that many people are born to be entrepreneurs, but they just need the right environment or the right circumstances to bring it out of them.
We talk about Cory’s perspective of the real estate market over the next twelve to eighteen months. The market is in such an interesting position right now, being white-hot because of the low inventory and low-interest rates. Cory says that they are optimistic now, but in the practical mindset where their company is preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.
Cory talks about the mission of his company, KECO Capital. He and his partner had borrowed millions of dollars themselves for investing across markets and saw a huge need in the marketplace to provide affordable capital to other investors. They have a passion to serve new and seasoned investors with not only financing for their deals, but also practical guidance, trusted advice, and genuine encouragement and support. They understand the critical role they can play in helping other investors to scale their businesses to provide more jobs, great housing, and stimulate local economies. We discussed at length how their process works and how it is dealing with other investors.
We talked about the strategies that Cory utilizes to keep his pipeline full. According to Cory, the basic key to deal flow is establishing great relationships. We discuss the reasons why people might not want to get into real estate investing. Cory points out the need to have the stamina to keep going and have perseverance through difficulties in order to be successful in this business. We talk about the level of risk-taking that investors need and how to evaluate how much risk each person can bear because it is subjective.
This fantastic episode with Cory Nemoto is filled with actionable advice and great investing insight so don’t miss this installment of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“It didn’t seem like a good business plan to work a corporate job, save for retirement, and just pray I would have enough to last.”
- Cory Nemoto
“I felt lazy and a little bit ashamed to have the feeling that I didn’t want to work forever.”
- Cory Nemoto
“I was on the corporate track for many years and had no interest in starting my own business. But when I did, I was like ‘Woah. This feels right.’”
- Mike Simmons
“I always say that it's best to figure out what value you can offer in order to start networking and building relationships.”
- Cory Nemoto
“You want to build genuine, mutually-beneficial, lifelong relationships with people.”
- Cory Nemoto
“I think the true goal is to find financial freedom so you can build a nice piggy bank and explore other opportunities.”
- Cory Nemoto
Links:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
KECO Capital
KECO Capital on Instagram
Cory on Instagram
Cory on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I’m excited to welcome Garrett Sutton. Garrett has practiced corporate law for more than 35 years and he assists entrepreneurs and real estate investors in maximizing goals and protecting their assets. As a veteran author, Garrett is a highly-sought guest speaker. He is a member of the elite group of “Rich Dad Advisors” for the best-selling author, Robert Kiyosaki. Garrett has authored several successful books for business owners including Loopholes of Real Estate and Scam Proof your Assets.
Garrett first shares his background story and how he was able to work as part of the advisor team for Robert Kiyosaki. He found that he was passionate about using his education and business knowledge to help others start and grow their own endeavors.
We then moved on to the importance of having a great team supporting you. It is important to have a good lawyer who can assist you in the legal aspect of business decisions and a CPA for advice on an intelligent and efficient manner of handling your finances. Garrett then explained further that whatever CPA you select needs to be conversant on real estate issues.
We discussed the business details that people tend to overlook the most. Garrett spoke in great detail about the necessity of starting an LLC and how easy it is to forget the ongoing requirements of maintaining your asset protection. He believes that those are the two key things that people need to consider prior to starting and building their business.
Together we dove into how you can be efficient and organized if you have an early start in real estate. Garrett shared details on how you can use pre-tax dollars for investing and many other pieces of legal advice useful to business owners. We also talked about how you can utilize a personal residence trust to your advantage. He discussed the different situations in multiple states and how you can use an LLC to protect your personal residence.
Lastly, we discussed the deceptions over the internet and how prevalent con artists and real estate scams are. Garrett believed that as people are inundated with a massive amount of misrepresentation and fraudulent behavior, the government should step up to prevent these people from getting away scot-free and that the victims should not be penalized.
Don’t miss out on this important episode of Just Start Real Estate, which provides vital business advice from our super-relatable advisor and guest, Garrett Sutton!
Notable Quotes:
“As a mid-to-early 40-year-old guy, I didn't know what was going on in my finances.”
- Mike Simmons
“It's great that people like you are doing these podcasts because this is our high school and college education on these important issues.”
- Garrett Sutton
“It's really important to get your team on board and come up with the best strategy.”
- Garrett Sutton
“If you don't know the subject matter really well, it can come across cross flat because they don't know where to put the emphasis.”
- Mike Simmons
“Most people don't even know how much they're putting out there and how at-risk they are.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Garret’s Website
Garret’s Sutton’s Books
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I’m excited to welcome Garrett Sutton. Garrett has practiced corporate law for more than 35 years and he assists entrepreneurs and real estate investors in maximizing goals and protecting their assets. As a veteran author, Garrett is a highly-sought guest speaker. He is a member of the elite group of “Rich Dad Advisors” for the best-selling author, Robert Kiyosaki. Garrett has authored several successful books for business owners including Loopholes of Real Estate and Scam Proof your Assets.
Garrett first shares his background story and how he was able to work as part of the advisor team for Robert Kiyosaki. He found that he was passionate about using his education and business knowledge to help others start and grow their own endeavors.
We then moved on to the importance of having a great team supporting you. It is important to have a good lawyer who can assist you in the legal aspect of business decisions and a CPA for advice on an intelligent and efficient manner of handling your finances. Garrett then explained further that whatever CPA you select needs to be conversant on real estate issues.
We discussed the business details that people tend to overlook the most. Garrett spoke in great detail about the necessity of starting an LLC and how easy it is to forget the ongoing requirements of maintaining your asset protection. He believes that those are the two key things that people need to consider prior to starting and building their business.
Together we dove into how you can be efficient and organized if you have an early start in real estate. Garrett shared details on how you can use pre-tax dollars for investing and many other pieces of legal advice useful to business owners. We also talked about how you can utilize a personal residence trust to your advantage. He discussed the different situations in multiple states and how you can use an LLC to protect your personal residence.
Lastly, we discussed the deceptions over the internet and how prevalent con artists and real estate scams are. Garrett believed that as people are inundated with a massive amount of misrepresentation and fraudulent behavior, the government should step up to prevent these people from getting away scot-free and that the victims should not be penalized.
Don’t miss out on this important episode of Just Start Real Estate, which provides vital business advice from our super-relatable advisor and guest, Garrett Sutton!
Notable Quotes:
“As a mid-to-early 40-year-old guy, I didn't know what was going on in my finances.”
- Mike Simmons
“It's great that people like you are doing these podcasts because this is our high school and college education on these important issues.”
- Garrett Sutton
“It's really important to get your team on board and come up with the best strategy.”
- Garrett Sutton
“If you don't know the subject matter really well, it can come across cross flat because they don't know where to put the emphasis.”
- Mike Simmons
“Most people don't even know how much they're putting out there and how at-risk they are.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Garret’s Website
Garret’s Sutton’s Books
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I am excited to interview Brett Snodgrass. Brett has been in the real estate industry for 13 years and he specializes in wholesaling, wholetailing, and creative financing. Originally a one-man army, he scaled his business, Simple Wholesaling, to an amazing, full team running hundreds of deals per year. Brett is also the popular podcast host of Real Estate Investing with a Purpose. He is a highly-sought-after speaker who has been given key presentations on a wide range of topics such as scaling businesses to developing a purpose behind the business. As we have been in real estate investing for about the same amount of time, I was excited to dive into his story and how he built his legacy.
Brett first shared his background story and how a book allowed him to change his view and get him interested in the real-estate business industry. He shared further along in the interview where he closed his first deal and you will be shocked at where he sold it! We discussed his dad’s advice that he will never forget and how it was able to assist him in his business.
We then dove into Brett’s transition to full-time real estate investing. We discussed how 2008 was the worst market in history and how he was still able to close deals even when many people disagreed with what he was doing. He was able to persevere even though he was not terribly experienced and he made it a monumental year for his business.
We discussed how his dad joined his business, the breaking point of trying to run the business themselves and how they started to scale. Brett shared how he started to build his business by making 200-300 offers a month which resulted in closing about 10 of them which totally got the money flowing!
We talked about Brett’s philosophy which is to find the cheapest property in the market and believe that someone is going to buy it regardless of the location. Using this strategy, he was able to buy thousands of properties and generate profits of thousands of dollars for each. Regardless of the low numbers, they were able to realize good profit margins and continue to grow their business.
We then moved on to Brett’s difficulty in finding deals and dealing with realtors. Through these struggles, and considering how rough the real estate industry was in 2008, Brett decided to get his license in order to increase productivity and decrease expenses.
Lastly, we discussed how doing real estate deals is not exciting for Brett anymore. He found himself bored in meetings and would ask himself what should he be doing and what his real purpose in life is. He shared how wanted to explore other avenues and opportunities and find excitement in his day-to-day work again.
Don’t miss this information-packed episode of Just Start Real Estate to learn more about the investing journey of popular podcaster and entrepreneur, Brett Snodgrass!
Notable Quotes:
“I use a lot of sports terms because sports really helped me.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“What are you going to do? Are you going to get better or are you going to get worse? It's your choice.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“We're always thinking about how we can adjust if the market starts to shift.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“I love just kind of picking people's brains and really digging into their hearts.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“I think there are different seasons in life.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“You can walk away too early, you can walk away too fast, you can walk away without the right team in place.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Brett’s Website
Real Estate Investing with a Purpose Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I am excited to interview Brett Snodgrass. Brett has been in the real estate industry for 13 years and he specializes in wholesaling, wholetailing, and creative financing. Originally a one-man army, he scaled his business, Simple Wholesaling, to an amazing, full team running hundreds of deals per year. Brett is also the popular podcast host of Real Estate Investing with a Purpose. He is a highly-sought-after speaker who has been given key presentations on a wide range of topics such as scaling businesses to developing a purpose behind the business. As we have been in real estate investing for about the same amount of time, I was excited to dive into his story and how he built his legacy.
Brett first shared his background story and how a book allowed him to change his view and get him interested in the real-estate business industry. He shared further along in the interview where he closed his first deal and you will be shocked at where he sold it! We discussed his dad’s advice that he will never forget and how it was able to assist him in his business.
We then dove into Brett’s transition to full-time real estate investing. We discussed how 2008 was the worst market in history and how he was still able to close deals even when many people disagreed with what he was doing. He was able to persevere even though he was not terribly experienced and he made it a monumental year for his business.
We discussed how his dad joined his business, the breaking point of trying to run the business themselves and how they started to scale. Brett shared how he started to build his business by making 200-300 offers a month which resulted in closing about 10 of them which totally got the money flowing!
We talked about Brett’s philosophy which is to find the cheapest property in the market and believe that someone is going to buy it regardless of the location. Using this strategy, he was able to buy thousands of properties and generate profits of thousands of dollars for each. Regardless of the low numbers, they were able to realize good profit margins and continue to grow their business.
We then moved on to Brett’s difficulty in finding deals and dealing with realtors. Through these struggles, and considering how rough the real estate industry was in 2008, Brett decided to get his license in order to increase productivity and decrease expenses.
Lastly, we discussed how doing real estate deals is not exciting for Brett anymore. He found himself bored in meetings and would ask himself what should he be doing and what his real purpose in life is. He shared how wanted to explore other avenues and opportunities and find excitement in his day-to-day work again.
Don’t miss this information-packed episode of Just Start Real Estate to learn more about the investing journey of popular podcaster and entrepreneur, Brett Snodgrass!
Notable Quotes:
“I use a lot of sports terms because sports really helped me.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“What are you going to do? Are you going to get better or are you going to get worse? It's your choice.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“We're always thinking about how we can adjust if the market starts to shift.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“I love just kind of picking people's brains and really digging into their hearts.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“I think there are different seasons in life.”
- Brett Snodgrass
“You can walk away too early, you can walk away too fast, you can walk away without the right team in place.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Brett’s Website
Real Estate Investing with a Purpose Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I gladly welcome Matthew Pollard, an internationally-recognized consultant, speaker, blogger, author, mentor, coach, serial entrepreneur, and the Founder and CEO of Rapid Growth, LLC, a company dedicated to achieving maximum ROI for businesses of all sizes. Matthew is also the host of the popular podcast The Introvert’s Edge and the author of the book of the same name.
Matthew has had to battle challenging personal and professional hurdles before realizing the success he has today. From having a learning disability and being painfully introverted, to being laid off from his first job just weeks before Christmas, he has made remarkable progress to pave the way for success. Being an introvert myself, I am excited by the opportunity to interview someone who resonates with me in multiple ways.
Matthew was born in a small, blue-collar town in Australia called Craigieburn, to a family of miners, sheep shearers, factory workers, seamstresses, and secretaries. He was hindered by a lifelong visual processing disorder, misdiagnosed until his teenage years which left him with the reading level of a sixth-grader, making school a nonstop struggle. Uncertain of what he wanted to do with his life, and exhausted from the effort of finishing school, Matthew decided to postpone university, and instead ended up at the only job he could find, which was commission-only door to door sales.
He landed his first sale after knocking on almost one hundred doors and was ecstatic! Because of his reading limitations, he discovered YouTube and started learning field testing and sales from the videos available. He discusses how he completely immersed himself in learning and often spent 16 hours a day practicing. This eventually led him to become the top salesperson of this company that also boasted the highest volume of sales and marketing in the southern hemisphere!
Matthew then started his own B2B cell phone company, which turned out to be the largest broker of B2B cell phones in the country. He went on to have five multi-million dollar businesses, all before the age of 30. He suggests introverts practice projecting extraversion in lieu of trying to become an extrovert. He says most people struggle to interact with others because it takes a ton more energy and they feel inauthentic when they're doing it. By knowing exactly what you’re going to say, who you’re going to speak to, and what is going to trigger their interest, introverts can manage well in these interactions.
Matthew shares his experience writing his first book and how difficult it was for him with the reading difficulties he had. He also talks about interviewing Tom Ziglar, son of Zig Ziglar, and learning from him how his father had also been an introvert. In discussing his podcast and how it has helped him, Matthew said that if you can't articulate the value of what you provide face to face when someone's politely listening to you, you’re going to have a hard time when you need to do that digitally.
With The Introvert’s Edge Podcast, Matthew provides a step-by-step process by which even the most introverted person can become a sales master, while still remaining authentic. He is on a mission to erase the stigma around introversion and to empower introverts to recognize and leverage their innate strengths and abilities. Matthew believes successful people share a few common traits and that they are all under your control. He said high-achievers have a 100% commitment to their goals, a drive to work hard, an ability to synthesize information and create reliable systems, a mindset of self-belief and a positive outlook, and the attitude of smart risk-taking.
With the incredible success he has created in his life and the unparalleled ways of sharing his practices, Matthew continues to revolutionize and reshape the industry. Do not miss out on this powerful and life-changing interview on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with uber-successful entrepreneur, Matthew Pollard!
Notable quotes:
“I focus on making sure that every introvert out there knows that introversion is really just about how you draw your energy.”
- Mathew Pollard
“I watched my dad break his back for 80 hours a week to support the family, so there was no way I was going to sit and watch Oprah for the next month or so. So I pulled out the classifieds.”
- Mathew Pollard
“I'm up for hours before a presentation to make sure I'm ready and rock-solid for that event.”
- Mathew Pollard
“I'm really focused on helping people realize that they don't need to be extroverted. As a matter of fact, that's a disadvantage.”
- Mathew Pollard
“Realize that 90% of all success in networking happens before you even walk into the room.“
- Mathew Pollard
“When I go to a networking event, I know exactly what I'm going to say, exactly who I'm going to speak to, and exactly what is going to trigger their interest because I've researched it in advance.”
- Mathew Pollard
Links:
Matthew’s Website
Matthew’s LinkedIn Profile
The Introvert’s Edge Podcast
The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I gladly welcome Matthew Pollard, an internationally-recognized consultant, speaker, blogger, author, mentor, coach, serial entrepreneur, and the Founder and CEO of Rapid Growth, LLC, a company dedicated to achieving maximum ROI for businesses of all sizes. Matthew is also the host of the popular podcast The Introvert’s Edge and the author of the book of the same name.
Matthew has had to battle challenging personal and professional hurdles before realizing the success he has today. From having a learning disability and being painfully introverted, to being laid off from his first job just weeks before Christmas, he has made remarkable progress to pave the way for success. Being an introvert myself, I am excited by the opportunity to interview someone who resonates with me in multiple ways.
Matthew was born in a small, blue-collar town in Australia called Craigieburn, to a family of miners, sheep shearers, factory workers, seamstresses, and secretaries. He was hindered by a lifelong visual processing disorder, misdiagnosed until his teenage years which left him with the reading level of a sixth-grader, making school a nonstop struggle. Uncertain of what he wanted to do with his life, and exhausted from the effort of finishing school, Matthew decided to postpone university, and instead ended up at the only job he could find, which was commission-only door to door sales.
He landed his first sale after knocking on almost one hundred doors and was ecstatic! Because of his reading limitations, he discovered YouTube and started learning field testing and sales from the videos available. He discusses how he completely immersed himself in learning and often spent 16 hours a day practicing. This eventually led him to become the top salesperson of this company that also boasted the highest volume of sales and marketing in the southern hemisphere!
Matthew then started his own B2B cell phone company, which turned out to be the largest broker of B2B cell phones in the country. He went on to have five multi-million dollar businesses, all before the age of 30. He suggests introverts practice projecting extraversion in lieu of trying to become an extrovert. He says most people struggle to interact with others because it takes a ton more energy and they feel inauthentic when they're doing it. By knowing exactly what you’re going to say, who you’re going to speak to, and what is going to trigger their interest, introverts can manage well in these interactions.
Matthew shares his experience writing his first book and how difficult it was for him with the reading difficulties he had. He also talks about interviewing Tom Ziglar, son of Zig Ziglar, and learning from him how his father had also been an introvert. In discussing his podcast and how it has helped him, Matthew said that if you can't articulate the value of what you provide face to face when someone's politely listening to you, you’re going to have a hard time when you need to do that digitally.
With The Introvert’s Edge Podcast, Matthew provides a step-by-step process by which even the most introverted person can become a sales master, while still remaining authentic. He is on a mission to erase the stigma around introversion and to empower introverts to recognize and leverage their innate strengths and abilities. Matthew believes successful people share a few common traits and that they are all under your control. He said high-achievers have a 100% commitment to their goals, a drive to work hard, an ability to synthesize information and create reliable systems, a mindset of self-belief and a positive outlook, and the attitude of smart risk-taking.
With the incredible success he has created in his life and the unparalleled ways of sharing his practices, Matthew continues to revolutionize and reshape the industry. Do not miss out on this powerful and life-changing interview on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with uber-successful entrepreneur, Matthew Pollard!
Notable quotes:
“I focus on making sure that every introvert out there knows that introversion is really just about how you draw your energy.”
- Mathew Pollard
“I watched my dad break his back for 80 hours a week to support the family, so there was no way I was going to sit and watch Oprah for the next month or so. So I pulled out the classifieds.”
- Mathew Pollard
“I'm up for hours before a presentation to make sure I'm ready and rock-solid for that event.”
- Mathew Pollard
“I'm really focused on helping people realize that they don't need to be extroverted. As a matter of fact, that's a disadvantage.”
- Mathew Pollard
“Realize that 90% of all success in networking happens before you even walk into the room.“
- Mathew Pollard
“When I go to a networking event, I know exactly what I'm going to say, exactly who I'm going to speak to, and exactly what is going to trigger their interest because I've researched it in advance.”
- Mathew Pollard
Links:
Matthew’s Website
Matthew’s LinkedIn Profile
The Introvert’s Edge Podcast
The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I’m pleased to welcome Bo Kim, who is a real estate investor and popular podcaster. Bo is a buy-and-hold investor who works in the accounting industry in Southern California and also hosts the Bigger Cash Flow Podcast, where he shares the tips and tricks to making it big in the real estate sector. Owning an impressive sixty-three rental units in markets of Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Little Rock, Bo has a wealth of experience in the industry to learn from.
Bo talks about his early life and living in rented houses for most of his childhood. He shares how he was intrigued by their landlord owning four rentals and making a considerable amount of money with those alone. He saved everything he made while in college and was able to start investing soon after graduating. While still less informed about house hacking and the process of renting out an apartment, he managed to rent the extra bedroom of his house to his sister-in-law, after he moved into the newly-bought house with his wife.
Excited at the new passive income source he’d managed to build, he dove into this business for the incredible cash flow it could provide. Bo also shares how losing $10,000 on his first real estate deal helped him learn a great deal about the industry and its functioning. He discusses how starting off, he’d initially made a list of twenty metro cities he liked and went about calling all the turnkey providers, contractors, and agents until he found some people he was excited to work with.
Bo also shares his approach of going about determining which markets are good for him. He considers cash flow, a favorable rent-to-price ratio, population growth, a diverse economy, and suitability for landlords as the prime deciding factors. Bo says that over half of the rentals he owns are single-family properties.
Bo has a business degree in accounting and works currently in the accounting industry. His podcast aims at helping newbie real estate investors take back control of their finances. Bo is also an avid writer on his blog, where he shares tips and tricks on achieving freedom with time, location, and money.
Bo also discusses how he manages all of his units every day. He suggests starting off by having the picture of the end in mind. Bo’s professional goals go beyond just making money, and he chooses to always have in mind the kind of lifestyle he wants to keep and invests in his choices accordingly. He shares how much he targets per door for single and multi-family rentals. Bo explains how he chose his investing strategy and why he invests in rentals and not full-time flipping of houses. He shares that he enjoys his present job and would consider doing other things if he gets tired of doing his job at any time. His aim is to have cash flow without investing a lot of time and energy into the process.
Bo discusses how it was not a seamless process to manage his rentals while working full-time simultaneously. He put in a lot of work, often waking up at 5:00 am to manage calls and working on the weekends to get everything finished. He also talks about finding the perfect balance between work, personal life, and a healthy lifestyle. Bo explains that not having kids helped him find more time for his business and get things running efficiently. We also discuss how the pandemic has affected people today. Bo shares how he did flipping for the first time this year and made $15,000 out of the first deal. He says he’d like to continue testing and finding the right waters to start something new.
Don’t miss out on this episode of the Just Start Real Estate podcast that is filled with huge take-aways from my powerful conversation with Bo Kim!
Notable quotes:
“You have to really start with the end in mind.”
- Bo Kim
“If you don't have the end goal in mind, you're just gonna pick up any random properties and these could be other investors' problem children that you are buying by mistake.”
- Bo Kim
“So for me, the number of units is never the goal. It's making sure that whatever I buy and invest in really correlates with the lifestyle that I want in the future. ”
- Bo Kim
“It goes back to educating yourself because you don't know what you don't know.”
- Bo Kim
“If you do what everybody else is doing, you're gonna get what everybody else gets.”
- Bo Kim
“I like to call it the work-life blend. You just have to find what's important to you and incorporate it into your day-to-day.”
- Bo Kim
“I think balance is tough. And everyone's different. You don't have kids, maybe someone who's listening does and they can't do it the same. “
- Mike Simmons
“Don't use that as an excuse, get out there and do the work and learn as much as you need to be dangerous. “
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bo’s Email
Bo’s Website
Bo’s Instagram
Bo’s LinkedIn Profile
Bigger Cash Flow Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For today’s episode, I’m pleased to welcome Bo Kim, who is a real estate investor and popular podcaster. Bo is a buy-and-hold investor who works in the accounting industry in Southern California and also hosts the Bigger Cash Flow Podcast, where he shares the tips and tricks to making it big in the real estate sector. Owning an impressive sixty-three rental units in markets of Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Little Rock, Bo has a wealth of experience in the industry to learn from.
Bo talks about his early life and living in rented houses for most of his childhood. He shares how he was intrigued by their landlord owning four rentals and making a considerable amount of money with those alone. He saved everything he made while in college and was able to start investing soon after graduating. While still less informed about house hacking and the process of renting out an apartment, he managed to rent the extra bedroom of his house to his sister-in-law, after he moved into the newly-bought house with his wife.
Excited at the new passive income source he’d managed to build, he dove into this business for the incredible cash flow it could provide. Bo also shares how losing $10,000 on his first real estate deal helped him learn a great deal about the industry and its functioning. He discusses how starting off, he’d initially made a list of twenty metro cities he liked and went about calling all the turnkey providers, contractors, and agents until he found some people he was excited to work with.
Bo also shares his approach of going about determining which markets are good for him. He considers cash flow, a favorable rent-to-price ratio, population growth, a diverse economy, and suitability for landlords as the prime deciding factors. Bo says that over half of the rentals he owns are single-family properties.
Bo has a business degree in accounting and works currently in the accounting industry. His podcast aims at helping newbie real estate investors take back control of their finances. Bo is also an avid writer on his blog, where he shares tips and tricks on achieving freedom with time, location, and money.
Bo also discusses how he manages all of his units every day. He suggests starting off by having the picture of the end in mind. Bo’s professional goals go beyond just making money, and he chooses to always have in mind the kind of lifestyle he wants to keep and invests in his choices accordingly. He shares how much he targets per door for single and multi-family rentals. Bo explains how he chose his investing strategy and why he invests in rentals and not full-time flipping of houses. He shares that he enjoys his present job and would consider doing other things if he gets tired of doing his job at any time. His aim is to have cash flow without investing a lot of time and energy into the process.
Bo discusses how it was not a seamless process to manage his rentals while working full-time simultaneously. He put in a lot of work, often waking up at 5:00 am to manage calls and working on the weekends to get everything finished. He also talks about finding the perfect balance between work, personal life, and a healthy lifestyle. Bo explains that not having kids helped him find more time for his business and get things running efficiently. We also discuss how the pandemic has affected people today. Bo shares how he did flipping for the first time this year and made $15,000 out of the first deal. He says he’d like to continue testing and finding the right waters to start something new.
Don’t miss out on this episode of the Just Start Real Estate podcast that is filled with huge take-aways from my powerful conversation with Bo Kim!
Notable quotes:
“You have to really start with the end in mind.”
- Bo Kim
“If you don't have the end goal in mind, you're just gonna pick up any random properties and these could be other investors' problem children that you are buying by mistake.”
- Bo Kim
“So for me, the number of units is never the goal. It's making sure that whatever I buy and invest in really correlates with the lifestyle that I want in the future. ”
- Bo Kim
“It goes back to educating yourself because you don't know what you don't know.”
- Bo Kim
“If you do what everybody else is doing, you're gonna get what everybody else gets.”
- Bo Kim
“I like to call it the work-life blend. You just have to find what's important to you and incorporate it into your day-to-day.”
- Bo Kim
“I think balance is tough. And everyone's different. You don't have kids, maybe someone who's listening does and they can't do it the same. “
- Mike Simmons
“Don't use that as an excuse, get out there and do the work and learn as much as you need to be dangerous. “
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Bo’s Email
Bo’s Website
Bo’s Instagram
Bo’s LinkedIn Profile
Bigger Cash Flow Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am thrilled to interview Trevor Mauch, the CEO at Carrot. Carrot is a digital SaaS company that helps over 6,500 real estate professionals generate consistent, high-quality leads online by leveraging content marketing and is an industry-leading software. Trevor is passionate about using business to fuel investor’s passion and to amplify the impact investors want to make in the world, helping entrepreneurs achieve freedom, flexibility, finances, and impact.
Trevor shares his background story of buying his first rental property back in college and how the business that his parents were in discouraged him from entrepreneurship at a young age. He describes how his dad pushed him to buy that first property, which he still owns today. Trevor talked about limiting beliefs that people have that pile-up and create an impossible mountain to climb.
We then moved on to when Trevor moved to Portland and started entertaining the idea of entrepreneurship. He explains how he gave himself time to figure out entrepreneurship, which was hard for him financially before things started looking up and he started earning a consistent income. Trevor describes how he found real estate wholesaling and also turned his passion for marketing into a day job for his active income. He opens up about his serial entrepreneurship endeavors which include real estate, marketing, publishing company, and others.
We dive into the topic of entrepreneurship and whether entrepreneurs are born or made. By comparing his own journey with his brother’s, Trevor believes that entrepreneurs are born, but also agrees that they have to develop certain attributes to be a true entrepreneur. Carrot was born from Trevor’s passion for marketing that had turned into a draining activity before he found his unique abilities and went all-in with them. He describes how he found a mentor and emulated him to find things that give him more energy. Trevor advises people to stop doing things that drain their energy even if they bring you a lot of money, and instead focus on things that give you energy and keep you motivated.
We discuss the Carrot brand and how it helps real estate investors create customized sites that rank and convert well on Google. Trevor explains how they’ve been adjusting their data over the years to keep up with the competition. They have been building a lot of content marketing tools to make it easier for people to get content online and rank it well on Google, plus win more deals by being the trusted authority. He explains that his most successful clients at Carrot meet their goals with written content by either writing it themselves or by choosing Carrot’s automated content packs.
Lastly, we talk about the importance of scheduling your content on your site and social media as a way to create authority. Trevor explains how content helps you as an investor demystify your process which encourages people to trust and follow you.
You really have to check out Carrot, the #1 Inbound Online Lead Generation System For Serious Real Estate Professionals, and Trevor’s podcast dedicated to interviewing his clients, CarrotCast. You will not want to miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate chock-full of fabulous information and value from marketing guru and fellow real estate investor, Trevor Mauch!
Notable Quotes:
“That’s the difference I find between successful and unsuccessful people - some just do something with what they know and others don’t.”
- Mike Simmons
“People often have the ingredients of entrepreneurship, but they either never put themselves in that position or they’re never put in that position, so it’s unrealized.”
- Mike Simmons
“You know you’re doing the right stuff when people pay you really well and say you’re really good at it.”
- Trevor Mauch
“I found my unique abilities and went all-in on them.”
- Trevor Mauch
“You win, not by saying you can buy fast because everyone can. You win by being the trusted authority in that area or topic.”
- Trevor Mauch
“Even if we’re not trying to focus on Google rankings, we need to focus on making sure that we have an authority hub, so all our marketing converts better because of the content on our website.”
- Trevor Mauch
“Leads are the oxygen of your company; you can’t live without leads.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Carrot
CarrotCast
Trevor’s Website
Trevor on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am thrilled to interview Trevor Mauch, the CEO at Carrot. Carrot is a digital SaaS company that helps over 6,500 real estate professionals generate consistent, high-quality leads online by leveraging content marketing and is an industry-leading software. Trevor is passionate about using business to fuel investor’s passion and to amplify the impact investors want to make in the world, helping entrepreneurs achieve freedom, flexibility, finances, and impact.
Trevor shares his background story of buying his first rental property back in college and how the business that his parents were in discouraged him from entrepreneurship at a young age. He describes how his dad pushed him to buy that first property, which he still owns today. Trevor talked about limiting beliefs that people have that pile-up and create an impossible mountain to climb.
We then moved on to when Trevor moved to Portland and started entertaining the idea of entrepreneurship. He explains how he gave himself time to figure out entrepreneurship, which was hard for him financially before things started looking up and he started earning a consistent income. Trevor describes how he found real estate wholesaling and also turned his passion for marketing into a day job for his active income. He opens up about his serial entrepreneurship endeavors which include real estate, marketing, publishing company, and others.
We dive into the topic of entrepreneurship and whether entrepreneurs are born or made. By comparing his own journey with his brother’s, Trevor believes that entrepreneurs are born, but also agrees that they have to develop certain attributes to be a true entrepreneur. Carrot was born from Trevor’s passion for marketing that had turned into a draining activity before he found his unique abilities and went all-in with them. He describes how he found a mentor and emulated him to find things that give him more energy. Trevor advises people to stop doing things that drain their energy even if they bring you a lot of money, and instead focus on things that give you energy and keep you motivated.
We discuss the Carrot brand and how it helps real estate investors create customized sites that rank and convert well on Google. Trevor explains how they’ve been adjusting their data over the years to keep up with the competition. They have been building a lot of content marketing tools to make it easier for people to get content online and rank it well on Google, plus win more deals by being the trusted authority. He explains that his most successful clients at Carrot meet their goals with written content by either writing it themselves or by choosing Carrot’s automated content packs.
Lastly, we talk about the importance of scheduling your content on your site and social media as a way to create authority. Trevor explains how content helps you as an investor demystify your process which encourages people to trust and follow you.
You really have to check out Carrot, the #1 Inbound Online Lead Generation System For Serious Real Estate Professionals, and Trevor’s podcast dedicated to interviewing his clients, CarrotCast. You will not want to miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate chock-full of fabulous information and value from marketing guru and fellow real estate investor, Trevor Mauch!
Notable Quotes:
“That’s the difference I find between successful and unsuccessful people - some just do something with what they know and others don’t.”
- Mike Simmons
“People often have the ingredients of entrepreneurship, but they either never put themselves in that position or they’re never put in that position, so it’s unrealized.”
- Mike Simmons
“You know you’re doing the right stuff when people pay you really well and say you’re really good at it.”
- Trevor Mauch
“I found my unique abilities and went all-in on them.”
- Trevor Mauch
“You win, not by saying you can buy fast because everyone can. You win by being the trusted authority in that area or topic.”
- Trevor Mauch
“Even if we’re not trying to focus on Google rankings, we need to focus on making sure that we have an authority hub, so all our marketing converts better because of the content on our website.”
- Trevor Mauch
“Leads are the oxygen of your company; you can’t live without leads.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Carrot
CarrotCast
Trevor’s Website
Trevor on Instagram
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome David Hill, a leading expert on telephone prospecting, bestselling author, and popular podcast host of the Path to Mastery Podcast. Over the past twenty-eight years, he has worked as a salesperson in numerous industries and depended primarily on the phone to make sales. He was previously a team leader at Keller Williams Greater Hartford and is now at eXp Realty.
David first shares his background story from a call-center caller when he was seventeen years old to building a career as an excellent salesperson. A funny turn of events is that David’s career in real estate was largely influenced by his then 10-year-old daughter… I hope you listen to the episode to hear all about it!
We discuss the lessons of resiliency and dealing with rejection that David learned during his journey making sales calls. David explains call reluctance as the ‘little voice’ that stops you from taking that leap and the many forms it shows up in.
David explains why you need to be proactive in sales to be good at it and effective salespeople condition themselves to be this way. He perfectly describes the type of character that he believes will struggle in sales and points out that you need more than a great personality to be successful. David made a lot of mistakes and had many failures but his willingness to continue making things right is what has defined his success. He has mastered how to be the right leader even as he looks for the right people to hire.
We eventually dive into the topic of David’s bestselling book, The Sales Playbook. He wrote the book to give people eleven strategies to become great at sales. ‘The hidden goldmine in your pocket’ is a phrase David uses to describe a phone and your contacts and all the connections you can make with them. The text message form of communication can be interpreted differently and hence ineffective as compared to face-to-face calls or voice calls.
We move on to discussing real estate and why David prefers wholesaling which isn’t necessarily a favorite of most real estate investors. He explains most of the strategies that make him believe that there’s a lot of potential in wholesaling.
David describes his experience hosting his podcast, the Path to Mastery, and bringing Gary Vee plus other prominent people on his show. One of his popular pieces of advice is for people to stop rushing in life and instead slow down and be present. David asks for my feedback on his podcast which I willingly give based on the episodes I’ve listened to. We also talk about the art of podcasting and what it takes to put high-quality audio out there. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate with the very smart and engaging, David Hill!
Notable Quotes:
“In sales, don’t take things personally.”
- David Hill
“If you’re going to be good at sales, you’re going to have to be proactive in some capacity.”
- David Hill
“If you’re the type of person that can’t get beyond your own ego, beyond not looking good or being right all the time, I think you’re going to struggle in sales.”
- David Hill
“The difference between adequate, okay, and really good is tremendous.”
- Mike Simmons
“There’s a lot of difference in the revenue when you have a really good salesperson.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think it’s finding the right people but then also being the right leader.”
- David Hill
“A lot of people hide behind texts.”
- David Hill
“You have to know what phase, what cycle of the market you’re in, and adjust to it.”
- Mike Simmons
“You change based on what the conditions are.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
David’s Website
The Sales Playbook by David Hill
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome David Hill, a leading expert on telephone prospecting, bestselling author, and popular podcast host of the Path to Mastery Podcast. Over the past twenty-eight years, he has worked as a salesperson in numerous industries and depended primarily on the phone to make sales. He was previously a team leader at Keller Williams Greater Hartford and is now at eXp Realty.
David first shares his background story from a call-center caller when he was seventeen years old to building a career as an excellent salesperson. A funny turn of events is that David’s career in real estate was largely influenced by his then 10-year-old daughter… I hope you listen to the episode to hear all about it!
We discuss the lessons of resiliency and dealing with rejection that David learned during his journey making sales calls. David explains call reluctance as the ‘little voice’ that stops you from taking that leap and the many forms it shows up in.
David explains why you need to be proactive in sales to be good at it and effective salespeople condition themselves to be this way. He perfectly describes the type of character that he believes will struggle in sales and points out that you need more than a great personality to be successful. David made a lot of mistakes and had many failures but his willingness to continue making things right is what has defined his success. He has mastered how to be the right leader even as he looks for the right people to hire.
We eventually dive into the topic of David’s bestselling book, The Sales Playbook. He wrote the book to give people eleven strategies to become great at sales. ‘The hidden goldmine in your pocket’ is a phrase David uses to describe a phone and your contacts and all the connections you can make with them. The text message form of communication can be interpreted differently and hence ineffective as compared to face-to-face calls or voice calls.
We move on to discussing real estate and why David prefers wholesaling which isn’t necessarily a favorite of most real estate investors. He explains most of the strategies that make him believe that there’s a lot of potential in wholesaling.
David describes his experience hosting his podcast, the Path to Mastery, and bringing Gary Vee plus other prominent people on his show. One of his popular pieces of advice is for people to stop rushing in life and instead slow down and be present. David asks for my feedback on his podcast which I willingly give based on the episodes I’ve listened to. We also talk about the art of podcasting and what it takes to put high-quality audio out there. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate with the very smart and engaging, David Hill!
Notable Quotes:
“In sales, don’t take things personally.”
- David Hill
“If you’re going to be good at sales, you’re going to have to be proactive in some capacity.”
- David Hill
“If you’re the type of person that can’t get beyond your own ego, beyond not looking good or being right all the time, I think you’re going to struggle in sales.”
- David Hill
“The difference between adequate, okay, and really good is tremendous.”
- Mike Simmons
“There’s a lot of difference in the revenue when you have a really good salesperson.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think it’s finding the right people but then also being the right leader.”
- David Hill
“A lot of people hide behind texts.”
- David Hill
“You have to know what phase, what cycle of the market you’re in, and adjust to it.”
- Mike Simmons
“You change based on what the conditions are.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
David’s Website
The Sales Playbook by David Hill
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Reed Goossens, who is a real estate investor, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and host of the popular podcast, Investing in the US. In 2012, Reed quit his job in Australia and moved halfway across the globe to the United States to change his life and chase a dream. With limited funds, no investing experience, and no credit, Reed went from purchasing a small duplex to growing his own real estate investment firm, Wildhorn Capital.
Reed first shares his background story from living all across Europe as both a structural engineering expert and a tourist to later moving to New York and falling in love with it to never want to leave. He once worked as a deckhand in a luxury yacht in Europe where he got to experience a glimpse into the crazy world of the ‘filthy rich’.
We move on to discussing how Reed got into real estate intending to escape the corporate world and embark on backpacking travel adventures. Reed explains how reading Rich Dad Poor Dad changed his perspective on entrepreneurship and developed his interest in real estate. He continued educating himself on real estate and within a month of living in New York, he attended the first Real Estate Investor Association (REIA) meeting.
Reed describes the Australian real estate market as a high appreciation market where you don’t buy for cash flowing investments. Reed explains how he bought his first property at $30,000 which set up his path to many other deals. Reed had the clear goal of cash flow and started by buying a small duplex but ended up flipping it before getting into the scale side of it as a way to produce passive income.
We discuss how Reed moved from buying duplexes and triplexes into buying larger apartments. A friend of Reed challenged him to get a mentor and fundraise for capital, which he did. He did this by beginning to build a personal brand and he found that he began to face the challenge of imposter syndrome. He overcame this by creating a podcast that served as a foundation to educate people, and in turn, this built up his confidence. Reed also shares how he build a brand around his own story and transparency, vulnerability, being down-to-earth, and approachable, which ultimately helped him get to deals and grow his business.
We discuss the importance of building a personal brand that’s not about striving to get millions of following but being a key person of interest to grow your real estate business. Reed explains in detail how his brand story and podcast helped him meet people, gain trust, establish credibility in the industry, and be able to grow his real estate business to where it is now.
We eventually jump into the topic of syndication, which is the act of pulling people’s money together and buying a large deal that one individual couldn’t buy on their own. Reed explains syndication with an analogy I believe is the best I’ve ever heard. He then goes ahead to explain how he started syndicating deals with his mentor but broke out on his own in 2016. He is now doing exclusively apartments in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. Reed explains how they keep it lean when it comes to scaling up, plus how they have mastered the art of doing what they say they’re going to do. Reed shares how he handles being a remote investor and the challenges he faces.
Lastly, we talk about the possible future of the real estate industry. He describes multifamily as a golden child of commercial assets right now in growing cities. It is important to understand the keys in your industry to perform even during a crisis or an election year. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is filled with gold nuggets from super-successful entrepreneur, Reed Goossens!
Notable Quotes:
“Anytime anybody has an abundance of anything, it’s hard to appreciate it.”
- Mike Simmons
“Australia is a high appreciation market- high demand, low supply.”
- Reed Goossens
“I’m not going to get to deal #10 without doing that first deal.”
- Reed Goossens
“You have to get really clear on what your goals are and for me it was cash flow.”
- Reed Goossens
“Self-education is great, but you come to a point where you need a coach in your corner.”
- Reed Goossens
“People want to know your story - that’s what’s really important and then they invest in you. The deals are actually secondary.”
- Reed Goossens
“Looking back, if I didn’t do the podcast or the branding stuff, I’m sure I wouldn’t be in the place I am today.”
- Reed Goossens
“Underwriting is determining the value of what you should buy it for and understanding the numbers of the deal.”
- Mike Simmons
“Scaling sometimes is where people fall apart because they either go too fast and are reckless, or they hire the wrong people.”
- Mike Simmons
“Being able to perform, close on a deal, and do what you say you’re going to do is super valuable.”
- Reed Goossens
“You can do this business from the moon if you want to.”
- Reed Goossens
“Multifamily is the golden child right now compared to other commercial asset classes.”
- Reed Goossens
“There are opportunities in every market. It’s just knowing where you are in that cycle is really the key.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Key Person of Influence
Reed's Website
Reed's LinkedIn
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Reed Goossens, who is a real estate investor, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and host of the popular podcast, Investing in the US. In 2012, Reed quit his job in Australia and moved halfway across the globe to the United States to change his life and chase a dream. With limited funds, no investing experience, and no credit, Reed went from purchasing a small duplex to growing his own real estate investment firm, Wildhorn Capital.
Reed first shares his background story from living all across Europe as both a structural engineering expert and a tourist to later moving to New York and falling in love with it to never want to leave. He once worked as a deckhand in a luxury yacht in Europe where he got to experience a glimpse into the crazy world of the ‘filthy rich’.
We move on to discussing how Reed got into real estate intending to escape the corporate world and embark on backpacking travel adventures. Reed explains how reading Rich Dad Poor Dad changed his perspective on entrepreneurship and developed his interest in real estate. He continued educating himself on real estate and within a month of living in New York, he attended the first Real Estate Investor Association (REIA) meeting.
Reed describes the Australian real estate market as a high appreciation market where you don’t buy for cash flowing investments. Reed explains how he bought his first property at $30,000 which set up his path to many other deals. Reed had the clear goal of cash flow and started by buying a small duplex but ended up flipping it before getting into the scale side of it as a way to produce passive income.
We discuss how Reed moved from buying duplexes and triplexes into buying larger apartments. A friend of Reed challenged him to get a mentor and fundraise for capital, which he did. He did this by beginning to build a personal brand and he found that he began to face the challenge of imposter syndrome. He overcame this by creating a podcast that served as a foundation to educate people, and in turn, this built up his confidence. Reed also shares how he build a brand around his own story and transparency, vulnerability, being down-to-earth, and approachable, which ultimately helped him get to deals and grow his business.
We discuss the importance of building a personal brand that’s not about striving to get millions of following but being a key person of interest to grow your real estate business. Reed explains in detail how his brand story and podcast helped him meet people, gain trust, establish credibility in the industry, and be able to grow his real estate business to where it is now.
We eventually jump into the topic of syndication, which is the act of pulling people’s money together and buying a large deal that one individual couldn’t buy on their own. Reed explains syndication with an analogy I believe is the best I’ve ever heard. He then goes ahead to explain how he started syndicating deals with his mentor but broke out on his own in 2016. He is now doing exclusively apartments in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. Reed explains how they keep it lean when it comes to scaling up, plus how they have mastered the art of doing what they say they’re going to do. Reed shares how he handles being a remote investor and the challenges he faces.
Lastly, we talk about the possible future of the real estate industry. He describes multifamily as a golden child of commercial assets right now in growing cities. It is important to understand the keys in your industry to perform even during a crisis or an election year. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is filled with gold nuggets from super-successful entrepreneur, Reed Goossens!
Notable Quotes:
“Anytime anybody has an abundance of anything, it’s hard to appreciate it.”
- Mike Simmons
“Australia is a high appreciation market- high demand, low supply.”
- Reed Goossens
“I’m not going to get to deal #10 without doing that first deal.”
- Reed Goossens
“You have to get really clear on what your goals are and for me it was cash flow.”
- Reed Goossens
“Self-education is great, but you come to a point where you need a coach in your corner.”
- Reed Goossens
“People want to know your story - that’s what’s really important and then they invest in you. The deals are actually secondary.”
- Reed Goossens
“Looking back, if I didn’t do the podcast or the branding stuff, I’m sure I wouldn’t be in the place I am today.”
- Reed Goossens
“Underwriting is determining the value of what you should buy it for and understanding the numbers of the deal.”
- Mike Simmons
“Scaling sometimes is where people fall apart because they either go too fast and are reckless, or they hire the wrong people.”
- Mike Simmons
“Being able to perform, close on a deal, and do what you say you’re going to do is super valuable.”
- Reed Goossens
“You can do this business from the moon if you want to.”
- Reed Goossens
“Multifamily is the golden child right now compared to other commercial asset classes.”
- Reed Goossens
“There are opportunities in every market. It’s just knowing where you are in that cycle is really the key.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Key Person of Influence
Reed's Website
Reed's LinkedIn
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Victor Menasce, the author of Magnetic Capital and the host of the daily Real Estate Espresso Podcast. He specializes in the development of new construction multi-family apartments, assisted living, industrial, and workforce housing in several markets across North America. Before moving into real estate development, Victor held roles as Vice President of Engineering at Wavesat, a developer of chips for wireless networks, and Chief Technical Officer at Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC), a Silicon Valley-based public company that develops microprocessors for numerous consumer products including televisions and gaming. Victor lives in Ottawa, Canada with his family.
Victor first shares his background story as a microprocessor developer which eventually got tedious and he had to retire. He made a hard turn into the real estate world and is now doing almost all new construction development. We move on to talk about his shift from the tech industry to real estate. There’s no one single dominant player in real estate anywhere in the world and people will invest at a level they wouldn’t in the tech industry. Victor explains how real estate doesn’t require much for people to start investing as compared to tech businesses that require deep pockets to get people to invest.
Together we dive into the real estate business approach that Victor took when he joined the industry. He saw a need in his city of Ottawa and strategized a way to serve a targeted market. He started by buying one-bedroom condos within a four-block radius of parliament and marketed them as fully furnished executive suites. He later sold that portfolio to focus on the US market when he saw an opportunity presented by the financial crisis in 2008.
We talk about the distress in commercial real estate following the pandemic, which included hotels. Victor explains how wealth is going to be transferred and some good assets will come into the market within a short period. Businesses are especially vulnerable now due to their outstanding debts.
We talk about the concept of new builds with Victor explaining his beliefs concerning demand and supply. Victor explains how he and his team learn from their developments in the US on the ‘good side of the line’ and the ‘bad side of the line’ as is defined by various zoning codes.
We move on to the power of developing relationships with the best people in the world. Victor explains how he opened his eyes to opportunities after becoming aware of what is possible. He then talks about his book Magnetic Capital which is about the five principles to help you raise capital for any venture. There’s a difference between asking for money and offering an investor an opportunity to collaborate on a project. Victor gives us the reason why he offers compelling and interesting projects that serve a need in the marketplace to potential investors rather than directly asking them for money.
We discuss what Victor means when he talks about ‘good charitable cause, bad foundation.’ He believes that raising money for a charitable cause is no different from raising money for investment. The foundation of a worthy cause should be set to have an outcome just like an investment does and it is important to look for these qualities when you are looking to invest in one.
Lastly, we discuss how to invest like a billionaire by looking for and investing in safe deals. Don’t miss this powerful episode of Just Start Real Estate with tons of applicable tips and advice from uber-successful entrepreneur, Victor Menasce!
Notable Quotes:
“Every single project is a little different, even the ones you design in architecture to look identical to the next.”
- Victor Menasce
“People will invest with you. They will give you capital on a level that they wouldn’t in the tech industry.”
- Victor Menasce
“You need to be challenged and pushed out of that comfort zone.”
- Mike Simmons
“Even today, I’m not a real estate guy per se…I really took a business approach.”
- Victor Menasce
“Whenever you have a business model that’s based on the assumption that you’re going to be able to feed the debt based on the revenue, and the assumption is the revenue is going to stay uniform to service that debt, you have some level of vulnerability.”
- Victor Menasce
“It really comes down to developing relationships with the very best people in the world.”
- Victor Menasce
“Just becoming aware of what’s possible opened my eyes to seeing those opportunities.”
- Victor Menasce
“When I saw a void in the marketplace, I just wanted to address that, so that is why I wrote my book.”
- Victor Menasce
“When trust is there, decisions happen faster.”
- Victor Menasce
“If the goals for the money and the goals for the project don’t match, don’t take the money, because it’s not going to work.”
- Victor Menasce
“More sophisticated investors are very clear on what they’re looking for.”
- Victor Menasce
“You cannot go into a situation where you’re raising funds and appear to need that person more than they need you.”
- Mike Simmons
“Raise funds, don’t ask for money.”
- Mike Simmons
“Raising money for a charitable cause is no different than raising money for an investment.”
- Victor Menasce
“If you want to be a billionaire do what billionaires do. If you want to be broke do what broke people do.”
- Victor Menasce
Links:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Magnetic Capital: Raise All the Money for Any Worthy Venture by Victor J. Menasce
Victor's Website
Real Estate Espresso Podcast
Victor's LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I welcome Victor Menasce, the author of Magnetic Capital and the host of the daily Real Estate Espresso Podcast. He specializes in the development of new construction multi-family apartments, assisted living, industrial, and workforce housing in several markets across North America. Before moving into real estate development, Victor held roles as Vice President of Engineering at Wavesat, a developer of chips for wireless networks, and Chief Technical Officer at Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC), a Silicon Valley-based public company that develops microprocessors for numerous consumer products including televisions and gaming. Victor lives in Ottawa, Canada with his family.
Victor first shares his background story as a microprocessor developer which eventually got tedious and he had to retire. He made a hard turn into the real estate world and is now doing almost all new construction development. We move on to talk about his shift from the tech industry to real estate. There’s no one single dominant player in real estate anywhere in the world and people will invest at a level they wouldn’t in the tech industry. Victor explains how real estate doesn’t require much for people to start investing as compared to tech businesses that require deep pockets to get people to invest.
Together we dive into the real estate business approach that Victor took when he joined the industry. He saw a need in his city of Ottawa and strategized a way to serve a targeted market. He started by buying one-bedroom condos within a four-block radius of parliament and marketed them as fully furnished executive suites. He later sold that portfolio to focus on the US market when he saw an opportunity presented by the financial crisis in 2008.
We talk about the distress in commercial real estate following the pandemic, which included hotels. Victor explains how wealth is going to be transferred and some good assets will come into the market within a short period. Businesses are especially vulnerable now due to their outstanding debts.
We talk about the concept of new builds with Victor explaining his beliefs concerning demand and supply. Victor explains how he and his team learn from their developments in the US on the ‘good side of the line’ and the ‘bad side of the line’ as is defined by various zoning codes.
We move on to the power of developing relationships with the best people in the world. Victor explains how he opened his eyes to opportunities after becoming aware of what is possible. He then talks about his book Magnetic Capital which is about the five principles to help you raise capital for any venture. There’s a difference between asking for money and offering an investor an opportunity to collaborate on a project. Victor gives us the reason why he offers compelling and interesting projects that serve a need in the marketplace to potential investors rather than directly asking them for money.
We discuss what Victor means when he talks about ‘good charitable cause, bad foundation.’ He believes that raising money for a charitable cause is no different from raising money for investment. The foundation of a worthy cause should be set to have an outcome just like an investment does and it is important to look for these qualities when you are looking to invest in one.
Lastly, we discuss how to invest like a billionaire by looking for and investing in safe deals. Don’t miss this powerful episode of Just Start Real Estate with tons of applicable tips and advice from uber-successful entrepreneur, Victor Menasce!
Notable Quotes:
“Every single project is a little different, even the ones you design in architecture to look identical to the next.”
- Victor Menasce
“People will invest with you. They will give you capital on a level that they wouldn’t in the tech industry.”
- Victor Menasce
“You need to be challenged and pushed out of that comfort zone.”
- Mike Simmons
“Even today, I’m not a real estate guy per se…I really took a business approach.”
- Victor Menasce
“Whenever you have a business model that’s based on the assumption that you’re going to be able to feed the debt based on the revenue, and the assumption is the revenue is going to stay uniform to service that debt, you have some level of vulnerability.”
- Victor Menasce
“It really comes down to developing relationships with the very best people in the world.”
- Victor Menasce
“Just becoming aware of what’s possible opened my eyes to seeing those opportunities.”
- Victor Menasce
“When I saw a void in the marketplace, I just wanted to address that, so that is why I wrote my book.”
- Victor Menasce
“When trust is there, decisions happen faster.”
- Victor Menasce
“If the goals for the money and the goals for the project don’t match, don’t take the money, because it’s not going to work.”
- Victor Menasce
“More sophisticated investors are very clear on what they’re looking for.”
- Victor Menasce
“You cannot go into a situation where you’re raising funds and appear to need that person more than they need you.”
- Mike Simmons
“Raise funds, don’t ask for money.”
- Mike Simmons
“Raising money for a charitable cause is no different than raising money for an investment.”
- Victor Menasce
“If you want to be a billionaire do what billionaires do. If you want to be broke do what broke people do.”
- Victor Menasce
Links:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Magnetic Capital: Raise All the Money for Any Worthy Venture by Victor J. Menasce
Victor's Website
Real Estate Espresso Podcast
Victor's LinkedIn
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am happy to interview Max Keller, who is a real estate investor, bestselling author, podcaster, speaker, and an expert panelist on the topic of lead generation and marketing. In just a few short years, Max went from being a full-time high school math teacher to flipping over 100 houses. His unique marketing approach landed him onstage with Robert Kiyosaki as he was presented with the 2019 Industry Innovator of the Year Award. He is passionate about sharing his strategies to transform ordinary investors into trusted experts in the eyes of motivated sellers and private lenders.
Max first shares his background story as a math teacher who wanted to find a way to earn more when he stumbled on real estate. He didn’t originally plan to leave his teaching job but saw a good opportunity that he liked and decided to go full force. We discussed when Max knew it was the right time to quit his teaching job at only deal number two. The market cycle was lower at this time which made it easier to scoop up a property. Max explains the tactics he used to make real estate investing work for him, like selling his house to fund the business with the support of his wife. Flipping 100 houses in two years needed a lot of funding which Max explains progressed from personal money to private money.
Max dives into his current marketing strategy which originated from a perceived lack of standing out from his competition. He shares how he created a three-criteria list of what he wanted: deals of great profit, sellers who were not resisting his offers, and to have fun doing it. Max shares how authenticity and being genuine get him more business through trusted referrals.
We discuss why Max made the transition from ‘junk mail to coffee table’ which was about finding a more scalable way to build trust. Max laughed off the idea of writing a book when he first heard it, but after contemplating it, he decided to put all his knowledge on senior housing on paper and wrote his first book, Home to Home: The Step by Step Senior Housing Guide. The book opened up other things like instant credibility and trust and now he is known as the senior housing expert.
We move on to how Max saw the need to become an objective foundational source of information for the senior living space. Max’s book teaches people the pro and cons of selling their homes, how to stay in their homes, home rehabbing, and much more. He also has materials to empower and educate adult children and grandchildren of seniors on picking the right senior housing facility.
We talk about the importance of adding a book to your marketing strategy that Max himself used to increase his response rate. He also explains how his focus on a small geographical area helps him get more leads, plus using Facebook videos to create a personal connection with his students. The book has become more of a business card and referral tool that offers value to people and a better response rate for Max. He mentions some other niche-related marketing strategies that he uses, as well.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of writing a book as an entrepreneur and how to approach it. Max explains many of the concepts of writing a book and how by utilizing these ideas, people can write their own books more quickly. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is value-packed with lesser-known marketing strategies with marketing expert, Max Keller!
Notable Quotes:
“It started with my own money. When you’re doing one deal at a time, it works. But once you start doing multiples, that doesn’t work.”
- Max Keller
“I really wasn’t standing out, and it was a grind.”
- Max Keller
“Being a math teacher, I knew this is a number’s game. I didn’t want to overpay for deals and at least I made that good decision.”
- Max Keller
“I didn’t leave teaching to be on a hamster wheel and a grind.”
- Max Keller
“Of all the deals that I do, 80% of them are with people who are older.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you give people choices that don’t point to you, they see you as objective and credible.”
- Max Keller
“I know a lot of people that are trying to figure out how to use Facebook to generate a higher return on investment and I know a lot of people that have abandoned that because they can’t figure it out.”
- Mike Simmons
“You certainly feel more like you know someone more from a video than you do a postcard.”
- Mike Simmons
“Generic messaging gets a generic conversion and response rates.”
- Max Keller
“The word-of-mouth marketing is very powerful and there’s really no substitute for it. It’s just very hard to scale. I haven’t found anything better than writing a book that has been able to enhance it.”
- Max Keller
“For every one person that’s written a book, there’s like ten that have a half-completed book they will never finish.”
- Max Keller
“The number one thing that people are struggling with right now are leads.”
- Max Keller
“If it’s perceived to be hard to do, your competition is not willing to do it either.”
- Max Keller
“It’s always good to talk about how to generate leads and to do it the right way.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Max's Free Book Writing Checklist
Deals Chasing You Website
Max's YouTube Channel
Savior Realty Expert Interviews Podcast
Customers Chasing You Podcast
Savior Publishing House
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am happy to interview Max Keller, who is a real estate investor, bestselling author, podcaster, speaker, and an expert panelist on the topic of lead generation and marketing. In just a few short years, Max went from being a full-time high school math teacher to flipping over 100 houses. His unique marketing approach landed him onstage with Robert Kiyosaki as he was presented with the 2019 Industry Innovator of the Year Award. He is passionate about sharing his strategies to transform ordinary investors into trusted experts in the eyes of motivated sellers and private lenders.
Max first shares his background story as a math teacher who wanted to find a way to earn more when he stumbled on real estate. He didn’t originally plan to leave his teaching job but saw a good opportunity that he liked and decided to go full force. We discussed when Max knew it was the right time to quit his teaching job at only deal number two. The market cycle was lower at this time which made it easier to scoop up a property. Max explains the tactics he used to make real estate investing work for him, like selling his house to fund the business with the support of his wife. Flipping 100 houses in two years needed a lot of funding which Max explains progressed from personal money to private money.
Max dives into his current marketing strategy which originated from a perceived lack of standing out from his competition. He shares how he created a three-criteria list of what he wanted: deals of great profit, sellers who were not resisting his offers, and to have fun doing it. Max shares how authenticity and being genuine get him more business through trusted referrals.
We discuss why Max made the transition from ‘junk mail to coffee table’ which was about finding a more scalable way to build trust. Max laughed off the idea of writing a book when he first heard it, but after contemplating it, he decided to put all his knowledge on senior housing on paper and wrote his first book, Home to Home: The Step by Step Senior Housing Guide. The book opened up other things like instant credibility and trust and now he is known as the senior housing expert.
We move on to how Max saw the need to become an objective foundational source of information for the senior living space. Max’s book teaches people the pro and cons of selling their homes, how to stay in their homes, home rehabbing, and much more. He also has materials to empower and educate adult children and grandchildren of seniors on picking the right senior housing facility.
We talk about the importance of adding a book to your marketing strategy that Max himself used to increase his response rate. He also explains how his focus on a small geographical area helps him get more leads, plus using Facebook videos to create a personal connection with his students. The book has become more of a business card and referral tool that offers value to people and a better response rate for Max. He mentions some other niche-related marketing strategies that he uses, as well.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of writing a book as an entrepreneur and how to approach it. Max explains many of the concepts of writing a book and how by utilizing these ideas, people can write their own books more quickly. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is value-packed with lesser-known marketing strategies with marketing expert, Max Keller!
Notable Quotes:
“It started with my own money. When you’re doing one deal at a time, it works. But once you start doing multiples, that doesn’t work.”
- Max Keller
“I really wasn’t standing out, and it was a grind.”
- Max Keller
“Being a math teacher, I knew this is a number’s game. I didn’t want to overpay for deals and at least I made that good decision.”
- Max Keller
“I didn’t leave teaching to be on a hamster wheel and a grind.”
- Max Keller
“Of all the deals that I do, 80% of them are with people who are older.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you give people choices that don’t point to you, they see you as objective and credible.”
- Max Keller
“I know a lot of people that are trying to figure out how to use Facebook to generate a higher return on investment and I know a lot of people that have abandoned that because they can’t figure it out.”
- Mike Simmons
“You certainly feel more like you know someone more from a video than you do a postcard.”
- Mike Simmons
“Generic messaging gets a generic conversion and response rates.”
- Max Keller
“The word-of-mouth marketing is very powerful and there’s really no substitute for it. It’s just very hard to scale. I haven’t found anything better than writing a book that has been able to enhance it.”
- Max Keller
“For every one person that’s written a book, there’s like ten that have a half-completed book they will never finish.”
- Max Keller
“The number one thing that people are struggling with right now are leads.”
- Max Keller
“If it’s perceived to be hard to do, your competition is not willing to do it either.”
- Max Keller
“It’s always good to talk about how to generate leads and to do it the right way.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Max's Free Book Writing Checklist
Deals Chasing You Website
Max's YouTube Channel
Savior Realty Expert Interviews Podcast
Customers Chasing You Podcast
Savior Publishing House
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode, I welcome Feras Moussa, who is a successful entrepreneur with a tech background. He is the co-founder and managing partner at Disrupt Equity, a real-estate services platform focusing on multifamily acquisition and investments for investors. Feras graduated from the University of Texas with a Computer Science degree and worked at Microsoft straight from college. He later resigned from the company to bring tech to industries that lack it, where he later found his passion for real estate. He has helped raise millions of dollars for multifamily syndications across 2000 units, in addition to managing his own portfolio of properties.
Feras shares how his search for new opportunities and love for entrepreneurship landed him in the world of real estate. After starting in single-family home rental investing, Feras later decided to scale up into apartment complexes, where started Disrupt Equity with his partner. Disrupt Equity is focused on multifamily acquisitions and investments, and in doing so, has helped leverage his strengths in tech to better identify quality investments for others. He shares how he’s always been an entrepreneur at heart as he started his own web company while still in high school.
We get to know the ups and downs he faced while starting his business, and what the specific challenges were that he faced in the journey. He also cites how his tech background has helped him grow his business and bring changes to the real estate investment sector altogether, something he had envisioned while leaving Microsoft as a developer.
Feras talks about real-estate investing as being a numbers game, and that by investing in apartments and not single family houses, you can make better profits. He also shares with us his way of viewing an apartment deal. He weighs the price factor to check for the risks as well as the rewards, and also keeps a check if syndication is a possibility with each deal.
We also discuss how Feras views software such as Asana, Slack, and email and why these are better to use than normal ways of texting. He also discusses how he makes use of these software applications to assign tasks to his virtual assistants and teammates. We learn how trust is a highlighted major factor in relationships with VAs, and that appropriate pay and understanding can help them feel more connected to your business and enhance their productivity.
Feras explains what disrupt management actually is, and how he scaled his business to 1500 units in three years. Coming from this background of education and practical experience, Feras shared valuable information on a lot of topics ranging such as handling property management through COVID-19, finding investors and building the right partnerships, handling nightmare syndications and bouncing back after major setbacks, and facilitating a great relationship with brokers, while also giving away tips for sourcing off-market deals.
Feras is a great guy and I loved getting to know him better, both for his real estate knowledge and also because he is a generous and charitable human being. You do not want to miss this fascinating and informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with guest, Feras Moussa!
Notable quotes:
“Obviously, coming from the tech world, stocks are the thing everyone thinks about, but I was looking for different opportunities.”
- Feras Moussa
“We just ended up pivoting to do full-blown property management, because it's a much bigger bang for the buck.”
- Feras Moussa
“Even if you have that one employee that goes to 10 different houses, that's a lot of time wasted in transit.”
- Feras Moussa
“It's just how much we use tech to really give visibility.”
- Feras Moussa
“What I have found is, if you have a very linear straightforward task that's well defined and doesn't allow for a lot of variables, you can hire a VA and it can work. “
- Feras Moussa
“Our VAs feel like they're part of a team and they work US hours. That's part of the requirement.”
- Feras Moussa
Links:
Feras’ Website
Feras’ LinkedIn Profile
Disrupt Equity Website
Feras’ Email
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In today’s episode, I welcome Feras Moussa, who is a successful entrepreneur with a tech background. He is the co-founder and managing partner at Disrupt Equity, a real-estate services platform focusing on multifamily acquisition and investments for investors. Feras graduated from the University of Texas with a Computer Science degree and worked at Microsoft straight from college. He later resigned from the company to bring tech to industries that lack it, where he later found his passion for real estate. He has helped raise millions of dollars for multifamily syndications across 2000 units, in addition to managing his own portfolio of properties.
Feras shares how his search for new opportunities and love for entrepreneurship landed him in the world of real estate. After starting in single-family home rental investing, Feras later decided to scale up into apartment complexes, where started Disrupt Equity with his partner. Disrupt Equity is focused on multifamily acquisitions and investments, and in doing so, has helped leverage his strengths in tech to better identify quality investments for others. He shares how he’s always been an entrepreneur at heart as he started his own web company while still in high school.
We get to know the ups and downs he faced while starting his business, and what the specific challenges were that he faced in the journey. He also cites how his tech background has helped him grow his business and bring changes to the real estate investment sector altogether, something he had envisioned while leaving Microsoft as a developer.
Feras talks about real-estate investing as being a numbers game, and that by investing in apartments and not single family houses, you can make better profits. He also shares with us his way of viewing an apartment deal. He weighs the price factor to check for the risks as well as the rewards, and also keeps a check if syndication is a possibility with each deal.
We also discuss how Feras views software such as Asana, Slack, and email and why these are better to use than normal ways of texting. He also discusses how he makes use of these software applications to assign tasks to his virtual assistants and teammates. We learn how trust is a highlighted major factor in relationships with VAs, and that appropriate pay and understanding can help them feel more connected to your business and enhance their productivity.
Feras explains what disrupt management actually is, and how he scaled his business to 1500 units in three years. Coming from this background of education and practical experience, Feras shared valuable information on a lot of topics ranging such as handling property management through COVID-19, finding investors and building the right partnerships, handling nightmare syndications and bouncing back after major setbacks, and facilitating a great relationship with brokers, while also giving away tips for sourcing off-market deals.
Feras is a great guy and I loved getting to know him better, both for his real estate knowledge and also because he is a generous and charitable human being. You do not want to miss this fascinating and informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with guest, Feras Moussa!
Notable quotes:
“Obviously, coming from the tech world, stocks are the thing everyone thinks about, but I was looking for different opportunities.”
- Feras Moussa
“We just ended up pivoting to do full-blown property management, because it's a much bigger bang for the buck.”
- Feras Moussa
“Even if you have that one employee that goes to 10 different houses, that's a lot of time wasted in transit.”
- Feras Moussa
“It's just how much we use tech to really give visibility.”
- Feras Moussa
“What I have found is, if you have a very linear straightforward task that's well defined and doesn't allow for a lot of variables, you can hire a VA and it can work. “
- Feras Moussa
“Our VAs feel like they're part of a team and they work US hours. That's part of the requirement.”
- Feras Moussa
Links:
Feras’ Website
Feras’ LinkedIn Profile
Disrupt Equity Website
Feras’ Email
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In a very insightful conversation today, I am pleased to welcome fellow real-estate investor, popular speaker, educator, podcaster, and author Mitch Stephen onto the show. Mitch has been in the real-estate game for more than 25 years and he has purchased well over 2,000 houses in and around his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Today, he specializes in owner-financed properties with individuals left behind by traditional lending institutions. Mitch has also forged the creation of a mass texting software, LiveComm. Listen in as this phenomenal individual shares his journey building and expanding the empire he has built!
Mitch says he started basically because of a substantial relationship he had with a woman who left him for someone who was rich and in a better position than he was at that time. He badly wanted a path to financial freedom but money was never discussed in his family or even while he was in school. He shares that his real estate investing career started at the age of 23 when he read Nothing Down by Robert Allen, which gave him the courage that he could get into real estate. But it took him seven years to own the concept in his heart and actually get started with it.
Mitch had, by accident, made some money in real estate, which propelled him to get more actively involved. He flipped a couple of houses and put $35,000 in the bank which was a year's salary for him when he was a bartender. He decided to take a year off and see what he could do. In 1996, he flipped forty-five houses, sixty-five houses the next year, and then one-hundred-fifty the following year. He’d grossed a lot of money but was very unorganized and inexperienced to be at that level.
Mitch talked a lot about working with his family members and the lessons they have learned along the way. He said sometimes it is a struggle because it is almost as there is shared mistake-making and little progress forward. Mitch got to the point where he had to shut down the business, reassess everything, and start fresh. Even with these issues, he has made it work with family members and his daughter has been a loyal employee for over 25 years.
He’s shared a very successful idea he’d implemented to obtain more deals. He partnered with people and paid them 50% of the profit if they brought him a good deal. He shares how he would have a line outside his door every day of ten or fifteen people who showed up because they didn't have any other source of income.
Mitch has also discussed people who tend to spend a lot of money when they initially start making good money and said that people who have that kind of money appreciate people who are careful and live within their means. We have an extensive discussion about the real estate market downturn in 2008 and how his business thrived during those times. It was after this that Mitch started finding and hiring better people, which made a noticeable and positive impact on his business.
Mitch’s company specializes in buying distressed properties with other people’s money and selling those properties with owner financing. His personal expertise includes raising private money, finding bargain properties, negotiating favorable terms, dealing with renovations and contractors, and selling notes with little to no discount. Mitch also spoke about the educational programs he has put together to help other investors do exactly this and experience success in this field.
Mitch and I just have a blast in this episode of Just Start Real Estate and you don’t want to miss it! It is longer than usual because he just provides us with so much wisdom and actionable advice, so please take the time to listen and learn from this fabulous guest, Mitch Stephen!
Notable quotes:
“When I re-read the books, after some maturing, I was able to actually absorb the message deeper and own it in my heart.”
- Mitch Stephen
“I'm interested in my financial freedom, and the stability of my family and my income for a long period of time. I don't give a damn about a car.”
- Mitch Stephen
“I think people who have that kind of money appreciate people who are careful and live within their means.”
- Mitch Stephen
“We learn what a good partner is, or we learn what a good business is when they can survive a bad time. ”
- Mitch Stephen
“I do not ever want to take someone's house, I think it’s the shittiest business plan in the whole wide world.”
- Mitch Stephen
“I only borrow what I need, I don't borrow money to live on.”
- Mitch Stephen
Links:
Mitch’s Website
Mitch’s LinkedIn Profile
Real Estate Investor Summit Podcast
MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES: Failing Forward to Financial Freedom
MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES: 200+ Ways to Find Bargain Properties
MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES: The Art of Owner Financing
Livecomm
Nothing Down
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In a very insightful conversation today, I am pleased to welcome fellow real-estate investor, popular speaker, educator, podcaster, and author Mitch Stephen onto the show. Mitch has been in the real-estate game for more than 25 years and he has purchased well over 2,000 houses in and around his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Today, he specializes in owner-financed properties with individuals left behind by traditional lending institutions. Mitch has also forged the creation of a mass texting software, LiveComm. Listen in as this phenomenal individual shares his journey building and expanding the empire he has built!
Mitch says he started basically because of a substantial relationship he had with a woman who left him for someone who was rich and in a better position than he was at that time. He badly wanted a path to financial freedom but money was never discussed in his family or even while he was in school. He shares that his real estate investing career started at the age of 23 when he read Nothing Down by Robert Allen, which gave him the courage that he could get into real estate. But it took him seven years to own the concept in his heart and actually get started with it.
Mitch had, by accident, made some money in real estate, which propelled him to get more actively involved. He flipped a couple of houses and put $35,000 in the bank which was a year's salary for him when he was a bartender. He decided to take a year off and see what he could do. In 1996, he flipped forty-five houses, sixty-five houses the next year, and then one-hundred-fifty the following year. He’d grossed a lot of money but was very unorganized and inexperienced to be at that level.
Mitch talked a lot about working with his family members and the lessons they have learned along the way. He said sometimes it is a struggle because it is almost as there is shared mistake-making and little progress forward. Mitch got to the point where he had to shut down the business, reassess everything, and start fresh. Even with these issues, he has made it work with family members and his daughter has been a loyal employee for over 25 years.
He’s shared a very successful idea he’d implemented to obtain more deals. He partnered with people and paid them 50% of the profit if they brought him a good deal. He shares how he would have a line outside his door every day of ten or fifteen people who showed up because they didn't have any other source of income.
Mitch has also discussed people who tend to spend a lot of money when they initially start making good money and said that people who have that kind of money appreciate people who are careful and live within their means. We have an extensive discussion about the real estate market downturn in 2008 and how his business thrived during those times. It was after this that Mitch started finding and hiring better people, which made a noticeable and positive impact on his business.
Mitch’s company specializes in buying distressed properties with other people’s money and selling those properties with owner financing. His personal expertise includes raising private money, finding bargain properties, negotiating favorable terms, dealing with renovations and contractors, and selling notes with little to no discount. Mitch also spoke about the educational programs he has put together to help other investors do exactly this and experience success in this field.
Mitch and I just have a blast in this episode of Just Start Real Estate and you don’t want to miss it! It is longer than usual because he just provides us with so much wisdom and actionable advice, so please take the time to listen and learn from this fabulous guest, Mitch Stephen!
Notable quotes:
“When I re-read the books, after some maturing, I was able to actually absorb the message deeper and own it in my heart.”
- Mitch Stephen
“I'm interested in my financial freedom, and the stability of my family and my income for a long period of time. I don't give a damn about a car.”
- Mitch Stephen
“I think people who have that kind of money appreciate people who are careful and live within their means.”
- Mitch Stephen
“We learn what a good partner is, or we learn what a good business is when they can survive a bad time. ”
- Mitch Stephen
“I do not ever want to take someone's house, I think it’s the shittiest business plan in the whole wide world.”
- Mitch Stephen
“I only borrow what I need, I don't borrow money to live on.”
- Mitch Stephen
Links:
Mitch’s Website
Mitch’s LinkedIn Profile
Real Estate Investor Summit Podcast
MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES: Failing Forward to Financial Freedom
MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES: 200+ Ways to Find Bargain Properties
MY LIFE & 1,000 HOUSES: The Art of Owner Financing
Livecomm
Nothing Down
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to welcome AJ Osborne to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast. AJ is an entrepreneur, investor, author, speaker, and popular podcast host of Cashflow 2 Freedom and Self Storage Income. He also owns and manages his self-storage portfolio of $100 million in assets and specializes in acquiring and turning around underperforming facilities with a value-add strategy. AJ loves to show other entrepreneurs and investors on how to focus on technology and automation in order to grow their businesses.
AJ starts out by providing some background on how he got into real estate investing. He starts off by telling us that he was an insurance nerd, and even though it is thought of as a boring occupation, it taught him so much because of the lessons it provided him. He was selling group insurance policies, which were very technical, had a long sales cycle, and a very high failure rate. He learned so many great lessons from working in this field but started to see that it was not something he could scale and he wasn’t really working for himself.
As AJ began to see that earning a high wage wasn’t necessarily making him wealthy or financially free, he decided to buy brokerages in order to consistently have clients. He had a terrible experience with one of these deals and this changed his entire work strategy. He decided he needed to actually own assets that paid him consistently and predictably. AJ and his dad, working as partners, ended up buying several self storage complexes mostly because they thought they would be easy real estate investments because they didn’t have toilets. What AJ found was that they were more like businesses rather than real estate assets.
AJ said that the way they began approaching these self storage investments was to look at the potential for building revenue only. I asked him to explain what he meant by revenue management other than occupancy because this type of investing seems a lot like multi-family properties to me, which hinges on occupancy. AJ gave us some great analogies to explain his philosophy towards creating wealth with this unique wealth-building tool.
AJ shares a lot about the lessons he learned in building his business and he found that very few people understand the intricacies of self storage investing so he decided to share all of this information through podcasting and writing a book, titled The Investor’s Guide to Growing Wealth in Self Storage. He said they just starting uploading all of this information and it caught on like wildfire because there are no other resources for this type of investing. AJ mentioned how they get a lot of deals this way because sharing these investment strategies built people’s trust in their business.
AJ mentioned he had just started a private equity company, so I asked him to explain what that meant to our listeners. He said that they just take on private investor’s money to give them equity in a deal. He explains to us how he started in this arm of the business and give us some specific examples of deals he has taken on private money. He also shared how doing business this way reinvigorated him because he is a people-person and loves brainstorming with others.
I asked AJ to explain the new technology company he is involved with. He said they are partners with Tenant Inc, a property management program whose technology is superior, yet simple and helps to centralize and streamline your self storage business. Some of its functionality includes ways to easily integrate third-party technology, manage your managers, and bolster your profits, equity, and market position.
We also talked about networking, how you go about finding and closing self storage deals, how to grow your businesses and still be personally productive, and so much more! You have GOT to listen to this information-packed episode of Just Start Real Estate! AJ is involved in so many different projects and aspects of the industry, you do not want to miss all of the fantastic value he shares!
Notable Quotes:
“I followed in my father’s footsteps as a salesman because that was what I thought life was.”
- AJ Osborne
“I learned very quickly, and early, there were some things I was good at and I had to stick with that because there was nothing else.”
- AJ Osborne
“I liked sales - it made me fail all the time!”
- AJ Osborne
“Sales experience will serve you forever. Sales is such a valuable background to have.”
- Mike Simmons
“That was the culture of my family… no one cares if you are hurting, you just work.”
- AJ Osborne
“I was rich, but I was not wealthy. Those two things are completely different.”
- AJ Osborne
“I was on the biggest treadmill ever, and the moment that it stopped, I was screwed.”
- AJ Osborne
“We own a lot of different companies and in most, we are partners. We have an incredible relationship.”
- AJ Osborne, about his father
“That’s what we real estate investors do - we get into it and realize what it takes to actually be profitable.”
- Mike Simmons
“What operational aspects can I change to increase the revenue to make it worth my time?”
- AJ Osborne
“We focus on understanding our tenants.”
- AJ Osborne
“We are cash-flow guys.”
- AJ Osborne
“I want to be the best - I’m just a little competitive.”
- AJ Osborne
“People don’t understand this asset class and they need to, so I started the podcast and wrote the book.”
- AJ Osborne
“I figured if we could partner with other people, we could grow so much bigger and faster.”
- AJ Osborne
“I like other people participating in success.”
- AJ Osborne
“You build a relationship and the relationship turns into deals.”
- AJ Osborne
Links:
The Investors Guide to Growing Wealth in Self Storage: The Step-By-Step Playbook for Turning a Real Estate Asset Into a Thriving Self Storage Business
Cashflow 2 Freedom Podcast
Self Storage Income Podcast
Tenant Inc
Self Storage Income
AJ on Facebook
AJ on Instagram
Cashflow2Freedom on Instagram
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
For this episode, I am excited to welcome AJ Osborne to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast. AJ is an entrepreneur, investor, author, speaker, and popular podcast host of Cashflow 2 Freedom and Self Storage Income. He also owns and manages his self-storage portfolio of $100 million in assets and specializes in acquiring and turning around underperforming facilities with a value-add strategy. AJ loves to show other entrepreneurs and investors on how to focus on technology and automation in order to grow their businesses.
AJ starts out by providing some background on how he got into real estate investing. He starts off by telling us that he was an insurance nerd, and even though it is thought of as a boring occupation, it taught him so much because of the lessons it provided him. He was selling group insurance policies, which were very technical, had a long sales cycle, and a very high failure rate. He learned so many great lessons from working in this field but started to see that it was not something he could scale and he wasn’t really working for himself.
As AJ began to see that earning a high wage wasn’t necessarily making him wealthy or financially free, he decided to buy brokerages in order to consistently have clients. He had a terrible experience with one of these deals and this changed his entire work strategy. He decided he needed to actually own assets that paid him consistently and predictably. AJ and his dad, working as partners, ended up buying several self storage complexes mostly because they thought they would be easy real estate investments because they didn’t have toilets. What AJ found was that they were more like businesses rather than real estate assets.
AJ said that the way they began approaching these self storage investments was to look at the potential for building revenue only. I asked him to explain what he meant by revenue management other than occupancy because this type of investing seems a lot like multi-family properties to me, which hinges on occupancy. AJ gave us some great analogies to explain his philosophy towards creating wealth with this unique wealth-building tool.
AJ shares a lot about the lessons he learned in building his business and he found that very few people understand the intricacies of self storage investing so he decided to share all of this information through podcasting and writing a book, titled The Investor’s Guide to Growing Wealth in Self Storage. He said they just starting uploading all of this information and it caught on like wildfire because there are no other resources for this type of investing. AJ mentioned how they get a lot of deals this way because sharing these investment strategies built people’s trust in their business.
AJ mentioned he had just started a private equity company, so I asked him to explain what that meant to our listeners. He said that they just take on private investor’s money to give them equity in a deal. He explains to us how he started in this arm of the business and give us some specific examples of deals he has taken on private money. He also shared how doing business this way reinvigorated him because he is a people-person and loves brainstorming with others.
I asked AJ to explain the new technology company he is involved with. He said they are partners with Tenant Inc, a property management program whose technology is superior, yet simple and helps to centralize and streamline your self storage business. Some of its functionality includes ways to easily integrate third-party technology, manage your managers, and bolster your profits, equity, and market position.
We also talked about networking, how you go about finding and closing self storage deals, how to grow your businesses and still be personally productive, and so much more! You have GOT to listen to this information-packed episode of Just Start Real Estate! AJ is involved in so many different projects and aspects of the industry, you do not want to miss all of the fantastic value he shares!
Notable Quotes:
“I followed in my father’s footsteps as a salesman because that was what I thought life was.”
- AJ Osborne
“I learned very quickly, and early, there were some things I was good at and I had to stick with that because there was nothing else.”
- AJ Osborne
“I liked sales - it made me fail all the time!”
- AJ Osborne
“Sales experience will serve you forever. Sales is such a valuable background to have.”
- Mike Simmons
“That was the culture of my family… no one cares if you are hurting, you just work.”
- AJ Osborne
“I was rich, but I was not wealthy. Those two things are completely different.”
- AJ Osborne
“I was on the biggest treadmill ever, and the moment that it stopped, I was screwed.”
- AJ Osborne
“We own a lot of different companies and in most, we are partners. We have an incredible relationship.”
- AJ Osborne, about his father
“That’s what we real estate investors do - we get into it and realize what it takes to actually be profitable.”
- Mike Simmons
“What operational aspects can I change to increase the revenue to make it worth my time?”
- AJ Osborne
“We focus on understanding our tenants.”
- AJ Osborne
“We are cash-flow guys.”
- AJ Osborne
“I want to be the best - I’m just a little competitive.”
- AJ Osborne
“People don’t understand this asset class and they need to, so I started the podcast and wrote the book.”
- AJ Osborne
“I figured if we could partner with other people, we could grow so much bigger and faster.”
- AJ Osborne
“I like other people participating in success.”
- AJ Osborne
“You build a relationship and the relationship turns into deals.”
- AJ Osborne
Links:
The Investors Guide to Growing Wealth in Self Storage: The Step-By-Step Playbook for Turning a Real Estate Asset Into a Thriving Self Storage Business
Cashflow 2 Freedom Podcast
Self Storage Income Podcast
Tenant Inc
Self Storage Income
AJ on Facebook
AJ on Instagram
Cashflow2Freedom on Instagram
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview successful investor and entrepreneur, Mike Bonadies. Mike is the owner of Side by Side MRO, a maintenance, perseveration, and construction company, and co-owner of TerraVestra, a property management company. He is also a landlord himself owning 25 of his own units in South Jersey. Get ready to dive into some of the less spoken of and dirtier aspects of real estate in this interview!
Mike begins by telling us about his time in the corporate world as a commercialization manager for DeWALT power tools. He said his work experience was in the construction industry as he was brokering deals with Home Depot. A coworker overheard him working the phones one day and asked him if he had ever considered being a landlord, and that was the beginning of Mike’s real estate investing journey. After doing some research, he bought his first duplex in South Jersey, which he house-hacked. He invested in twenty properties before people started coming to him about property management issues. His buddy, Drew Side, owned sixty properties, so together they decided to start their own property management company, TerraVestra. This also led them to start their own property maintenance company, Side by Side MRO.
I told Mike that I have a company managing my properties and my only frustration with them is that often the maintenance calls seem really expensive, especially since I have a flipping background. Mike took some time to explain the differences between how construction and maintenance companies operate, especially because of the overhead they may have or the services they are providing. There is also a different level of insurance that a maintenance company has to hold which drives up the cost of service calls. We spent some time discussing the details of finding and working successfully with property management companies.
We talked extensively about property management styles, how they contract with customers, how they handle pricing, and finding a company that fits with your vision. I wanted Mike to explain how a landlord could go about finding a property maintenance company if they were just interested in contracting this type of company to handle their portfolio. Mike gave us several routes on how to best find and vet these types of companies. He also talked about how important it is to find maintenance companies that have experience with your market’s property asset class.
I asked Mike about how to go about finding an effective property manager based on the size of an investor’s portfolio. He brought up a great point about the manager’s size and if they are spread out over several states or work more locally. He also addressed the difference in types of properties and how much attention you would get from various kinds of management companies. We also discussed the level of property he looks at to purchase and also to manage. Mike said he likes to raise the quality level of neighborhoods, so he will buy several properties on a particular street and bring all of them up a couple of notches. We talked a bit about the impact of the pandemic on housing and what types of homes might provide a return regardless of the restrictions and ongoing impact.
We have interviewed other landlords and property managers recently, but in this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, our guest provides some unique insights and valuable, practical advice for all manner of property owners. Don’t miss it!
Notable Quotes:
“Once you build your brand and show some success, people will absolutely start investing in you.”
- Mike Bonadies
“I just started blabbing to everyone what I was doing and pretty soon I had people coming to me saying that they wanted to get involved.”
- Mike Simmons
“The money is out there. You just have to show a little initiative.”
- Mike Simmons
“As a landlord, to me, the maintenance is the silent killer.”
- Mike Simmons
“A maintenance company’s cost structure and how they make money is very different from contractors.”
- Mike Bonadies
“There are not enough people doing physical labor, and therefore, the rates of a normal maintenance tech are getting higher, and when those go up, prices to customers go up.”
- Mike Bonadies
“If you get a good maintenance company, they will absorb all of your headaches, and even if you pay a slight premium for the service, it is worth it.”
- Mike Bonadies
“I feel like a good property management company doesn’t keel to every request from a tenant.”
- Mike Bonadies
“I look at every property that we manage like, ‘If this was my property, what would I do?’”
- Mike Bonadies
“Understanding the industry is equally as important as having systems in place.”
- Mike Bonadies
“Our maintenance clients just know they can trust us and that is the level we want to be at.”
- Mike Bonadies
“If you want property management exactly your way, hire admins, and do your own.”
- Mike Bonadies
“If a property manager has to drive three hours to get a property, how well do you think they are managing it?”
- Mike Bonadies
“You need to be a better value than everyone else.”
- Mike Bonadies
“We have had to get incredibly creative during the pandemic to get tenants to pay rent.”
- Mike Bonadies
Links:
TerraVestra Property Management
TerraVestra on Facebook
Side by Side MRO
Side by Side on Facebook
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview successful investor and entrepreneur, Mike Bonadies. Mike is the owner of Side by Side MRO, a maintenance, perseveration, and construction company, and co-owner of TerraVestra, a property management company. He is also a landlord himself owning 25 of his own units in South Jersey. Get ready to dive into some of the less spoken of and dirtier aspects of real estate in this interview!
Mike begins by telling us about his time in the corporate world as a commercialization manager for DeWALT power tools. He said his work experience was in the construction industry as he was brokering deals with Home Depot. A coworker overheard him working the phones one day and asked him if he had ever considered being a landlord, and that was the beginning of Mike’s real estate investing journey. After doing some research, he bought his first duplex in South Jersey, which he house-hacked. He invested in twenty properties before people started coming to him about property management issues. His buddy, Drew Side, owned sixty properties, so together they decided to start their own property management company, TerraVestra. This also led them to start their own property maintenance company, Side by Side MRO.
I told Mike that I have a company managing my properties and my only frustration with them is that often the maintenance calls seem really expensive, especially since I have a flipping background. Mike took some time to explain the differences between how construction and maintenance companies operate, especially because of the overhead they may have or the services they are providing. There is also a different level of insurance that a maintenance company has to hold which drives up the cost of service calls. We spent some time discussing the details of finding and working successfully with property management companies.
We talked extensively about property management styles, how they contract with customers, how they handle pricing, and finding a company that fits with your vision. I wanted Mike to explain how a landlord could go about finding a property maintenance company if they were just interested in contracting this type of company to handle their portfolio. Mike gave us several routes on how to best find and vet these types of companies. He also talked about how important it is to find maintenance companies that have experience with your market’s property asset class.
I asked Mike about how to go about finding an effective property manager based on the size of an investor’s portfolio. He brought up a great point about the manager’s size and if they are spread out over several states or work more locally. He also addressed the difference in types of properties and how much attention you would get from various kinds of management companies. We also discussed the level of property he looks at to purchase and also to manage. Mike said he likes to raise the quality level of neighborhoods, so he will buy several properties on a particular street and bring all of them up a couple of notches. We talked a bit about the impact of the pandemic on housing and what types of homes might provide a return regardless of the restrictions and ongoing impact.
We have interviewed other landlords and property managers recently, but in this episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, our guest provides some unique insights and valuable, practical advice for all manner of property owners. Don’t miss it!
Notable Quotes:
“Once you build your brand and show some success, people will absolutely start investing in you.”
- Mike Bonadies
“I just started blabbing to everyone what I was doing and pretty soon I had people coming to me saying that they wanted to get involved.”
- Mike Simmons
“The money is out there. You just have to show a little initiative.”
- Mike Simmons
“As a landlord, to me, the maintenance is the silent killer.”
- Mike Simmons
“A maintenance company’s cost structure and how they make money is very different from contractors.”
- Mike Bonadies
“There are not enough people doing physical labor, and therefore, the rates of a normal maintenance tech are getting higher, and when those go up, prices to customers go up.”
- Mike Bonadies
“If you get a good maintenance company, they will absorb all of your headaches, and even if you pay a slight premium for the service, it is worth it.”
- Mike Bonadies
“I feel like a good property management company doesn’t keel to every request from a tenant.”
- Mike Bonadies
“I look at every property that we manage like, ‘If this was my property, what would I do?’”
- Mike Bonadies
“Understanding the industry is equally as important as having systems in place.”
- Mike Bonadies
“Our maintenance clients just know they can trust us and that is the level we want to be at.”
- Mike Bonadies
“If you want property management exactly your way, hire admins, and do your own.”
- Mike Bonadies
“If a property manager has to drive three hours to get a property, how well do you think they are managing it?”
- Mike Bonadies
“You need to be a better value than everyone else.”
- Mike Bonadies
“We have had to get incredibly creative during the pandemic to get tenants to pay rent.”
- Mike Bonadies
Links:
TerraVestra Property Management
TerraVestra on Facebook
Side by Side MRO
Side by Side on Facebook
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I welcome Daniel Ramsey to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast to talk about all things Virtual Assistants. Daniel is the founder & CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated Virtual Assistant company in the marketplace with over 500 five-star reviews, and over 13 years of experience serving more than 6000 clients.
Daniel’s journey to launching MyOutDesk actually began on his honeymoon in Guatemala, when he suddenly found himself working and closing real estate deals at the bar at 1:00am. He realized that if he wanted to have the life he had dreamed of and be able to take some time off, he would need more leverage. So he returned to the US and spent two years completely rebuilding his real estate business with Virtual Assistants, before taking 6 months off to move to South America.
Daniel explains that MyOutDesk was born in 2008 when one of his friends asked him if Daniel could help him to find five assistants for his business. Daniel agreed to supply the team, but it would be a lot of effort, so he would have to charge for it. He registered the business and supplied the assistants and before long, his friend had a team of seventeen assistants saving him around 150k per year. That’s how MyOutDesk was born accidentally. The team now consists of twenty US-based employees and forty freelancers in the Philippines.
Daniel then explains that as businesses grow and generate more revenue, they pass through different stages. First ‘I do it,’ which then becomes ‘we do it,’ which then transforms to ‘they do it,’ and in each stage, the focus shifts, and different things are a priority. When your business moves from ‘we do it’ to ‘they do it’ - all of your focus lies on systems and processes.
I am then particularly interested in why Daniel has chosen the Philippines as a country to source VAs from, and he explains that his reasons are mostly because the English language is taught from a young age, and the culture and understanding of right and wrong is very similar to the US.
Daniel then explains that hiring is hard if you don’t have the right process, and even then it may not be a perfect fit the first time around. He then goes into his hiring process in more detail and also shares what happens before a VA is presented to a client, how long it normally takes for their clients to hire someone, and what the expected cost for a full-time VA is.
Daniel then compares their service to marriage rather than dating - all of their assistants are already doing the job they are being hired for and have experience, and that’s the reason why they only source full-time team members.
Because I have had experience with Virtual Assistants in the past, I wanted to share a struggle I had which is I found the ones I hired unable to think outside of the box or to use deductive reasoning in certain situations. Daniel explains that the problem really lies within the business and a lack of well-documented systems and processes. He explains that everything in a business can really be explained with if/then statements and that takes a lot of time to document. And the more complex your business is, the longer it takes to find someone and train them.
Throughout the interview, Daniel has shared a lot of gold nuggets that you can take and implement in your business, so give it a listen to catch all the details!
Notable Quotes:
“I never learn a lesson unless my heart, or my wallet, hurts.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“I had a pretty big epiphany. I wanted to stay married. I wanted to one day have kids. I wanted to have a life.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“As an entrepreneur, we all think ‘I’m going to start a business, so I can build this beautiful life,’ but the reality is that you’re constantly in the fight.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“I was a helicopter delegator, I’d tell somebody to do it. Then they’d do it and screw it up and then I’d have to go back over it to fix it.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“I picked up that property, built a duplex, and I learned a lot, which is code (if you’re an entrepreneur) for I lost money.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“In the process of building your home, there is a step-by-step process. In the process of building leverage in your business, there is a step-by-step process.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“If you take two or three hours and focus on growing the business, that’s when you start to see magic. That’s when scaling starts to happen.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“There is a point at which you say, ‘Oh my God, I just bought half of my day back.’”
- Daniel Ramsey
Links:
For a consultation text SVP to 31996
MyOutDesk
Scaling Your Business with MOD Virtual Professionals
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I welcome Daniel Ramsey to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast to talk about all things Virtual Assistants. Daniel is the founder & CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated Virtual Assistant company in the marketplace with over 500 five-star reviews, and over 13 years of experience serving more than 6000 clients.
Daniel’s journey to launching MyOutDesk actually began on his honeymoon in Guatemala, when he suddenly found himself working and closing real estate deals at the bar at 1:00am. He realized that if he wanted to have the life he had dreamed of and be able to take some time off, he would need more leverage. So he returned to the US and spent two years completely rebuilding his real estate business with Virtual Assistants, before taking 6 months off to move to South America.
Daniel explains that MyOutDesk was born in 2008 when one of his friends asked him if Daniel could help him to find five assistants for his business. Daniel agreed to supply the team, but it would be a lot of effort, so he would have to charge for it. He registered the business and supplied the assistants and before long, his friend had a team of seventeen assistants saving him around 150k per year. That’s how MyOutDesk was born accidentally. The team now consists of twenty US-based employees and forty freelancers in the Philippines.
Daniel then explains that as businesses grow and generate more revenue, they pass through different stages. First ‘I do it,’ which then becomes ‘we do it,’ which then transforms to ‘they do it,’ and in each stage, the focus shifts, and different things are a priority. When your business moves from ‘we do it’ to ‘they do it’ - all of your focus lies on systems and processes.
I am then particularly interested in why Daniel has chosen the Philippines as a country to source VAs from, and he explains that his reasons are mostly because the English language is taught from a young age, and the culture and understanding of right and wrong is very similar to the US.
Daniel then explains that hiring is hard if you don’t have the right process, and even then it may not be a perfect fit the first time around. He then goes into his hiring process in more detail and also shares what happens before a VA is presented to a client, how long it normally takes for their clients to hire someone, and what the expected cost for a full-time VA is.
Daniel then compares their service to marriage rather than dating - all of their assistants are already doing the job they are being hired for and have experience, and that’s the reason why they only source full-time team members.
Because I have had experience with Virtual Assistants in the past, I wanted to share a struggle I had which is I found the ones I hired unable to think outside of the box or to use deductive reasoning in certain situations. Daniel explains that the problem really lies within the business and a lack of well-documented systems and processes. He explains that everything in a business can really be explained with if/then statements and that takes a lot of time to document. And the more complex your business is, the longer it takes to find someone and train them.
Throughout the interview, Daniel has shared a lot of gold nuggets that you can take and implement in your business, so give it a listen to catch all the details!
Notable Quotes:
“I never learn a lesson unless my heart, or my wallet, hurts.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“I had a pretty big epiphany. I wanted to stay married. I wanted to one day have kids. I wanted to have a life.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“As an entrepreneur, we all think ‘I’m going to start a business, so I can build this beautiful life,’ but the reality is that you’re constantly in the fight.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“I was a helicopter delegator, I’d tell somebody to do it. Then they’d do it and screw it up and then I’d have to go back over it to fix it.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“I picked up that property, built a duplex, and I learned a lot, which is code (if you’re an entrepreneur) for I lost money.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“In the process of building your home, there is a step-by-step process. In the process of building leverage in your business, there is a step-by-step process.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“If you take two or three hours and focus on growing the business, that’s when you start to see magic. That’s when scaling starts to happen.”
- Daniel Ramsey
“There is a point at which you say, ‘Oh my God, I just bought half of my day back.’”
- Daniel Ramsey
Links:
For a consultation text SVP to 31996
MyOutDesk
Scaling Your Business with MOD Virtual Professionals
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I welcome Nate Bailey to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast. Nate is a successful entrepreneur having built multiple businesses in the areas of insurance and real estate. He is the bestselling author of three books including the 100 Mile Mindset: Discover the Power of Being Your Word. Nate is a former US Army Lieutenant, popular speaker, and coach.
As always, I like to start by going into my guests' backgrounds to understand their journey and how it led them to do what they do now. Nate tells me about his days in school and how he used to enjoy getting pulled out of class to listen to various speakers, always thinking that that is something he wouldn’t mind doing. After college, he joined the army, then started an insurance business before transitioning to being a speaker and coach full-time.
We then discuss the role of sports in his early life and how it contributed to his success by instilling discipline and encouraging the “dust yourself off and get back up” mentality. Nate then shares how he transitioned from high school into the army, which he loved more for the camaraderie rather than the military life.
In 2004 Nate then started an insurance business while he was in the National Guard and began his journey into real estate investing in 2010. He shares how he had been wanting to do this earlier, but fear and procrastination held him back. Nate explains that after his first deal was done he built a portfolio rather quickly. We then discuss the opportunity economic downturn brings, since 2010 had been a great year for Nate to start investing in property.
We then discuss the sale of his insurance business and what inspired him to transition to speaking and coaching. Nate shares that while his business was successful, he didn’t feel inspired by it. He had always wanted to make an impact on people’s lives and that’s how he decided to move into the field of coaching over a period of 2-3 years. Nate shares that the main themes in his speaking and coaching business revolve around mindset and Championship Leadership. Being a great leader for him means to lead yourself first.
We then divide into discussing the winning mindset and how we can create one for ourselves. Here Nate shares some gold nuggets from his experience of doing the 100 mile run. Nate shares how important it is to put yourself into difficult situations to grow and he also tells us a little more about his in-person event. Nate also attributes his success to surrounding himself with other people that are successful and I couldn’t agree more that positive peer pressure helps you to grow.
We then discuss the power of being your word and here Nate explains his concept of the integrity bank and the importance of following through with what you say you’re going to do and just how powerful this is.
Nate then shares his philosophy of life, which is just beautiful. Nate explains that most people just think of a legacy of something that they’re leaving behind, he however believes that the key lies in living your legacy, which is an amazing shift in thinking!
This is an incredibly powerful and motivating episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that you do not want to miss with Championship Leadership’s Nate Bailey!
Notable Quotes:
“What’s required to be a great athlete, the work, the discipline, the dedication, the commitment, wanting to win - there are so many things that I’ve drawn from athletics that have helped me to be successful in life.”
- Nate Bailey
“The best thing about the military that I really loved was the people and the camaraderie. I wasn’t necessarily in love with military life.”
- Nate Bailey
“After I bought my first investment property, I ended up buying three more in a matter of months.”
- Nate Bailey
“I knew this was something I always wanted to do, but there was always this apprehension, this fear of not knowing how to do it.”
- Nate Bailey
“My previous job did not fire me up. It did not get me excited in the morning.”
- Nate Bailey
“You have to put yourself in difficult situations to create a mentally tough mindset.”
- Nate Bailey
“Everything is positive reinforcement right now and that makes us a little soft.”
- Nate Bailey
“Peer pressure isn’t necessarily negative, it just depends on what the environment is. If you put yourself around the right people, the peer pressure is to be excellent.”
- Mike Simmons
“The integrity bank is all about the power of being your word.”
- Nate Bailey
“You can only withdraw so much from the integrity bank until there is a negative balance.”
- Nate Bailey
“It’s powerful to have those kinds of people in your life, the ones that give you their word and you know it’s a done deal.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you live a legacy, you’re going to leave one.”
- Nate Bailey
Links:
Podcast: Championship Leadership
Nate's Website
Free E-Book: 100 Mile Mindset
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I welcome Nate Bailey to the Just Start Real Estate Podcast. Nate is a successful entrepreneur having built multiple businesses in the areas of insurance and real estate. He is the bestselling author of three books including the 100 Mile Mindset: Discover the Power of Being Your Word. Nate is a former US Army Lieutenant, popular speaker, and coach.
As always, I like to start by going into my guests' backgrounds to understand their journey and how it led them to do what they do now. Nate tells me about his days in school and how he used to enjoy getting pulled out of class to listen to various speakers, always thinking that that is something he wouldn’t mind doing. After college, he joined the army, then started an insurance business before transitioning to being a speaker and coach full-time.
We then discuss the role of sports in his early life and how it contributed to his success by instilling discipline and encouraging the “dust yourself off and get back up” mentality. Nate then shares how he transitioned from high school into the army, which he loved more for the camaraderie rather than the military life.
In 2004 Nate then started an insurance business while he was in the National Guard and began his journey into real estate investing in 2010. He shares how he had been wanting to do this earlier, but fear and procrastination held him back. Nate explains that after his first deal was done he built a portfolio rather quickly. We then discuss the opportunity economic downturn brings, since 2010 had been a great year for Nate to start investing in property.
We then discuss the sale of his insurance business and what inspired him to transition to speaking and coaching. Nate shares that while his business was successful, he didn’t feel inspired by it. He had always wanted to make an impact on people’s lives and that’s how he decided to move into the field of coaching over a period of 2-3 years. Nate shares that the main themes in his speaking and coaching business revolve around mindset and Championship Leadership. Being a great leader for him means to lead yourself first.
We then divide into discussing the winning mindset and how we can create one for ourselves. Here Nate shares some gold nuggets from his experience of doing the 100 mile run. Nate shares how important it is to put yourself into difficult situations to grow and he also tells us a little more about his in-person event. Nate also attributes his success to surrounding himself with other people that are successful and I couldn’t agree more that positive peer pressure helps you to grow.
We then discuss the power of being your word and here Nate explains his concept of the integrity bank and the importance of following through with what you say you’re going to do and just how powerful this is.
Nate then shares his philosophy of life, which is just beautiful. Nate explains that most people just think of a legacy of something that they’re leaving behind, he however believes that the key lies in living your legacy, which is an amazing shift in thinking!
This is an incredibly powerful and motivating episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that you do not want to miss with Championship Leadership’s Nate Bailey!
Notable Quotes:
“What’s required to be a great athlete, the work, the discipline, the dedication, the commitment, wanting to win - there are so many things that I’ve drawn from athletics that have helped me to be successful in life.”
- Nate Bailey
“The best thing about the military that I really loved was the people and the camaraderie. I wasn’t necessarily in love with military life.”
- Nate Bailey
“After I bought my first investment property, I ended up buying three more in a matter of months.”
- Nate Bailey
“I knew this was something I always wanted to do, but there was always this apprehension, this fear of not knowing how to do it.”
- Nate Bailey
“My previous job did not fire me up. It did not get me excited in the morning.”
- Nate Bailey
“You have to put yourself in difficult situations to create a mentally tough mindset.”
- Nate Bailey
“Everything is positive reinforcement right now and that makes us a little soft.”
- Nate Bailey
“Peer pressure isn’t necessarily negative, it just depends on what the environment is. If you put yourself around the right people, the peer pressure is to be excellent.”
- Mike Simmons
“The integrity bank is all about the power of being your word.”
- Nate Bailey
“You can only withdraw so much from the integrity bank until there is a negative balance.”
- Nate Bailey
“It’s powerful to have those kinds of people in your life, the ones that give you their word and you know it’s a done deal.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you live a legacy, you’re going to leave one.”
- Nate Bailey
Links:
Podcast: Championship Leadership
Nate's Website
Free E-Book: 100 Mile Mindset
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I welcome 3-time best-selling author Chris Prefontaine to the show. Chris is the founder and CEO of SmartRealEstateCoach.com, the host of the popular show “Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast,” and has been in real estate for almost 30 years.
We first bring Chris’ experience into context by going way back to the early 90s. Chris initially went to college and worked for his father full-time as a purchasing agent, at which time he read Trump’s first book, The Art of the Deal, and he felt the itch to get into the real estate business, but he didn’t quite know yet how to get started.
Eventually, after watching his father purchase, engineer, and flip land, Chris made his first deal - a split level home on a golf course, bought conventionally with a mortgage. He subsequently subdivided the land, built a duplex on it, and then sold the duplex as 2 condos. Within a year, Chris made the transition to go into real estate full-time, although not entirely by choice. His dad had sold the company Chris was still working for and he got fired from it after only 4 weeks by the new owners. This left him unemployed with 2 young kids. Then, Chris listened to an old Earl Nightingale cassette tape and that sparked an idea. He subsequently did over 100 deals with absolutely no cash down!
We then dove deeper into his business model and Chris explains what it means to buy a house on terms. Chris explains how the ‘08 crash left him struggling, without any credit, and how he had to make some firm choices about his business model that led him to creative financing. We then go further into detail, explaining the terms of a lease-purchase, what it means if a property is owner-financed, how everyone involved benefits from the agreement for a variety of reasons, such as for example tax and estate planning.
Chris then shares his personal philosophy for transitioning from a full-time job to real estate investing. His most important advice is to have a game plan and then execute it, which is the hardest part. His top strategy has 3 simple steps: pick a niche, find someone to show you the path, and put the blinders on for 36 months to focus.
Today, Chris’ business is almost entirely based on lease purchasing and they currently purchase between two and five homes a month. After transitioning to his 3 payday model, Chris admits that he just doesn’t feel inspired to chase after one-time deals and this focus is what has contributed largely to his level of success.
After this, we discussed the ever-popular topic of finding deals. Chris reveals exactly how he finds his deals and then converts them, and what he pays particular attention to. We then dive into the most common objections that Chris experiences and he shares the exact replies that he gives in these circumstances.
Lastly, we talk about contingency plans and how Chris protects the business in case of a buyer defaulting or the economy taking a hit, which are two major concerns with the type of investing that he does. This episode is chock full of actionable advice and so you will not want to miss this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with guest, Chris Prefontaine!
Notable Quotes:
“Don’t get scattered. If you have a plan, stick to the plan. Stop looking for answers once you find them.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of people just get into that asking mode where they want more information, but they’re afraid to pull the trigger.”
- Mike Simmons
“Here’s a formula I tell everyone: pick a niche you can get behind, something you can get passionate about. Find the person that can show you the path, someone that already did it. Then put the blinders on for 36 months.”
- Chris Prefontaine
“Stay focused on what you know works. Focus is really, really important in real estate.”
- Mike Simmons
“If we’re getting back into real estate, what are going to be the rules here? No signing personally, no bank loans, no soliciting of assets. All the things we did wrong, we just decided never to do again.”
- Chris Prefontaine
“The takeaway is powerful - it’s that push-pull tension. When you have something taken away, the human instinct is to get it back.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Real Estate on Your Own Terms - Free Book
The Art of the Deal
Chris’ Website
Chris’ Google+ Channel
Chris’ YouTube Channel
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I welcome 3-time best-selling author Chris Prefontaine to the show. Chris is the founder and CEO of SmartRealEstateCoach.com, the host of the popular show “Smart Real Estate Coach Podcast,” and has been in real estate for almost 30 years.
We first bring Chris’ experience into context by going way back to the early 90s. Chris initially went to college and worked for his father full-time as a purchasing agent, at which time he read Trump’s first book, The Art of the Deal, and he felt the itch to get into the real estate business, but he didn’t quite know yet how to get started.
Eventually, after watching his father purchase, engineer, and flip land, Chris made his first deal - a split level home on a golf course, bought conventionally with a mortgage. He subsequently subdivided the land, built a duplex on it, and then sold the duplex as 2 condos. Within a year, Chris made the transition to go into real estate full-time, although not entirely by choice. His dad had sold the company Chris was still working for and he got fired from it after only 4 weeks by the new owners. This left him unemployed with 2 young kids. Then, Chris listened to an old Earl Nightingale cassette tape and that sparked an idea. He subsequently did over 100 deals with absolutely no cash down!
We then dove deeper into his business model and Chris explains what it means to buy a house on terms. Chris explains how the ‘08 crash left him struggling, without any credit, and how he had to make some firm choices about his business model that led him to creative financing. We then go further into detail, explaining the terms of a lease-purchase, what it means if a property is owner-financed, how everyone involved benefits from the agreement for a variety of reasons, such as for example tax and estate planning.
Chris then shares his personal philosophy for transitioning from a full-time job to real estate investing. His most important advice is to have a game plan and then execute it, which is the hardest part. His top strategy has 3 simple steps: pick a niche, find someone to show you the path, and put the blinders on for 36 months to focus.
Today, Chris’ business is almost entirely based on lease purchasing and they currently purchase between two and five homes a month. After transitioning to his 3 payday model, Chris admits that he just doesn’t feel inspired to chase after one-time deals and this focus is what has contributed largely to his level of success.
After this, we discussed the ever-popular topic of finding deals. Chris reveals exactly how he finds his deals and then converts them, and what he pays particular attention to. We then dive into the most common objections that Chris experiences and he shares the exact replies that he gives in these circumstances.
Lastly, we talk about contingency plans and how Chris protects the business in case of a buyer defaulting or the economy taking a hit, which are two major concerns with the type of investing that he does. This episode is chock full of actionable advice and so you will not want to miss this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with guest, Chris Prefontaine!
Notable Quotes:
“Don’t get scattered. If you have a plan, stick to the plan. Stop looking for answers once you find them.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of people just get into that asking mode where they want more information, but they’re afraid to pull the trigger.”
- Mike Simmons
“Here’s a formula I tell everyone: pick a niche you can get behind, something you can get passionate about. Find the person that can show you the path, someone that already did it. Then put the blinders on for 36 months.”
- Chris Prefontaine
“Stay focused on what you know works. Focus is really, really important in real estate.”
- Mike Simmons
“If we’re getting back into real estate, what are going to be the rules here? No signing personally, no bank loans, no soliciting of assets. All the things we did wrong, we just decided never to do again.”
- Chris Prefontaine
“The takeaway is powerful - it’s that push-pull tension. When you have something taken away, the human instinct is to get it back.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Real Estate on Your Own Terms - Free Book
The Art of the Deal
Chris’ Website
Chris’ Google+ Channel
Chris’ YouTube Channel
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am happy to welcome Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco. C-Roc has been a real estate investor since 2005 and is the CEO of People Building Incorporated. He is the host of the popular podcast “What Are You Made Of?” and author of the upcoming book, Rocket Fuel. He has also been recognized as one of the Yahoo Finance Top Business Leaders To Follow for 2020.
C-Roc began by telling us that he started in sales at the age of eight when he would find golf balls at the golf club he lived on and sell them to the golfers, all while being chased by the club manager in a cart! He was in sales for a water treatment company for nine years before getting into real estate and through this experience, he really learned how to deal with people. In 2005, C-Roc became a realtor and was a top-performing agent pretty quickly because of the work ethic he had developed in his former work life. After about a year, he realized that showing people houses wasn’t really his thing, so he moved into the mortgage industry.
C-Roc brought up training under Grant Cardone and I asked him what it meant to be a licensee of his program. The mortgage company he went to work for was already using Cardone University products and they were seeing a ton of growth when they implemented his systems. Being a licensee means that C-Roc can intertwine the Cardone ideas with his own and present them in his coaching and seminars. He said he has his own branding and ego, but that he is not stupid and wants to be associated with uber-successful people! C-Roc also gave us some of his background to explain why he felt drawn to Grant and his philosophy.
I asked C-Roc to explain the “What Are You Made Of?” Movement and what it really means to him. He said that he grew up surrounded by a lot of broken people who suffered from mental illness or addiction and that it influenced him to not only rise above it but also to try to fix it. He said that “what are you made of” is a form of self-talk, affirmation, or a way to push through a difficult situation. He talked about the power of writing down ideas, making a commitment to things even if you don’t know how to do them, and having people and opportunities come into your life to help you achieve goals. C-Roc talked about a difficult experience they had in their business that really caused them to re-evaluate what they were doing and it really birthed the movement.
I asked C-Roc to talk a bit about his upcoming book, Rocket Fuel. He said that it is his story and how past hardships can be a powerful force to either keep you down or break free and succeed. It uses the “what are you made of?” question to lead to personal transformation and achieve a fulfilling life. He said that he is really vulnerable and transparent in the telling of his story so that people can really see what the entrepreneurial journey is all about.
C-Roc also shares the enormous goals he has for his business, those he had before the pandemic, and how they have been affected by the coronavirus. He is working to develop a culture in their company so that the employees are indoctrinating each other on the way things are done to grow in team accountability and be successful. He is also planning to travel extensively promoting the book and the movement in order to help people grown their businesses by building up their employees.
This is an incredibly honest, transparent, and riveting episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that you do not want to miss that is applicable to all people in any industry!
Notable Quotes:
“Don’t hyper-focus on whether a salesperson you may hire has a ton of real estate experience… that is easily taught. Finding a great salesperson is often difficult.”
- Mike Simmons
“My success is all about work ethic… there isn’t a secret.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“Sometimes you have to get uncomfortable to get where you want to be.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“I find someone that is successful and mimic them.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“When something works, I like to share it.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“Masterminds are ridiculously effective if you take them seriously and surround yourself with the right people.”
- Mike Simmons
“Sometimes pain can be a great motivator.”
- Mike Simmons
“Fire can propel you or burn you.”
- Mike Simmons
“I thought the journey to success is invisible, so I got people on my podcast to share their stories and setbacks, how they have overcome them and turned it into rocket fuel.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“I want to be a thought leader in the industry of comebacks.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“I am looking for people that want to share their story and give them a platform to do that. I am all about giving.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“The concept of turning setbacks into rocket fuel is so important and once you wrap your mind around it, your life will never be the same.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“Gratitude has changed my life.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
Links:
Grant Cardone
People Building Incorporated
Mike’s Website
Rocket Fuel
What Are You Made Of? Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am happy to welcome Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco. C-Roc has been a real estate investor since 2005 and is the CEO of People Building Incorporated. He is the host of the popular podcast “What Are You Made Of?” and author of the upcoming book, Rocket Fuel. He has also been recognized as one of the Yahoo Finance Top Business Leaders To Follow for 2020.
C-Roc began by telling us that he started in sales at the age of eight when he would find golf balls at the golf club he lived on and sell them to the golfers, all while being chased by the club manager in a cart! He was in sales for a water treatment company for nine years before getting into real estate and through this experience, he really learned how to deal with people. In 2005, C-Roc became a realtor and was a top-performing agent pretty quickly because of the work ethic he had developed in his former work life. After about a year, he realized that showing people houses wasn’t really his thing, so he moved into the mortgage industry.
C-Roc brought up training under Grant Cardone and I asked him what it meant to be a licensee of his program. The mortgage company he went to work for was already using Cardone University products and they were seeing a ton of growth when they implemented his systems. Being a licensee means that C-Roc can intertwine the Cardone ideas with his own and present them in his coaching and seminars. He said he has his own branding and ego, but that he is not stupid and wants to be associated with uber-successful people! C-Roc also gave us some of his background to explain why he felt drawn to Grant and his philosophy.
I asked C-Roc to explain the “What Are You Made Of?” Movement and what it really means to him. He said that he grew up surrounded by a lot of broken people who suffered from mental illness or addiction and that it influenced him to not only rise above it but also to try to fix it. He said that “what are you made of” is a form of self-talk, affirmation, or a way to push through a difficult situation. He talked about the power of writing down ideas, making a commitment to things even if you don’t know how to do them, and having people and opportunities come into your life to help you achieve goals. C-Roc talked about a difficult experience they had in their business that really caused them to re-evaluate what they were doing and it really birthed the movement.
I asked C-Roc to talk a bit about his upcoming book, Rocket Fuel. He said that it is his story and how past hardships can be a powerful force to either keep you down or break free and succeed. It uses the “what are you made of?” question to lead to personal transformation and achieve a fulfilling life. He said that he is really vulnerable and transparent in the telling of his story so that people can really see what the entrepreneurial journey is all about.
C-Roc also shares the enormous goals he has for his business, those he had before the pandemic, and how they have been affected by the coronavirus. He is working to develop a culture in their company so that the employees are indoctrinating each other on the way things are done to grow in team accountability and be successful. He is also planning to travel extensively promoting the book and the movement in order to help people grown their businesses by building up their employees.
This is an incredibly honest, transparent, and riveting episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast that you do not want to miss that is applicable to all people in any industry!
Notable Quotes:
“Don’t hyper-focus on whether a salesperson you may hire has a ton of real estate experience… that is easily taught. Finding a great salesperson is often difficult.”
- Mike Simmons
“My success is all about work ethic… there isn’t a secret.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“Sometimes you have to get uncomfortable to get where you want to be.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“I find someone that is successful and mimic them.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“When something works, I like to share it.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“Masterminds are ridiculously effective if you take them seriously and surround yourself with the right people.”
- Mike Simmons
“Sometimes pain can be a great motivator.”
- Mike Simmons
“Fire can propel you or burn you.”
- Mike Simmons
“I thought the journey to success is invisible, so I got people on my podcast to share their stories and setbacks, how they have overcome them and turned it into rocket fuel.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“I want to be a thought leader in the industry of comebacks.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“I am looking for people that want to share their story and give them a platform to do that. I am all about giving.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“The concept of turning setbacks into rocket fuel is so important and once you wrap your mind around it, your life will never be the same.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
“Gratitude has changed my life.”
- Mike “C-Roc” Ciorrocco
Links:
Grant Cardone
People Building Incorporated
Mike’s Website
Rocket Fuel
What Are You Made Of? Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am excited to host Laurence Jankelow. Laurence is the Co-Founder of Avail, an all-in-one software solution designed for do-it-yourself landlords. Prior to launching Avail, Laurence spent seven years in data analytics first as a Consultant at Protiviti Chicago and then at Goldman Sachs. Laurence is also a long-term real estate investor with a passion for 3-unit multi-family properties in Chicago.
We started as we usually do by diving into Laurence’s background and how he got into real estate investing. He and a friend took some real estate classes while attending college and studying finance. One professor explained to them the perils of not paying your property taxes and how an investor could really take advantage of the property owners who do not. Laurence and his friend took that info and invested in delinquent mobile home property tax lien certificates.
After graduating from college, Laurence went into a business and risk-consulting career in Chicago and stopped investing for a time. After working a couple of different corporate jobs for several years, he had accumulated enough savings to purchase his first multi-family property. He performed his own property management for several years before his college investing buddy encouraged him to quit his corporate job to begin a start-up. They were both using Excel to manage their rental properties and felt like they could create something that was more appropriate and efficient for the necessary property management tasks.
When they initially started this project, Laurence and his partner thought they would be able to find a software engineer to write the program for them with a stake in the company. They couldn’t find anyone willing to do that, so they took two years to teach themselves how to write the code themselves. I asked the obvious question of, “Why not just hire a property management company?” and Laurence said that they felt that they were giving away their entire profit margin if they chose that route.
I asked Laurence why he has chosen to focus on 3-unit properties and he pointed out that they are very plentiful in Chicago and work for his price-point. We discussed in detail how he evaluates properties and what his investing goals are. We also talked about some of the tactics he uses managing his own properties so that he doesn’t get service phone calls all day, every day. Additionally, we discussed the systems and processes Laurence has in place to perform as an effective landlord.
We then dove into talking about Avail, the software that Laurence and his buddy created. He said the initial goal was to develop it for themselves so they had a more effective portfolio management tool. They wanted it to define a particular process and automate it for investors who considered themselves part-time landlords. Laurence pointed out during their research, they found that about 60% of landlords do not screen potential tenants, so they wanted to develop software to aid in the day-to-day tasks of do-it-yourself landlords. Laurence goes into great detail on the functionality of Avail during our discussion, including many features that benefit both landlords and tenants.
Not only do you want to check out this comprehensive tool for DIY landlording (link provided below), but you also do not want to miss this information-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Laurence Jankelow!
Notable Quotes:
“To this day I love Excel, but it is not appropriate if you want to be a real landlord and grow that business and manage it professionally.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“It is a lot harder to build something from scratch than we gave credit to it.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Is this rental going to put money in my pocket at the end of every month?”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I find that the landlords that get the 10pm service calls are the ones that leave the property with a lot of deferred maintenance.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“We do put a lot of lipstick on our properties, but the mechanics behind it are still good.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“You want those processes in place whether you are using software to automate them or not.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Take high-quality photos, write a high-quality description upfront and you have them for life.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I find that property managers are never aligned with what I am trying to do.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I feel that nearly all of the risk in owning rentals involves the tenant-screening process.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“We want to build something that is going to help with the operational side, the day-to-day tasks of being a landlord.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“We are very tenant-conscious, so we built everything to benefit the them as well.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Any landlord with any number of units can use our software.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Removing the price barrier is what is going to provide the most value for DIY landlords.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I love that you are looking for solutions for the little guy.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Avail Software
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I am excited to host Laurence Jankelow. Laurence is the Co-Founder of Avail, an all-in-one software solution designed for do-it-yourself landlords. Prior to launching Avail, Laurence spent seven years in data analytics first as a Consultant at Protiviti Chicago and then at Goldman Sachs. Laurence is also a long-term real estate investor with a passion for 3-unit multi-family properties in Chicago.
We started as we usually do by diving into Laurence’s background and how he got into real estate investing. He and a friend took some real estate classes while attending college and studying finance. One professor explained to them the perils of not paying your property taxes and how an investor could really take advantage of the property owners who do not. Laurence and his friend took that info and invested in delinquent mobile home property tax lien certificates.
After graduating from college, Laurence went into a business and risk-consulting career in Chicago and stopped investing for a time. After working a couple of different corporate jobs for several years, he had accumulated enough savings to purchase his first multi-family property. He performed his own property management for several years before his college investing buddy encouraged him to quit his corporate job to begin a start-up. They were both using Excel to manage their rental properties and felt like they could create something that was more appropriate and efficient for the necessary property management tasks.
When they initially started this project, Laurence and his partner thought they would be able to find a software engineer to write the program for them with a stake in the company. They couldn’t find anyone willing to do that, so they took two years to teach themselves how to write the code themselves. I asked the obvious question of, “Why not just hire a property management company?” and Laurence said that they felt that they were giving away their entire profit margin if they chose that route.
I asked Laurence why he has chosen to focus on 3-unit properties and he pointed out that they are very plentiful in Chicago and work for his price-point. We discussed in detail how he evaluates properties and what his investing goals are. We also talked about some of the tactics he uses managing his own properties so that he doesn’t get service phone calls all day, every day. Additionally, we discussed the systems and processes Laurence has in place to perform as an effective landlord.
We then dove into talking about Avail, the software that Laurence and his buddy created. He said the initial goal was to develop it for themselves so they had a more effective portfolio management tool. They wanted it to define a particular process and automate it for investors who considered themselves part-time landlords. Laurence pointed out during their research, they found that about 60% of landlords do not screen potential tenants, so they wanted to develop software to aid in the day-to-day tasks of do-it-yourself landlords. Laurence goes into great detail on the functionality of Avail during our discussion, including many features that benefit both landlords and tenants.
Not only do you want to check out this comprehensive tool for DIY landlording (link provided below), but you also do not want to miss this information-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Laurence Jankelow!
Notable Quotes:
“To this day I love Excel, but it is not appropriate if you want to be a real landlord and grow that business and manage it professionally.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“It is a lot harder to build something from scratch than we gave credit to it.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Is this rental going to put money in my pocket at the end of every month?”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I find that the landlords that get the 10pm service calls are the ones that leave the property with a lot of deferred maintenance.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“We do put a lot of lipstick on our properties, but the mechanics behind it are still good.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“You want those processes in place whether you are using software to automate them or not.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Take high-quality photos, write a high-quality description upfront and you have them for life.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I find that property managers are never aligned with what I am trying to do.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I feel that nearly all of the risk in owning rentals involves the tenant-screening process.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“We want to build something that is going to help with the operational side, the day-to-day tasks of being a landlord.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“We are very tenant-conscious, so we built everything to benefit the them as well.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Any landlord with any number of units can use our software.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“Removing the price barrier is what is going to provide the most value for DIY landlords.”
- Laurence Jankelow
“I love that you are looking for solutions for the little guy.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Avail Software
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I welcome Josh Cantwell onto the show. Josh is the top residential real estate investor in his community of Northeast Ohio and has been a full-time investor since 2003. Josh has bought and sold over 700+ properties in 25 states since this time and he is the host of several podcasts, including the Accelerated Investor Podcast.
Josh begins by sharing some of his background and how he got into investing. He has raised and managed over $40M of private money that he is utilizing as part of his current deals through one-off deals, private lender loans, and as equity in his 2600 apartment units. But he got started, like so many of us do, by attending a real estate investing boot camp. Being from the greater Cleveland area, they were already seeing a foreclosure crisis with many publicly-traded companies leaving the city, so Josh got his start with foreclosure investing long before the national housing crisis.
Josh spoke in quite a lot of detail about the data that he is seeing that points to the possibility of the COVID-19 pandemic causing another similar situation in the summer of 2021. He compared the policies being observed now to the period of time following Hurricane Erma in 2017 when New York and New Jersey were impacted by this storm. Josh explained that in that case, the banks got ahead of the foreclosure crisis by offering all of the homeowners forbearance agreements. So the hurricane happened and twelve months later, there was a massive spike in foreclosures. Josh, along with many other investors, believe we are headed in this same direction with the pandemic.
I then asked Josh to talk to our listeners about raising money. Many would-be investors use not having enough money or not being able to qualify for loans as an excuse for not getting started. Josh said that being successful at raising money often comes down to a person’s own mindset about money. Josh talked about how reliable real estate investments are and how likely it is for lenders to get a high rate of return with no costs. He talked about approaching people on four different levels: if they can buy a house from you, if they can sell you a house, if they can cheerlead for you or refer you, and if they can lend or invest with you. By thinking this way, everyone you meet can become a potential client or partner.
Since Josh has been coaching other investors since 2006, I asked him to walk us through the eight traits to high achieving entrepreneurs. These traits include such attributes as self-reliance, taking responsibility for your own life, and having clarity about what you want. Seven-figure earners also have a clear idea of what their average, ideal day looks like and focus on a certain framework for getting things done even though their things to-do list may seem endless. We also talked about time management and allocating certain days per week to free-thinking, revenue-building, and buffer or preparation periods.
We talked about the steps to finding private money, marketing, networking at non-real estate events, using technology as a weapon, and so much more! Josh is an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable investor, so you do not want to miss this information-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I’m primarily focused on raising capital and investing in multifamily properties.”
- Josh Cantwell
“As a financial planner, I recognized that most of my clients owned real estate.”
- Josh Cantwell
“You have to play the game and know what is working today.”
- Josh Cantwell
“I’m glad to hear you say that because it makes me feel smart for doing what I am doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you have something to offer, a product or service, that you think is going to benefit someone, you have a moral obligation to sell it to them.”
- Josh Cantwell’s friend
“Tell me one person that is super happy with the stock market. Nobody.”
- Josh Cantwell
“What I love about real estate is that if you buy it right, take care of it, manage it, and cash flow it, it’s about the safest investment in the world.”
- Josh Cantwell
“With private lending, always talk about your past deals.”
- Josh Cantwell
“It is all about follow-up and relationships.”
- Josh Cantwell
“Elite entrepreneurs realize no one is coming to their rescue.”
- Josh Cantwell
“If you don’t start swimming, you are not going to get to the shore.”
- Mike Simmons
“You were just spilling the goods left and right.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Freeland Ventures
The Flip System
Accelerated Investor Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I welcome Josh Cantwell onto the show. Josh is the top residential real estate investor in his community of Northeast Ohio and has been a full-time investor since 2003. Josh has bought and sold over 700+ properties in 25 states since this time and he is the host of several podcasts, including the Accelerated Investor Podcast.
Josh begins by sharing some of his background and how he got into investing. He has raised and managed over $40M of private money that he is utilizing as part of his current deals through one-off deals, private lender loans, and as equity in his 2600 apartment units. But he got started, like so many of us do, by attending a real estate investing boot camp. Being from the greater Cleveland area, they were already seeing a foreclosure crisis with many publicly-traded companies leaving the city, so Josh got his start with foreclosure investing long before the national housing crisis.
Josh spoke in quite a lot of detail about the data that he is seeing that points to the possibility of the COVID-19 pandemic causing another similar situation in the summer of 2021. He compared the policies being observed now to the period of time following Hurricane Erma in 2017 when New York and New Jersey were impacted by this storm. Josh explained that in that case, the banks got ahead of the foreclosure crisis by offering all of the homeowners forbearance agreements. So the hurricane happened and twelve months later, there was a massive spike in foreclosures. Josh, along with many other investors, believe we are headed in this same direction with the pandemic.
I then asked Josh to talk to our listeners about raising money. Many would-be investors use not having enough money or not being able to qualify for loans as an excuse for not getting started. Josh said that being successful at raising money often comes down to a person’s own mindset about money. Josh talked about how reliable real estate investments are and how likely it is for lenders to get a high rate of return with no costs. He talked about approaching people on four different levels: if they can buy a house from you, if they can sell you a house, if they can cheerlead for you or refer you, and if they can lend or invest with you. By thinking this way, everyone you meet can become a potential client or partner.
Since Josh has been coaching other investors since 2006, I asked him to walk us through the eight traits to high achieving entrepreneurs. These traits include such attributes as self-reliance, taking responsibility for your own life, and having clarity about what you want. Seven-figure earners also have a clear idea of what their average, ideal day looks like and focus on a certain framework for getting things done even though their things to-do list may seem endless. We also talked about time management and allocating certain days per week to free-thinking, revenue-building, and buffer or preparation periods.
We talked about the steps to finding private money, marketing, networking at non-real estate events, using technology as a weapon, and so much more! Josh is an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable investor, so you do not want to miss this information-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“I’m primarily focused on raising capital and investing in multifamily properties.”
- Josh Cantwell
“As a financial planner, I recognized that most of my clients owned real estate.”
- Josh Cantwell
“You have to play the game and know what is working today.”
- Josh Cantwell
“I’m glad to hear you say that because it makes me feel smart for doing what I am doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you have something to offer, a product or service, that you think is going to benefit someone, you have a moral obligation to sell it to them.”
- Josh Cantwell’s friend
“Tell me one person that is super happy with the stock market. Nobody.”
- Josh Cantwell
“What I love about real estate is that if you buy it right, take care of it, manage it, and cash flow it, it’s about the safest investment in the world.”
- Josh Cantwell
“With private lending, always talk about your past deals.”
- Josh Cantwell
“It is all about follow-up and relationships.”
- Josh Cantwell
“Elite entrepreneurs realize no one is coming to their rescue.”
- Josh Cantwell
“If you don’t start swimming, you are not going to get to the shore.”
- Mike Simmons
“You were just spilling the goods left and right.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Freeland Ventures
The Flip System
Accelerated Investor Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I welcome Bill Manassero to the show. Bill is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and host of the Old Dawg’s REI Network Podcast, a podcast for people 50 years and older who see real estate investing as a means to fund their retirement years and create a legacy for their family. Prior to forming the Old Dawg’s REI Network, Bill and his family were missionaries to orphaned, abandoned, and at-risk children living on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Before that, he was a professional musician and spent over 25 years in business, on both the corporate and entrepreneur side. A few highlights of his career include meeting Ronald Reagan, working with actor Jimmy Stewart, being interviewed by Oprah, and having CNN produce a documentary on his work in Haiti entitled “Rescued.”
Bill’s story is absolutely fascinating and we dive in by discussing his 25 years of business background, which included working in sales and marketing in the automotive and airline industries in Southern California, launching the Nissan infinity division, and then moving on to the technology sector right as the internet took off. At that time, he even bumped into Mark Cuban who was streaming a variety of games via mics in front of radios.
Shortly after the bubble burst and Bill felt called to get into ministry. He always enjoyed traveling but usually, that was for work and meant being away from his family – so what better way to take the family on the road with you – as a family rock band! They partnered with Christian organizations and toured together. During this time, they sponsored a child from Haiti and his daughter became obsessed with learning about the country. Little did they know that soon enough they would be visiting Haiti to perform.
The trip had a profound impact not just on Bill’s daughter, but the whole family, and Haiti eventually became their new home. They sold everything they owned in the US and returned to Haiti to take care of the kids. Initially, they of course had no idea what they were doing and where to start, but eventually, their efforts grew into an entire organization, Child Hope International, and they invested first in a boy’s home, then a girl’s home, and then a guest house, and even a school.
After being struck by a devastating earthquake, Haiti was in the news across the globe which resulted in Oprah visiting and CNN producing a documentary entitled ‘Rescued’ which was all about their efforts. Slowly Bill’s children had grown up and started to return to the US to go to university and Bill’s wife was diagnosed with cancer. So, jointly they made the decision to pass Child Hope International to the next generation and make plans to return to the US together.
This left Bill wondering what to do next with his life. He knew he wanted to diversify his investments before retirement, but he wasn’t sure how. After an extensive period of research and reading Rich Dad Poor Dad among other books, Bill had established that real estate investing was the route to go down. He did as much research as he could to develop his plan. He decided to focus on turn-key properties and settled on Atlanta and Memphis as the first areas to make a purchase. After a short trip to both locations, he returned with 3 properties to call his own.
Like us all, Bill was learning as he was going along. Some properties were making more money than others and property management turned out to be challenging at times. At last, Bill got himself a mentor who recommended starting a podcast to share his experience of real estate investing for retirement – and after some initial resistance, he went for it. The podcast has over time provided Bill with a large amount of networking opportunities which has certainly helped to open more doors for him in the industry.
Bill then shares that he did have the 1000 doors goal and he had reached a staggering 736 doors on the day of recording this episode – a real surprise seeing what a humble person Bill is. Bill shared further that the contacts he was gaining from networking allowed him to do larger projects, which is what got him closer to his 1000 door goal.
We then move on to discuss property management. Bill outsources the property management entirely to others. He doesn’t really have a choice in this matter since a lot of his properties are not exactly in his backyard. Over the years he realized that the biggest factor for him when recruiting property managers is transparency.
Bill also briefly shares his experience with short-term rentals. He has three that are doing really well in this market. Bill was initially affected by COVID-related cancellations but then managed to recover very quickly through a few changes in his marketing language.
We then discuss his current projects and what he feels particularly excited about. Bill shares how he has recently gotten into the senior living sector through a contact of his and what the construction of these new senior living facilities involves. These projects are having Bill engage in aspects of the business he has not previously considered, so this goes to show that there is always something new to experiment with.
You don’t want to miss this excellent episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the fascinating and diverse Bill Manassero!
Notable Quotes:
“What am I gonna do? I’m approaching 60 years old. I’ve gotta figure out what I’m gonna do. I didn’t wanna just go home and collect seashells down at Laguna beach.”
- Bill Manassero
“I hopped on a plane, flew to Atlanta, a couple days later flew to Memphis and then flew back to Haiti, and I had 3 properties.”
- Bill Manassero
“They’re turn-key, so I really don’t have to do anything, and the next month money appears in my account miraculously. And I’m going ‘Ok, this is really easy,’ maybe I should do more of that.”
- Bill Manassero
“The turn-key thing was falling a little bit awry. I was having some problems with management.”
- Bill Manassero
“When you invest in real estate you can do all the studying you want, but you really don’t start learning until you sign your first set of escrow papers.”
- Bill Manassero
“One of the advantages as an older person is that, because it’s not in your backyard, you’re not running down there every two minutes. It kind of forces you to be passive. But, at the same time, you have to rely really heavily on your people in town.”
- Bill Manassero
“You really have to train your people right when picking property managers.”
- Bill Manassero
“The thing that I need is transparency. That’s key for me.”
- Bill Manassero
“I don’t like to micromanage. I want transparency, so I know where to adjust things.”
- Bill Manassero
“The only way these guys make money is to get a lot of properties and hope most of these clients aren’t going to bug them.”
- Bill Manassero
“I get involved to the degree where I really understand how that works, and then I start backing away as I start finding people to be able to take on all the various aspects of it.”
- Bill Manassero
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Bill’s Website
Old Dawgs REI Network Podcast
Child Hope International
7 Figure Flipping
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I welcome Bill Manassero to the show. Bill is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and host of the Old Dawg’s REI Network Podcast, a podcast for people 50 years and older who see real estate investing as a means to fund their retirement years and create a legacy for their family. Prior to forming the Old Dawg’s REI Network, Bill and his family were missionaries to orphaned, abandoned, and at-risk children living on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Before that, he was a professional musician and spent over 25 years in business, on both the corporate and entrepreneur side. A few highlights of his career include meeting Ronald Reagan, working with actor Jimmy Stewart, being interviewed by Oprah, and having CNN produce a documentary on his work in Haiti entitled “Rescued.”
Bill’s story is absolutely fascinating and we dive in by discussing his 25 years of business background, which included working in sales and marketing in the automotive and airline industries in Southern California, launching the Nissan infinity division, and then moving on to the technology sector right as the internet took off. At that time, he even bumped into Mark Cuban who was streaming a variety of games via mics in front of radios.
Shortly after the bubble burst and Bill felt called to get into ministry. He always enjoyed traveling but usually, that was for work and meant being away from his family – so what better way to take the family on the road with you – as a family rock band! They partnered with Christian organizations and toured together. During this time, they sponsored a child from Haiti and his daughter became obsessed with learning about the country. Little did they know that soon enough they would be visiting Haiti to perform.
The trip had a profound impact not just on Bill’s daughter, but the whole family, and Haiti eventually became their new home. They sold everything they owned in the US and returned to Haiti to take care of the kids. Initially, they of course had no idea what they were doing and where to start, but eventually, their efforts grew into an entire organization, Child Hope International, and they invested first in a boy’s home, then a girl’s home, and then a guest house, and even a school.
After being struck by a devastating earthquake, Haiti was in the news across the globe which resulted in Oprah visiting and CNN producing a documentary entitled ‘Rescued’ which was all about their efforts. Slowly Bill’s children had grown up and started to return to the US to go to university and Bill’s wife was diagnosed with cancer. So, jointly they made the decision to pass Child Hope International to the next generation and make plans to return to the US together.
This left Bill wondering what to do next with his life. He knew he wanted to diversify his investments before retirement, but he wasn’t sure how. After an extensive period of research and reading Rich Dad Poor Dad among other books, Bill had established that real estate investing was the route to go down. He did as much research as he could to develop his plan. He decided to focus on turn-key properties and settled on Atlanta and Memphis as the first areas to make a purchase. After a short trip to both locations, he returned with 3 properties to call his own.
Like us all, Bill was learning as he was going along. Some properties were making more money than others and property management turned out to be challenging at times. At last, Bill got himself a mentor who recommended starting a podcast to share his experience of real estate investing for retirement – and after some initial resistance, he went for it. The podcast has over time provided Bill with a large amount of networking opportunities which has certainly helped to open more doors for him in the industry.
Bill then shares that he did have the 1000 doors goal and he had reached a staggering 736 doors on the day of recording this episode – a real surprise seeing what a humble person Bill is. Bill shared further that the contacts he was gaining from networking allowed him to do larger projects, which is what got him closer to his 1000 door goal.
We then move on to discuss property management. Bill outsources the property management entirely to others. He doesn’t really have a choice in this matter since a lot of his properties are not exactly in his backyard. Over the years he realized that the biggest factor for him when recruiting property managers is transparency.
Bill also briefly shares his experience with short-term rentals. He has three that are doing really well in this market. Bill was initially affected by COVID-related cancellations but then managed to recover very quickly through a few changes in his marketing language.
We then discuss his current projects and what he feels particularly excited about. Bill shares how he has recently gotten into the senior living sector through a contact of his and what the construction of these new senior living facilities involves. These projects are having Bill engage in aspects of the business he has not previously considered, so this goes to show that there is always something new to experiment with.
You don’t want to miss this excellent episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with the fascinating and diverse Bill Manassero!
Notable Quotes:
“What am I gonna do? I’m approaching 60 years old. I’ve gotta figure out what I’m gonna do. I didn’t wanna just go home and collect seashells down at Laguna beach.”
- Bill Manassero
“I hopped on a plane, flew to Atlanta, a couple days later flew to Memphis and then flew back to Haiti, and I had 3 properties.”
- Bill Manassero
“They’re turn-key, so I really don’t have to do anything, and the next month money appears in my account miraculously. And I’m going ‘Ok, this is really easy,’ maybe I should do more of that.”
- Bill Manassero
“The turn-key thing was falling a little bit awry. I was having some problems with management.”
- Bill Manassero
“When you invest in real estate you can do all the studying you want, but you really don’t start learning until you sign your first set of escrow papers.”
- Bill Manassero
“One of the advantages as an older person is that, because it’s not in your backyard, you’re not running down there every two minutes. It kind of forces you to be passive. But, at the same time, you have to rely really heavily on your people in town.”
- Bill Manassero
“You really have to train your people right when picking property managers.”
- Bill Manassero
“The thing that I need is transparency. That’s key for me.”
- Bill Manassero
“I don’t like to micromanage. I want transparency, so I know where to adjust things.”
- Bill Manassero
“The only way these guys make money is to get a lot of properties and hope most of these clients aren’t going to bug them.”
- Bill Manassero
“I get involved to the degree where I really understand how that works, and then I start backing away as I start finding people to be able to take on all the various aspects of it.”
- Bill Manassero
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Bill’s Website
Old Dawgs REI Network Podcast
Child Hope International
7 Figure Flipping
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview successful investor, Ryan Murdock. Ryan spent ten years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. Today, he is VP of Acquisitions at Open Door Capital, a real estate investment company from Bigger Pocket’s Brandon Turner. Ryan has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, nationwide consulting, and mobile home parks. He has been a licensed real estate broker since 2008 and owns and operates a portfolio of residential rental properties.
Before Ryan got into real estate investing, he worked as a production facility technician in the electronics manufacturing industry, traveling all over the world. His priorities really changed when he got married and found himself having to decide if he wanted to continue to live overseas. He bought his first rental property when he was thirty years old and has been building his “empire” ever since!
Ryan’s first investment was in a duplex in Bangor, Maine and he lived on one side while renting out the other, “house hack” style. He financed this investment very traditionally and talks about how this was his first experience with having difficult tenants to deal with. He bought a few more duplexes and was looking aggressively at foreclosures to find other deals, while at the same time he started his own property management company. He ran this company himself for about five years and then eventually paired up with a bigger management company that had a network of employees that he did not. At about this same time, he also got his real estate license so he could pursue his own deals.
Eventually, Ryan got to a point with his own portfolio where he was able to leave this company and go back to managing only his rental properties, aided by much better systems, technology, and automation. As he started to broker other deals and do some consulting, it made sense for him to give the project management portion to his past employers so he could spend his time in more profitable endeavors.
Ryan utilizes the BRRRR strategy with his properties, so we spent some time discussing how that worked for him. He talked about how he was completely reinvigorated by finding the BiggerPockets podcast and learning about different strategies that he had not yet explored. It made him take a hard look at his portfolio and get money out to use as working capital to invest in more properties. He encourages our listeners to take a hard look at their own properties in order to maximize their cash flow.
I then asked Ryan what made him pick up his life and move to Maui and join forces with Brandon Turner. Ryan and Brandon had partnered to buy a mobile home park and developed a relationship through that process. When Brandon moved to Maui, he asked Ryan to come out and give him a hand, and a week-long stay turned into a month. Brandon eventually hired Ryan as his personal assistant.
Because Ryan initially hooked up with Brandon by feeding him a mobile park investment lead, we spent some time exploring this investing strategy. Ryan talked about how to evaluate these types of investments and the techniques they used to add value to these communities. Once Ryan moved to Hawaii, they got really invested in Open Door Capital, Brandon’s company which exclusively buys mobile home parks. At the time of recording, they owned about 10 different communities with approximately 1500 lots. Ryan went into quite a bit of detail about what they look for in an investment of this kind and also the type of investor that they look for to partner up with them. He also pitched the “Bring Brandon A Deal” promotion they are running now if someone finds them an off-market mobile park deal.
Ryan has an incredibly diverse background in investing and in life, so you do not want to miss this entertaining and informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The real driving factor for getting into real estate was that I just couldn’t see myself in another corporate job for the next thirty years.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I went on Amazon and bought every real estate and property management book they had because I had no idea what I was doing.”
- Ryan Murdock
“Maybe if I had read some different or better books I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes.”
- Ryan Murdock
“If I am going to be married to my own rental properties, I might as well start managing some for other people and generate a little income.”
- Ryan Murdock
“If you feel like you are getting close to hiring help, you are probably already past the point when you should.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think a lot of people are like me - I had 10 cents in my bank account and every day is a struggle to hustle.”
- Ryan Murdock
“There are different tiers to financial freedom… it doesn’t happen overnight.”
- Ryan Murdock
“Finding and listening to the BiggerPockets podcast really lit a fire under me again.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I encourage other investors to keep an eye on their properties’ financials.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I just want to buy and hold everything.”
- Ryan Murdock
“Because of Brandon’s platform and reach, he is able to attract some extremely talented people.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I’m always amazed at the ways you can make money in real estate.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Real Estate Investing for Dummies
Property Management for Dummies
BiggerPockets Podcast
Open Door Capital
Bring Brandon A Deal
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview successful investor, Ryan Murdock. Ryan spent ten years in the electronics manufacturing industry before transitioning to real estate investing and property management in 2007. Today, he is VP of Acquisitions at Open Door Capital, a real estate investment company from Bigger Pocket’s Brandon Turner. Ryan has extensive management experience in many facets of real estate including retail, office, multi-family, HOA, nationwide consulting, and mobile home parks. He has been a licensed real estate broker since 2008 and owns and operates a portfolio of residential rental properties.
Before Ryan got into real estate investing, he worked as a production facility technician in the electronics manufacturing industry, traveling all over the world. His priorities really changed when he got married and found himself having to decide if he wanted to continue to live overseas. He bought his first rental property when he was thirty years old and has been building his “empire” ever since!
Ryan’s first investment was in a duplex in Bangor, Maine and he lived on one side while renting out the other, “house hack” style. He financed this investment very traditionally and talks about how this was his first experience with having difficult tenants to deal with. He bought a few more duplexes and was looking aggressively at foreclosures to find other deals, while at the same time he started his own property management company. He ran this company himself for about five years and then eventually paired up with a bigger management company that had a network of employees that he did not. At about this same time, he also got his real estate license so he could pursue his own deals.
Eventually, Ryan got to a point with his own portfolio where he was able to leave this company and go back to managing only his rental properties, aided by much better systems, technology, and automation. As he started to broker other deals and do some consulting, it made sense for him to give the project management portion to his past employers so he could spend his time in more profitable endeavors.
Ryan utilizes the BRRRR strategy with his properties, so we spent some time discussing how that worked for him. He talked about how he was completely reinvigorated by finding the BiggerPockets podcast and learning about different strategies that he had not yet explored. It made him take a hard look at his portfolio and get money out to use as working capital to invest in more properties. He encourages our listeners to take a hard look at their own properties in order to maximize their cash flow.
I then asked Ryan what made him pick up his life and move to Maui and join forces with Brandon Turner. Ryan and Brandon had partnered to buy a mobile home park and developed a relationship through that process. When Brandon moved to Maui, he asked Ryan to come out and give him a hand, and a week-long stay turned into a month. Brandon eventually hired Ryan as his personal assistant.
Because Ryan initially hooked up with Brandon by feeding him a mobile park investment lead, we spent some time exploring this investing strategy. Ryan talked about how to evaluate these types of investments and the techniques they used to add value to these communities. Once Ryan moved to Hawaii, they got really invested in Open Door Capital, Brandon’s company which exclusively buys mobile home parks. At the time of recording, they owned about 10 different communities with approximately 1500 lots. Ryan went into quite a bit of detail about what they look for in an investment of this kind and also the type of investor that they look for to partner up with them. He also pitched the “Bring Brandon A Deal” promotion they are running now if someone finds them an off-market mobile park deal.
Ryan has an incredibly diverse background in investing and in life, so you do not want to miss this entertaining and informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“The real driving factor for getting into real estate was that I just couldn’t see myself in another corporate job for the next thirty years.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I went on Amazon and bought every real estate and property management book they had because I had no idea what I was doing.”
- Ryan Murdock
“Maybe if I had read some different or better books I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes.”
- Ryan Murdock
“If I am going to be married to my own rental properties, I might as well start managing some for other people and generate a little income.”
- Ryan Murdock
“If you feel like you are getting close to hiring help, you are probably already past the point when you should.”
- Mike Simmons
“I think a lot of people are like me - I had 10 cents in my bank account and every day is a struggle to hustle.”
- Ryan Murdock
“There are different tiers to financial freedom… it doesn’t happen overnight.”
- Ryan Murdock
“Finding and listening to the BiggerPockets podcast really lit a fire under me again.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I encourage other investors to keep an eye on their properties’ financials.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I just want to buy and hold everything.”
- Ryan Murdock
“Because of Brandon’s platform and reach, he is able to attract some extremely talented people.”
- Ryan Murdock
“I’m always amazed at the ways you can make money in real estate.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Real Estate Investing for Dummies
Property Management for Dummies
BiggerPockets Podcast
Open Door Capital
Bring Brandon A Deal
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I welcome fellow real estate investor, Andrew Holmes. Andrew built the #1 flipping team in Chicago and completed over 850 deals in the Chicago market. He owns over 250 rentals and more than 2 million in assets. He started the Chicago Real Estate Investors Association which has become the #1 Real Estate Association in the US. Andrew has worked with over 450 investors in the Chicagoland area helping them develop a rental portfolio of more than 2800 rentals. Andrew and I started investing in real estate around the same time - he absolutely killed it and I am absolutely thrilled to learn about just how he did it in today’s interview.
Andrew first shares his background story and how he got his real estate license back in college with money designated to pay for his studies. He shares further along in the interview how this is something he has never even told his parents about!
We then moved on to discussing how Andrew got started seriously investing at the age of 32. We discuss his first year in business where he completed an astonishing 10 flips. Having done two flips myself in the same year, I was extremely interested to learn about just HOW he did it without burning out. Andrew then explains how he made the first investment himself, before securing further financial investment from two business contacts. The growth just continued exponentially after that.
Together we then dive into discussing the sheer operational challenges of rehabbing this number of properties at the same time and Andrew shares how he got started with a less-than-perfect Jack-of-all-trades contractor - and how he slowly transitioned out of moonlighting and into working with proper contractors. Lucky for him he realized that the stress of working all night just wasn’t worth it after about the third flip. Andrew then shares that as the number of flips he completed grew, the profits started to fall.
We discussed how his parents have influenced his outlook on life. Having both been hard-working, well-qualified surgeons, Andrew’s parents saw themselves as true professionals and they expected nothing less than that from Andrew himself. Andrew however saw two people who worked extremely hard and didn’t have all that much to show for it. Andrew made it his goal to show his parents that he will also be successful but in his own way. He describes how as a child he has always had big dreams and has more often than not been considered crazy for even talking about it.
Eventually we discuss how the constant pressure of keeping up and the lack of security was making Andrew feel less than safe and his focus shifted to buying wholesale. Andrew shares the super simple formula he used for transitioning to owning rental properties - the 2-5-7 formula. Listen to the episode to get all the details on how it works. He told me how he started with just a handful of properties and then scaled it up from there.
We then move on to the topic of choosing the right properties to invest in. Again, Andrew shares some gold nuggets here about the exact criteria he uses to assess whether or not a property is worth investing in or not. That’s the exact system that got him from 3k a month cash flow to 100k a month cash flow.
We talked about the logistics of managing 260 rental properties. Andrew manages the properties in-house with just full-time managers, 1.5 rent collectors, and a team of contractors. He gives us an important reminder to never buy individual properties outside of your area, as this adds unnecessary workload.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of networking. Andrew shares how just studying the information just isn’t enough and how important surrounding yourself with people that are actually DOING IT has been for him - and as always I absolutely agree with his assessment. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is filled with practical and incredibly actionable advice from uber-investor, Andrew Holmes!
Notable Quotes:
“I was born in the US but most of my life I’ve grown up in India. You don’t learn DIY in India.”
- Andrew Holmes
“From a small fire, I jumped into a forest fire doing that many flips.”
- Andrew Holmes
“My family found out I was flipping houses because I did it so long and had some success that I was being interviewed and my family read about me in the paper.”
- Mike Simmons
“I didn’t tell my wife that I was doing this - I just didn’t want to fail.”
- Andrew Holmes
“When my parents didn’t have an answer I got a whack on the head ‘Go Study.’”
- Andrew Holmes
“I felt scared. Even though I made good money. I always felt scared. If I went on vacation I felt guilty and I was sick and tired of this feeling. I wanted some security in life.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I tried being poor and I didn’t like it.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I thought I was investing, but in fact I was just trading properties.”
- Andrew Holmes
“My goal always was that one day I’m gonna make my parents proud. And I’m going to buy them something that’s going to blow their mind.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I don’t have to worry about how much it costs or what it is. It’s just a small part of what real estate has helped me do.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I didn’t drink, I didn’t party. I was just focused.”
- Andrew Holmes
“We do what’s called 2-5-7 and that’s what I try to convince everyone to do. Cashflow for life. I tend to be very fanatical about those numbers.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I keep things very simple. I’m not a very educated human being. I can understand basic things and I stick to basic things.”
- Andrew Holmes
“If you take care of real estate for the first five years, real estate will take care of you for the rest of your life.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I was always looking for answers. While my friends were partying, I was reading books. Reading books, all it does is give you insomnia. Because you’re excited and you don’t know what the hell to do.”
- Andrew Holmes
“The more I give away, the more I get to learn.”
- Andrew Holmes
“Everyone talked a good game, but no one was doing anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you think surrounding yourself with people who are actually doing the business at a high level, that you won’t be able to exponentially increase your learning, your growth and your business - if you don’t think that’s going to happen. You’re dead wrong.”
- Mike Simmons
“It wasn’t until I started going to these events and talking to people that my business was starting to explode.”
- Mike Simmons
“The 2-5-7 model can be done in 98% of America.”
- Andrew Holmes
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Andrew's Website
Andrew’s YouTube Channel
Chicago REIA
Warren Buffett Books
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I welcome fellow real estate investor, Andrew Holmes. Andrew built the #1 flipping team in Chicago and completed over 850 deals in the Chicago market. He owns over 250 rentals and more than 2 million in assets. He started the Chicago Real Estate Investors Association which has become the #1 Real Estate Association in the US. Andrew has worked with over 450 investors in the Chicagoland area helping them develop a rental portfolio of more than 2800 rentals. Andrew and I started investing in real estate around the same time - he absolutely killed it and I am absolutely thrilled to learn about just how he did it in today’s interview.
Andrew first shares his background story and how he got his real estate license back in college with money designated to pay for his studies. He shares further along in the interview how this is something he has never even told his parents about!
We then moved on to discussing how Andrew got started seriously investing at the age of 32. We discuss his first year in business where he completed an astonishing 10 flips. Having done two flips myself in the same year, I was extremely interested to learn about just HOW he did it without burning out. Andrew then explains how he made the first investment himself, before securing further financial investment from two business contacts. The growth just continued exponentially after that.
Together we then dive into discussing the sheer operational challenges of rehabbing this number of properties at the same time and Andrew shares how he got started with a less-than-perfect Jack-of-all-trades contractor - and how he slowly transitioned out of moonlighting and into working with proper contractors. Lucky for him he realized that the stress of working all night just wasn’t worth it after about the third flip. Andrew then shares that as the number of flips he completed grew, the profits started to fall.
We discussed how his parents have influenced his outlook on life. Having both been hard-working, well-qualified surgeons, Andrew’s parents saw themselves as true professionals and they expected nothing less than that from Andrew himself. Andrew however saw two people who worked extremely hard and didn’t have all that much to show for it. Andrew made it his goal to show his parents that he will also be successful but in his own way. He describes how as a child he has always had big dreams and has more often than not been considered crazy for even talking about it.
Eventually we discuss how the constant pressure of keeping up and the lack of security was making Andrew feel less than safe and his focus shifted to buying wholesale. Andrew shares the super simple formula he used for transitioning to owning rental properties - the 2-5-7 formula. Listen to the episode to get all the details on how it works. He told me how he started with just a handful of properties and then scaled it up from there.
We then move on to the topic of choosing the right properties to invest in. Again, Andrew shares some gold nuggets here about the exact criteria he uses to assess whether or not a property is worth investing in or not. That’s the exact system that got him from 3k a month cash flow to 100k a month cash flow.
We talked about the logistics of managing 260 rental properties. Andrew manages the properties in-house with just full-time managers, 1.5 rent collectors, and a team of contractors. He gives us an important reminder to never buy individual properties outside of your area, as this adds unnecessary workload.
Lastly, we discuss the importance of networking. Andrew shares how just studying the information just isn’t enough and how important surrounding yourself with people that are actually DOING IT has been for him - and as always I absolutely agree with his assessment. Don’t miss this episode of Just Start Real Estate that is filled with practical and incredibly actionable advice from uber-investor, Andrew Holmes!
Notable Quotes:
“I was born in the US but most of my life I’ve grown up in India. You don’t learn DIY in India.”
- Andrew Holmes
“From a small fire, I jumped into a forest fire doing that many flips.”
- Andrew Holmes
“My family found out I was flipping houses because I did it so long and had some success that I was being interviewed and my family read about me in the paper.”
- Mike Simmons
“I didn’t tell my wife that I was doing this - I just didn’t want to fail.”
- Andrew Holmes
“When my parents didn’t have an answer I got a whack on the head ‘Go Study.’”
- Andrew Holmes
“I felt scared. Even though I made good money. I always felt scared. If I went on vacation I felt guilty and I was sick and tired of this feeling. I wanted some security in life.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I tried being poor and I didn’t like it.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I thought I was investing, but in fact I was just trading properties.”
- Andrew Holmes
“My goal always was that one day I’m gonna make my parents proud. And I’m going to buy them something that’s going to blow their mind.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I don’t have to worry about how much it costs or what it is. It’s just a small part of what real estate has helped me do.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I didn’t drink, I didn’t party. I was just focused.”
- Andrew Holmes
“We do what’s called 2-5-7 and that’s what I try to convince everyone to do. Cashflow for life. I tend to be very fanatical about those numbers.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I keep things very simple. I’m not a very educated human being. I can understand basic things and I stick to basic things.”
- Andrew Holmes
“If you take care of real estate for the first five years, real estate will take care of you for the rest of your life.”
- Andrew Holmes
“I was always looking for answers. While my friends were partying, I was reading books. Reading books, all it does is give you insomnia. Because you’re excited and you don’t know what the hell to do.”
- Andrew Holmes
“The more I give away, the more I get to learn.”
- Andrew Holmes
“Everyone talked a good game, but no one was doing anything.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you think surrounding yourself with people who are actually doing the business at a high level, that you won’t be able to exponentially increase your learning, your growth and your business - if you don’t think that’s going to happen. You’re dead wrong.”
- Mike Simmons
“It wasn’t until I started going to these events and talking to people that my business was starting to explode.”
- Mike Simmons
“The 2-5-7 model can be done in 98% of America.”
- Andrew Holmes
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Andrew's Website
Andrew’s YouTube Channel
Chicago REIA
Warren Buffett Books
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am thrilled to welcome the President and CEO of McCormick National Holdings, Joe Mendoza. Joe has more than twenty years’ experience in the real estate and investment industry and is the host of two successful podcasts and a YouTube show. He has regularly appeared on television news and radio shows for his professional knowledge and insight. Joe is a licensed California Real Estate Broker, an Accredited Investor, a Certified Fund Manager, and also a successful Business Coach. He has a long history of success including thousands of transactions successfully closed and well over $100,000,000 in volume.
Joe told us that he came from a working-class background, his dad having been in the navy and his mom working in civil service. He remembers his uncle inviting him to a Robert Allen seminar when he was seventeen years old, which is where the real estate investor's dream for him began. He didn’t know exactly what to do to begin so he decided to take what college-level real estate classes he could while still in high school. The market was pretty depressed at this time and Joe decided to go to college to get his four-year degree.
Joe attended San Diego State University and became a stockbroker trainee when he graduated. He learned how to cold-call during this period but then the dot com bust occurred and he lost his job. Joe could only find work as a bill collector and worked in this field for four years, but in 1998 he also began working with a real estate agent to learn more about that side of real estate.
This led us into a conversation of where we think the housing market is headed. Joe said there were some variables in the last market turndown that are really not applicable now, such as the housing loans that were given and the excess supply of newly built houses. This leads Joe to believe any future downturn of the market will not be as severe as what we saw in 2007-8. He really believes that it depends on which side of the real estate fence you are on as to how difficult things may become, especially due to the pandemic business closures. Joe talked a lot about what he has done in his own businesses to adjust to this interesting time.
I knew from my research that Joe spends a lot of time volunteering and so I asked him to describe what he does and how he gives back to others. He said that he has two teenagers and he is very active in their activities. He has been on the board of several non-profit organizations and very involved in his church community. He also spends a lot of time with mentoring and coaching other investors all over the country and also internationally.
I say at the end of this interview that Joe just drops gold all over the place, so don’t miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Hey Joe, if you want to be rich, get into real estate!”
- Joe Mendoza’s Uncle
“All you need is to have a fire ignited.”
- Mike Simmons
“When the media is telling you to do something so emphatically, it is counter-intuitive to do the opposite, but that is where a lot of money is made.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you own a business and have employees counting on you, it is your responsibility to understand the market and make sure you are poised to be in a good position when things change.”
- Mike Simmons
“I love to give back through coaching and mentorship and see people succeed.”
- Joe Mendoza
“I have some investors that I am coaching now that could pull the plug and be financially free.”
- Joe Mendoza
“Know your numbers. Know your formula.”
- Joe Mendoza
“This is not a solo sport, it is a team sport.”
- Joe Mendoza
“I want to add value. I am a firm believer in pay it forward.”
- Joe Mendoza
“You just dropped a ton of gold all over the place.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Joe’s Website
Joe's YouTube Channel
Joe on Instagram
Joe on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am thrilled to welcome the President and CEO of McCormick National Holdings, Joe Mendoza. Joe has more than twenty years’ experience in the real estate and investment industry and is the host of two successful podcasts and a YouTube show. He has regularly appeared on television news and radio shows for his professional knowledge and insight. Joe is a licensed California Real Estate Broker, an Accredited Investor, a Certified Fund Manager, and also a successful Business Coach. He has a long history of success including thousands of transactions successfully closed and well over $100,000,000 in volume.
Joe told us that he came from a working-class background, his dad having been in the navy and his mom working in civil service. He remembers his uncle inviting him to a Robert Allen seminar when he was seventeen years old, which is where the real estate investor's dream for him began. He didn’t know exactly what to do to begin so he decided to take what college-level real estate classes he could while still in high school. The market was pretty depressed at this time and Joe decided to go to college to get his four-year degree.
Joe attended San Diego State University and became a stockbroker trainee when he graduated. He learned how to cold-call during this period but then the dot com bust occurred and he lost his job. Joe could only find work as a bill collector and worked in this field for four years, but in 1998 he also began working with a real estate agent to learn more about that side of real estate.
This led us into a conversation of where we think the housing market is headed. Joe said there were some variables in the last market turndown that are really not applicable now, such as the housing loans that were given and the excess supply of newly built houses. This leads Joe to believe any future downturn of the market will not be as severe as what we saw in 2007-8. He really believes that it depends on which side of the real estate fence you are on as to how difficult things may become, especially due to the pandemic business closures. Joe talked a lot about what he has done in his own businesses to adjust to this interesting time.
I knew from my research that Joe spends a lot of time volunteering and so I asked him to describe what he does and how he gives back to others. He said that he has two teenagers and he is very active in their activities. He has been on the board of several non-profit organizations and very involved in his church community. He also spends a lot of time with mentoring and coaching other investors all over the country and also internationally.
I say at the end of this interview that Joe just drops gold all over the place, so don’t miss this awesome episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Hey Joe, if you want to be rich, get into real estate!”
- Joe Mendoza’s Uncle
“All you need is to have a fire ignited.”
- Mike Simmons
“When the media is telling you to do something so emphatically, it is counter-intuitive to do the opposite, but that is where a lot of money is made.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you own a business and have employees counting on you, it is your responsibility to understand the market and make sure you are poised to be in a good position when things change.”
- Mike Simmons
“I love to give back through coaching and mentorship and see people succeed.”
- Joe Mendoza
“I have some investors that I am coaching now that could pull the plug and be financially free.”
- Joe Mendoza
“Know your numbers. Know your formula.”
- Joe Mendoza
“This is not a solo sport, it is a team sport.”
- Joe Mendoza
“I want to add value. I am a firm believer in pay it forward.”
- Joe Mendoza
“You just dropped a ton of gold all over the place.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Joe’s Website
Joe's YouTube Channel
Joe on Instagram
Joe on Facebook
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I welcome fellow 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind members, Luc & Jess Boiron. Jess and Luc are a real estate investing couple from Toronto, Canada, and both are lawyers who also hold MBAs. Luc had been investing in RE since 2007 on a small scale, and in 2016, Jess and Luc founded Bliss Realty Inc. to flip houses. Since then, they completed over $50m in real estate deals before turning 30 and their business has grown to be the largest wholesaler in Canada operating in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal with 16 employees. In addition, they are growing their rental portfolio with a mix of short term rentals and small multi-family properties in Ontario.
Luc started by sharing how he and Jess met. They were both in an exclusive dual law/MBA program and because they completed so much education, they feel like they started their adult working life later than a lot of people. Luc’s dad was a commercial real estate agent and owned some commercial properties, so he grew up learning about mortgages and other real estate topics. He bought his first rental property when he was just starting his undergraduate degree in Toronto and talked about how many lessons he learned from it. He continued to buy and sell properties throughout the time he was in school, and then worked as a lawyer for a year after graduating. He said he was too entrepreneurial to be a good fit at many law firms, but conversely, Jess worked at the best firm in Toronto for seven years after graduating. Jess said she loved practicing and was slower to move into the real estate investing side, but finding out that she was pregnant really made up her mind.
Luc and Jess tell a great story of how their business plans were initially foiled by an accident that Luc had. He was originally planning to move to California to start flipping houses because his brother lived there and was going to fund Luc’s work. Right before he was supposed to leave, he had an accident and surgery, and was, therefore, unable to travel and did his law internship instead in Toronto. Another sibling of Luc’s helped him find some properties near where they were living and they began flipping houses in Canada, which they didn’t even believe was possible before they tried.
Because of privacy laws in Canada, you can’t pull lists at all to find deals, so we talked about how they were able to find deals privately. Luc talked about how they were able to target potential buyers through Google Ads without violating privacy laws. They have also incorporated other marketing techniques including scouting run-down neighborhoods and doing every-door direct mail to those property owners. Luc shared their average buy and sell prices in their area, as well, demonstrating the wide range of their market.
Since at the time of this recording Luc and Jess were about to give birth to their first baby, I asked what role they would both be playing in the business as they juggled that with being parents. Jess gave us a lot of insight into their personalities and how they had decided to structure their growing business to accommodate working harmoniously together while having their own autonomy. I asked how they are able to separate business from their personal lives and they both said it is sometimes a challenge because they are both so passionate about what they do. They said as they become parents, they may have to find ways to draw a firm line in the sand for when they stop working each day.
When I asked them to give us a snapshot of where their business was just before they joined 7 Figure Flipping, Luc told us that they had figured out flipping and wholesaling in their unique circumstances, but they didn’t really know how to build a team. He goes into great detail on how they managed to build their team and grow their business, with support from the mastermind group. In about a year, they grew from three full-time employees to sixteen full-time employees, they have expanded to three different markets, and have moved from doing two deals a month to at least that in a week.
We talked about hiring, company culture, incentive structures, using personality profiles, managing the different motivators of their team members, risk tolerance, transitioning from flipping to wholesaling, and so much more! This is a fun, practical advice-packed episode with an investor couple team that is just killing it, so don’t miss this interview with Luc and Jess Boiron on Just Start Real Estate!
Notable Quotes:
“We were eternal students before we started getting into real estate, having both done nine years of post-secondary education.”
- Jess Boiron
“With real estate, time heals all wounds.”
- Luc Boiron
“I went into law hoping to make good money so that I could qualify for mortgages in order to buy real estate, which is not necessarily good motivation to become a lawyer.”
- Luc Boiron
“The fact that you are both all-in on the business is huge.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are now managing our expectations and how we want to work with our team and where we draw that line.”
- Jess Boiron
“You know that is insane growth, right?”
- Mike Simmons
“It is really once an employee is on the job that you really monitor them and make sure that if you have the right person, you pour a lot into them and help them grow and take ownership of their role.”
- Jess Boiron
“We have had really great employees that do take ownership and so the new people we bring on just feed off of that.”
- Jess Boiron
“I want our lead managers to understand that we help people.”
- Luc Boiron
“I think that there is a lot of skill, diligence, and intuition that goes into hiring, but there is a certain amount of luck.”
- Mike Simmons
“You guys have built a team now where there is positive peer pressure for ownership and caring about the company.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is uncomfortable to be a bad employee in a group of good employees.”
- Mike Simmons
“We tell people all the time that you really need to care about the problems of the homeowners and you can’t just care because it is going to get you to that money that you want. Just pretending to care is very transparent.”
- Mike Simmons
“It was really a transition to wholesaling out of need.”
- Jess Boiron
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Luc and Jess on Instagram
Luc and Jess on Facebook
Luc and Jess on YouTube
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I welcome fellow 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind members, Luc & Jess Boiron. Jess and Luc are a real estate investing couple from Toronto, Canada, and both are lawyers who also hold MBAs. Luc had been investing in RE since 2007 on a small scale, and in 2016, Jess and Luc founded Bliss Realty Inc. to flip houses. Since then, they completed over $50m in real estate deals before turning 30 and their business has grown to be the largest wholesaler in Canada operating in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal with 16 employees. In addition, they are growing their rental portfolio with a mix of short term rentals and small multi-family properties in Ontario.
Luc started by sharing how he and Jess met. They were both in an exclusive dual law/MBA program and because they completed so much education, they feel like they started their adult working life later than a lot of people. Luc’s dad was a commercial real estate agent and owned some commercial properties, so he grew up learning about mortgages and other real estate topics. He bought his first rental property when he was just starting his undergraduate degree in Toronto and talked about how many lessons he learned from it. He continued to buy and sell properties throughout the time he was in school, and then worked as a lawyer for a year after graduating. He said he was too entrepreneurial to be a good fit at many law firms, but conversely, Jess worked at the best firm in Toronto for seven years after graduating. Jess said she loved practicing and was slower to move into the real estate investing side, but finding out that she was pregnant really made up her mind.
Luc and Jess tell a great story of how their business plans were initially foiled by an accident that Luc had. He was originally planning to move to California to start flipping houses because his brother lived there and was going to fund Luc’s work. Right before he was supposed to leave, he had an accident and surgery, and was, therefore, unable to travel and did his law internship instead in Toronto. Another sibling of Luc’s helped him find some properties near where they were living and they began flipping houses in Canada, which they didn’t even believe was possible before they tried.
Because of privacy laws in Canada, you can’t pull lists at all to find deals, so we talked about how they were able to find deals privately. Luc talked about how they were able to target potential buyers through Google Ads without violating privacy laws. They have also incorporated other marketing techniques including scouting run-down neighborhoods and doing every-door direct mail to those property owners. Luc shared their average buy and sell prices in their area, as well, demonstrating the wide range of their market.
Since at the time of this recording Luc and Jess were about to give birth to their first baby, I asked what role they would both be playing in the business as they juggled that with being parents. Jess gave us a lot of insight into their personalities and how they had decided to structure their growing business to accommodate working harmoniously together while having their own autonomy. I asked how they are able to separate business from their personal lives and they both said it is sometimes a challenge because they are both so passionate about what they do. They said as they become parents, they may have to find ways to draw a firm line in the sand for when they stop working each day.
When I asked them to give us a snapshot of where their business was just before they joined 7 Figure Flipping, Luc told us that they had figured out flipping and wholesaling in their unique circumstances, but they didn’t really know how to build a team. He goes into great detail on how they managed to build their team and grow their business, with support from the mastermind group. In about a year, they grew from three full-time employees to sixteen full-time employees, they have expanded to three different markets, and have moved from doing two deals a month to at least that in a week.
We talked about hiring, company culture, incentive structures, using personality profiles, managing the different motivators of their team members, risk tolerance, transitioning from flipping to wholesaling, and so much more! This is a fun, practical advice-packed episode with an investor couple team that is just killing it, so don’t miss this interview with Luc and Jess Boiron on Just Start Real Estate!
Notable Quotes:
“We were eternal students before we started getting into real estate, having both done nine years of post-secondary education.”
- Jess Boiron
“With real estate, time heals all wounds.”
- Luc Boiron
“I went into law hoping to make good money so that I could qualify for mortgages in order to buy real estate, which is not necessarily good motivation to become a lawyer.”
- Luc Boiron
“The fact that you are both all-in on the business is huge.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are now managing our expectations and how we want to work with our team and where we draw that line.”
- Jess Boiron
“You know that is insane growth, right?”
- Mike Simmons
“It is really once an employee is on the job that you really monitor them and make sure that if you have the right person, you pour a lot into them and help them grow and take ownership of their role.”
- Jess Boiron
“We have had really great employees that do take ownership and so the new people we bring on just feed off of that.”
- Jess Boiron
“I want our lead managers to understand that we help people.”
- Luc Boiron
“I think that there is a lot of skill, diligence, and intuition that goes into hiring, but there is a certain amount of luck.”
- Mike Simmons
“You guys have built a team now where there is positive peer pressure for ownership and caring about the company.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is uncomfortable to be a bad employee in a group of good employees.”
- Mike Simmons
“We tell people all the time that you really need to care about the problems of the homeowners and you can’t just care because it is going to get you to that money that you want. Just pretending to care is very transparent.”
- Mike Simmons
“It was really a transition to wholesaling out of need.”
- Jess Boiron
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Luc and Jess on Instagram
Luc and Jess on Facebook
Luc and Jess on YouTube
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am excited to have Dan Rochon on the show. As a real estate sales agent, Dan and his team are consistently top producers in their marketplace. Through their investment company, Dan and Traci Rochon have been investing in residential and commercial real estate for more than a decade. Dan‘s purpose in life is to help people achieve greatness through his teaching, coaching, and mentorship. He leads the Greetings Virginia Sales Network for his agents and staff to exceed their client‘s expectations. Additionally, Dan is the author of Real Estate Evolution: The Ten Step Guide to C.P.I. (Consistent and Predictable Income) for Real Estate Agents.
We started, as we usually do, diving into Dan’s background and how he got into real estate investing. Dan said in 2005 he was working as a waiter in Washington DC, living a very unhealthy lifestyle and he realized he needed to make a change. He knew that he wanted to be a business owner and found that getting his agent’s license and opening an agency required less capital than the franchises he was considering. He started selling in late 2007, which of course we all know was an incredibly difficult time to be starting in this industry. He ended up buying the brokerage about a year and a half after getting his sales license, which he ran for about ten years.
Dan has a ton going on with his business so I wanted to explore some of that. I asked him first to talk about his book Real Estate Evolution. Dan said that one of his mentors asked him to document everything he had learned by being in business, with real estate sales, and personal development. He ended up working every day for thirteen months on this project and found that he had written a book at the end of it. He said that about a third of it is on the subject of personal development so that people can unlock their potential.
Dan talked about changing our thoughts and programming by looking at how we are spending our time, what we are reading, our relationships, and how we are taking care of our health. We discussed a couple of techniques for motivating ourselves, getting a better start to the day, and creating new, positive habits. Dan also talked about the power of our subconscious mind and taking a look at what we dream to see what kinds of thoughts that part of our brain is feeding back to us. Recurring negative, limiting thoughts can hinder our growth.
We then discussed some of the specific advice Dan gives real estate agents to help them be more successful. He said that comparatively it is fairly easy to become an agent so a lot of them do not study the industry or take it seriously enough. One of the things that has helped him in dealing with his clients is to let them know all of the possible outcomes of the process, so that everyone is aware and prepared for possible set-backs or eventualities. Dan also pointed out some ways to read behavior and listen from another’s point of view to be more effective with clients or other agents.
We talked about using personality assessments, tactics of hiring and working with clients, clarifying what our “why” is, and so much more! Don’t miss today’s episode with Dan Rochon on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You could spit and have a 33% chance of hitting a house that needed your services.”
- Dan Rochon
“When everyone is running away, you know there is some opportunity there.”
- Mike Simmons
“As a business owner, stacking cash, being liquid, and preparing for a downturn in the market is the smartest thing you can do.”
- Mike Simmons
“What did I do to cause the outcome and what could I do differently moving forward to cause a better outcome if it was a mistake. And if it was something that was successful, what did I do to cause that outcome and how can I put it on steroids, how can I amplify it?”
- Dan Rochon
“I can tell you one variable that is constant with people who struggle and never feel like they are getting what they want - they are always pointing at other people and blaming them for their problems.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is my firm belief that the first step to any kind of sales training should be how do you become the best possible version of yourself.”
- Dan Rochon
“Has there ever been a time when I saw someone else embrace affirmations and have a fantastic result as an outcome?”
- Dan Rochon
“If yes, then how?”
- Dan Rochon
“Listening to motivational speeches, people really talking from the heart about what it takes to succeed, is super, super effective for me. It starts my day with a much more positive, energetic, get out there and crush it kind of attitude.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of the time, if we think something bad has happened, it is a reflection of something we are afraid of.”
- Dan Rochon
“Embrace the fear - on the other side is glory.”
- Dan Rochon
“Many agents are not following the right systems to create a predictable outcome.”
- Dan Rochon
“A lot of the time, agents don’t understand how to utilize the proper systems or processes to be able to serve the client at a higher level.”
- Dan Rochon
“It is really just about having the ability to pay attention.”
- Dan Rochon
“Understand and have clarity on why you are doing what you’re doing.”
- Dan Rochon
“My big why is to open up doorways for others.”
- Dan Rochon
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Extreme Ownership
Real Estate Evolution: The Ten Step Guide to C.P.I. (Consistent and Predictable Income) for Real Estate Agents
The CPI Community
Dan’s Website
Dan’s Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am excited to have Dan Rochon on the show. As a real estate sales agent, Dan and his team are consistently top producers in their marketplace. Through their investment company, Dan and Traci Rochon have been investing in residential and commercial real estate for more than a decade. Dan‘s purpose in life is to help people achieve greatness through his teaching, coaching, and mentorship. He leads the Greetings Virginia Sales Network for his agents and staff to exceed their client‘s expectations. Additionally, Dan is the author of Real Estate Evolution: The Ten Step Guide to C.P.I. (Consistent and Predictable Income) for Real Estate Agents.
We started, as we usually do, diving into Dan’s background and how he got into real estate investing. Dan said in 2005 he was working as a waiter in Washington DC, living a very unhealthy lifestyle and he realized he needed to make a change. He knew that he wanted to be a business owner and found that getting his agent’s license and opening an agency required less capital than the franchises he was considering. He started selling in late 2007, which of course we all know was an incredibly difficult time to be starting in this industry. He ended up buying the brokerage about a year and a half after getting his sales license, which he ran for about ten years.
Dan has a ton going on with his business so I wanted to explore some of that. I asked him first to talk about his book Real Estate Evolution. Dan said that one of his mentors asked him to document everything he had learned by being in business, with real estate sales, and personal development. He ended up working every day for thirteen months on this project and found that he had written a book at the end of it. He said that about a third of it is on the subject of personal development so that people can unlock their potential.
Dan talked about changing our thoughts and programming by looking at how we are spending our time, what we are reading, our relationships, and how we are taking care of our health. We discussed a couple of techniques for motivating ourselves, getting a better start to the day, and creating new, positive habits. Dan also talked about the power of our subconscious mind and taking a look at what we dream to see what kinds of thoughts that part of our brain is feeding back to us. Recurring negative, limiting thoughts can hinder our growth.
We then discussed some of the specific advice Dan gives real estate agents to help them be more successful. He said that comparatively it is fairly easy to become an agent so a lot of them do not study the industry or take it seriously enough. One of the things that has helped him in dealing with his clients is to let them know all of the possible outcomes of the process, so that everyone is aware and prepared for possible set-backs or eventualities. Dan also pointed out some ways to read behavior and listen from another’s point of view to be more effective with clients or other agents.
We talked about using personality assessments, tactics of hiring and working with clients, clarifying what our “why” is, and so much more! Don’t miss today’s episode with Dan Rochon on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“You could spit and have a 33% chance of hitting a house that needed your services.”
- Dan Rochon
“When everyone is running away, you know there is some opportunity there.”
- Mike Simmons
“As a business owner, stacking cash, being liquid, and preparing for a downturn in the market is the smartest thing you can do.”
- Mike Simmons
“What did I do to cause the outcome and what could I do differently moving forward to cause a better outcome if it was a mistake. And if it was something that was successful, what did I do to cause that outcome and how can I put it on steroids, how can I amplify it?”
- Dan Rochon
“I can tell you one variable that is constant with people who struggle and never feel like they are getting what they want - they are always pointing at other people and blaming them for their problems.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is my firm belief that the first step to any kind of sales training should be how do you become the best possible version of yourself.”
- Dan Rochon
“Has there ever been a time when I saw someone else embrace affirmations and have a fantastic result as an outcome?”
- Dan Rochon
“If yes, then how?”
- Dan Rochon
“Listening to motivational speeches, people really talking from the heart about what it takes to succeed, is super, super effective for me. It starts my day with a much more positive, energetic, get out there and crush it kind of attitude.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of the time, if we think something bad has happened, it is a reflection of something we are afraid of.”
- Dan Rochon
“Embrace the fear - on the other side is glory.”
- Dan Rochon
“Many agents are not following the right systems to create a predictable outcome.”
- Dan Rochon
“A lot of the time, agents don’t understand how to utilize the proper systems or processes to be able to serve the client at a higher level.”
- Dan Rochon
“It is really just about having the ability to pay attention.”
- Dan Rochon
“Understand and have clarity on why you are doing what you’re doing.”
- Dan Rochon
“My big why is to open up doorways for others.”
- Dan Rochon
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Extreme Ownership
Real Estate Evolution: The Ten Step Guide to C.P.I. (Consistent and Predictable Income) for Real Estate Agents
The CPI Community
Dan’s Website
Dan’s Podcast
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am excited to welcome Stephanie Cabral, who is a buy-and-hold real estate investor and former attorney from Connecticut. Stephanie has built a portfolio over $2.25m and began investing while working at a law firm as the sole member of the probate department and also working as one of the top commercial real estate firms in the world. Stephanie now owns and operates 15 units plus multiple active flips and is responsible for all aspects of the business including marketing, acquisition, construction management, operations, and property management. She specializes in the BRRRR strategy and was able to scale her business using a detailed network of systems, standard operating procedures, automation, and virtual assistants.
Stephanie shares her background with us, pointing out that she is a lawyer by trade. While she loved and thrived in law school, once she got out, she found that she didn’t love practicing as a lawyer. As much as she appreciated her clients, she did not like how adversarial the work was and didn’t like being in an office all day. She ended up buying a duplex in order to use the rental income to qualify for a personal home loan and she fell in love with the idea of house-hacking. She worked as an agent, too, while she was working as a lawyer and continues to since retiring from her firm in December 2019.
Stephanie got a 203K loan for her first property so we explored that topic for a bit. Because the brokers are looking at the ARV, you can get a larger value loan to cover both the purchase price and the rehab estimate. In this type of loan, the contractor gets paid directly from the lender. Also, the 203K loan does not require you to have experience in investing and rehabilitation work, which can be a huge obstacle for newer investors with traditional hard money lenders. You also get a consultant that helps you manage the project and ensure the quality of the contractors’ work.
I asked Stephanie to describe the team of people she is working with to us. She said she is very involved herself, but her right hand is a virtual assistant in the Philippines who handles all of the administrative tasks, including social media and a lot of the property management tasks, including interfacing with the tenants. Stephanie also has a leasing assistant who directly connects with potential tenants and shows them around and screens them for rentability. She also has a bookkeeper who she hired through Upwork that has been working with her for years, but Stephanie did talk about the need to go through the trial and error process to find some people that are really good. Stephanie talked about the need to have great systems and processes in place, including training videos and templates, in order to simplify the training procedure.
I asked Stephanie why she self-manages her properties versus hiring a property management company. She said that it is financially beneficial for her to self-manage, mostly because she has very little turnover in tenants. She attributes this to the constant communication she has with her tenants, which is largely automated, but maintains a great connection. I asked how she handles any required repairs, and since she is having a VA handle the maintenance requests, how she is sure she is not getting over-charged. Stephanie explained that because she also does house flipping, she has a pool of contractors, and in particular, a go-to handyman who is always the first maintenance call.
We talked about mid-term rentals, the effects of COVID on Stephanie’s business, the BRRRR strategy, private money versus hard money lenders, the technology Stephanie uses to run her business, Facebook ads, and so much more! Don’t miss this honest, fun, and hard-core real estate episode with lawyer-turned-investor, Stephanie Cabral!
Notable Quotes:
“Being in an office environment was not the life I wanted to live.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“What was one of the greatest frustrations at the time ended up being the greatest gift.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I didn’t even know that I was investing - I thought I was living cheaply and being resourceful.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Being resourceful is certainly one of my superpowers.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“The power of real estate as an investment really opened up for me.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“So the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
- Desmond Tutu, quoted by Stephanie Cabral
“It requires some administrative stamina to get through the paperwork for a 203K loan.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I do make it a priority to automate and delegate as much as humanly possible.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Find somebody with a natural skill set that you are looking for and then you train the rest.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“As far as delegating work, start with the task that is most repetitive that is causing the most brain damage.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Put yourself out there so people know what you are doing and that you are involved.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I have been raising private money since 2008 and I think ‘talk about what you are doing’ is the number one advice.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you ask for money, you are going to get advice. If you ask for advice, you will get money.”
- Mike Simmons
“I’m tech heavy, but not tech savvy.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“The concept of ‘Just Start’ is so important. You don’t have to be super knowledgeable, but you have to be action-oriented.”
- Stephanie Cabral
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Upwork
CoreAssist
Podio
PayYourRent
Google Drive
SoapBox
Docusign
Fiverr
Stephanie’s Website
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am excited to welcome Stephanie Cabral, who is a buy-and-hold real estate investor and former attorney from Connecticut. Stephanie has built a portfolio over $2.25m and began investing while working at a law firm as the sole member of the probate department and also working as one of the top commercial real estate firms in the world. Stephanie now owns and operates 15 units plus multiple active flips and is responsible for all aspects of the business including marketing, acquisition, construction management, operations, and property management. She specializes in the BRRRR strategy and was able to scale her business using a detailed network of systems, standard operating procedures, automation, and virtual assistants.
Stephanie shares her background with us, pointing out that she is a lawyer by trade. While she loved and thrived in law school, once she got out, she found that she didn’t love practicing as a lawyer. As much as she appreciated her clients, she did not like how adversarial the work was and didn’t like being in an office all day. She ended up buying a duplex in order to use the rental income to qualify for a personal home loan and she fell in love with the idea of house-hacking. She worked as an agent, too, while she was working as a lawyer and continues to since retiring from her firm in December 2019.
Stephanie got a 203K loan for her first property so we explored that topic for a bit. Because the brokers are looking at the ARV, you can get a larger value loan to cover both the purchase price and the rehab estimate. In this type of loan, the contractor gets paid directly from the lender. Also, the 203K loan does not require you to have experience in investing and rehabilitation work, which can be a huge obstacle for newer investors with traditional hard money lenders. You also get a consultant that helps you manage the project and ensure the quality of the contractors’ work.
I asked Stephanie to describe the team of people she is working with to us. She said she is very involved herself, but her right hand is a virtual assistant in the Philippines who handles all of the administrative tasks, including social media and a lot of the property management tasks, including interfacing with the tenants. Stephanie also has a leasing assistant who directly connects with potential tenants and shows them around and screens them for rentability. She also has a bookkeeper who she hired through Upwork that has been working with her for years, but Stephanie did talk about the need to go through the trial and error process to find some people that are really good. Stephanie talked about the need to have great systems and processes in place, including training videos and templates, in order to simplify the training procedure.
I asked Stephanie why she self-manages her properties versus hiring a property management company. She said that it is financially beneficial for her to self-manage, mostly because she has very little turnover in tenants. She attributes this to the constant communication she has with her tenants, which is largely automated, but maintains a great connection. I asked how she handles any required repairs, and since she is having a VA handle the maintenance requests, how she is sure she is not getting over-charged. Stephanie explained that because she also does house flipping, she has a pool of contractors, and in particular, a go-to handyman who is always the first maintenance call.
We talked about mid-term rentals, the effects of COVID on Stephanie’s business, the BRRRR strategy, private money versus hard money lenders, the technology Stephanie uses to run her business, Facebook ads, and so much more! Don’t miss this honest, fun, and hard-core real estate episode with lawyer-turned-investor, Stephanie Cabral!
Notable Quotes:
“Being in an office environment was not the life I wanted to live.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“What was one of the greatest frustrations at the time ended up being the greatest gift.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I didn’t even know that I was investing - I thought I was living cheaply and being resourceful.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Being resourceful is certainly one of my superpowers.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“The power of real estate as an investment really opened up for me.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“So the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”
- Desmond Tutu, quoted by Stephanie Cabral
“It requires some administrative stamina to get through the paperwork for a 203K loan.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I do make it a priority to automate and delegate as much as humanly possible.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Find somebody with a natural skill set that you are looking for and then you train the rest.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“As far as delegating work, start with the task that is most repetitive that is causing the most brain damage.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“Put yourself out there so people know what you are doing and that you are involved.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“I have been raising private money since 2008 and I think ‘talk about what you are doing’ is the number one advice.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you ask for money, you are going to get advice. If you ask for advice, you will get money.”
- Mike Simmons
“I’m tech heavy, but not tech savvy.”
- Stephanie Cabral
“The concept of ‘Just Start’ is so important. You don’t have to be super knowledgeable, but you have to be action-oriented.”
- Stephanie Cabral
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Upwork
CoreAssist
Podio
PayYourRent
Google Drive
SoapBox
Docusign
Fiverr
Stephanie’s Website
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am happy to welcome Rachel Richards on to the show! Only 27 years old, former financial advisor Rachel Richards has made a name for herself in the personal finance realm. In 2019, Rachel quit her job and retired, with over $10,000 per month in passive income! She is the bestselling author of Money Honey and Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement. Rachel is also a real estate investor with 35 rental units. Her valuable money lessons have helped thousands of millennials work their way out of financial despair. She has successfully done what no one has done before: made the topic of money management fun, entertaining, and simple!
Rachel gave us a bit of her background, telling us that she paid her way through school by selling Cutco Cutlery and therefore, had sales experience. This, coupled with her passion for teaching people about finances, is what led her to become a financial advisor. She said she didn’t last long because she wasn’t a fan of cold-calling people for clients. She had always been interested in real estate investing and had read a ton about it, so she worked for a time with another investor, and then a real estate agent. These experiences gave her the confidence to get into investing on her own and in 2017, Rachel and her husband bought their first duplex when she was 24 years old.
I asked Rachel to give us the details of her first deal - how she found it and how she financed it. Because she had her real estate license by this time, she said she had an advantage, because she had access to the MLS. She found the property she wanted, but the listing was expired, so she contacted the agent and found out that the owners were going to list it again once they had done some work to it. Because Rachel stayed in contact with the agent, she called Rachel a couple of days before it was listed again and gave her the chance to make an offer. They financed it conventionally, having both saved money after college for the down payment, and they managed to get a seller concession for the renovation that they had to do.
Rachel started writing her books while she was still working full-time and managing their rental properties, so we talked about how that came about for a bit. She said her family and friends had been asking her for financial advice for a while and she wanted to take this topic, which was normally boring and confusing, and make it fun and simple for people to understand. She said it felt like her first book, Money Honey, was always inside of her and she tried to make finances easier to learn about by sharing her own stories and mistakes. We also discussed Rachel’s second book, Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement, in which she discusses twenty-eight different passive income models that anyone can get involved with, regardless of age or station in life.
I asked Rachel to describe how she proceeded with her investing as she moved forward from the first deal. She shared with us that the different ways having her real estate license benefited her. She continued to monitor the MLS for potential deals, using subscriptions and saved searches so that she would get email notifications for properties she was interested in. She felt like this gave her a real time advantage, as she could be at a property within 30 minutes of it being listed.
Even though Rachel and her husband are no longer actively investing because they have the rental income they wanted to achieve, Rachel is still very passionate about teaching others about financial literacy so she is invested in creating online courses. The first one that she has created is called “Get Your Financial $hit Together” which you can check out by following the links below.
Join me as I interview this incredibly impressive investor and financial guru as she shares some of the secrets of how she earned financial independence! Don’t miss today’s episode with Rachel Richards on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“To me, real estate is one of the best tools for building long-term wealth. From an early age, I knew that this was going to be my path to financial independence.”
- Rachel Richards
“From a very early age, I tried to save 50% of my income.”
- Rachel Richards
“Just get creative… there are ways you can do this.”
- Mike Simmons
“The last thing you want to do is operate from a place of panic and desperation.”
- Rachel Richards
“I just try not to take myself too seriously.”
- Rachel Richards
“I am not afraid to admit when I am making mistakes and doing embarrassing things.”
- Rachel Richards
“Having my real estate license was brilliant because I was the buyer’s agent on all of our deals and would get a significant check at closing, which helped us continue investing.”
- Rachel Richards
“There are some things you can’t be cheap with, like property management.”
- Rachel Richards
“Hopefully someone will learn from my mistakes.”
- Rachel Richards
“For us, real estate investing is a means to an end.”
- Rachel Richards
“The way I define passive income is that it is money that is earned with little or no ongoing effort.”
- Rachel Richards
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Money Honey: A Simple 7-Step Guide For Getting Your Financial $hit Together Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement: The Secret to Freedom, Flexibility, and Financial Independence (& how to get started!) Get Your Financial $hit Together
Rachel’s Website
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am happy to welcome Rachel Richards on to the show! Only 27 years old, former financial advisor Rachel Richards has made a name for herself in the personal finance realm. In 2019, Rachel quit her job and retired, with over $10,000 per month in passive income! She is the bestselling author of Money Honey and Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement. Rachel is also a real estate investor with 35 rental units. Her valuable money lessons have helped thousands of millennials work their way out of financial despair. She has successfully done what no one has done before: made the topic of money management fun, entertaining, and simple!
Rachel gave us a bit of her background, telling us that she paid her way through school by selling Cutco Cutlery and therefore, had sales experience. This, coupled with her passion for teaching people about finances, is what led her to become a financial advisor. She said she didn’t last long because she wasn’t a fan of cold-calling people for clients. She had always been interested in real estate investing and had read a ton about it, so she worked for a time with another investor, and then a real estate agent. These experiences gave her the confidence to get into investing on her own and in 2017, Rachel and her husband bought their first duplex when she was 24 years old.
I asked Rachel to give us the details of her first deal - how she found it and how she financed it. Because she had her real estate license by this time, she said she had an advantage, because she had access to the MLS. She found the property she wanted, but the listing was expired, so she contacted the agent and found out that the owners were going to list it again once they had done some work to it. Because Rachel stayed in contact with the agent, she called Rachel a couple of days before it was listed again and gave her the chance to make an offer. They financed it conventionally, having both saved money after college for the down payment, and they managed to get a seller concession for the renovation that they had to do.
Rachel started writing her books while she was still working full-time and managing their rental properties, so we talked about how that came about for a bit. She said her family and friends had been asking her for financial advice for a while and she wanted to take this topic, which was normally boring and confusing, and make it fun and simple for people to understand. She said it felt like her first book, Money Honey, was always inside of her and she tried to make finances easier to learn about by sharing her own stories and mistakes. We also discussed Rachel’s second book, Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement, in which she discusses twenty-eight different passive income models that anyone can get involved with, regardless of age or station in life.
I asked Rachel to describe how she proceeded with her investing as she moved forward from the first deal. She shared with us that the different ways having her real estate license benefited her. She continued to monitor the MLS for potential deals, using subscriptions and saved searches so that she would get email notifications for properties she was interested in. She felt like this gave her a real time advantage, as she could be at a property within 30 minutes of it being listed.
Even though Rachel and her husband are no longer actively investing because they have the rental income they wanted to achieve, Rachel is still very passionate about teaching others about financial literacy so she is invested in creating online courses. The first one that she has created is called “Get Your Financial $hit Together” which you can check out by following the links below.
Join me as I interview this incredibly impressive investor and financial guru as she shares some of the secrets of how she earned financial independence! Don’t miss today’s episode with Rachel Richards on the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“To me, real estate is one of the best tools for building long-term wealth. From an early age, I knew that this was going to be my path to financial independence.”
- Rachel Richards
“From a very early age, I tried to save 50% of my income.”
- Rachel Richards
“Just get creative… there are ways you can do this.”
- Mike Simmons
“The last thing you want to do is operate from a place of panic and desperation.”
- Rachel Richards
“I just try not to take myself too seriously.”
- Rachel Richards
“I am not afraid to admit when I am making mistakes and doing embarrassing things.”
- Rachel Richards
“Having my real estate license was brilliant because I was the buyer’s agent on all of our deals and would get a significant check at closing, which helped us continue investing.”
- Rachel Richards
“There are some things you can’t be cheap with, like property management.”
- Rachel Richards
“Hopefully someone will learn from my mistakes.”
- Rachel Richards
“For us, real estate investing is a means to an end.”
- Rachel Richards
“The way I define passive income is that it is money that is earned with little or no ongoing effort.”
- Rachel Richards
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Money Honey: A Simple 7-Step Guide For Getting Your Financial $hit Together Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement: The Secret to Freedom, Flexibility, and Financial Independence (& how to get started!) Get Your Financial $hit Together
Rachel’s Website
7 Figure Flipping
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am excited to welcome fellow 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group member, Waylon McCulloch. Waylon started his career as a professional dirtbike racer, but after too many injuries moved on to running used car dealerships for the last 15 years. He is now the owner of Discount Realty, a real estate wholesale company located in San Antonio, TX. Along with building and growing his wholesale company that was started 2 1/2 years ago, he owns a couple of other real estate companies that invest in single-family home rentals and owner-financed sales, while running his family's used car dealerships full-time.
We started by exploring Waylon’s background and how real estate investing got onto his radar. When his grandfather moved into an assisted living facility in 2015, Waylon and his dad purchased his house as a means to get started in the business. They purchased a couple of other properties the same year and held them as rentals, but their business stalled until Waylon got very invested in lead generation.
After joining 7 Figure Flipping in April of 2018, Waylon dedicated his time to learning about and growing a wholesaling business. He spent the remainder of that year building out systems and getting things set up. In 2019, they ended up with 18 deals under contract, hired both a lead manager and an acquisitions/dispositions manager, and are hoping to hire a transaction coordinator. We discussed the importance of having certain team members in place in order to maximize your business’ potential, especially if you are still working a full-time job like Waylon.
Waylon expressed an interest in doing more owner-financed deals and so we spent some time exploring this topic, especially how these types of deals may increase due to the pandemic. We talked about how this conversation would go and what type of homeowner would benefit from this arrangement.
Since Waylon has been a member of 7 Figure Flipping for over two years, I asked him what his takeaway is from the group. He said he was so glad that he made the commitment and has met some great people. Waylon said he wasn’t sure he would be where he is today if it weren’t for involvement in this mastermind.
We discussed marketing strategies, working virtually, growing your staff, wholesaling versus flipping, and so much more! Please join me as I welcome Waylon McCulloch to the Just Start Real Estate Family!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate is dangerous in different ways than dirt bike racing, but safer physically.”
- Mike Simmons
“I decided I was either going to make or break it.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“Having someone to focus on answering all the calls and doing the follow-up made my life a whole lot better.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“The wholesaling business sure does take a lot of work to get it up and going.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“I think the biggest misconception in residential real estate is that wholesaling is easy.”
- Mike Simmons
“You need someone in-house that is really pushing your deals through the title company.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you don’t have that in your tool bag, you are missing out.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“COVID had a big impact on my direct mail.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“Direct mail does bring in deals as long as you are being consistent with it and mailing enough.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“You need to deep dive and figure out what you are good at.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“[On wholesaling] I like the idea of being able to control the deals and get to pick when I have the funds to buy another one.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“I like speed a lot more than watching a rehab project from start to finish.”
- Mike Simmons
“Some people live for the transformation of flipping, but I can live without it.”
- Mike Simmons
“I like working on the back-end with buyers and being able to get them something because there are a lot of people that need the deal-flow right now.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“You can definitely feel like you are on an island in this business so it is nice to connect with people who are on the same journey.”
- Waylon McCulloch about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
“Imagine how great it would be if you had made all of your life decisions with the benefit of hindsight.”
- Mike Simmons about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
7 Figure Flipping
Discount Realty
Dale’s Motor Co. & Bartlett Motors
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
For this episode, I am excited to welcome fellow 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group member, Waylon McCulloch. Waylon started his career as a professional dirtbike racer, but after too many injuries moved on to running used car dealerships for the last 15 years. He is now the owner of Discount Realty, a real estate wholesale company located in San Antonio, TX. Along with building and growing his wholesale company that was started 2 1/2 years ago, he owns a couple of other real estate companies that invest in single-family home rentals and owner-financed sales, while running his family's used car dealerships full-time.
We started by exploring Waylon’s background and how real estate investing got onto his radar. When his grandfather moved into an assisted living facility in 2015, Waylon and his dad purchased his house as a means to get started in the business. They purchased a couple of other properties the same year and held them as rentals, but their business stalled until Waylon got very invested in lead generation.
After joining 7 Figure Flipping in April of 2018, Waylon dedicated his time to learning about and growing a wholesaling business. He spent the remainder of that year building out systems and getting things set up. In 2019, they ended up with 18 deals under contract, hired both a lead manager and an acquisitions/dispositions manager, and are hoping to hire a transaction coordinator. We discussed the importance of having certain team members in place in order to maximize your business’ potential, especially if you are still working a full-time job like Waylon.
Waylon expressed an interest in doing more owner-financed deals and so we spent some time exploring this topic, especially how these types of deals may increase due to the pandemic. We talked about how this conversation would go and what type of homeowner would benefit from this arrangement.
Since Waylon has been a member of 7 Figure Flipping for over two years, I asked him what his takeaway is from the group. He said he was so glad that he made the commitment and has met some great people. Waylon said he wasn’t sure he would be where he is today if it weren’t for involvement in this mastermind.
We discussed marketing strategies, working virtually, growing your staff, wholesaling versus flipping, and so much more! Please join me as I welcome Waylon McCulloch to the Just Start Real Estate Family!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate is dangerous in different ways than dirt bike racing, but safer physically.”
- Mike Simmons
“I decided I was either going to make or break it.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“Having someone to focus on answering all the calls and doing the follow-up made my life a whole lot better.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“The wholesaling business sure does take a lot of work to get it up and going.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“I think the biggest misconception in residential real estate is that wholesaling is easy.”
- Mike Simmons
“You need someone in-house that is really pushing your deals through the title company.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you don’t have that in your tool bag, you are missing out.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“COVID had a big impact on my direct mail.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“Direct mail does bring in deals as long as you are being consistent with it and mailing enough.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“You need to deep dive and figure out what you are good at.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“[On wholesaling] I like the idea of being able to control the deals and get to pick when I have the funds to buy another one.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“I like speed a lot more than watching a rehab project from start to finish.”
- Mike Simmons
“Some people live for the transformation of flipping, but I can live without it.”
- Mike Simmons
“I like working on the back-end with buyers and being able to get them something because there are a lot of people that need the deal-flow right now.”
- Waylon McCulloch
“You can definitely feel like you are on an island in this business so it is nice to connect with people who are on the same journey.”
- Waylon McCulloch about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
“Imagine how great it would be if you had made all of your life decisions with the benefit of hindsight.”
- Mike Simmons about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
7 Figure Flipping
Discount Realty
Dale’s Motor Co. & Bartlett Motors
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I’m joined by Kirby Atwell, host of the popular podcast, Living off Rentals. After serving as an officer in the US Army from 2005 – 2011, Kirby left the military to
pursue his passion as a full-time entrepreneur, launching and scaling two different real
estate investment companies in succession. Kirby holds a BA from United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MBA in real estate finance from the University of Illinois Chicago. While in the military, Kirby served as a Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of the 94th AAMDC, and Commander of the AN/TPY-2 homeland defense radar site in Shariki, Japan.
Kirby shared more of his background with us, telling us that he had always had an entrepreneurial itch, and planned to have his own business after serving in the Army. A year after he graduated, he read Rich Dad Poor Dad and knew that he would be a real estate investor for life. When he was stationed in El Paso in 2006, the house across the street went up for sale and he decided to buy his first investment property. Once he was out of the Army, he partnered with a friend and his wife and they started flipping houses in the Chicago area.
Kirby talked about how they grew their business so that, at its height in 2015, they had thirteen team members and around twenty-two deals going every month. What he found, though, was that everyone else kept getting paid, but he wasn’t achieving his goal of building monthly passive income to have eventual financial freedom. He ended up changing his strategy in 2016, sold his flipping business to his partners, and started focusing mostly on investing with the BRRRR strategy. He found a government program called the HUD VASH Voucher, which provides housing for homeless veterans and built a new business around this niche.
I asked Kirby to explain the BRRRR strategy to our listeners with the assumption that we hadn’t used it before. I particularly wanted him to explain how the refinance aspect of this strategy works. He said he struck a deal with a local bank where they would package four properties together and they would give him a commercial loan for 75% of the appraised value. Kirby said that strategy was very effective, but now that the demand for the VASH vouchers has gone down, he is using the same system for short term rentals in the northwest Indiana area.
Kirby explained why he is buying homes in Indiana, telling us how it is almost as though Chicago and the state of Illinois is incentivizing people to move away because of property taxes and other factors. In the area he is investing in, there are several attractions, including Lake Michigan, and it is a great area to have short term rentals. He said that he and his wife are doing the property management themselves for these houses.
I then asked Kirby to talk about the non-profit work that he is involved in. Kirby said the organization is called Bunker Labs and it helps veterans start and grow businesses. He said initially when he got out of the military, he wanted his civilian identity back and was not involved at all with other veterans. But in 2014, he was in the first cohort to go through the program and was so impressed with the founder and the resources he was bringing in to help people. When he switched his investing model to rentals, he found that he had more available time, and the Bunker Labs founder asked him to come on as the COO. He later transitioned to being the CFO, and they have thirty-six chapters across the United States.
We talked about marketing, lead generation, Facebook ads, helping people, and so much more! Don’t miss this transparent, info-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Kirby Atwell!
Notable Quotes:
“I really enjoy talking to successful, smart people, but I love talking to good people who are also successful and smart.”
- Mike Simmons
“The harder she worked, the more money she made.”
- Kirby Atwell about his mom’s business
“I was really attracted to the buy-and-hold model, but I had to flip initially to get money to buy more houses.”
- Kirby Atwell
“We jumped on the flipping treadmill, this perpetual machine that you keep feeding.”
- Kirby Atwell
“We were just driving the machine, but not creating what I got into investing for, which was financial freedom.”
- Kirby Atwell
“Scaling isn’t for everyone. It sounds like you built this monster that just needed to eat.”
- Mike Simmons
“This is really where you have to figure out who you are as a person.”
- Kirby Atwell
“I am all about freedom.”
- Kirby Atwell
“The dream is to have free time and have a lifestyle.”
- Mike Simmons
“I was doing what looked like success on social media.”
- Kirby Atwell
“Do what you want to do, but ultimately, don’t be afraid to change if you aren’t happy.”
- Mike Simmons
“We only get one shot at this, so let’s make it a good one.”
- Mike Simmons
“Doing good things for people and help the world a little bit and make it a little better is about all we can do.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Rich Dad Poor Dad
iCandy Homes
Bunker Labs
Green Vet Homes.com
HUD VASH Voucher
Living Off Rentals Podcast
Kirby's YouTube Channel
Kirby’s YouTube Video on Google Drive Organization
Mike’s Interview on Living Off Rentals
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I’m joined by Kirby Atwell, host of the popular podcast, Living off Rentals. After serving as an officer in the US Army from 2005 – 2011, Kirby left the military to
pursue his passion as a full-time entrepreneur, launching and scaling two different real
estate investment companies in succession. Kirby holds a BA from United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MBA in real estate finance from the University of Illinois Chicago. While in the military, Kirby served as a Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of the 94th AAMDC, and Commander of the AN/TPY-2 homeland defense radar site in Shariki, Japan.
Kirby shared more of his background with us, telling us that he had always had an entrepreneurial itch, and planned to have his own business after serving in the Army. A year after he graduated, he read Rich Dad Poor Dad and knew that he would be a real estate investor for life. When he was stationed in El Paso in 2006, the house across the street went up for sale and he decided to buy his first investment property. Once he was out of the Army, he partnered with a friend and his wife and they started flipping houses in the Chicago area.
Kirby talked about how they grew their business so that, at its height in 2015, they had thirteen team members and around twenty-two deals going every month. What he found, though, was that everyone else kept getting paid, but he wasn’t achieving his goal of building monthly passive income to have eventual financial freedom. He ended up changing his strategy in 2016, sold his flipping business to his partners, and started focusing mostly on investing with the BRRRR strategy. He found a government program called the HUD VASH Voucher, which provides housing for homeless veterans and built a new business around this niche.
I asked Kirby to explain the BRRRR strategy to our listeners with the assumption that we hadn’t used it before. I particularly wanted him to explain how the refinance aspect of this strategy works. He said he struck a deal with a local bank where they would package four properties together and they would give him a commercial loan for 75% of the appraised value. Kirby said that strategy was very effective, but now that the demand for the VASH vouchers has gone down, he is using the same system for short term rentals in the northwest Indiana area.
Kirby explained why he is buying homes in Indiana, telling us how it is almost as though Chicago and the state of Illinois is incentivizing people to move away because of property taxes and other factors. In the area he is investing in, there are several attractions, including Lake Michigan, and it is a great area to have short term rentals. He said that he and his wife are doing the property management themselves for these houses.
I then asked Kirby to talk about the non-profit work that he is involved in. Kirby said the organization is called Bunker Labs and it helps veterans start and grow businesses. He said initially when he got out of the military, he wanted his civilian identity back and was not involved at all with other veterans. But in 2014, he was in the first cohort to go through the program and was so impressed with the founder and the resources he was bringing in to help people. When he switched his investing model to rentals, he found that he had more available time, and the Bunker Labs founder asked him to come on as the COO. He later transitioned to being the CFO, and they have thirty-six chapters across the United States.
We talked about marketing, lead generation, Facebook ads, helping people, and so much more! Don’t miss this transparent, info-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Kirby Atwell!
Notable Quotes:
“I really enjoy talking to successful, smart people, but I love talking to good people who are also successful and smart.”
- Mike Simmons
“The harder she worked, the more money she made.”
- Kirby Atwell about his mom’s business
“I was really attracted to the buy-and-hold model, but I had to flip initially to get money to buy more houses.”
- Kirby Atwell
“We jumped on the flipping treadmill, this perpetual machine that you keep feeding.”
- Kirby Atwell
“We were just driving the machine, but not creating what I got into investing for, which was financial freedom.”
- Kirby Atwell
“Scaling isn’t for everyone. It sounds like you built this monster that just needed to eat.”
- Mike Simmons
“This is really where you have to figure out who you are as a person.”
- Kirby Atwell
“I am all about freedom.”
- Kirby Atwell
“The dream is to have free time and have a lifestyle.”
- Mike Simmons
“I was doing what looked like success on social media.”
- Kirby Atwell
“Do what you want to do, but ultimately, don’t be afraid to change if you aren’t happy.”
- Mike Simmons
“We only get one shot at this, so let’s make it a good one.”
- Mike Simmons
“Doing good things for people and help the world a little bit and make it a little better is about all we can do.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Rich Dad Poor Dad
iCandy Homes
Bunker Labs
Green Vet Homes.com
HUD VASH Voucher
Living Off Rentals Podcast
Kirby's YouTube Channel
Kirby’s YouTube Video on Google Drive Organization
Mike’s Interview on Living Off Rentals
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am excited to welcome on fellow 7 Figure Flipping member, William Morgan. Will is the owner and founder of Penny Lane Equity, a rapidly growing Real Estate flipping and wholesaling company in California’s Central Coast. Will grew what was once a hobby into a thriving business with 7 figure revenue while also having a full-time job. Will has since “cut the cord” and now leads a team of 10 talented professionals as they provide some of the most attractive Real Estate opportunities found anywhere in the region. Once an adrenaline junkie, Will now tempers his thrill-seeking by sharing his love for surfing, the mountains, and travel with his 2 young kids.
We got started as we normally do with Will sharing his background with us and how he got into real estate. He began his corporate career working in the nuclear power industry at the age of eighteen. He worked short contracts in this business and then would take the money he earned to travel and surf. After living this ideal lifestyle for about ten years, he figured he had to grow up, and took on a full-time job in nuclear operations. Real estate got on his radar when a neighbor bought a house through a sheriff’s auction and rehabbed that Will ended up buying in 2003 for his primary residence. Will was fascinated by the whole process and that propelled him into learning about investing on his own.
Will did a lot of research on how to find his first investment property and ended up buying his first in 2004 using conventional financing. The guy he bought his primary residence from turned out to be a mentor in the fix and flip process, helping Will to avoid a lot of rookie mistakes. I asked some questions about this deal and Will shared details about the rehab work and how the numbers worked out.
Will said he approached real estate investing as a hobby because he had a full-time job, so he was happy with picking up one or two properties a year. He was also investing in other ways with stocks and bonds, always studying and learning about different passive income models. Because he had a sense that real estate was part of the impending market disruption, he sold all five of his rentals and his primary residence in 2007.
I asked Will about what systems and processes he had in place in the very beginning of his investing business. He said he didn’t initially, but having very little profit margin in his first deal made it necessary to establish when he started getting back into real estate investing around 2012. He said documenting his work processes was really out of necessity because he had a full-time job and knew there were times he was going to need help, and also to maximize his efficiency.
I wanted Will to tell me what he thought were some of the biggest challenges to trying to scale a business while having a full-time job. He said time was his obstacle, as you have to grow the business in what would normally be your spare time, so you have to schedule time to do this. It may take away from sleep, or leisure time, or family time, but he prioritized the sacrifice. He found that because he was drawing a regular salary, it freed up the investment income to hire help to manage everything. We discussed the details of how Will scaled up responsibly.
Because we met through the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group, I wanted Will to talk about how he thought this has affected his business. Very much like me, he said he was very skeptical initially, having never paid for training of any kind. He said he cannot believe how valuable it is to have the ability to call or text, at any time, other investors in order to shorten the learning curve and avoid mistakes.
We talked about marketing, the specifics of making offers, how Will’s team divides up responsibilities, the impact of the pandemic on his business, and so much more! Join me and Will as we discuss the in and outs of real estate investing in the latest episode of Just Start Real Estate!
Notable Quotes:
“I like to call myself a genius because I sold my real estate investments in 2007, but there was definitely some luck involved.”
- William Morgan
“Some people make their own luck by being on top of things and having their ear to the ground.”
- Mike Simmons
“Systems and processes were a way to communicate with my team without being there.”
- William Morgan
“You have to make room in your life to scale a business.”
- William Morgan
“The idea is to learn from your mistakes and improve.”
- William Morgan
“Team members have to be a core-value fit.”
- William Morgan
“If you want to do something well, you have to have rules to guide you.”
- William Morgan
“You have to recognize value.”
- William Morgan
“We want to be the source for distressed properties in our area.”
- William Morgan
“To have access to other people who are running successful businesses at the level you want to be is invaluable.”
- William Morgan about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
“It is like buying speed and hindsight.”
- Mike Simmons about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Penny Lane Equity
Will’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am excited to welcome on fellow 7 Figure Flipping member, William Morgan. Will is the owner and founder of Penny Lane Equity, a rapidly growing Real Estate flipping and wholesaling company in California’s Central Coast. Will grew what was once a hobby into a thriving business with 7 figure revenue while also having a full-time job. Will has since “cut the cord” and now leads a team of 10 talented professionals as they provide some of the most attractive Real Estate opportunities found anywhere in the region. Once an adrenaline junkie, Will now tempers his thrill-seeking by sharing his love for surfing, the mountains, and travel with his 2 young kids.
We got started as we normally do with Will sharing his background with us and how he got into real estate. He began his corporate career working in the nuclear power industry at the age of eighteen. He worked short contracts in this business and then would take the money he earned to travel and surf. After living this ideal lifestyle for about ten years, he figured he had to grow up, and took on a full-time job in nuclear operations. Real estate got on his radar when a neighbor bought a house through a sheriff’s auction and rehabbed that Will ended up buying in 2003 for his primary residence. Will was fascinated by the whole process and that propelled him into learning about investing on his own.
Will did a lot of research on how to find his first investment property and ended up buying his first in 2004 using conventional financing. The guy he bought his primary residence from turned out to be a mentor in the fix and flip process, helping Will to avoid a lot of rookie mistakes. I asked some questions about this deal and Will shared details about the rehab work and how the numbers worked out.
Will said he approached real estate investing as a hobby because he had a full-time job, so he was happy with picking up one or two properties a year. He was also investing in other ways with stocks and bonds, always studying and learning about different passive income models. Because he had a sense that real estate was part of the impending market disruption, he sold all five of his rentals and his primary residence in 2007.
I asked Will about what systems and processes he had in place in the very beginning of his investing business. He said he didn’t initially, but having very little profit margin in his first deal made it necessary to establish when he started getting back into real estate investing around 2012. He said documenting his work processes was really out of necessity because he had a full-time job and knew there were times he was going to need help, and also to maximize his efficiency.
I wanted Will to tell me what he thought were some of the biggest challenges to trying to scale a business while having a full-time job. He said time was his obstacle, as you have to grow the business in what would normally be your spare time, so you have to schedule time to do this. It may take away from sleep, or leisure time, or family time, but he prioritized the sacrifice. He found that because he was drawing a regular salary, it freed up the investment income to hire help to manage everything. We discussed the details of how Will scaled up responsibly.
Because we met through the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group, I wanted Will to talk about how he thought this has affected his business. Very much like me, he said he was very skeptical initially, having never paid for training of any kind. He said he cannot believe how valuable it is to have the ability to call or text, at any time, other investors in order to shorten the learning curve and avoid mistakes.
We talked about marketing, the specifics of making offers, how Will’s team divides up responsibilities, the impact of the pandemic on his business, and so much more! Join me and Will as we discuss the in and outs of real estate investing in the latest episode of Just Start Real Estate!
Notable Quotes:
“I like to call myself a genius because I sold my real estate investments in 2007, but there was definitely some luck involved.”
- William Morgan
“Some people make their own luck by being on top of things and having their ear to the ground.”
- Mike Simmons
“Systems and processes were a way to communicate with my team without being there.”
- William Morgan
“You have to make room in your life to scale a business.”
- William Morgan
“The idea is to learn from your mistakes and improve.”
- William Morgan
“Team members have to be a core-value fit.”
- William Morgan
“If you want to do something well, you have to have rules to guide you.”
- William Morgan
“You have to recognize value.”
- William Morgan
“We want to be the source for distressed properties in our area.”
- William Morgan
“To have access to other people who are running successful businesses at the level you want to be is invaluable.”
- William Morgan about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
“It is like buying speed and hindsight.”
- Mike Simmons about the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Penny Lane Equity
Will’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am pleased to welcome Sean Morrissey to the show. Sean began as a buy and hold real estate investor in 2003 with a two-bedroom condo in Hanover Park, IL. Having earned his Illinois real estate broker license in 2007, Sean survived the market crash and assisted homeowners throughout the Chicagoland area and opened Chicagoland Realty Group Partners LLC in 2011. Since that time, Sean has managed over 700+ rental transactions, 200+ homes, and owns and manages his own rental property portfolio in the western suburbs of the Chicagoland area. Sean focuses the majority of his time in growing and managing his real estate portfolio while hosting a podcast named Landlording for Life.
I am always so interested in how and why people get into real estate investing, so Sean started by sharing his background with us. He said he graduated from Purdue University with a BA in Restaurant Management and joined the Peace Corps where he worked in Western Kenya. When he returned home and began working in restaurant management, his dad introduced him to a book about using real estate investments as tax shelters. Sean started joining REIAs to talk to investors and landlords, and bought his first investment property in June of 2003 in the Chicagoland area.
I asked Sean to explain his experience with the Peace Corps and what led him to choose that before starting his corporate work life. He said he was involved in a student exchange program in college which got him interested in international travel and helping others. He was stationed in western Kenya at a technical college helping students work with computers and doing many community outreach projects. Sean said it was an awesome experience and he would love to go back someday soon.
I wanted Sean to explain what led him to get his broker’s license and what he considers the advantages are to do so for a real estate investor. His thought process was that he would have access to the MLS and more deals, and be a better investor. Sean said it made a lot of sense to pursue his license at that time because there was no Zillow or Redfin, which has made a lot of the property information public now. Until 2009, he was still working full-time in the restaurant business, so working more as a realtor initially helped him to figure out how he was going to transition to real estate investing full-time.
As Sean has had his own property management company in the past, we talked quite a bit about common mistakes made by investors when managing their own properties, size of portfolios, and why he sold his company. Sean’s opinion is that a newer investor should manage their own properties until they get over ten doors in their portfolio so that they understand the rigors of the job and learn from any mistakes made. He also talked a lot about what their criteria was for screening tenants, which is very helpful for those landlords who self-manage.
I asked Sean to explain why he has shifted toward an investor-centered model, rather than focusing on his brokerage work or continuing in the property management field. He went into great detail about the several ways you can benefit financially from buy and hold investing versus other types, and also the time and work investment of each.
Sean shares some of his struggles as a landlord, specifics about his business dealings, property management tactics, and so much more! You will not want to miss this fantastic, value-filled episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Ultimately, it is through the experiences where you get burned that you learn the most.”
- Sean Morrissey
“I’m more of a lifestyle-focused guy these days.”
- Sean Morrissey
“If you are not re-creating your business systems every five years, you are going to fall behind.”
- Sean Morrissey
“The use of virtual assistants is very scalable.”
- Sean Morrissey
“At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.”
- Sean Morrissey
“Investors with small portfolios need to put aside money for capital expenditures.”
- Sean Morrissey
“Keep up with your repairs.”
- Sean Morrissey
“All I heard is that I am right.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you can see the bigger picture of how you are building passive income, you can build generational wealth through buy and hold investing.”
- Sean Morrissey
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Landlording for Life Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am pleased to welcome Sean Morrissey to the show. Sean began as a buy and hold real estate investor in 2003 with a two-bedroom condo in Hanover Park, IL. Having earned his Illinois real estate broker license in 2007, Sean survived the market crash and assisted homeowners throughout the Chicagoland area and opened Chicagoland Realty Group Partners LLC in 2011. Since that time, Sean has managed over 700+ rental transactions, 200+ homes, and owns and manages his own rental property portfolio in the western suburbs of the Chicagoland area. Sean focuses the majority of his time in growing and managing his real estate portfolio while hosting a podcast named Landlording for Life.
I am always so interested in how and why people get into real estate investing, so Sean started by sharing his background with us. He said he graduated from Purdue University with a BA in Restaurant Management and joined the Peace Corps where he worked in Western Kenya. When he returned home and began working in restaurant management, his dad introduced him to a book about using real estate investments as tax shelters. Sean started joining REIAs to talk to investors and landlords, and bought his first investment property in June of 2003 in the Chicagoland area.
I asked Sean to explain his experience with the Peace Corps and what led him to choose that before starting his corporate work life. He said he was involved in a student exchange program in college which got him interested in international travel and helping others. He was stationed in western Kenya at a technical college helping students work with computers and doing many community outreach projects. Sean said it was an awesome experience and he would love to go back someday soon.
I wanted Sean to explain what led him to get his broker’s license and what he considers the advantages are to do so for a real estate investor. His thought process was that he would have access to the MLS and more deals, and be a better investor. Sean said it made a lot of sense to pursue his license at that time because there was no Zillow or Redfin, which has made a lot of the property information public now. Until 2009, he was still working full-time in the restaurant business, so working more as a realtor initially helped him to figure out how he was going to transition to real estate investing full-time.
As Sean has had his own property management company in the past, we talked quite a bit about common mistakes made by investors when managing their own properties, size of portfolios, and why he sold his company. Sean’s opinion is that a newer investor should manage their own properties until they get over ten doors in their portfolio so that they understand the rigors of the job and learn from any mistakes made. He also talked a lot about what their criteria was for screening tenants, which is very helpful for those landlords who self-manage.
I asked Sean to explain why he has shifted toward an investor-centered model, rather than focusing on his brokerage work or continuing in the property management field. He went into great detail about the several ways you can benefit financially from buy and hold investing versus other types, and also the time and work investment of each.
Sean shares some of his struggles as a landlord, specifics about his business dealings, property management tactics, and so much more! You will not want to miss this fantastic, value-filled episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Ultimately, it is through the experiences where you get burned that you learn the most.”
- Sean Morrissey
“I’m more of a lifestyle-focused guy these days.”
- Sean Morrissey
“If you are not re-creating your business systems every five years, you are going to fall behind.”
- Sean Morrissey
“The use of virtual assistants is very scalable.”
- Sean Morrissey
“At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.”
- Sean Morrissey
“Investors with small portfolios need to put aside money for capital expenditures.”
- Sean Morrissey
“Keep up with your repairs.”
- Sean Morrissey
“All I heard is that I am right.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you can see the bigger picture of how you are building passive income, you can build generational wealth through buy and hold investing.”
- Sean Morrissey
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Landlording for Life Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
This is going to be kind of a different episode today as I present my recent interview with my friend, Danny Johnson, on his show, the Flipping Junkie Podcast. Danny wanted to have me on specifically to talk about Flip Hacking Live and what attendees of this event could expect. In the interview, I share my own experiences with being involved with this event and the benefits of making the investment to attend, namely, how to move the needle in your real estate investing business.
Danny started off by asking me to share my background and how I got into the real estate investing business. I stressed how vital it was for my business and personal growth to join the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group. The same year I joined, they decided to start holding an annual event, utilizing some of their most successful members as speakers in order to help real estate investors grow their businesses. I really want people to understand that these investors have nothing to sell and are giving the participants the “meat and potatoes” of their strategies without having to pay for anything beyond the cost of admission.
The speakers at Flip Hacking live cover subjects such as how to talk to sellers, how to find deals, different types of creative financing, marketing ideas that really help people set themselves apart, running a business remotely, and so much more. All of the concepts presented can be applied to a person’s individual situation and business no matter what scale they are at or what their goals are.
I have talked to dozens of investors and most everyone feels that we are headed into some kind of a dip in the housing market, most likely moving into more of a buyer’s market. My presentation at this years Flip Hacking Live is titled, “What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me During the Last Downturn,” and I am going to speak about all of the things I wish I would have known when I started in this business during the last difficult housing market.
Flip Hacking Live is not an ordinary three-day webinar. There are going to be breakout sessions, one-on-one coaching, networking sessions, so it is going to be very interactive. The majority of the speakers are pure real estate investors, but we will also have some big-name, keynote speakers that are incredibly motivational and inspire us to be better people.
This is the first time that we have held Flip Hacking Live as a virtual event and I wanted to talk about all benefits of doing it this way. First of all, you aren’t going to be worrying about being in a big group, shaking hands, and being less than social distanced from other participants. You don’t need to pay for plane tickets, a hotel room for several days, or restaurant meals, so there is a significant cost saving there. You can sit in your office or at home and completely immerse yourself in the experience. I promise you we will not expect you to sit and listen to speaker after speaker as there will be different sessions and it will be super interactive. Again, this is not a standard webinar. The speakers are all flying to a location and will be on stage during their presentations so it is going to be as Flip Hacking Live-like as possible!
In the spirit of my talk this year, if I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be “Make the investment and go to Flip Hacking Live!” I hope everyone listening will join us this year on October 15th, 16th, and 17th! We are offering access to all of the past event talks when you get your ticket by visiting FlipHackingLive.com, promo code, Danny!
Notable Quotes:
“It was just horsepower getting me through deals.”
- Mike Simmons
“I was really stumped on how to scale beyond where I was so I finally broke down and joined a mastermind group.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you surround yourself with people who have moved beyond your thinking and have done bigger and better things, it opens your mind to what you didn’t know and what you could be doing in your business to get better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Wherever you are, you can get better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Why don’t we take some of our most successful members, put them on stage, and have them lay out, from end to end, specifically what they are doing in their business that is working for them?”
- Mike Simmons
“The speakers are just there to give you the playbook for what they do best.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you are around people that have a giving spirit, like people in the 7 Figure Flipping organization, it is amazing what you can take away from an event like this.”
- Mike Simmons
“Because the mastermind did so much for me, I felt like I wanted to be involved in Flip Hacking Live because I want to help people.”
- Mike Simmons
“I’ve seen the transformation enough to know it is real.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is not possible to go to Flip Hacking Live and not learn something.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Flipping Junkie Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
This is going to be kind of a different episode today as I present my recent interview with my friend, Danny Johnson, on his show, the Flipping Junkie Podcast. Danny wanted to have me on specifically to talk about Flip Hacking Live and what attendees of this event could expect. In the interview, I share my own experiences with being involved with this event and the benefits of making the investment to attend, namely, how to move the needle in your real estate investing business.
Danny started off by asking me to share my background and how I got into the real estate investing business. I stressed how vital it was for my business and personal growth to join the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group. The same year I joined, they decided to start holding an annual event, utilizing some of their most successful members as speakers in order to help real estate investors grow their businesses. I really want people to understand that these investors have nothing to sell and are giving the participants the “meat and potatoes” of their strategies without having to pay for anything beyond the cost of admission.
The speakers at Flip Hacking live cover subjects such as how to talk to sellers, how to find deals, different types of creative financing, marketing ideas that really help people set themselves apart, running a business remotely, and so much more. All of the concepts presented can be applied to a person’s individual situation and business no matter what scale they are at or what their goals are.
I have talked to dozens of investors and most everyone feels that we are headed into some kind of a dip in the housing market, most likely moving into more of a buyer’s market. My presentation at this years Flip Hacking Live is titled, “What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me During the Last Downturn,” and I am going to speak about all of the things I wish I would have known when I started in this business during the last difficult housing market.
Flip Hacking Live is not an ordinary three-day webinar. There are going to be breakout sessions, one-on-one coaching, networking sessions, so it is going to be very interactive. The majority of the speakers are pure real estate investors, but we will also have some big-name, keynote speakers that are incredibly motivational and inspire us to be better people.
This is the first time that we have held Flip Hacking Live as a virtual event and I wanted to talk about all benefits of doing it this way. First of all, you aren’t going to be worrying about being in a big group, shaking hands, and being less than social distanced from other participants. You don’t need to pay for plane tickets, a hotel room for several days, or restaurant meals, so there is a significant cost saving there. You can sit in your office or at home and completely immerse yourself in the experience. I promise you we will not expect you to sit and listen to speaker after speaker as there will be different sessions and it will be super interactive. Again, this is not a standard webinar. The speakers are all flying to a location and will be on stage during their presentations so it is going to be as Flip Hacking Live-like as possible!
In the spirit of my talk this year, if I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be “Make the investment and go to Flip Hacking Live!” I hope everyone listening will join us this year on October 15th, 16th, and 17th! We are offering access to all of the past event talks when you get your ticket by visiting FlipHackingLive.com, promo code, Danny!
Notable Quotes:
“It was just horsepower getting me through deals.”
- Mike Simmons
“I was really stumped on how to scale beyond where I was so I finally broke down and joined a mastermind group.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you surround yourself with people who have moved beyond your thinking and have done bigger and better things, it opens your mind to what you didn’t know and what you could be doing in your business to get better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Wherever you are, you can get better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Why don’t we take some of our most successful members, put them on stage, and have them lay out, from end to end, specifically what they are doing in their business that is working for them?”
- Mike Simmons
“The speakers are just there to give you the playbook for what they do best.”
- Mike Simmons
“When you are around people that have a giving spirit, like people in the 7 Figure Flipping organization, it is amazing what you can take away from an event like this.”
- Mike Simmons
“Because the mastermind did so much for me, I felt like I wanted to be involved in Flip Hacking Live because I want to help people.”
- Mike Simmons
“I’ve seen the transformation enough to know it is real.”
- Mike Simmons
“It is not possible to go to Flip Hacking Live and not learn something.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Flipping Junkie Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview fellow 7 Figure Flipping member, Sheri Duignan. Sheri has been involved in real estate investing since 2004, beginning with the rental of her own home when she was called to move across the company for her job. Over the next few years, having experienced both the highs and lows of real estate, she decided to self-educate through reading and attending seminars and then launched her own business. In order to do this, she resigned her District Vice President position after 18 years with this company but is now happily wholesaling and flipping houses full-time.
After the almost accidental start in real estate by renting her own home in Atlanta, Sheri talks about the transition from her corporate job into real estate investing. She purchased her next two rentals in North Carolina because she went to school and also had family in the area. She talked about looking for investor-friendly agents to find these properties and how once she found one, he ended up managing her properties for him and built a business out of it.
Because Sheri started out as a buy-and-hold investor, I asked her what made her transition into other aspects of investing. When her Atlanta home came vacant after the same tenants for 10 years, she and her husband camped out in the house while they nearly completely rehabbed it to rent again. Sheri really enjoyed the process and ended up taking some classes that convinced her she should be flipping and wholesaling houses in addition to her rental properties.
I asked Sheri to share some of the difficulties she has had in her time investing. She talked about how when she first started investing full-time after leaving her corporate job, she was very frustrated and wondered if she had made a big mistake because she was doing so much work and spending a ton on advertising with very little return. Just when she was ready to give up, she ended up closing on two deals, which completely changed her mindset and restored her confidence.
Because she shared these struggles with us, I asked Sheri what is working best for her now with lead generation. She said she is still successful with direct mail, but she is finding networking to be very effective. Sheri joined Business Networking International which is a referral company that incentivizes its members to refer to one another in the group. She explained the current deal she is working on that she obtained through this network, and went into detail describing the numbers and the creative financing she was able to utilize. Sheri also explained that her goal was to finance more rentals with the profits she is making from flipping houses to increase her passive income.
Here is just another example of an incredibly generous business person who is willing to lay it all out honestly in an effort to help other investors, so don’t miss this fantastic episode with Sheri Duignan!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate is really my passion and what makes me excited. There are so many facets to it.”
- Sheri Duignan
“I was tired of corporate politics and wanted to work for myself.”
- Sheri Duignan
“You just have to be patient and have some grit.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Thank God for my husband… he was such a great cheerleader and kept telling me to ‘Go, Go, Go!’”
- Sheri Duignan
“You can’t let one property define you.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Where I am really finding more success with lead generation is through networking.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Relationships and networking take more time and energy, but in the long run, the return on the investment is astronomical.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are an entrepreneur, it can’t be ‘I can’t’... it has to be ‘How can I?’”
- Mike Simmons
“You can go one of two ways when life gets tough - you can quit or you can buckle down and work harder.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t be bashful about what you are doing. Talk about it.”
- Mike Simmons
“My advice to new investors - Just get started.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Joining 7 Figure Flipping is probably the best thing I have done, out of everything I have done.”
- Sheri Duignan
“I resisted masterminds and coaching for years because I was being pig headed and thought I could just figure it out.”
- Mike Simmons
“I love your ‘I will figure this out and win’ attitude!”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Business Network International
Real Results Realty LLC
Sheri’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview fellow 7 Figure Flipping member, Sheri Duignan. Sheri has been involved in real estate investing since 2004, beginning with the rental of her own home when she was called to move across the company for her job. Over the next few years, having experienced both the highs and lows of real estate, she decided to self-educate through reading and attending seminars and then launched her own business. In order to do this, she resigned her District Vice President position after 18 years with this company but is now happily wholesaling and flipping houses full-time.
After the almost accidental start in real estate by renting her own home in Atlanta, Sheri talks about the transition from her corporate job into real estate investing. She purchased her next two rentals in North Carolina because she went to school and also had family in the area. She talked about looking for investor-friendly agents to find these properties and how once she found one, he ended up managing her properties for him and built a business out of it.
Because Sheri started out as a buy-and-hold investor, I asked her what made her transition into other aspects of investing. When her Atlanta home came vacant after the same tenants for 10 years, she and her husband camped out in the house while they nearly completely rehabbed it to rent again. Sheri really enjoyed the process and ended up taking some classes that convinced her she should be flipping and wholesaling houses in addition to her rental properties.
I asked Sheri to share some of the difficulties she has had in her time investing. She talked about how when she first started investing full-time after leaving her corporate job, she was very frustrated and wondered if she had made a big mistake because she was doing so much work and spending a ton on advertising with very little return. Just when she was ready to give up, she ended up closing on two deals, which completely changed her mindset and restored her confidence.
Because she shared these struggles with us, I asked Sheri what is working best for her now with lead generation. She said she is still successful with direct mail, but she is finding networking to be very effective. Sheri joined Business Networking International which is a referral company that incentivizes its members to refer to one another in the group. She explained the current deal she is working on that she obtained through this network, and went into detail describing the numbers and the creative financing she was able to utilize. Sheri also explained that her goal was to finance more rentals with the profits she is making from flipping houses to increase her passive income.
Here is just another example of an incredibly generous business person who is willing to lay it all out honestly in an effort to help other investors, so don’t miss this fantastic episode with Sheri Duignan!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate is really my passion and what makes me excited. There are so many facets to it.”
- Sheri Duignan
“I was tired of corporate politics and wanted to work for myself.”
- Sheri Duignan
“You just have to be patient and have some grit.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Thank God for my husband… he was such a great cheerleader and kept telling me to ‘Go, Go, Go!’”
- Sheri Duignan
“You can’t let one property define you.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Where I am really finding more success with lead generation is through networking.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Relationships and networking take more time and energy, but in the long run, the return on the investment is astronomical.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are an entrepreneur, it can’t be ‘I can’t’... it has to be ‘How can I?’”
- Mike Simmons
“You can go one of two ways when life gets tough - you can quit or you can buckle down and work harder.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t be bashful about what you are doing. Talk about it.”
- Mike Simmons
“My advice to new investors - Just get started.”
- Sheri Duignan
“Joining 7 Figure Flipping is probably the best thing I have done, out of everything I have done.”
- Sheri Duignan
“I resisted masterminds and coaching for years because I was being pig headed and thought I could just figure it out.”
- Mike Simmons
“I love your ‘I will figure this out and win’ attitude!”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Business Network International
Real Results Realty LLC
Sheri’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Ok guys, thank you for joining me, thank you for being here on Just Start Real Estate! I’m excited to have you and I’m excited to be with you for another Thursday show. This is the Thursday show that didn’t exist a month ago as we just started doing two shows per week and I am psyched about it! I am trying to turn about the volume on the value that I am offering you on these shows and the Thursday show is something I am really happy about. I am happy to be bringing you more content that I think is going to move the needle for your business. Today, we are continuing our Flip Hacking Live Rewind series and I am just plucking the best of the best, the presentations I really think you missed out on by not seeing them live and giving them to you here. Today we have a presentation from 2018 given by my mentor, Andy McFarland, who I really look up to in this industry, as a person, a businessman, a father, and a husband. If you have had any exposure to Andy or seen him present, you know what I am talking about - he is absolutely the best and smartest of guys. Today, I am bringing you his presentation on Seller Financing. Guys, seller financing is going to be humongous in the next year or two. It’s big now, it has always been big, but I think it is going to be especially impactful and useful in your real estate tool belt for you so that you are able to do these types of deals. There is nobody better, no one that has been doing it longer at such a high level than Andy and he is the perfect guy to lay this out for you so that you can start doing seller financing deals.
Pay attention to this one - Andy really brings it in this presentation and I know it is going to blow your mind! Seller financing, as Andy explains it, is easy to follow and easy to implement and you should be doing this in your business!
Notable Quotes:
“Gotta learn to look at all the angles.”
- MacGyver
“You can’t effectively sell what you don’t believe.”
“No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“There is no microwave trust.”
“You show that you care by active listening.”
“Listening is not waiting to talk.”
“Start and end your day with this: Have I done any good in the world today?”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Andy’s Website
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Ok guys, thank you for joining me, thank you for being here on Just Start Real Estate! I’m excited to have you and I’m excited to be with you for another Thursday show. This is the Thursday show that didn’t exist a month ago as we just started doing two shows per week and I am psyched about it! I am trying to turn about the volume on the value that I am offering you on these shows and the Thursday show is something I am really happy about. I am happy to be bringing you more content that I think is going to move the needle for your business. Today, we are continuing our Flip Hacking Live Rewind series and I am just plucking the best of the best, the presentations I really think you missed out on by not seeing them live and giving them to you here. Today we have a presentation from 2018 given by my mentor, Andy McFarland, who I really look up to in this industry, as a person, a businessman, a father, and a husband. If you have had any exposure to Andy or seen him present, you know what I am talking about - he is absolutely the best and smartest of guys. Today, I am bringing you his presentation on Seller Financing. Guys, seller financing is going to be humongous in the next year or two. It’s big now, it has always been big, but I think it is going to be especially impactful and useful in your real estate tool belt for you so that you are able to do these types of deals. There is nobody better, no one that has been doing it longer at such a high level than Andy and he is the perfect guy to lay this out for you so that you can start doing seller financing deals.
Pay attention to this one - Andy really brings it in this presentation and I know it is going to blow your mind! Seller financing, as Andy explains it, is easy to follow and easy to implement and you should be doing this in your business!
Notable Quotes:
“Gotta learn to look at all the angles.”
- MacGyver
“You can’t effectively sell what you don’t believe.”
“No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“There is no microwave trust.”
“You show that you care by active listening.”
“Listening is not waiting to talk.”
“Start and end your day with this: Have I done any good in the world today?”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Andy’s Website
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Roofstock CEO, Gary Beasley. Roofstock is a leading real estate investment marketplace that he co-founded in 2015. Gary caught the entrepreneurial bug while earning an MBA at Stanford, and spent most of his career building businesses in the real estate, hospitality, and tech sectors.
We began as we often do by diving into Gary’s background. He talked about growing up in small midwestern towns learning a bit about the business from his dad who owned a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Gary said things really changed for him when he went to school at Northwestern and how the environment really opened his eyes to the different possibilities available to him. He decided to go to business school after working a couple of years in real estate, thinking that he wanted to do something different, but ending up right back in real estate after earning his MBA from Stanford.
Gary talked about his early work experience and the different roles that he played. He talked about how much he learned and how his confidence grew when he was able to perform duties that he had not done previously. After several years of working as both a CFO and president for ZipRealty, he decided to take a year off to work on various projects. He took some time to teach some entrepreneur courses at Stanford and ended up making a proposal to a solar panel technology company that led to another leadership role.
Gary took some time to explain the circumstances that led him to starting Roofstock and the advantages to their platform. Some of these include fast sales, costs associated with selling homes are lower than through traditional means, there is no down time for the investment, and very little disruption to the tenant. As part of this discussion, I talked a lot about why using Roofstock is desirable for an investor in my situation. Gary outlined several of the benefits and guarantees that are integral to the Roofstock marketplace.
We then discussed where Gary thinks the housing market is headed. He said that it is so hard to predict the future because there are so many variables, but it is very interesting that the housing market is still so hot after several months of the pandemic. He stressed that because of the pandemic, people are valuing their homestead more than ever and that is having an interesting impact on the market.
Gary has an incredibly interesting background and was a great guest, so please join us for this uber-informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“One of the best things about college is how it expands your horizons and your viewpoint of what is possible.”
- Mike Simmons
“I encourage people to view college as a time of exploration and not necessarily as a practical, pre-professional period.”
- Gary Beasley
“College really teaches you how to think.”
- Gary Beasley
“Early in your career, do things for the experience, not for the money.”
- Gary Beasley
“The more difficult the decision, the less it matters what you decide.”
- Gary Beasley
“You lean on experts that can help you.”
- Gary Beasley
“Make sure you are surrounded by the right people.”
- Gary Beasley
“Embrace the process and everything will be okay.”
- Gary Beasley
“If you stay where you are comfortable, I hope you are comfortable where you currently are because that is where you will remain.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to break down the geographic barriers to real estate investing.”
- Gary Beasley
“When you are building a marketplace, it has to be on a foundation of trust.”
- Gary Beasley
“It has to be trust first, then growth, and then profitability.”
- Gary Beasley
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Roofstock
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Roofstock CEO, Gary Beasley. Roofstock is a leading real estate investment marketplace that he co-founded in 2015. Gary caught the entrepreneurial bug while earning an MBA at Stanford, and spent most of his career building businesses in the real estate, hospitality, and tech sectors.
We began as we often do by diving into Gary’s background. He talked about growing up in small midwestern towns learning a bit about the business from his dad who owned a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Gary said things really changed for him when he went to school at Northwestern and how the environment really opened his eyes to the different possibilities available to him. He decided to go to business school after working a couple of years in real estate, thinking that he wanted to do something different, but ending up right back in real estate after earning his MBA from Stanford.
Gary talked about his early work experience and the different roles that he played. He talked about how much he learned and how his confidence grew when he was able to perform duties that he had not done previously. After several years of working as both a CFO and president for ZipRealty, he decided to take a year off to work on various projects. He took some time to teach some entrepreneur courses at Stanford and ended up making a proposal to a solar panel technology company that led to another leadership role.
Gary took some time to explain the circumstances that led him to starting Roofstock and the advantages to their platform. Some of these include fast sales, costs associated with selling homes are lower than through traditional means, there is no down time for the investment, and very little disruption to the tenant. As part of this discussion, I talked a lot about why using Roofstock is desirable for an investor in my situation. Gary outlined several of the benefits and guarantees that are integral to the Roofstock marketplace.
We then discussed where Gary thinks the housing market is headed. He said that it is so hard to predict the future because there are so many variables, but it is very interesting that the housing market is still so hot after several months of the pandemic. He stressed that because of the pandemic, people are valuing their homestead more than ever and that is having an interesting impact on the market.
Gary has an incredibly interesting background and was a great guest, so please join us for this uber-informative episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“One of the best things about college is how it expands your horizons and your viewpoint of what is possible.”
- Mike Simmons
“I encourage people to view college as a time of exploration and not necessarily as a practical, pre-professional period.”
- Gary Beasley
“College really teaches you how to think.”
- Gary Beasley
“Early in your career, do things for the experience, not for the money.”
- Gary Beasley
“The more difficult the decision, the less it matters what you decide.”
- Gary Beasley
“You lean on experts that can help you.”
- Gary Beasley
“Make sure you are surrounded by the right people.”
- Gary Beasley
“Embrace the process and everything will be okay.”
- Gary Beasley
“If you stay where you are comfortable, I hope you are comfortable where you currently are because that is where you will remain.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to break down the geographic barriers to real estate investing.”
- Gary Beasley
“When you are building a marketplace, it has to be on a foundation of trust.”
- Gary Beasley
“It has to be trust first, then growth, and then profitability.”
- Gary Beasley
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Roofstock
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I have for you today an awesome, handpicked presentation. These are like the best of the best presentations that we had at past Flip Hacking Live and I just want to show you what you are missing out on if you are not going. If you are going, it is something to look forward to because I have a presentation today that my friend, Adam Rae, did a couple of years ago and it is all about wealth accumulation, wealth building, and creating a life inside of real estate that gives you the opportunity to live the life that you really want with freedom of time, financial freedom, and how to go about doing that. He gets into a little bit of tax stuff and things like that so it is really good, solid information that you can actually utilize right away.
This is why I am bringing you these presentations as part of our Flip Hacking Live Rewind Series. Most of these have not been released to the public or given away for free - usually, you have to pay to get the presentation recordings. I am giving them to you free because I really want you to understand what goes on at this event! If you haven’t gotten your tickets, you can grab them at the link below! Go grab your tickets, but in the meantime, check out this presentation from 2018 which is absolutely applicable today. As a matter of fact, it might be even more applicable now than it was then! Check it out, get ready to take notes… this one is awesome!
Notable Quotes:
“Why are we all here? Why does it matter?”
“All models are wrong; some are useful.”
- George E. P. Box
“You actually have to do the work to apply some of the principles and work it out with your values, your life, your business.”
“I think you need to back up and define what wealth is for you.”
“What you are seeing online is a very curated view of what someone else considers what wealth is.”
“It’s not about the money for me, it’s about the time.”
“Passive income is mailbox money - it is going to pay you regardless if you show up or not.”
“Don’t mistake assets for passive income.”
“The purpose of wealth-building is to buy back time.”
“How incredible is the wealth in this room when we not only get to bring money in but it is about sending it out to work for the people that we love.”
“I have been in other groups, but I don’t know another group that has the character, the values, the camaraderie, and the transparency.”
“It’s about growing as people on a long journey to wealth so that we can all achieve and be the people we were made to be.”
“The real estate professional piece [of the tax code] is where it gets really sexy.”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Adam’s Website
KBKG
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
I have for you today an awesome, handpicked presentation. These are like the best of the best presentations that we had at past Flip Hacking Live and I just want to show you what you are missing out on if you are not going. If you are going, it is something to look forward to because I have a presentation today that my friend, Adam Rae, did a couple of years ago and it is all about wealth accumulation, wealth building, and creating a life inside of real estate that gives you the opportunity to live the life that you really want with freedom of time, financial freedom, and how to go about doing that. He gets into a little bit of tax stuff and things like that so it is really good, solid information that you can actually utilize right away.
This is why I am bringing you these presentations as part of our Flip Hacking Live Rewind Series. Most of these have not been released to the public or given away for free - usually, you have to pay to get the presentation recordings. I am giving them to you free because I really want you to understand what goes on at this event! If you haven’t gotten your tickets, you can grab them at the link below! Go grab your tickets, but in the meantime, check out this presentation from 2018 which is absolutely applicable today. As a matter of fact, it might be even more applicable now than it was then! Check it out, get ready to take notes… this one is awesome!
Notable Quotes:
“Why are we all here? Why does it matter?”
“All models are wrong; some are useful.”
- George E. P. Box
“You actually have to do the work to apply some of the principles and work it out with your values, your life, your business.”
“I think you need to back up and define what wealth is for you.”
“What you are seeing online is a very curated view of what someone else considers what wealth is.”
“It’s not about the money for me, it’s about the time.”
“Passive income is mailbox money - it is going to pay you regardless if you show up or not.”
“Don’t mistake assets for passive income.”
“The purpose of wealth-building is to buy back time.”
“How incredible is the wealth in this room when we not only get to bring money in but it is about sending it out to work for the people that we love.”
“I have been in other groups, but I don’t know another group that has the character, the values, the camaraderie, and the transparency.”
“It’s about growing as people on a long journey to wealth so that we can all achieve and be the people we were made to be.”
“The real estate professional piece [of the tax code] is where it gets really sexy.”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Adam’s Website
KBKG
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Avery Carl, who bought her first rental property at age 26 on a $37,000 salary. Through strategically investing in short-term rental properties in mature vacation rental markets, she was a millionaire by the age of 31. She now owns a portfolio of 28 properties and is the CEO and founder of The Short Term Shop, a real estate team that helps investors acquire short-term rental properties in the most recession-resistant markets, and trains them on the same methods that led her out of the corporate rat race and into financial freedom.
Avery begins by telling us about her background in which she worked as a marketing manager in the music industry. Completely uneducated in real estate investing, she and her husband decided to purchase a home for a long-term rental in the hopes of selling it to pay for college for their future kids. Quickly, they realized that they should do more investing and came across the idea of short-term rentals. They have now grown their portfolio into 28 properties, split between short and long-term rentals. Avery’s business, The Short Term Shop, grew from the necessity of having to become an expert in this type of investing as so few people are and she found very little support.
Avery talks about how her focus has been regional, driveable, vacation-rental markets because they are more recession-proof. Very applicable currently, as we are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, these types of rentals are very attractive when people are unable to or cannot afford to get on a plane, but still want to get away from home. She said that an easy way to think of areas that might be attractive to have short-term rentals are places you may have visited as a child when you rented a house rather than stayed in a hotel. Avery also said that metro markets can be undesirable because of regulations imposed stemming from the competition of nearby hotel markets.
I asked Avery to talk about what I perceived is the downside of short-term rentals, primarily having to deal with people and answer questions very frequently. She said that many different software platforms have risen out of this fairly new type of investing called channel managers that automate a lot of this process. Avery also said that providing as much information as possible in your Airbnb or VRBO listing to try to answer as many questions ahead of time as possible. She also explained all of the technology they have in place for monitoring their rentals.
I wanted Avery to explain the finances involved for the different markets that she is in. She went through the numbers she has seen in her experience and some of the possible expenses, such as property management, which she does herself. Avery said that more bedrooms make for a higher return on investment, so we talked about this and other details a bit.
I wanted Avery to talk about some of the mistakes she had experienced herself or seen with her clients that new investors should be aware of. Evaluating properties to buy is different in that you want to look at asking price versus what you can make in rentals, instead of what you would make when you sell it. As far as management, she said you have to be aware that because the renters are on vacation, they may not be on their best behavior, but that doesn’t mean they are trashing your place and you have to be careful about calling them out on it. Avery also talked about some of the software tools available to short-term rental investors for management.
I then asked Avery to explain to our listeners the service that The Short Term Shop provides. She said that she is a realtor and has teams in three different markets in Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. They help investors make sure that the properties they are evaluating would make profitable short-term rentals and walk them through the whole process to run a vacation rental.
Even though Avery owns and runs a business to help people get started in this kind of investing, she was completely transparent and gave us all the tips and tools she uses for her own properties! Don’t miss this fast-paced interview, chock-full of great information with Avery Carl!
Notable Quotes:
“Short-term rentals provide turbo-charged income.”
- Avery Carl
“You definitely want to treat your cleaners like gold because they are your eyes and ears.”
- Avery Carl
“Don’t micromanage.”
- Avery Carl
“The more people you can sleep, the more money you can make, and the higher the cash-on-cash return.”
- Avery Carl
“It’s better than sitting in an office every day.”
- Avery Carl
“Normal real estate investors are looking for super deals all of the time.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
The Short Term Shop
AirDNA
Mashvisor
KeyData
YourPorter
IGMS
TurnoverBnB
Beyond Pricing
PriceLabs
Wheelhouse
Airbnb
VRBO
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the opportunity to interview Avery Carl, who bought her first rental property at age 26 on a $37,000 salary. Through strategically investing in short-term rental properties in mature vacation rental markets, she was a millionaire by the age of 31. She now owns a portfolio of 28 properties and is the CEO and founder of The Short Term Shop, a real estate team that helps investors acquire short-term rental properties in the most recession-resistant markets, and trains them on the same methods that led her out of the corporate rat race and into financial freedom.
Avery begins by telling us about her background in which she worked as a marketing manager in the music industry. Completely uneducated in real estate investing, she and her husband decided to purchase a home for a long-term rental in the hopes of selling it to pay for college for their future kids. Quickly, they realized that they should do more investing and came across the idea of short-term rentals. They have now grown their portfolio into 28 properties, split between short and long-term rentals. Avery’s business, The Short Term Shop, grew from the necessity of having to become an expert in this type of investing as so few people are and she found very little support.
Avery talks about how her focus has been regional, driveable, vacation-rental markets because they are more recession-proof. Very applicable currently, as we are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, these types of rentals are very attractive when people are unable to or cannot afford to get on a plane, but still want to get away from home. She said that an easy way to think of areas that might be attractive to have short-term rentals are places you may have visited as a child when you rented a house rather than stayed in a hotel. Avery also said that metro markets can be undesirable because of regulations imposed stemming from the competition of nearby hotel markets.
I asked Avery to talk about what I perceived is the downside of short-term rentals, primarily having to deal with people and answer questions very frequently. She said that many different software platforms have risen out of this fairly new type of investing called channel managers that automate a lot of this process. Avery also said that providing as much information as possible in your Airbnb or VRBO listing to try to answer as many questions ahead of time as possible. She also explained all of the technology they have in place for monitoring their rentals.
I wanted Avery to explain the finances involved for the different markets that she is in. She went through the numbers she has seen in her experience and some of the possible expenses, such as property management, which she does herself. Avery said that more bedrooms make for a higher return on investment, so we talked about this and other details a bit.
I wanted Avery to talk about some of the mistakes she had experienced herself or seen with her clients that new investors should be aware of. Evaluating properties to buy is different in that you want to look at asking price versus what you can make in rentals, instead of what you would make when you sell it. As far as management, she said you have to be aware that because the renters are on vacation, they may not be on their best behavior, but that doesn’t mean they are trashing your place and you have to be careful about calling them out on it. Avery also talked about some of the software tools available to short-term rental investors for management.
I then asked Avery to explain to our listeners the service that The Short Term Shop provides. She said that she is a realtor and has teams in three different markets in Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama. They help investors make sure that the properties they are evaluating would make profitable short-term rentals and walk them through the whole process to run a vacation rental.
Even though Avery owns and runs a business to help people get started in this kind of investing, she was completely transparent and gave us all the tips and tools she uses for her own properties! Don’t miss this fast-paced interview, chock-full of great information with Avery Carl!
Notable Quotes:
“Short-term rentals provide turbo-charged income.”
- Avery Carl
“You definitely want to treat your cleaners like gold because they are your eyes and ears.”
- Avery Carl
“Don’t micromanage.”
- Avery Carl
“The more people you can sleep, the more money you can make, and the higher the cash-on-cash return.”
- Avery Carl
“It’s better than sitting in an office every day.”
- Avery Carl
“Normal real estate investors are looking for super deals all of the time.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
The Short Term Shop
AirDNA
Mashvisor
KeyData
YourPorter
IGMS
TurnoverBnB
Beyond Pricing
PriceLabs
Wheelhouse
Airbnb
VRBO
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I have another great presentation from a past Flip Hacking Live in our Thursday Flip Hacking Live Rewind series where I share a little glimpse of what you can expect to experience at this event. If you already went ahead and got your ticket, you are going to love it and I am just going to prove it to you by showing you past events; people who spoke, people who will be speaking again this year so you can see the value before you even show up. If you haven’t gotten your tickets, go grab them! Today, I have Tyler Jensen’s presentation from last year and it is powerful and awesome! If you don’t know who Tyler is, he is a friend of mine who is making a name for himself right now because he is doing 7 Day Flips. That’s right - he is doing full renovation flips in 7 days or less! We are talking about $40,000 renovations, not just minor stuff. It is amazing, especially for those of us who take weeks or months or even a year to do renovations, Tyler is doing it in 7 days. Listen, even if you think that 7 days is just not realistic for you, what if you could just cut your renovation time in half? Imagine how much more productive you would be, imagine how much money you could save on holding costs and all that stuff.
This is a presentation you should really be excited about! Tyler is going to be at Flip Hacking Live again this year, but you will want to listen to this and be ready to take notes because he gives great tips and opens up the playbook on how to flip a house in 7 days.
Notable Quotes:
“You get to choose whether today is the best day ever.”
“I’m here to build castles, not fight dragons.”
“Small questions yield small answers.”
“Money is made in efficiency.”
“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
- Parkinson’s Law
“Our biggest takeaway is planning and people. We had to have both.”
“The battle is no time to sharpen your sword.”
“You can’t soar like an eagle if you hang out with turkeys.”
“I was born for this.”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Tyler’s Website
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Today, I have another great presentation from a past Flip Hacking Live in our Thursday Flip Hacking Live Rewind series where I share a little glimpse of what you can expect to experience at this event. If you already went ahead and got your ticket, you are going to love it and I am just going to prove it to you by showing you past events; people who spoke, people who will be speaking again this year so you can see the value before you even show up. If you haven’t gotten your tickets, go grab them! Today, I have Tyler Jensen’s presentation from last year and it is powerful and awesome! If you don’t know who Tyler is, he is a friend of mine who is making a name for himself right now because he is doing 7 Day Flips. That’s right - he is doing full renovation flips in 7 days or less! We are talking about $40,000 renovations, not just minor stuff. It is amazing, especially for those of us who take weeks or months or even a year to do renovations, Tyler is doing it in 7 days. Listen, even if you think that 7 days is just not realistic for you, what if you could just cut your renovation time in half? Imagine how much more productive you would be, imagine how much money you could save on holding costs and all that stuff.
This is a presentation you should really be excited about! Tyler is going to be at Flip Hacking Live again this year, but you will want to listen to this and be ready to take notes because he gives great tips and opens up the playbook on how to flip a house in 7 days.
Notable Quotes:
“You get to choose whether today is the best day ever.”
“I’m here to build castles, not fight dragons.”
“Small questions yield small answers.”
“Money is made in efficiency.”
“Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.”
- Parkinson’s Law
“Our biggest takeaway is planning and people. We had to have both.”
“The battle is no time to sharpen your sword.”
“You can’t soar like an eagle if you hang out with turkeys.”
“I was born for this.”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Tyler’s Website
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the honor of interviewing my good friend Danny Johnson, who does a great job of introducing himself as we start things off a little bit differently for this show. Danny started flipping houses in 2003, made it successfully through the housing market crash in 2008, and started scaling his business up about 5 years ago. As a software developer prior to flipping houses, Danny started developing real estate investor websites by creating the software called LeadPropeller. Recently, he has developed and released FlipPilot 2.0, which is lead/deal management pipeline software. Danny is also the host of the ever-popular Flipping Junkie Podcast and Flipping Junkie Blog.
Danny shared some details of his personal life and how circumstances really forced him into looking hard at his life and work. He had removed himself from the day-to-day operations of his house flipping business, but he found that this was something he really wanted to change. As he is re-investing himself in real estate investing, he wants to keep things simple and look at his long-term plans for the business’ growth.
I asked Danny to talk about the development of FlipPilot and what drove him to produce that software. Because his background is in software development, it was natural for him to want to create vehicles to help with his investing business. He talked about the whole progression of building the software and the lessons he learned along the way.
Danny talked about how he started the Flipping Junkie Blog as a means to hold himself accountable and to be transparent about the deals he was finding and all of the associated numbers. He ended up writing a book titled Flipping Houses Exposed to share all of the information he learned during this experience. But he wasn’t happy with the conversion ratio, which is what led him to the development of FlipPilot. We wanted to dig into the whys behind the lack of success in converting deals and solve it for himself going forward as he became more involved in real estate again.
We talked a lot about how FlipPilot incorporates your systems and processes and how valuable this is for being effective in your business. We discussed integrating personal touches such as follow-up notes and how they sound like a great idea, but they need to be part of your process or you won’t take the time to do them. Danny stressed how important it is to be able to visualize each system, putting it in a place where you will see it so that you actually work it. This also makes it much easier to scale and have your whole team working on the same page. It also makes getting things done fun and rewarding.
Because of this unique situation of talking to an experienced investor who is, in a sense, starting over, I asked Danny to describe how this journey is going. Even though he doesn’t plan on employing a large group of people, he is treating it as a scalable company. He is looking at being more effective and efficient, making his time and effort really count, rather than spending a ton of time and money for little gain. His marketing strategy has also changed because he is more focused on long-term investments in specific markets. Danny also discusses being more profit-oriented, rather than focusing on a random number-of-deals goal.
This interview feels like two guys, sitting around a fire-pit, having a beer, talking real estate and life… you don’t want to miss this episode with Danny Johnson!
Notable Quotes:
“That rush of excitement you felt is really an indication, a confirmation of what you want.”
- Mike Simmons
“I always wanted to create software to help out with the house flipping business.”
- Danny Johnson
“I don’t want to go in thinking I know everything… I want to learn fresh.”
- Danny Johnson
“One of the hardest things to do well, in this industry, is follow-up.”
- Mike Simmons
“Treating people like people is a huge part of this.”
- Danny Johnson
“Who doesn’t want to be seen and heard?”
- Danny Johnson
“Referrals is another thing that people in our business overlook.”
- Mike Simmons
“You got to make it such a “WOW” experience so that they can’t help but to tell their friends about it.”
- Danny Johnson
“What is not measured cannot be managed.”
- Danny Johnson
“Enjoy this business - every day of it.”
- Danny Johnson
“How much money do you need to live a comfortable life?”
- Danny Johnson
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Lead Propeller
FlipPilot
FlipPilot Demo
Flipping Houses Exposed
Flipping Junkie Blog
Flipping Junkie Podcast
Work the System
Traction
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the honor of interviewing my good friend Danny Johnson, who does a great job of introducing himself as we start things off a little bit differently for this show. Danny started flipping houses in 2003, made it successfully through the housing market crash in 2008, and started scaling his business up about 5 years ago. As a software developer prior to flipping houses, Danny started developing real estate investor websites by creating the software called LeadPropeller. Recently, he has developed and released FlipPilot 2.0, which is lead/deal management pipeline software. Danny is also the host of the ever-popular Flipping Junkie Podcast and Flipping Junkie Blog.
Danny shared some details of his personal life and how circumstances really forced him into looking hard at his life and work. He had removed himself from the day-to-day operations of his house flipping business, but he found that this was something he really wanted to change. As he is re-investing himself in real estate investing, he wants to keep things simple and look at his long-term plans for the business’ growth.
I asked Danny to talk about the development of FlipPilot and what drove him to produce that software. Because his background is in software development, it was natural for him to want to create vehicles to help with his investing business. He talked about the whole progression of building the software and the lessons he learned along the way.
Danny talked about how he started the Flipping Junkie Blog as a means to hold himself accountable and to be transparent about the deals he was finding and all of the associated numbers. He ended up writing a book titled Flipping Houses Exposed to share all of the information he learned during this experience. But he wasn’t happy with the conversion ratio, which is what led him to the development of FlipPilot. We wanted to dig into the whys behind the lack of success in converting deals and solve it for himself going forward as he became more involved in real estate again.
We talked a lot about how FlipPilot incorporates your systems and processes and how valuable this is for being effective in your business. We discussed integrating personal touches such as follow-up notes and how they sound like a great idea, but they need to be part of your process or you won’t take the time to do them. Danny stressed how important it is to be able to visualize each system, putting it in a place where you will see it so that you actually work it. This also makes it much easier to scale and have your whole team working on the same page. It also makes getting things done fun and rewarding.
Because of this unique situation of talking to an experienced investor who is, in a sense, starting over, I asked Danny to describe how this journey is going. Even though he doesn’t plan on employing a large group of people, he is treating it as a scalable company. He is looking at being more effective and efficient, making his time and effort really count, rather than spending a ton of time and money for little gain. His marketing strategy has also changed because he is more focused on long-term investments in specific markets. Danny also discusses being more profit-oriented, rather than focusing on a random number-of-deals goal.
This interview feels like two guys, sitting around a fire-pit, having a beer, talking real estate and life… you don’t want to miss this episode with Danny Johnson!
Notable Quotes:
“That rush of excitement you felt is really an indication, a confirmation of what you want.”
- Mike Simmons
“I always wanted to create software to help out with the house flipping business.”
- Danny Johnson
“I don’t want to go in thinking I know everything… I want to learn fresh.”
- Danny Johnson
“One of the hardest things to do well, in this industry, is follow-up.”
- Mike Simmons
“Treating people like people is a huge part of this.”
- Danny Johnson
“Who doesn’t want to be seen and heard?”
- Danny Johnson
“Referrals is another thing that people in our business overlook.”
- Mike Simmons
“You got to make it such a “WOW” experience so that they can’t help but to tell their friends about it.”
- Danny Johnson
“What is not measured cannot be managed.”
- Danny Johnson
“Enjoy this business - every day of it.”
- Danny Johnson
“How much money do you need to live a comfortable life?”
- Danny Johnson
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Lead Propeller
FlipPilot
FlipPilot Demo
Flipping Houses Exposed
Flipping Junkie Blog
Flipping Junkie Podcast
Work the System
Traction
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
The first Thursday installment of Just Start Real Estate in several years features someone I am really proud to call a friend and who has had more influence over my real estate growth in the last five years than any other human being on Planet Earth. That is because he is someone who is not only highly successful, but he also does it the right way as he is a good person. He is someone I look up to and look to as a mentor. He has been on the show before, his name is Andy McFarland, and he did a presentation at a past Flip Hacking Live which is as true now as it was in 2017. It is a presentation I have listened to more than once and it is one that I think listeners will go back to and revisit again and again. Andy gets into what he calls “blocking and tackling,” which is a term for getting back to the basics. He explains what it is that makes your company strong and in a position to scale, as opposed to throwing a bunch of new-fangled things at it. For real estate investors, “blocking and tackling” is leads and conversions. Andy dives deep into this subject matter and also talks about preparation, pre-work before appointments, and hiring. At the end of the presentation, Andy also has a Q&A session, handling questions from the audience.
This is an incredibly powerful presentation, one that I listen to any time I feel my business has gotten off-track a bit. Don’t miss this opportunity to get a sneak peek into Flip Hacking Live and a small piece of what this event has to offer with this talk by Andy McFarland!
Notable Quotes:
“All of us here in America have huge, limitless opportunities.”
“We all have a pot of gold here by virtue of the fact that we live in the United States.”
“In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that, I am his pupil.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You have permission to be bigger.”
“Not all success is measured in numbers.”
“The secret to success is there is no secret. It is the basics - blocking and tackling.”
- Chris Gardner
“Do what others are unwilling to do.”
“If you are not answering your phone and are spending money on marketing, you are wasting your money.”
“The key is preparation.”
“Always continue your education.”
“Are you willing to do this? Are you willing to prepare?”
“Discover your truth about that property.”
“We can’t see something we don’t believe in.”
“Show up on time.”
“Be real. Build rapport. Listen.”
“It is 90% preparation.”
“You need to be able to get things done through other people.”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Andy’s Website
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
The first Thursday installment of Just Start Real Estate in several years features someone I am really proud to call a friend and who has had more influence over my real estate growth in the last five years than any other human being on Planet Earth. That is because he is someone who is not only highly successful, but he also does it the right way as he is a good person. He is someone I look up to and look to as a mentor. He has been on the show before, his name is Andy McFarland, and he did a presentation at a past Flip Hacking Live which is as true now as it was in 2017. It is a presentation I have listened to more than once and it is one that I think listeners will go back to and revisit again and again. Andy gets into what he calls “blocking and tackling,” which is a term for getting back to the basics. He explains what it is that makes your company strong and in a position to scale, as opposed to throwing a bunch of new-fangled things at it. For real estate investors, “blocking and tackling” is leads and conversions. Andy dives deep into this subject matter and also talks about preparation, pre-work before appointments, and hiring. At the end of the presentation, Andy also has a Q&A session, handling questions from the audience.
This is an incredibly powerful presentation, one that I listen to any time I feel my business has gotten off-track a bit. Don’t miss this opportunity to get a sneak peek into Flip Hacking Live and a small piece of what this event has to offer with this talk by Andy McFarland!
Notable Quotes:
“All of us here in America have huge, limitless opportunities.”
“We all have a pot of gold here by virtue of the fact that we live in the United States.”
“In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him, and in that, I am his pupil.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You have permission to be bigger.”
“Not all success is measured in numbers.”
“The secret to success is there is no secret. It is the basics - blocking and tackling.”
- Chris Gardner
“Do what others are unwilling to do.”
“If you are not answering your phone and are spending money on marketing, you are wasting your money.”
“The key is preparation.”
“Always continue your education.”
“Are you willing to do this? Are you willing to prepare?”
“Discover your truth about that property.”
“We can’t see something we don’t believe in.”
“Show up on time.”
“Be real. Build rapport. Listen.”
“It is 90% preparation.”
“You need to be able to get things done through other people.”
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
7 Figure Flipping
Andy’s Website
ABC Offer
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I get the chance to interview fellow 7 Figure Flippers Rob Badhorn and Ernie Vargas. Rob lives in Arizona, but performs flips and owns rentals in Ohio. He worked in corporate America for 23+ years, handing $1.5B in revenue for Sales Teams Across USA. He is constantly building multiple streams of income, especially during these challenging times, as he considers himself a serial entrepreneur. Rob’s rental portfolio includes the flips and/or wholesale of 100+ homes utilizing the marketing strategies of Direct Mail, Bandit Signs, Cold Calling, RVM’s/Voice broadcast, FB Custom Audiences, and Texting. He also owns a software company specializing in Lead Generation and Skip Tracing.
Ernie Vargas purchased his first house in 1994 and continued doing real estate while working full-time, but he didn’t hit the success he felt he was capable of. In 1999, after an accident that left him in a coma, he realized that life was short, so he quit his job and went into investing full-time. Eventually, probate hit his radar and started him on a quest to learn all he could about this niche that no one had answers for.
After many years of specializing in probate, Ernie has become a true probate expert, often helping attorneys and their clients in the probate process. His ability to think outside the box coupled with his expertise in negotiating and marketing has allowed him to help several hundreds of investors, agents, and sellers get deals closed. Now Ernie not only has more time to spend with his wife and four kids, but he gets to do what he truly loves doing - helping everyday people create wealth and personal freedom.
The guys first began by giving us their backgrounds and what lead them to real estate investing. Ernie described the moment that really changed things for him when he was working as a freezer stocker at a warehouse store that would eventually become Costco. His boss said something to him that made him realize that he wanted much more from life. He changed jobs and on his way to his first day of training, ended up getting into a terrible car accident that left him in a coma. This experience, coupled with a seminar he went to, completely changed his thinking.
Rob said his journey was similar to a lot of other investors - he read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, went to a few seminars, but he said he has always had the bug to get the passive income stream going. He was in the corporate world but purchased a couple of rentals in order to make up his salary so that he could invest full-time. Joining the 7 Figure Flipping mastermind group really changed everything for him.
Rob talked about his rental portfolio and how he manages the properties himself while employing one handyman to do the work. I asked how much of the work he actually does himself as far as background checks, collecting rent, etc. and Rob said he thought the thing that changed the most in the past several years was the software available for property management.
Even though he has a large rental portfolio, Rob felt the need to expand into other forms of real estate investing to develop multiple income streams, which is the reason why he and Ernie partnered up. I wanted to dig deep on the details of their partnership because so many people struggle with making this work. Ernie said they both have different areas of expertise; Rob is really strong in the area of technology related to real estate and Ernie has become a probate specialist. They had met at a 7 Figure Flipping event and Ernie called Rob concerning skip tracing and the rest is history.
We also discussed the issues with probate investing which have been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. There is so much talk about this type of investing being deceitful that I wanted the guys to explain how they actually help people with integrity. Ernie talked about how many investors shy away from this type of work, but that the demand for people-loving investors is so high because there is a real need to help those who are grieving through the process.
These two investors bring so much to the proverbial table and share so much information with you in this episode of Just Start Real Estate. Don’t miss my conversation with Rob Badhorn and Ernie Vargas!
Notable Quotes:
“We get lessons out of anything we experience in life if we allow them to change us.”
- Ernie Vargas
“I was bitten by the idea of opportunity and change.”
- Ernie Vargas
“Have a goal, give that goal a deadline, write it down, and go out and take action.”
- Ernie Vargas
“You do what you can with what you have.”
- Ernie Vargas
“You have to be ready when opportunities come.”
- Ernie Vargas
“The NBA did not work out for me.”
- Rob Badhorn
“It’s like bringing a puppy to the park if you are looking for a date.”
- Mike Simmons
“When it can bring value not only to myself but to other people, that’s what really gets me excited.”
- Rob Badhorn
“There is a lot more value than just buying the leads themselves.”
- Rob Badhorn
“The ultimate motivated seller is probate.”
- Ernie Vargas
“You have to have a passion for people in this probate business.”
- Ernie Vargas
“Keep moving forward.”
- Ernie Vargas
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Buildium
LeadFuzion
Ernie’s Website
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I get the chance to interview fellow 7 Figure Flippers Rob Badhorn and Ernie Vargas. Rob lives in Arizona, but performs flips and owns rentals in Ohio. He worked in corporate America for 23+ years, handing $1.5B in revenue for Sales Teams Across USA. He is constantly building multiple streams of income, especially during these challenging times, as he considers himself a serial entrepreneur. Rob’s rental portfolio includes the flips and/or wholesale of 100+ homes utilizing the marketing strategies of Direct Mail, Bandit Signs, Cold Calling, RVM’s/Voice broadcast, FB Custom Audiences, and Texting. He also owns a software company specializing in Lead Generation and Skip Tracing.
Ernie Vargas purchased his first house in 1994 and continued doing real estate while working full-time, but he didn’t hit the success he felt he was capable of. In 1999, after an accident that left him in a coma, he realized that life was short, so he quit his job and went into investing full-time. Eventually, probate hit his radar and started him on a quest to learn all he could about this niche that no one had answers for.
After many years of specializing in probate, Ernie has become a true probate expert, often helping attorneys and their clients in the probate process. His ability to think outside the box coupled with his expertise in negotiating and marketing has allowed him to help several hundreds of investors, agents, and sellers get deals closed. Now Ernie not only has more time to spend with his wife and four kids, but he gets to do what he truly loves doing - helping everyday people create wealth and personal freedom.
The guys first began by giving us their backgrounds and what lead them to real estate investing. Ernie described the moment that really changed things for him when he was working as a freezer stocker at a warehouse store that would eventually become Costco. His boss said something to him that made him realize that he wanted much more from life. He changed jobs and on his way to his first day of training, ended up getting into a terrible car accident that left him in a coma. This experience, coupled with a seminar he went to, completely changed his thinking.
Rob said his journey was similar to a lot of other investors - he read Rich Dad, Poor Dad, went to a few seminars, but he said he has always had the bug to get the passive income stream going. He was in the corporate world but purchased a couple of rentals in order to make up his salary so that he could invest full-time. Joining the 7 Figure Flipping mastermind group really changed everything for him.
Rob talked about his rental portfolio and how he manages the properties himself while employing one handyman to do the work. I asked how much of the work he actually does himself as far as background checks, collecting rent, etc. and Rob said he thought the thing that changed the most in the past several years was the software available for property management.
Even though he has a large rental portfolio, Rob felt the need to expand into other forms of real estate investing to develop multiple income streams, which is the reason why he and Ernie partnered up. I wanted to dig deep on the details of their partnership because so many people struggle with making this work. Ernie said they both have different areas of expertise; Rob is really strong in the area of technology related to real estate and Ernie has become a probate specialist. They had met at a 7 Figure Flipping event and Ernie called Rob concerning skip tracing and the rest is history.
We also discussed the issues with probate investing which have been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. There is so much talk about this type of investing being deceitful that I wanted the guys to explain how they actually help people with integrity. Ernie talked about how many investors shy away from this type of work, but that the demand for people-loving investors is so high because there is a real need to help those who are grieving through the process.
These two investors bring so much to the proverbial table and share so much information with you in this episode of Just Start Real Estate. Don’t miss my conversation with Rob Badhorn and Ernie Vargas!
Notable Quotes:
“We get lessons out of anything we experience in life if we allow them to change us.”
- Ernie Vargas
“I was bitten by the idea of opportunity and change.”
- Ernie Vargas
“Have a goal, give that goal a deadline, write it down, and go out and take action.”
- Ernie Vargas
“You do what you can with what you have.”
- Ernie Vargas
“You have to be ready when opportunities come.”
- Ernie Vargas
“The NBA did not work out for me.”
- Rob Badhorn
“It’s like bringing a puppy to the park if you are looking for a date.”
- Mike Simmons
“When it can bring value not only to myself but to other people, that’s what really gets me excited.”
- Rob Badhorn
“There is a lot more value than just buying the leads themselves.”
- Rob Badhorn
“The ultimate motivated seller is probate.”
- Ernie Vargas
“You have to have a passion for people in this probate business.”
- Ernie Vargas
“Keep moving forward.”
- Ernie Vargas
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
7 Figure Flipping
Buildium
LeadFuzion
Ernie’s Website
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I get the chance to interview fellow 7 Figure Flipper Darren Smith. Darren is a residential and commercial real estate investor in multiple markets across the country. After being in the Army and working in the computer industry, he tried his hand in real estate but unfortunately lost his earnings in the housing crash. This experience took Darren out of real estate for a few years, but his love for the industry drew him back. Working as an assistant to a wholesaler at first, Darren learned a great deal and started his own business. A week before he was laid off from his computer job, Darren joined the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group.
We began, as we often do, discussing what drew Darren to real estate investing. He said after being in the service for several years, he found himself sitting next to an investor that was flipping houses and had a multi-family property in Baltimore. Because he was super passionate about the work that he was doing, this caused Darren to catch the real estate “bug.”
Since his first deal in 2003, to the present day, Darren has had some ups-and-downs in this business, like every investor. We talked about how he made some money in his first go-around with investing but lost it in the housing market crash. After starting up his own company in 2014, he ran into some issues in 2017, hired a coach, laid off some employees, and rebuilt from there. We talked about meeting the challenges by changing strategies rather than giving up.
We talked about helping out clients, the pros and cons of wholesaling versus flipping, how Darren’s deal-finding process is ever-evolving, and so much more! We discussed a ton of marketing ideas and why cold-calling is a longer process than some other strategies. Darren explained the training and role-playing that they do as a staff in order to convert deals through this method.
Darren also explained the differences he has faced in speaking with both buyers and sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said in both cases it is just really important to acknowledge the change in circumstances, and yes, things are challenging, but no one really knows what the future is going to bring. I asked about other changes they have had to make and Darren talked about how they are having home inspectors go out to take pictures and videos of homes, which ends up being the only necessary point of contact whether buying or selling.
I asked Darren what markets he is working in and he explained that he lives in Pennsylvania, works in two markets in Colorado, and just bought an existing real estate business outside of Philly. This was such a novel and interesting concept to me that we discussed this in detail. I asked if it was just a property database, and Darren explained that it is really the established business presence and reputation that they invested in. He even explained how they structured the deal, which he actually recommends to anyone attempting to do the same thing.
Darren wrapped up the interview by not only giving credit to his team but also pointing out how much he counts on the support and fellowship of 7 Figure Flipping. This character-filled investor gives us so much wisdom in the latest installment of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, you would be crazy to miss it!
Notable Quotes:
“It’s like flying too close to the sun - you could have burned up, but you didn’t.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to assess what is going on and make changes accordingly.”
- Mike Simmons
“Fifty percent of our processes are different than they were 90 days ago.”
- Darren Smith
“We throw meat into the pen and let the lions fight over it.”
- Mike Simmons
“The reality is, it’s a people business.”
- Mike Simmons
“If it gets harder to sell, it will get easier to buy.”
- Darren Smith
“Specialists make more money than generalists.”
- Darren Smith
“We’ve gone from about 90% closing in person to about 90% closing over the phone.”
- Darren Smith
“When you have the right people in place, scaling gets much easier to do.”
- Darren Smith
“Any time there is economic hardship, rentals become more of a thing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Dude, you are even smarter than I thought you were!”
- Mike Simmons
“You have a clear focus, sound logic, and a strong game plan.”
- Mike Simmons
“I have never been more thankful to be in a mastermind than right now.”
- Darren Smith
“Masterminds are a lifeline. If you were on the Titanic, what would you be willing to invest in a raft?”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Darren’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I get the chance to interview fellow 7 Figure Flipper Darren Smith. Darren is a residential and commercial real estate investor in multiple markets across the country. After being in the Army and working in the computer industry, he tried his hand in real estate but unfortunately lost his earnings in the housing crash. This experience took Darren out of real estate for a few years, but his love for the industry drew him back. Working as an assistant to a wholesaler at first, Darren learned a great deal and started his own business. A week before he was laid off from his computer job, Darren joined the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group.
We began, as we often do, discussing what drew Darren to real estate investing. He said after being in the service for several years, he found himself sitting next to an investor that was flipping houses and had a multi-family property in Baltimore. Because he was super passionate about the work that he was doing, this caused Darren to catch the real estate “bug.”
Since his first deal in 2003, to the present day, Darren has had some ups-and-downs in this business, like every investor. We talked about how he made some money in his first go-around with investing but lost it in the housing market crash. After starting up his own company in 2014, he ran into some issues in 2017, hired a coach, laid off some employees, and rebuilt from there. We talked about meeting the challenges by changing strategies rather than giving up.
We talked about helping out clients, the pros and cons of wholesaling versus flipping, how Darren’s deal-finding process is ever-evolving, and so much more! We discussed a ton of marketing ideas and why cold-calling is a longer process than some other strategies. Darren explained the training and role-playing that they do as a staff in order to convert deals through this method.
Darren also explained the differences he has faced in speaking with both buyers and sellers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He said in both cases it is just really important to acknowledge the change in circumstances, and yes, things are challenging, but no one really knows what the future is going to bring. I asked about other changes they have had to make and Darren talked about how they are having home inspectors go out to take pictures and videos of homes, which ends up being the only necessary point of contact whether buying or selling.
I asked Darren what markets he is working in and he explained that he lives in Pennsylvania, works in two markets in Colorado, and just bought an existing real estate business outside of Philly. This was such a novel and interesting concept to me that we discussed this in detail. I asked if it was just a property database, and Darren explained that it is really the established business presence and reputation that they invested in. He even explained how they structured the deal, which he actually recommends to anyone attempting to do the same thing.
Darren wrapped up the interview by not only giving credit to his team but also pointing out how much he counts on the support and fellowship of 7 Figure Flipping. This character-filled investor gives us so much wisdom in the latest installment of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast, you would be crazy to miss it!
Notable Quotes:
“It’s like flying too close to the sun - you could have burned up, but you didn’t.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to assess what is going on and make changes accordingly.”
- Mike Simmons
“Fifty percent of our processes are different than they were 90 days ago.”
- Darren Smith
“We throw meat into the pen and let the lions fight over it.”
- Mike Simmons
“The reality is, it’s a people business.”
- Mike Simmons
“If it gets harder to sell, it will get easier to buy.”
- Darren Smith
“Specialists make more money than generalists.”
- Darren Smith
“We’ve gone from about 90% closing in person to about 90% closing over the phone.”
- Darren Smith
“When you have the right people in place, scaling gets much easier to do.”
- Darren Smith
“Any time there is economic hardship, rentals become more of a thing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Dude, you are even smarter than I thought you were!”
- Mike Simmons
“You have a clear focus, sound logic, and a strong game plan.”
- Mike Simmons
“I have never been more thankful to be in a mastermind than right now.”
- Darren Smith
“Masterminds are a lifeline. If you were on the Titanic, what would you be willing to invest in a raft?”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Darren’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by Carla Reeves, who is known for her compassionate, direct, and truth-telling candor. Carla Reeves has coached hundreds of executives, CEOs, and other ambitious leaders over the past ten years. She is committed to guiding individuals to clarity about the real stumbling blocks that stand in the way of their growth and equip them to experience profound shifts in their confidence and ability to communicate powerfully.
Carla spent 10+ years in Corporate America working in Human Resources and Information Technology. She left Corporate America at age 32 to raise her boys and live the entrepreneurial life she loves. A series of entrepreneurial adventures organically evolved into the coaching she does today. What she knows to be true is that people are far closer than they realize to the very things they deeply desire. Often, the only thing standing in the way is an old, outdated way of viewing themselves and the world around them.
Carla uses the analogy of the lens of a pair of glasses… if we are looking at the world through these and they are marred by faulty or unhealthy thinking, no matter how successful we are, we are not going to experience our life as happy. She talks about the escapism that so many people think will make them happy - escape from a relationship, or a job, or a location. Carla tries to get people to delay those actions in order to help them discover what is really driving them.
Carla is a big proponent of journaling, so I asked her why she thought that is so important. She said there are many benefits but that she would focus on three ways it can be a helpful tool. Journaling can be a mechanism to empty your mind and clear out all of the noise, which Carla calls taking out the mental trash. It also gives us a little distance from our thoughts and awareness of what we are allowing in our headspace. Clara also says she likes to think of journaling as a tool for navigating our lives, to get things down with pen and paper in order to examine the circumstances and prepare our response.
I asked Carla to explain the meaning and importance of mindset shifts. She said we often get focused on what we don’t want, and how fear can play a part in unhealthy and unproductive thinking. She said that it is important for us to be aware of this and then ask ourselves what we do want, and focus on that instead of imaging negative outcomes.
We talked a little bit about the pandemic, the wide range of reactions to it, and how Carla is helping her clients get through this challenge. She said the tone of her coaching calls have really changed from being forward-thinking and goal-focused to rather a survival mode kind of situation. Carla said because we are getting so much information, and much of it conflicting, and differing view and opinions, it is even more important to unpack our thinking, whether through journaling or speaking to someone we trust. She emphasized how important it is to control the things that we allow in our lives and the power that they have over us.
During this interview, Carla really emphasizes the power our thinking has and how much positive influence we can have if we take the time to become aware of it and change it up, if necessary. This episode is incredibly helpful in reminding us of the need for self-care if we are going to grow both personally and professionally and I hope you will join us!
Notable Quotes:
“What holds people back has more to do with what is between their ears rather than the external tools they have at their disposal.”
- Mike Simmons
“On the outside, life looks really good, but there is a disconnect on the inside for them to actually experience that.”
- Carla Reeves
“Thriving begins on the inside.”
- Carla Reeves
“A deep change in the way that you experience life requires a deep change in the way that you think.”
- Carla Reeves
“We have to examine our thinking first to really shift our outer experience.”
- Carla Reeves
“A lot of high-achievers have an old, out-dated story inside themselves that doesn’t fit, but got lodged inside them somehow.”
- Carla Reeves
“I try to help my clients let go of their faulty thinking which causes relentless striving for never-ending achievement.”
- Carla Reeves
“What I discovered was that many people came to me for coaching because they wanted to escape something.”
- Carla Reeves
“They become fueled by inspiration or passion rather than trying to prove something.”
- Carla Reeves
“Just replacing that fuel or engine with something more productive and positive is the key.”
- Mike Simmons
“Journaling is like taking out the mental trash and will help you to be more present and engaged.”
- Carla Reeves
“If you don’t make decisions for yourself, life will make them for you.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of times we get focused on what we don’t want.”
- Carla Reeves
“We create a lot more suffering and struggle with our thinking.”
- Carla Reeves
“We all carry a load - the heavy is in our heads. We may not be able to change the load, we can control the weight by the way we choose to think.”
- Carla Reeves
“Mastermind groups become a lifeline in challenging times.”
- Mike Simmons
“This is a time of re-invention for people.”
- Carla Reeves
“The pandemic has given us all a “Little House on the Prairie” life scenario.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Carla’s Website
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by Carla Reeves, who is known for her compassionate, direct, and truth-telling candor. Carla Reeves has coached hundreds of executives, CEOs, and other ambitious leaders over the past ten years. She is committed to guiding individuals to clarity about the real stumbling blocks that stand in the way of their growth and equip them to experience profound shifts in their confidence and ability to communicate powerfully.
Carla spent 10+ years in Corporate America working in Human Resources and Information Technology. She left Corporate America at age 32 to raise her boys and live the entrepreneurial life she loves. A series of entrepreneurial adventures organically evolved into the coaching she does today. What she knows to be true is that people are far closer than they realize to the very things they deeply desire. Often, the only thing standing in the way is an old, outdated way of viewing themselves and the world around them.
Carla uses the analogy of the lens of a pair of glasses… if we are looking at the world through these and they are marred by faulty or unhealthy thinking, no matter how successful we are, we are not going to experience our life as happy. She talks about the escapism that so many people think will make them happy - escape from a relationship, or a job, or a location. Carla tries to get people to delay those actions in order to help them discover what is really driving them.
Carla is a big proponent of journaling, so I asked her why she thought that is so important. She said there are many benefits but that she would focus on three ways it can be a helpful tool. Journaling can be a mechanism to empty your mind and clear out all of the noise, which Carla calls taking out the mental trash. It also gives us a little distance from our thoughts and awareness of what we are allowing in our headspace. Clara also says she likes to think of journaling as a tool for navigating our lives, to get things down with pen and paper in order to examine the circumstances and prepare our response.
I asked Carla to explain the meaning and importance of mindset shifts. She said we often get focused on what we don’t want, and how fear can play a part in unhealthy and unproductive thinking. She said that it is important for us to be aware of this and then ask ourselves what we do want, and focus on that instead of imaging negative outcomes.
We talked a little bit about the pandemic, the wide range of reactions to it, and how Carla is helping her clients get through this challenge. She said the tone of her coaching calls have really changed from being forward-thinking and goal-focused to rather a survival mode kind of situation. Carla said because we are getting so much information, and much of it conflicting, and differing view and opinions, it is even more important to unpack our thinking, whether through journaling or speaking to someone we trust. She emphasized how important it is to control the things that we allow in our lives and the power that they have over us.
During this interview, Carla really emphasizes the power our thinking has and how much positive influence we can have if we take the time to become aware of it and change it up, if necessary. This episode is incredibly helpful in reminding us of the need for self-care if we are going to grow both personally and professionally and I hope you will join us!
Notable Quotes:
“What holds people back has more to do with what is between their ears rather than the external tools they have at their disposal.”
- Mike Simmons
“On the outside, life looks really good, but there is a disconnect on the inside for them to actually experience that.”
- Carla Reeves
“Thriving begins on the inside.”
- Carla Reeves
“A deep change in the way that you experience life requires a deep change in the way that you think.”
- Carla Reeves
“We have to examine our thinking first to really shift our outer experience.”
- Carla Reeves
“A lot of high-achievers have an old, out-dated story inside themselves that doesn’t fit, but got lodged inside them somehow.”
- Carla Reeves
“I try to help my clients let go of their faulty thinking which causes relentless striving for never-ending achievement.”
- Carla Reeves
“What I discovered was that many people came to me for coaching because they wanted to escape something.”
- Carla Reeves
“They become fueled by inspiration or passion rather than trying to prove something.”
- Carla Reeves
“Just replacing that fuel or engine with something more productive and positive is the key.”
- Mike Simmons
“Journaling is like taking out the mental trash and will help you to be more present and engaged.”
- Carla Reeves
“If you don’t make decisions for yourself, life will make them for you.”
- Mike Simmons
“A lot of times we get focused on what we don’t want.”
- Carla Reeves
“We create a lot more suffering and struggle with our thinking.”
- Carla Reeves
“We all carry a load - the heavy is in our heads. We may not be able to change the load, we can control the weight by the way we choose to think.”
- Carla Reeves
“Mastermind groups become a lifeline in challenging times.”
- Mike Simmons
“This is a time of re-invention for people.”
- Carla Reeves
“The pandemic has given us all a “Little House on the Prairie” life scenario.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Carla’s Website
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am excited to interview Mark Podolsky, who, armed with only $3,000, gut-wrenching fear, and absolutely no real estate experience, bought his first few parcels of raw land in 2001. Today, Mark is the author of Dirt Rich, the ultimate guide to helping you build a passive income, and owner of Frontier Properties, a very reputable and successful land investing company. He is also the host of two popular podcasts, The Art of Passive Income and The Best Passive Income Model. By focusing on working smart, not hard, he has completed over 5,500 land deals with an average ROI of over 300% on cash flips, and over 1,000% on the deals he sells with financing terms.
Mark begins by giving us a little detail on how he got into land investing. He was working as an investment banker in mergers and acquisitions and had a co-worker achieving incredibly high ROI by investing in raw land. Mark couldn’t believe the numbers, so he tried it himself. After about 18 months, he was able to exceed his corporate job income and was able to quit in order to invest full-time.
I asked Mark to walk us through his investing model. He starts by going to the county treasurer in a particular area and gets the list of everyone who owes back taxes on land. He said that this advertises two things to him: the owner is not emotionally attached to the land and he is financially distressed in some way. Mark then looks at comparable sales, takes the lowest comparable sale, divides by 4, and offers that fraction to the owner of the land. Because this is cash, and better than nothing, 3-5% of the people will accept it. Once bought, Mark wants to make the property cash-flow, just like if he had a rental home, and he has a usually has guaranteed buyers in the neighbors. If they have no interest in the property, he has an extensive list of buyers and sites to sell it.
Mark talked a lot about selling to his buyer’s list, so I asked him how you build a list for land. He commented that he has a huge market for raw land and he explained some of his marketing strategies. He also employs a 90-day return or exchange and 365-day exchange program so it removes the risk for his customers. He then explained how he has automated both the front-end and back-end systems. He says he only has one hour in this business a week when he conducts his team meeting.
I asked Mark to lay out what his team looks like. He has an Acquisitions Manager who decides on a market after extensive research, gets the delinquent tax list from the county, and then who works with a guy on Fiverr, who Mark says is an “excel ninja.” He scrubs the list and uploads it to The Land Geek’s proprietary software LGPASS, which sends out direct mail offers. Then the Intake Manager takes over as the offers come back, to ensure they are actual deals, and to try to negotiate a lower selling price, in addition to the actual closing. The property due diligence is performed by a group in the Philipines associated with an American title company, and then they have ad writers for the major selling outlets like Craiglist and Facebook Marketplace. Mark also employs Virtual Assistants (VAs) to work with the Acquisition Manager handling administrative duties.
This episode is about so much more than land investing! Mark walks us through his entire process, which is such valuable information for any investor! Join us for this powerful episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Now we are working because we want to, not because we have to.”
- Mark Podolsky
“No renters, no rehabs, no renovations, no rodents.”
- Mark Podolsky
“The game that we play is can we create enough of these land notes so that our passive income exceeds our fixed expenses.”
- Mark Podolsky
“Happy customers guaranteed.”
- Mark Podolsky’s business philosophy
“What used to take me hours and hours, now takes me one second because of automation.”
- Mark Podolsky
“You just have to show up - it is a consistency game.”
- Mark Podolsky
“COVID is definitely changing the way we do business. We might not have the same success rate closing deals over the phone, but it is dwarfed by the volume of deals when you are doing it virtually.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are learning how to do things faster and better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Owning land is kind of like man-jewelry.”
- Mark Podolsky
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Mark’s Website
Tax Title Services
GeekPay
LGPASS
DataTree
ListSource
Dirt Rich
The Wholetailing Course
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am excited to interview Mark Podolsky, who, armed with only $3,000, gut-wrenching fear, and absolutely no real estate experience, bought his first few parcels of raw land in 2001. Today, Mark is the author of Dirt Rich, the ultimate guide to helping you build a passive income, and owner of Frontier Properties, a very reputable and successful land investing company. He is also the host of two popular podcasts, The Art of Passive Income and The Best Passive Income Model. By focusing on working smart, not hard, he has completed over 5,500 land deals with an average ROI of over 300% on cash flips, and over 1,000% on the deals he sells with financing terms.
Mark begins by giving us a little detail on how he got into land investing. He was working as an investment banker in mergers and acquisitions and had a co-worker achieving incredibly high ROI by investing in raw land. Mark couldn’t believe the numbers, so he tried it himself. After about 18 months, he was able to exceed his corporate job income and was able to quit in order to invest full-time.
I asked Mark to walk us through his investing model. He starts by going to the county treasurer in a particular area and gets the list of everyone who owes back taxes on land. He said that this advertises two things to him: the owner is not emotionally attached to the land and he is financially distressed in some way. Mark then looks at comparable sales, takes the lowest comparable sale, divides by 4, and offers that fraction to the owner of the land. Because this is cash, and better than nothing, 3-5% of the people will accept it. Once bought, Mark wants to make the property cash-flow, just like if he had a rental home, and he has a usually has guaranteed buyers in the neighbors. If they have no interest in the property, he has an extensive list of buyers and sites to sell it.
Mark talked a lot about selling to his buyer’s list, so I asked him how you build a list for land. He commented that he has a huge market for raw land and he explained some of his marketing strategies. He also employs a 90-day return or exchange and 365-day exchange program so it removes the risk for his customers. He then explained how he has automated both the front-end and back-end systems. He says he only has one hour in this business a week when he conducts his team meeting.
I asked Mark to lay out what his team looks like. He has an Acquisitions Manager who decides on a market after extensive research, gets the delinquent tax list from the county, and then who works with a guy on Fiverr, who Mark says is an “excel ninja.” He scrubs the list and uploads it to The Land Geek’s proprietary software LGPASS, which sends out direct mail offers. Then the Intake Manager takes over as the offers come back, to ensure they are actual deals, and to try to negotiate a lower selling price, in addition to the actual closing. The property due diligence is performed by a group in the Philipines associated with an American title company, and then they have ad writers for the major selling outlets like Craiglist and Facebook Marketplace. Mark also employs Virtual Assistants (VAs) to work with the Acquisition Manager handling administrative duties.
This episode is about so much more than land investing! Mark walks us through his entire process, which is such valuable information for any investor! Join us for this powerful episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!
Notable Quotes:
“Now we are working because we want to, not because we have to.”
- Mark Podolsky
“No renters, no rehabs, no renovations, no rodents.”
- Mark Podolsky
“The game that we play is can we create enough of these land notes so that our passive income exceeds our fixed expenses.”
- Mark Podolsky
“Happy customers guaranteed.”
- Mark Podolsky’s business philosophy
“What used to take me hours and hours, now takes me one second because of automation.”
- Mark Podolsky
“You just have to show up - it is a consistency game.”
- Mark Podolsky
“COVID is definitely changing the way we do business. We might not have the same success rate closing deals over the phone, but it is dwarfed by the volume of deals when you are doing it virtually.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are learning how to do things faster and better.”
- Mike Simmons
“Owning land is kind of like man-jewelry.”
- Mark Podolsky
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Mark’s Website
Tax Title Services
GeekPay
LGPASS
DataTree
ListSource
Dirt Rich
The Wholetailing Course
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by super-successful Karen Briscoe, who is the principal owner of the Huckaby Briscoe Conroy Group (HBC) with Keller Williams. The HBC Group has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 250 Top Realtor® teams in the United States. Since 1977, HBC Group has sold over 1,500 homes valued at over $1.5 billion. The team consistently sells over 100 residential properties annually ranging from multi-million dollar luxury estates to condominiums and townhomes. Primary market areas include Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and Washington, DC.
Karen is the creator of the transformative "5 Minute Success" concept. Her books Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed and Commit to Get Leads: 66 Day Challenge offer a combination of information and inspiration delivered through memorable stories. Her most recent book, Flip Time / Love Life is a heroine’s journey tale about loving the life you have while you create and co-create the life of your dreams. Karen also hosts the highly-rated and immensely popular show 5 Minute Success - The Podcast.
Karen starts by telling us how she got into real estate and what led her to authoring books and becoming a podcaster. She initially got started in property developments, but then switched to the residential side of real estate after staying home with her children for many years. Her success in re-building her business after the housing market crisis in 2008 led her to share her methods through her books and podcast.
I asked Karen what she thought helped her to be so successful so early and she said it was her primary strategy of lead-generation that she covers in her Commit to Get Leads book. She said she consistently took a plain notebook, numbered a page from one to twenty-five, and when she had filled that up with people she had reached out to that week, she knew her work was done. She is a firm believer that this consistent effort and commitment is what has led to her continued success.
Karen then walks us through the 5 Minute Success principles. She is convinced success is achieved by getting into action immediately and applying lessons learned. Karen talks about how spending five minutes each day, especially attaching the reading of these principles coupled with an existing habit, like having your morning coffee, is very effective and makes the new habit effortless.
I then asked Karen to explain her 66 Day Challenge so we could dive a little deeper into lead generation because it is so vital to a profitable business. She pointed out that there has been a lot of research done on how long it actually takes to form a new habit. Many people say it takes 21 days, but during that period the person is really excited and, when that wears off, the habit can fail to fully form. If they continue, in the second 21 days, the person goes through a period of evaluation, determining whether they really want to continue developing this new habit. The remaining days in the 66 day period are when people actually start to experience the benefits, and so it is important to power through and create the energy for persistence. And then, of course, this is just the challenge to get you jump-started for forming a life-long habit.
Because Karen has had so much success for a long period of time in real estate, I asked her where she thought the market would be headed because of the impact of COVID-19. She said she thought the concept of home has actually changed because of the shelter-in-place directives, and people are going to be more mindful of their living space because of it. Karen described how where they were seeing a trend toward urbanization, it now seems to be shifting toward suburbanization, because people want more space and land. She said many agents from around the country are seeing demand, but many of the sellers are unsure about the ongoing situation and not pulling the trigger.
Karen then talked about her partnership with the Front Row Foundation which helps individuals and families braving critical health challenges live life in the Front Row. The hope of the foundation is to provide a Front Row experience that will allow the recipient to set aside any physical or emotional challenges while they attend the event of their dreams and create memories that last a lifetime.
Karen is an ultra-successful business person, but much more importantly, an incredibly generous and kind one as well, so you will definitely miss out if you don’t listen to this week’s episode!
Notable Quotes:
“The best system is the one you use.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t overthink it - it is the consistency and the work that matters.”
- Mike Simmons
“Preparing to do the work is an excuse for not actually doing the work.”
- Mike Simmons
“I call it activity blocking rather than time blocking.”
- Karen Briscoe
“The delivery system of these principles for 5 minutes a day is very powerful.”
- Karen Briscoe
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is like saying ‘I don’t want to.’”
- Lao Tzu
“If somebody doesn’t want to invest 5 minutes a day into their personal or business development, then they don’t really want to be successful.”
- Karen Briscoe
“Leads are oxygen to your business.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are living life on the front row, you can have a front-row moment wherever you are.”
- Karen Briscoe
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed
Commit to Get Leads: 66 Day Challenge
Flip Time / Love Life
5 Minute Success Website
5 Minute Success - The Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am joined by super-successful Karen Briscoe, who is the principal owner of the Huckaby Briscoe Conroy Group (HBC) with Keller Williams. The HBC Group has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 250 Top Realtor® teams in the United States. Since 1977, HBC Group has sold over 1,500 homes valued at over $1.5 billion. The team consistently sells over 100 residential properties annually ranging from multi-million dollar luxury estates to condominiums and townhomes. Primary market areas include Northern Virginia, suburban Maryland, and Washington, DC.
Karen is the creator of the transformative "5 Minute Success" concept. Her books Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed and Commit to Get Leads: 66 Day Challenge offer a combination of information and inspiration delivered through memorable stories. Her most recent book, Flip Time / Love Life is a heroine’s journey tale about loving the life you have while you create and co-create the life of your dreams. Karen also hosts the highly-rated and immensely popular show 5 Minute Success - The Podcast.
Karen starts by telling us how she got into real estate and what led her to authoring books and becoming a podcaster. She initially got started in property developments, but then switched to the residential side of real estate after staying home with her children for many years. Her success in re-building her business after the housing market crisis in 2008 led her to share her methods through her books and podcast.
I asked Karen what she thought helped her to be so successful so early and she said it was her primary strategy of lead-generation that she covers in her Commit to Get Leads book. She said she consistently took a plain notebook, numbered a page from one to twenty-five, and when she had filled that up with people she had reached out to that week, she knew her work was done. She is a firm believer that this consistent effort and commitment is what has led to her continued success.
Karen then walks us through the 5 Minute Success principles. She is convinced success is achieved by getting into action immediately and applying lessons learned. Karen talks about how spending five minutes each day, especially attaching the reading of these principles coupled with an existing habit, like having your morning coffee, is very effective and makes the new habit effortless.
I then asked Karen to explain her 66 Day Challenge so we could dive a little deeper into lead generation because it is so vital to a profitable business. She pointed out that there has been a lot of research done on how long it actually takes to form a new habit. Many people say it takes 21 days, but during that period the person is really excited and, when that wears off, the habit can fail to fully form. If they continue, in the second 21 days, the person goes through a period of evaluation, determining whether they really want to continue developing this new habit. The remaining days in the 66 day period are when people actually start to experience the benefits, and so it is important to power through and create the energy for persistence. And then, of course, this is just the challenge to get you jump-started for forming a life-long habit.
Because Karen has had so much success for a long period of time in real estate, I asked her where she thought the market would be headed because of the impact of COVID-19. She said she thought the concept of home has actually changed because of the shelter-in-place directives, and people are going to be more mindful of their living space because of it. Karen described how where they were seeing a trend toward urbanization, it now seems to be shifting toward suburbanization, because people want more space and land. She said many agents from around the country are seeing demand, but many of the sellers are unsure about the ongoing situation and not pulling the trigger.
Karen then talked about her partnership with the Front Row Foundation which helps individuals and families braving critical health challenges live life in the Front Row. The hope of the foundation is to provide a Front Row experience that will allow the recipient to set aside any physical or emotional challenges while they attend the event of their dreams and create memories that last a lifetime.
Karen is an ultra-successful business person, but much more importantly, an incredibly generous and kind one as well, so you will definitely miss out if you don’t listen to this week’s episode!
Notable Quotes:
“The best system is the one you use.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t overthink it - it is the consistency and the work that matters.”
- Mike Simmons
“Preparing to do the work is an excuse for not actually doing the work.”
- Mike Simmons
“I call it activity blocking rather than time blocking.”
- Karen Briscoe
“The delivery system of these principles for 5 minutes a day is very powerful.”
- Karen Briscoe
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is like saying ‘I don’t want to.’”
- Lao Tzu
“If somebody doesn’t want to invest 5 minutes a day into their personal or business development, then they don’t really want to be successful.”
- Karen Briscoe
“Leads are oxygen to your business.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you are living life on the front row, you can have a front-row moment wherever you are.”
- Karen Briscoe
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes a Day: Secrets of a Top Agent Revealed
Commit to Get Leads: 66 Day Challenge
Flip Time / Love Life
5 Minute Success Website
5 Minute Success - The Podcast
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am thrilled to interview Michael J. Maher, who is CEO of REFERCO, the world's foremost authority in business referrals. In just his third year in real estate, he did 187 transactions and over $40 million, entirely from referrals. For the next 8 years, he received over 500 referrals every single year and netted over $1 million. Michael is an internationally bestselling author and his book (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals has been the #1 book in Real Estate Sales on Amazon for over 9 straight years. In addition to these impressive accomplishments, he has shared the stage George W. Bush, Tony Robbins, Barbara Corcoran, and John Maxwell.
As we often do on the show, we started by talking about Michael’s background. He began his working career as a high school math teacher and coach of three sports: football, basketball, and baseball. He spoke about how dedicated he was and earned District Teacher of the Year in his first year teaching. Michael had an interest in real estate so he got licensed as an agent at the same time he bought his first home. He talks about how he built his business almost entirely through word of mouth and referrals.
Because Michael became an agent in 1999, I asked him how he weathered the housing market crash years. He said that because they were getting almost all their business through referrals, they ended up having records years during that period. This is when Michael first knew he was going to have to write a book because he had discovered a system of doing business that worked well in good markets, but even better in depressed times. He spoke about how the 7L system is basically tailor-made for a challenging time like we are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We talked about specific marketing and deal-generating strategies based on his 7L principles, going into detail about making your marketing as personal as possible.
I then asked Michael about his book, (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals. He walked us through the levels and their amount of influence in relationships with people. The second-most powerful level involves events and seminars, and Michael explained some of the programs that they offer. That led us to a conversation on the necessity of some structure to your day in order to increase productivity. He used the example of going to school and having an intense focus on a particular subject for a pre-determined amount of time every day. Michael also walked us through the morning and evening rituals, which he imparts in his book and classes through the use of acronyms.
Michael then told us about how he helps business owners build their businesses on a foundation of love, generosity, and appreciation. He went into great detail about the personal and professional benefits of choosing to live and conduct yourself this way. Michael described love as our super-power, and generosity is that love in action. He also explained that it is vital for us to appreciate everything that happens in our lives, good or bad.
I can’t tell you how powerful and wisdom-packed this episode is! You would be crazy not to join me as I interview super-successful entrepreneur, Michael J. Maher!
Notable Quotes:
“Good market - referrals are really good. Bad market - referrals are everything.”
- Michael J. Maher
“When people are thinking they are going to lose their home, they want to talk to someone they trust.”
- Michael J. Maher
“I’m big into personalized and customized service.”
- Michael J. Maher
“What is the most important currency in today’s world? It’s not money - it’s trust.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Love is your superpower.”
- Michael J. Maher
“What I’m really excited about now is helping people get structure in a world of chaos.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Why do we charge for them? So people show up. If they have skin in the game, they come.”
- Michael J. Maher
“There is a lot of people that would trade their wealth for health and happiness right now.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Energy is the most precious resource known to man.”
- Michael J. Maher
“You can change your life by changing your strategy.”
- Michael J. Maher
“We are going to have a day - why not structure it in the most effective way you can possibly structure it?”
- Mike Simmons
“It mixes the best of ‘go with the flow’ with ‘get in the flow.’”
- Michael J. Maher
“Your purpose in life is to be referrable.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Picking and choosing the opportunity is a lot better than chasing opportunity.”
- Michael J. Maher
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
(7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals
Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents
Matt Walker: Sleep is your superpower | TED Talk - TED Talks
Michael’s Website
Sweet Dreams Class
30 Mornings Class
Referrals Podcast
Flip Hacking Live
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I am thrilled to interview Michael J. Maher, who is CEO of REFERCO, the world's foremost authority in business referrals. In just his third year in real estate, he did 187 transactions and over $40 million, entirely from referrals. For the next 8 years, he received over 500 referrals every single year and netted over $1 million. Michael is an internationally bestselling author and his book (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals has been the #1 book in Real Estate Sales on Amazon for over 9 straight years. In addition to these impressive accomplishments, he has shared the stage George W. Bush, Tony Robbins, Barbara Corcoran, and John Maxwell.
As we often do on the show, we started by talking about Michael’s background. He began his working career as a high school math teacher and coach of three sports: football, basketball, and baseball. He spoke about how dedicated he was and earned District Teacher of the Year in his first year teaching. Michael had an interest in real estate so he got licensed as an agent at the same time he bought his first home. He talks about how he built his business almost entirely through word of mouth and referrals.
Because Michael became an agent in 1999, I asked him how he weathered the housing market crash years. He said that because they were getting almost all their business through referrals, they ended up having records years during that period. This is when Michael first knew he was going to have to write a book because he had discovered a system of doing business that worked well in good markets, but even better in depressed times. He spoke about how the 7L system is basically tailor-made for a challenging time like we are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. We talked about specific marketing and deal-generating strategies based on his 7L principles, going into detail about making your marketing as personal as possible.
I then asked Michael about his book, (7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals. He walked us through the levels and their amount of influence in relationships with people. The second-most powerful level involves events and seminars, and Michael explained some of the programs that they offer. That led us to a conversation on the necessity of some structure to your day in order to increase productivity. He used the example of going to school and having an intense focus on a particular subject for a pre-determined amount of time every day. Michael also walked us through the morning and evening rituals, which he imparts in his book and classes through the use of acronyms.
Michael then told us about how he helps business owners build their businesses on a foundation of love, generosity, and appreciation. He went into great detail about the personal and professional benefits of choosing to live and conduct yourself this way. Michael described love as our super-power, and generosity is that love in action. He also explained that it is vital for us to appreciate everything that happens in our lives, good or bad.
I can’t tell you how powerful and wisdom-packed this episode is! You would be crazy not to join me as I interview super-successful entrepreneur, Michael J. Maher!
Notable Quotes:
“Good market - referrals are really good. Bad market - referrals are everything.”
- Michael J. Maher
“When people are thinking they are going to lose their home, they want to talk to someone they trust.”
- Michael J. Maher
“I’m big into personalized and customized service.”
- Michael J. Maher
“What is the most important currency in today’s world? It’s not money - it’s trust.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Love is your superpower.”
- Michael J. Maher
“What I’m really excited about now is helping people get structure in a world of chaos.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Why do we charge for them? So people show up. If they have skin in the game, they come.”
- Michael J. Maher
“There is a lot of people that would trade their wealth for health and happiness right now.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Energy is the most precious resource known to man.”
- Michael J. Maher
“You can change your life by changing your strategy.”
- Michael J. Maher
“We are going to have a day - why not structure it in the most effective way you can possibly structure it?”
- Mike Simmons
“It mixes the best of ‘go with the flow’ with ‘get in the flow.’”
- Michael J. Maher
“Your purpose in life is to be referrable.”
- Michael J. Maher
“Picking and choosing the opportunity is a lot better than chasing opportunity.”
- Michael J. Maher
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
(7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go from Relationships to Referrals
Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents
Matt Walker: Sleep is your superpower | TED Talk - TED Talks
Michael’s Website
Sweet Dreams Class
30 Mornings Class
Referrals Podcast
Flip Hacking Live
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I am excited to interview Justin Silverio, who is the owner of JS2 Homes and Open Letter Marketing. Justin has been investing in real estate since 2011 with extensive experience in rehabbing, new construction, wholesaling, and multi-family rental properties in and around the Boston area. Justin founded Open Letter Marketing in 2016 with a focus on providing real estate investors with a more effective direct to seller marketing approach than the outdated methods. Justin’s company works with hundreds of investors throughout the country and is recognized as one of the top real estate investor marketing companies.
Justin begins by telling us about his background and how he always had a love of houses because his dad was a contractor. The flipping television shows that came out around 2009 really piqued his interest as he was working as an accountant, but didn’t love it. Partnering with his father in finding and rehabbing houses married two of Justin’s passions together - love of houses and of numbers. For the first five years in real estate investing, Justin and his dad were flipping houses while he continued to work his full-time job, also while doing marketing for new properties. We talked about the challenges inherent with the situation, but also how it is possible to make it work.
I asked Justin how they funded their first deal and he described the process he went through in order to pitch three regional banks to do business with them. He did his homework, knew what information the banks wanted to see, and put together a five-year business plan to get funding before selecting his first property.
Justin then described what his business looks like today. He went from rehabbing entry-level homes, to mid-level homes, to high-end homes and new construction, to what he is doing today which is primarily multi-family condo conversions. The bulk of his day-to-day business dealings is made up of wholesaling homes while staying involved with the multi-family developments which are more long-term projects. He talked about how competition and profit margin per time spent really drove him to switch his business model.
Justin then told us about his company Open Letter Marketing, which was created to provide real estate investors with direct to seller marketing. I asked Justin to describe what their program does better than his competitors and he spoke to the fact that his product looks at the very fine details. With his product, they promote campaigns with a sequence of letters where each letter builds off of the prior.
I asked Justin to describe the current project he is working on, software called OLM InvestorHub, which is a lead and marketing management system based on his own business process. It will enable investors to purchase or import multiple lists, identify properties that are on more than one list, and identify the quality of a list once it is imported. Once the lead quality has been identified, you can create marketing campaigns specific to each. Justin talks about the software’s dashboard and how it organizes all of the marketing tools an investor is using and sends reminders to perform certain tasks to keep everything organized and visible to the user. They also have a CRM product that communicates with InvestorHub called OLM DealFlow.
Going forward, Justin is concerned with defining a systematic process for his wholesaling business so they can grow and expand. He also talked about looking at the more technical side of direct to seller marketing and how that can influence the direction of Open Letter Marketing.
During this interview, Justin speaks about being on the front lines in order to engineer new things to help people get better responses in changing market conditions. This is an incredibly informative episode for helping investors use the most current tools in order to fuel their business and I hope you will join us!
Notable Quotes:
“The degree is just the gateway to the world you want to get into.”
- Mike Simmons
“I know I have something that works much better and there is nothing on the market that offers this.”
- Justin Silverio
“If a marketing strategy works in my real estate investment business, I’m going to offer it to my customers.”
- Justin Silverio
“It is almost though you are building a conversation with the seller, and you do it in a specific way so that they are getting to know about you more with each letter.”
- Justin Silverio
“I’m just trying to create a solution for my own issue.”
- Justin Silverio
“My goal is to truly make an impact and provide value to as many real estate investors as I possibly can.”
- Justin Silverio
“How can I create a product to make everyone an expert in marketing?”
- Justin Silverio
“You end up doing lazy marketing, out of convenience, rather than strategy.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to build the tools to free up everybody’s time.”
- Justin Silverio
“Marketing for most investors is just disjointed.”
- Justin Silverio
“I always want to be on the very front line.”
- Justin Silverio
“What you are working on is like the oxygen of a real estate company.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
7 Figure Flipping
Flip Hacking Live
Open Letter Marketing
OLM InvestorHub
OLM DealFlow
Justin’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I am excited to interview Justin Silverio, who is the owner of JS2 Homes and Open Letter Marketing. Justin has been investing in real estate since 2011 with extensive experience in rehabbing, new construction, wholesaling, and multi-family rental properties in and around the Boston area. Justin founded Open Letter Marketing in 2016 with a focus on providing real estate investors with a more effective direct to seller marketing approach than the outdated methods. Justin’s company works with hundreds of investors throughout the country and is recognized as one of the top real estate investor marketing companies.
Justin begins by telling us about his background and how he always had a love of houses because his dad was a contractor. The flipping television shows that came out around 2009 really piqued his interest as he was working as an accountant, but didn’t love it. Partnering with his father in finding and rehabbing houses married two of Justin’s passions together - love of houses and of numbers. For the first five years in real estate investing, Justin and his dad were flipping houses while he continued to work his full-time job, also while doing marketing for new properties. We talked about the challenges inherent with the situation, but also how it is possible to make it work.
I asked Justin how they funded their first deal and he described the process he went through in order to pitch three regional banks to do business with them. He did his homework, knew what information the banks wanted to see, and put together a five-year business plan to get funding before selecting his first property.
Justin then described what his business looks like today. He went from rehabbing entry-level homes, to mid-level homes, to high-end homes and new construction, to what he is doing today which is primarily multi-family condo conversions. The bulk of his day-to-day business dealings is made up of wholesaling homes while staying involved with the multi-family developments which are more long-term projects. He talked about how competition and profit margin per time spent really drove him to switch his business model.
Justin then told us about his company Open Letter Marketing, which was created to provide real estate investors with direct to seller marketing. I asked Justin to describe what their program does better than his competitors and he spoke to the fact that his product looks at the very fine details. With his product, they promote campaigns with a sequence of letters where each letter builds off of the prior.
I asked Justin to describe the current project he is working on, software called OLM InvestorHub, which is a lead and marketing management system based on his own business process. It will enable investors to purchase or import multiple lists, identify properties that are on more than one list, and identify the quality of a list once it is imported. Once the lead quality has been identified, you can create marketing campaigns specific to each. Justin talks about the software’s dashboard and how it organizes all of the marketing tools an investor is using and sends reminders to perform certain tasks to keep everything organized and visible to the user. They also have a CRM product that communicates with InvestorHub called OLM DealFlow.
Going forward, Justin is concerned with defining a systematic process for his wholesaling business so they can grow and expand. He also talked about looking at the more technical side of direct to seller marketing and how that can influence the direction of Open Letter Marketing.
During this interview, Justin speaks about being on the front lines in order to engineer new things to help people get better responses in changing market conditions. This is an incredibly informative episode for helping investors use the most current tools in order to fuel their business and I hope you will join us!
Notable Quotes:
“The degree is just the gateway to the world you want to get into.”
- Mike Simmons
“I know I have something that works much better and there is nothing on the market that offers this.”
- Justin Silverio
“If a marketing strategy works in my real estate investment business, I’m going to offer it to my customers.”
- Justin Silverio
“It is almost though you are building a conversation with the seller, and you do it in a specific way so that they are getting to know about you more with each letter.”
- Justin Silverio
“I’m just trying to create a solution for my own issue.”
- Justin Silverio
“My goal is to truly make an impact and provide value to as many real estate investors as I possibly can.”
- Justin Silverio
“How can I create a product to make everyone an expert in marketing?”
- Justin Silverio
“You end up doing lazy marketing, out of convenience, rather than strategy.”
- Mike Simmons
“We are trying to build the tools to free up everybody’s time.”
- Justin Silverio
“Marketing for most investors is just disjointed.”
- Justin Silverio
“I always want to be on the very front line.”
- Justin Silverio
“What you are working on is like the oxygen of a real estate company.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
7 Figure Flipping
Flip Hacking Live
Open Letter Marketing
OLM InvestorHub
OLM DealFlow
Justin’s Email
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I am excited to interview Justin Colby who is the Founder and President of The Science of Flipping and Phoenix Wealth Builders. The Science of Flipping is a top-ranked real estate investing podcast and Justin now has a second podcast called The Entrepreneur DNA for those going through the entrepreneurial journey. His real estate investment company, Phoenix Wealth Builders, specializes in purchasing, rehab, wholesaling, and wholetailing properties in the Metro Phoenix Area and they have flipped and wholesaled over 1500 properties to date. Justin has been called a master at finding deals in a market that many say is the most difficult market to be a real estate investor.
Justin began by telling us that he started as a realtor in 2005 and then bought a brokerage with a friend. He talked about how it was almost impossible not to make a lot of money in real estate in the years before the market crash. Being really young at that time, he spent a ton of money, had a really expensive car and condo, which all went away in 2007. He shares how he lost everything and ended up sleeping on his buddy’s couch.
Things started to turn around for Justin when he and a friend decided to begin investing in real estate. They ended up using transactional funding for their deals, which was popular at that time, where they would get a deal funded and closed basically simultaneously or same day. I asked if, at this time, he was doing any work on these properties and he said no, effectively what he was doing was wholetailing. Justin talked about setting a goal for himself of calling 100 realtors a day in order to find deals and people to work with, and it took a full nine months before they had their first deal.
After Justin talked about his resilience and fortitude in getting some traction in his new business, I asked him to share how he gets his deals. He addressed several different marketing strategies, including pay per click advertising, direct mail, cold-calling and auto-texting, and driving for dollars. Justin also examined the level of seller motivation and relative cost for each, as well.
I then asked Justin to describe how he is brokering deals by working with iBuyer companies such as Opendoor and Offerpad. If a deal isn’t attractive to his company for wholesaling, wholetailing, flipping, or even buy-and-hold, he will inquire with his realtor about the price one of these companies will offer the seller for their home and take a portion of the transaction fees if he can successfully hook them up. This is a really creative way of working with them instead of getting swallowed up by them as a smaller investor.
We discussed how the COVID pandemic was affecting his business and how he has been able to adapt. Justin says he really prides himself on the ability to stay flexible and make adjustments, if necessary. He talks about how he had refocused his energy on his business after a partnership fell through, and when the pandemic hit, it was actually good timing for him.
Justin was incredibly transparent in his business dealings and if you join us I know you will get a ton of actionable wisdom!
Notable Quotes:
“The beginning years were the fun ones - when I was broke, busted, and disgusted.”
- Justin Colby
“Pain is more of a motivator than the carrot.”
- Justin Colby
“Just talk about what you are doing and people will get excited and gravitate toward you.”
- Mike Simmons
“Here is my secret sauce - I’m a people person.”
- Justin Colby
“I just had fortitude - I was willing to endure pain when other people can’t or won’t.”
- Justin Colby
“I know what I want to achieve and I am relentless in trying to achieve it regardless of when I achieve it.”
- Justin Colby
“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten.”
- Tony Robbins
“You can get exactly what you want if you are willing to: (a) work for it but (b) have patience.”
- Justin Colby
“You need to have more than one market strategy going at all times.”
- Justin Colby
“I have been able to make adjustments and pivot when required, and remained very flexible.”
- Justin Colby
“The only times I ever got hurt was when I chased money.”
- Justin Colby
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Propstream
TSOFData.com
Fortitude by Dan Crenshaw
Launch Control Text Messaging
DealMachine App
Opendoor
Offerpad
The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh
The Science of Flipping Academy FB Group
Justin on Instagram
Flip Hacking Live
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I am excited to interview Justin Colby who is the Founder and President of The Science of Flipping and Phoenix Wealth Builders. The Science of Flipping is a top-ranked real estate investing podcast and Justin now has a second podcast called The Entrepreneur DNA for those going through the entrepreneurial journey. His real estate investment company, Phoenix Wealth Builders, specializes in purchasing, rehab, wholesaling, and wholetailing properties in the Metro Phoenix Area and they have flipped and wholesaled over 1500 properties to date. Justin has been called a master at finding deals in a market that many say is the most difficult market to be a real estate investor.
Justin began by telling us that he started as a realtor in 2005 and then bought a brokerage with a friend. He talked about how it was almost impossible not to make a lot of money in real estate in the years before the market crash. Being really young at that time, he spent a ton of money, had a really expensive car and condo, which all went away in 2007. He shares how he lost everything and ended up sleeping on his buddy’s couch.
Things started to turn around for Justin when he and a friend decided to begin investing in real estate. They ended up using transactional funding for their deals, which was popular at that time, where they would get a deal funded and closed basically simultaneously or same day. I asked if, at this time, he was doing any work on these properties and he said no, effectively what he was doing was wholetailing. Justin talked about setting a goal for himself of calling 100 realtors a day in order to find deals and people to work with, and it took a full nine months before they had their first deal.
After Justin talked about his resilience and fortitude in getting some traction in his new business, I asked him to share how he gets his deals. He addressed several different marketing strategies, including pay per click advertising, direct mail, cold-calling and auto-texting, and driving for dollars. Justin also examined the level of seller motivation and relative cost for each, as well.
I then asked Justin to describe how he is brokering deals by working with iBuyer companies such as Opendoor and Offerpad. If a deal isn’t attractive to his company for wholesaling, wholetailing, flipping, or even buy-and-hold, he will inquire with his realtor about the price one of these companies will offer the seller for their home and take a portion of the transaction fees if he can successfully hook them up. This is a really creative way of working with them instead of getting swallowed up by them as a smaller investor.
We discussed how the COVID pandemic was affecting his business and how he has been able to adapt. Justin says he really prides himself on the ability to stay flexible and make adjustments, if necessary. He talks about how he had refocused his energy on his business after a partnership fell through, and when the pandemic hit, it was actually good timing for him.
Justin was incredibly transparent in his business dealings and if you join us I know you will get a ton of actionable wisdom!
Notable Quotes:
“The beginning years were the fun ones - when I was broke, busted, and disgusted.”
- Justin Colby
“Pain is more of a motivator than the carrot.”
- Justin Colby
“Just talk about what you are doing and people will get excited and gravitate toward you.”
- Mike Simmons
“Here is my secret sauce - I’m a people person.”
- Justin Colby
“I just had fortitude - I was willing to endure pain when other people can’t or won’t.”
- Justin Colby
“I know what I want to achieve and I am relentless in trying to achieve it regardless of when I achieve it.”
- Justin Colby
“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten.”
- Tony Robbins
“You can get exactly what you want if you are willing to: (a) work for it but (b) have patience.”
- Justin Colby
“You need to have more than one market strategy going at all times.”
- Justin Colby
“I have been able to make adjustments and pivot when required, and remained very flexible.”
- Justin Colby
“The only times I ever got hurt was when I chased money.”
- Justin Colby
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Propstream
TSOFData.com
Fortitude by Dan Crenshaw
Launch Control Text Messaging
DealMachine App
Opendoor
Offerpad
The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh
The Science of Flipping Academy FB Group
Justin on Instagram
Flip Hacking Live
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
In this episode, I have the privilege of interviewing Erik Cabral. Erik is the founder of the media agency, On Air Brands; the innovative networking and podcasting event PodMAX; the real estate investment company Mindado Investment Group; and is host, co-host, and producer on multiple shows, including the Entrepreneurs Circle podcast. With multiple businesses, partnerships, and podcasts Erik is the quintessential “serial entrepreneur” who spends much of his time helping others grow their businesses, brands, and reputation.
We began by talking about Erik’s time in the corporate world, working in a creative capacity for Big Pharma, and how he began investigating the concept of real estate investing after being laid-off. He shares how friendly and helpful he found investors while attending events and REIAs, which was very different from the highly-competitive, cutthroat industry he had worked in. Erik took his background in creative work to not only build his own brand as he began investing, but also as a bartering tool to help other investors, which is how he started On Air Brands.
Erik then shared the details of his first deal in which he hired a coach who was an established investor in order to help mentor him through the process. His coach took him to all of his rentals, introduced him to all of his tenants, and finally made him run the numbers on the duplex he ended up buying. He ended up using the BRRRR strategy with this property and he says it cash-flows like crazy.
Erik talked about how he is more active building his media agency than actively flipping or wholesaling right now. He expressed how passionate he is about helping people sell their home, but how much of his time he had to devote to really do that well. He also talks about the inherent challenges all investors face when rehabbing houses and that didn’t feel like time well spent to him either.
I then asked Erik to explain On Air Brands, how it came about and who the company serves. He said that initially, they were doing logos, branding, websites, etc. to help out real estate investors, but it grew as people experienced how professional Erik’s podcast production was and people wanted the same for their own shows. He explained that it all grew from investors who have multiple businesses needing to take their message and their platform into one place.
We talked about how diverse Erik’s business interests are and how he is a partner in Renault Winery & Resort, which is the 3rd oldest winery in the US. He talks about what a mess the project was to begin with but how it has turned out to be such an interesting collaboration with people he is pursuing other investments with. Erik talks about how great it is to be working with a “tribe” of people, all focused on lifting one another up and helping each other to be successful.
We also talked about the birth and evolution of his newest project, PodMAX. It is a network of podcasting shows, especially in the investing space, who are collaborating in Erik’s office space which has several make-shift podcasting studios. We discussed at length how important networking is, meeting people, and the exchange of ideas being vital to our growth as human beings and business people.
This is a super fun and incredibly informative interview and I urge you to join Erik Cabral and me to take in all of this great actionable advice!
Notable Quotes:
“[In the corporate world] you are building someone else’s wealth, you’re aligning behind their goals to direct their ship where they’re trying to go.”
- Erik Cabral
“Mike: Where was most of your real estate knowledge gained?
Erik: It was doing. I had to do it.”
“I had to start speaking the language, and then I had to start offering value.”
- Erik Cabral
“They are chasing just money, but they’re not even paying attention to what their heart or their brain is telling them about where they should be.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t they need to know you, then like you, and then trust you in order for you to start doing some things together? Well, podcasting does exactly that for you upfront.”
- Erik Cabral
“Podcasting is part of that - one spoke on the wheel of marketing.”
- Erik Cabral
“Business owners have to be in the business of media. We all have to realize we are social media marketing engines.”
- Erik Cabral
“When you can surround yourself with people who are levels up, you learn so much from them.”
- Erik Cabral
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Built to Sell
7FF Live Event
On Air Brands
PodMAX
Mindado
Erik on Instagram
Erik on Facebook
Erik on LinkedIn
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the privilege of interviewing Erik Cabral. Erik is the founder of the media agency, On Air Brands; the innovative networking and podcasting event PodMAX; the real estate investment company Mindado Investment Group; and is host, co-host, and producer on multiple shows, including the Entrepreneurs Circle podcast. With multiple businesses, partnerships, and podcasts Erik is the quintessential “serial entrepreneur” who spends much of his time helping others grow their businesses, brands, and reputation.
We began by talking about Erik’s time in the corporate world, working in a creative capacity for Big Pharma, and how he began investigating the concept of real estate investing after being laid-off. He shares how friendly and helpful he found investors while attending events and REIAs, which was very different from the highly-competitive, cutthroat industry he had worked in. Erik took his background in creative work to not only build his own brand as he began investing, but also as a bartering tool to help other investors, which is how he started On Air Brands.
Erik then shared the details of his first deal in which he hired a coach who was an established investor in order to help mentor him through the process. His coach took him to all of his rentals, introduced him to all of his tenants, and finally made him run the numbers on the duplex he ended up buying. He ended up using the BRRRR strategy with this property and he says it cash-flows like crazy.
Erik talked about how he is more active building his media agency than actively flipping or wholesaling right now. He expressed how passionate he is about helping people sell their home, but how much of his time he had to devote to really do that well. He also talks about the inherent challenges all investors face when rehabbing houses and that didn’t feel like time well spent to him either.
I then asked Erik to explain On Air Brands, how it came about and who the company serves. He said that initially, they were doing logos, branding, websites, etc. to help out real estate investors, but it grew as people experienced how professional Erik’s podcast production was and people wanted the same for their own shows. He explained that it all grew from investors who have multiple businesses needing to take their message and their platform into one place.
We talked about how diverse Erik’s business interests are and how he is a partner in Renault Winery & Resort, which is the 3rd oldest winery in the US. He talks about what a mess the project was to begin with but how it has turned out to be such an interesting collaboration with people he is pursuing other investments with. Erik talks about how great it is to be working with a “tribe” of people, all focused on lifting one another up and helping each other to be successful.
We also talked about the birth and evolution of his newest project, PodMAX. It is a network of podcasting shows, especially in the investing space, who are collaborating in Erik’s office space which has several make-shift podcasting studios. We discussed at length how important networking is, meeting people, and the exchange of ideas being vital to our growth as human beings and business people.
This is a super fun and incredibly informative interview and I urge you to join Erik Cabral and me to take in all of this great actionable advice!
Notable Quotes:
“[In the corporate world] you are building someone else’s wealth, you’re aligning behind their goals to direct their ship where they’re trying to go.”
- Erik Cabral
“Mike: Where was most of your real estate knowledge gained?
Erik: It was doing. I had to do it.”
“I had to start speaking the language, and then I had to start offering value.”
- Erik Cabral
“They are chasing just money, but they’re not even paying attention to what their heart or their brain is telling them about where they should be.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t they need to know you, then like you, and then trust you in order for you to start doing some things together? Well, podcasting does exactly that for you upfront.”
- Erik Cabral
“Podcasting is part of that - one spoke on the wheel of marketing.”
- Erik Cabral
“Business owners have to be in the business of media. We all have to realize we are social media marketing engines.”
- Erik Cabral
“When you can surround yourself with people who are levels up, you learn so much from them.”
- Erik Cabral
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Built to Sell
7FF Live Event
On Air Brands
PodMAX
Mindado
Erik on Instagram
Erik on Facebook
Erik on LinkedIn
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with best-selling author, popular podcaster, and motivational speaker, Rock Thomas. Rock is also the host of the #IAmMovement Podcast. From farm boy to real estate and business guru, mentor, and self-made millionaire, Rock has studied one-on-one with the world’s best teachers such as Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, and Gary Keller on his mission to inspire others to create their best life, on their terms.
After decades of learning from the greatest minds on the planet, working with and coaching thousands of people in his workshops and webinars, Rock now spends his time teaching people how to be financially free and truly happy on their terms whether they work for themselves or others.
We began by talking about Rock’s early adulthood and what lead him to his current success. He talked about the incredible range of various jobs that he did, relocating to take care of his ailing father, and then finally, the opportunity to get into real estate by buying a RE/MAX franchise. I also asked him about his childhood and Rock shared the lessons he learned through growing up in a big family on a farm.
We discussed how our upbringing can both diminish and fuel us to be successful. Rock was so open about how the way he was brought up challenged his sense of worth but also drove him to be a better person. He continues to struggle with a sense of belonging but has worked very hard to overcome these adversities, even though he knows they made him strong and resourceful.
We talked about the mastermind groups that Rock has been a part of: GoBundance was created for men who choose to live bigger and more fulfilled lives of impact. It's a framework to strengthen your journey in becoming a better man, husband, father, friend, and entrepreneur. It's the place men come together to live EPIC lives; and M1, a community of positive, energetic people to help people march toward financial freedom.
I then asked Rock to tell us how he organizes his day for success. He loves to start his day with yoga, and then at the beginning of the week, he spends most of his time with podcasts, sales training, basically online, virtual-world tasks. He works Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then takes the rest of the week off. For Rock, the most important things are to be spending his time doing what he loves with the people he loves. We talked about health and wellness, working out, and eating right, with Rock sharing some of his personal tips.
I asked Rock about the time after he sold his RE/MAX franchises and went on a personal quest for wellness and what that looked like. He talked about discovering the Ultimate Edge program by Tony Robbins and getting more focused on living his true values. Rock talked about being a passionately curious student with some of the biggest names in the self-help industry.
We then talked about the books that Rock has written and what motivated him to write them. He talked about experiences from his youth that labeled him and the efforts to change his thinking to transform his life. Rock gives us so much wisdom that he has learned through his many life and business experiences.
I hope you will join me as I talk with uber-successful entrepreneur, Rock Thomas! This was an incredibly open, honest, and motivating interview that will shift your mindset and change your life.
Notable Quotes:
“I started doing things my own way and that is the longest way to learn.”
- Rock Thomas
“It got me focused, man - I was dialed in, I was paying attention.”
- Rock Thomas
“Sometimes people underestimate the power of fear. Nothing will make you focus like being afraid.”
- Mike Simmons
“Your net worth will never go up more than your self-worth.”
- Rock Thomas
“Every day I got up and before I served any of my clients, I went and got new ones.”
- Rock Thomas
“It is the life-blood, what is feeding your business.”
- Mike Simmons
“The greatest gift I got was learning how to be incredibly resourceful.”
- Rock Thomas
I ‘Macgyver-ed’ it - you use what is available around you.”
- Rock Thomas
“To me, there is always a path, always a way.”
- Rock Thomas
“I learned that mindset, growing up on a farm, which is incredibly valuable.”
- Rock Thomas
“To make excuses and look for reasons why things won’t work is not my playbook.”
- Rock Thomas
“I created a mastermind, a group of men, just so that I could belong to my own group.”
- Rock Thomas
“I’m the CD, you are the MP3. You take the best from me and your mother and you become a better version.”
- Rock Thomas, to his kids
“The intention and the lessons were sound, even if the delivery was somewhat lacking.”
- Mike Simmons
“Do what is easy and life will be hard; do what is hard and life will be easy.”
- Rock Thomas
“For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.”
- Rock Thomas
“What are other ways that you can meet your levels of fulfillment without damaging your body?”
- Rock Thomas
“What you focus on creates feeling.”
- Rock Thomas
“When you learn something, apply it, integrate it.”
- Rock Thomas’ father
“I wasn’t starting the engine, I was just putting gas in the car.”
- Mike Simmons
“My ability to capture the essence of what I learn and apply it at a level of mastery is what separates me from the average person.”
- Rock Thomas
“You can change any label through repetition.”
- Rock Thomas’ mentor
“You are responsible for your inner narrative.”
- Rock Thomas
“If you are bathing in the cesspool of mediocrity that the media is offering you, you are probably going to feel like sh&t.”
- Rock Thomas
“The obstacles that are going to appear are all designed to grow you personally.”
- Rock Thomas
“Work diligently to get to a place where you have time-freedom so you can do the stuff that really matters.”
- Rock Thomas
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
GoBundance Mastermind
M1 Mastermind
7FF Live Event
Awaken the Giant Within
Ultimate Edge Program
The Power of Your Identity: The Secret to Creating Lasting Change
Your Epic Life Blueprint: Quit the Rat Race and Create a Happier Life!
Rock Thomas’ Website
Rock Thomas on Facebook
Rock Thomas on Instagram
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with best-selling author, popular podcaster, and motivational speaker, Rock Thomas. Rock is also the host of the #IAmMovement Podcast. From farm boy to real estate and business guru, mentor, and self-made millionaire, Rock has studied one-on-one with the world’s best teachers such as Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, and Gary Keller on his mission to inspire others to create their best life, on their terms.
After decades of learning from the greatest minds on the planet, working with and coaching thousands of people in his workshops and webinars, Rock now spends his time teaching people how to be financially free and truly happy on their terms whether they work for themselves or others.
We began by talking about Rock’s early adulthood and what lead him to his current success. He talked about the incredible range of various jobs that he did, relocating to take care of his ailing father, and then finally, the opportunity to get into real estate by buying a RE/MAX franchise. I also asked him about his childhood and Rock shared the lessons he learned through growing up in a big family on a farm.
We discussed how our upbringing can both diminish and fuel us to be successful. Rock was so open about how the way he was brought up challenged his sense of worth but also drove him to be a better person. He continues to struggle with a sense of belonging but has worked very hard to overcome these adversities, even though he knows they made him strong and resourceful.
We talked about the mastermind groups that Rock has been a part of: GoBundance was created for men who choose to live bigger and more fulfilled lives of impact. It's a framework to strengthen your journey in becoming a better man, husband, father, friend, and entrepreneur. It's the place men come together to live EPIC lives; and M1, a community of positive, energetic people to help people march toward financial freedom.
I then asked Rock to tell us how he organizes his day for success. He loves to start his day with yoga, and then at the beginning of the week, he spends most of his time with podcasts, sales training, basically online, virtual-world tasks. He works Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and then takes the rest of the week off. For Rock, the most important things are to be spending his time doing what he loves with the people he loves. We talked about health and wellness, working out, and eating right, with Rock sharing some of his personal tips.
I asked Rock about the time after he sold his RE/MAX franchises and went on a personal quest for wellness and what that looked like. He talked about discovering the Ultimate Edge program by Tony Robbins and getting more focused on living his true values. Rock talked about being a passionately curious student with some of the biggest names in the self-help industry.
We then talked about the books that Rock has written and what motivated him to write them. He talked about experiences from his youth that labeled him and the efforts to change his thinking to transform his life. Rock gives us so much wisdom that he has learned through his many life and business experiences.
I hope you will join me as I talk with uber-successful entrepreneur, Rock Thomas! This was an incredibly open, honest, and motivating interview that will shift your mindset and change your life.
Notable Quotes:
“I started doing things my own way and that is the longest way to learn.”
- Rock Thomas
“It got me focused, man - I was dialed in, I was paying attention.”
- Rock Thomas
“Sometimes people underestimate the power of fear. Nothing will make you focus like being afraid.”
- Mike Simmons
“Your net worth will never go up more than your self-worth.”
- Rock Thomas
“Every day I got up and before I served any of my clients, I went and got new ones.”
- Rock Thomas
“It is the life-blood, what is feeding your business.”
- Mike Simmons
“The greatest gift I got was learning how to be incredibly resourceful.”
- Rock Thomas
I ‘Macgyver-ed’ it - you use what is available around you.”
- Rock Thomas
“To me, there is always a path, always a way.”
- Rock Thomas
“I learned that mindset, growing up on a farm, which is incredibly valuable.”
- Rock Thomas
“To make excuses and look for reasons why things won’t work is not my playbook.”
- Rock Thomas
“I created a mastermind, a group of men, just so that I could belong to my own group.”
- Rock Thomas
“I’m the CD, you are the MP3. You take the best from me and your mother and you become a better version.”
- Rock Thomas, to his kids
“The intention and the lessons were sound, even if the delivery was somewhat lacking.”
- Mike Simmons
“Do what is easy and life will be hard; do what is hard and life will be easy.”
- Rock Thomas
“For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.”
- Rock Thomas
“What are other ways that you can meet your levels of fulfillment without damaging your body?”
- Rock Thomas
“What you focus on creates feeling.”
- Rock Thomas
“When you learn something, apply it, integrate it.”
- Rock Thomas’ father
“I wasn’t starting the engine, I was just putting gas in the car.”
- Mike Simmons
“My ability to capture the essence of what I learn and apply it at a level of mastery is what separates me from the average person.”
- Rock Thomas
“You can change any label through repetition.”
- Rock Thomas’ mentor
“You are responsible for your inner narrative.”
- Rock Thomas
“If you are bathing in the cesspool of mediocrity that the media is offering you, you are probably going to feel like sh&t.”
- Rock Thomas
“The obstacles that are going to appear are all designed to grow you personally.”
- Rock Thomas
“Work diligently to get to a place where you have time-freedom so you can do the stuff that really matters.”
- Rock Thomas
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
GoBundance Mastermind
M1 Mastermind
7FF Live Event
Awaken the Giant Within
Ultimate Edge Program
The Power of Your Identity: The Secret to Creating Lasting Change
Your Epic Life Blueprint: Quit the Rat Race and Create a Happier Life!
Rock Thomas’ Website
Rock Thomas on Facebook
Rock Thomas on Instagram
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing fellow podcaster and popular blogger, Sharon Vornholt, who is the owner of Innovative Property Solutions in Louisville, KY. Sharon owned and operated a successful home inspection business for 17 years, while also investing part-time. Sharon was originally a rehabber and a buy-and-hold landlord, but when the market crashed in 2008, she became an “accidental wholesaler” and full-time investor. Sharon is also the creator of the Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog, and the popular podcast “Let’s Talk Real Estate Investing”. Sharon hosts several live events each year and is a regular speaker at other events across the country.
We began by talking about Sharon’s start in the real estate investing world. It all began for her when her friend took her to an REIA event… Sharon knew then that real estate was what she was meant to do. In the early days, Sharon learned a lot about different types of deals based on her own business needs, very similar to my own start in investing.
We talked a lot about different types of markets, the down-turn in 2008 compared to the current situations, and how to make money during all these periods. Sharon spoke about working with investors and how each had a different model, but by getting to know their criteria, she continued to be successful as a wholesaler.
I then asked Sharon about her Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog and the circumstances surrounding starting that up. Sharon said she started it in 2010 and her podcast, “Let’s Talk Real Estate Investing,” followed shortly thereafter. Through these two platforms, she discovered that her real passion was teaching people about marketing and branding in order to generate leads for real estate investing. This was also the time she discovered probate investing.
Sharon gave us some valuable information about the process involved with probate investing. If there is property included in a recently deceased person’s estate, the family needs to sell the property before the debts are paid and the assets can be dispersed. Sharon talked about how these families really need help and can be very motivated sellers. She also discussed the circumstances she takes into account and accordingly, adjusts her marketing and outreach.
We talked a little bit about how the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting Sharon’s business, specifically, and real estate investing generally. She said probate is largely immune to market fluctuations, but that there will be a backlog of probate deals available because of the closure of the court system. Sharon also talked about the course that she has put together, called “Probate Investing Simplified,” where she walks people through all of the terminologies and the entire process of probate investing. She also provides tons of bonus material, including detailed marketing letters, so that anyone who completes the course will be a probate investing expert.
I hope you will join me as I talk with this super impressive investor who is practically oozing integrity - Sharon Vornholt!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate is all about the numbers.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You can be a real estate investor in any market cycle.”
- Mike Simmons
“Buy-and-hold landlords never quit buying… it is like an addiction.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“If it cash-flows, they are all-in.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Your model isn’t everybody else’s model.”
- Mike Simmons
“I realized I need to stop trying to predict what people will do and just put properties out there.”
- Mike Simmons
“The real estate investors that I know that have had success - they are just willing to jump in and do it.”
- Mike Simmons
“You don’t need to know how to negotiate if you don’t know how to get deals.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Real estate investors go tone-deaf when you say the word ‘branding.’”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Marketing is how you get leads, but branding is why they choose you.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You just have to stay in the game - direct mailing is a long-term play.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“I’m all about the situation - how to not upset people, but to help them.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“This is just continuing on a trend lately, certainly on this show - good people.”
- Mike Simmons
“I may be leaving money on the table, but I keep my integrity.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You are coming from a position of helping them with an actual problem, and not how much money you are going to make.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to be able to look at yourself when you wake up in the morning, and you are not going to be able to do that if you take advantage of someone who doesn’t know any better.”
- Mike Simmons
“People get so focused on the money that they abandon their ethics for the quick transaction.”
- Mike Simmons
“People just want to be heard.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“They’re selling their memories, their childhood - you just have to understand where they are coming from.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Probate is immune to market conditions.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You are a legitimately kind person who cares about the way you do business.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Let's Talk Real Estate Investing
Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog
Sharon's Website
Probate Investing Simplified
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Mike’s Email
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I have the pleasure of interviewing fellow podcaster and popular blogger, Sharon Vornholt, who is the owner of Innovative Property Solutions in Louisville, KY. Sharon owned and operated a successful home inspection business for 17 years, while also investing part-time. Sharon was originally a rehabber and a buy-and-hold landlord, but when the market crashed in 2008, she became an “accidental wholesaler” and full-time investor. Sharon is also the creator of the Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog, and the popular podcast “Let’s Talk Real Estate Investing”. Sharon hosts several live events each year and is a regular speaker at other events across the country.
We began by talking about Sharon’s start in the real estate investing world. It all began for her when her friend took her to an REIA event… Sharon knew then that real estate was what she was meant to do. In the early days, Sharon learned a lot about different types of deals based on her own business needs, very similar to my own start in investing.
We talked a lot about different types of markets, the down-turn in 2008 compared to the current situations, and how to make money during all these periods. Sharon spoke about working with investors and how each had a different model, but by getting to know their criteria, she continued to be successful as a wholesaler.
I then asked Sharon about her Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog and the circumstances surrounding starting that up. Sharon said she started it in 2010 and her podcast, “Let’s Talk Real Estate Investing,” followed shortly thereafter. Through these two platforms, she discovered that her real passion was teaching people about marketing and branding in order to generate leads for real estate investing. This was also the time she discovered probate investing.
Sharon gave us some valuable information about the process involved with probate investing. If there is property included in a recently deceased person’s estate, the family needs to sell the property before the debts are paid and the assets can be dispersed. Sharon talked about how these families really need help and can be very motivated sellers. She also discussed the circumstances she takes into account and accordingly, adjusts her marketing and outreach.
We talked a little bit about how the current coronavirus pandemic is affecting Sharon’s business, specifically, and real estate investing generally. She said probate is largely immune to market fluctuations, but that there will be a backlog of probate deals available because of the closure of the court system. Sharon also talked about the course that she has put together, called “Probate Investing Simplified,” where she walks people through all of the terminologies and the entire process of probate investing. She also provides tons of bonus material, including detailed marketing letters, so that anyone who completes the course will be a probate investing expert.
I hope you will join me as I talk with this super impressive investor who is practically oozing integrity - Sharon Vornholt!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate is all about the numbers.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You can be a real estate investor in any market cycle.”
- Mike Simmons
“Buy-and-hold landlords never quit buying… it is like an addiction.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“If it cash-flows, they are all-in.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Your model isn’t everybody else’s model.”
- Mike Simmons
“I realized I need to stop trying to predict what people will do and just put properties out there.”
- Mike Simmons
“The real estate investors that I know that have had success - they are just willing to jump in and do it.”
- Mike Simmons
“You don’t need to know how to negotiate if you don’t know how to get deals.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Real estate investors go tone-deaf when you say the word ‘branding.’”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Marketing is how you get leads, but branding is why they choose you.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You just have to stay in the game - direct mailing is a long-term play.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“I’m all about the situation - how to not upset people, but to help them.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“This is just continuing on a trend lately, certainly on this show - good people.”
- Mike Simmons
“I may be leaving money on the table, but I keep my integrity.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You are coming from a position of helping them with an actual problem, and not how much money you are going to make.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to be able to look at yourself when you wake up in the morning, and you are not going to be able to do that if you take advantage of someone who doesn’t know any better.”
- Mike Simmons
“People get so focused on the money that they abandon their ethics for the quick transaction.”
- Mike Simmons
“People just want to be heard.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“They’re selling their memories, their childhood - you just have to understand where they are coming from.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“Probate is immune to market conditions.”
- Sharon Vornholt
“You are a legitimately kind person who cares about the way you do business.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Flip Hacking Live
Let's Talk Real Estate Investing
Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog
Sharon's Website
Probate Investing Simplified
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Mike’s Email
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
In this episode, I am honored to interview Kevin Bupp, who is the Founder & CEO of Sunrise Capital Investors, which invests in mobile home parks, parking lots, apartments, offices, and single-family homes all across the US. He has 16 years of experience in educating investors to locate, acquire, and create “higher than average” returns from the widely misunderstood niche of mobile home park investing. He shares his expertise through the Mobile Home Park Academy and also as the host of The Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow and The Mobile Home Park Investing podcasts, which have become two of the hottest real estate podcasts on iTunes.
Kevin told us about his background and how he first came to real estate investing. He talked about his family’s humble beginnings and the various things he did to make money so he could buy the things he wanted. Kevin described the relationships that first lead him to real estate investing, going to his first boot camp, how he felt coming out of it, and how he made his first deal at the age of 20.
I asked Kevin what he looks for in a good deal and he talked about the importance of sound economic fundamentals in a particular market. He also looks at the area’s policies concerning landlord and tenant laws to make sure they are win-win for both sides. His financial goals include the ability to hold each property and realize a certain level of return on investment initially and throughout the life of the investment.
I wanted to get the details about investing in mobile homes, so I asked Kevin specific questions about this niche of the real estate market. He said they own properties all over the country and normally purchase the entire mobile home complex, but a small percentage of their overall portfolio are individual units, as well.
Kevin discussed his history in real estate investing, starting with single-family and multi-family investments before the housing market crash in 2008. After his business was severely hit at this time, he took a couple of years to re-evaluate the type of property he wanted to invest in going forward. Kevin developed a relationship with a very successful mobile home investor and it really influenced the direction he decided to go next.
Kevin then talked about the specific advantages and challenges of being in the mobile home space. The points he makes about the perception of mobile homes, the issues involved with communities building new communities, and the progression of surrounding developments are super compelling and informative. We discussed some of the details concerning new investors and this type of investment, too.
Kevin described how mobile home parks are remotely managed, either from an office on the property itself or if the community is smaller, from a manager’s home office. These managers perform similar functions to managers of more standard types of properties - collecting rents, handing out late notices, and sometimes representing them in court, if necessary. They then have a district manager who the individual managers report to who regularly visits each property.
Having invested in all different types of real estate, this episode with super successful and exciting investor Kevin Bupp provides a ton of actionable and practical wisdom and I hope you join us!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate found me - I didn’t find it. I am very blessed and grateful for that coming into my life because I don’t know what I would be doing otherwise.”
- Kevin Bupp
“A real paycheck gave me a taste of that freedom, of paving my own way..”
- Kevin Bupp
“I did whatever I could to hustle and make a dollar.”
- Kevin Bupp
“At my first boot camp, I met a lot of people that I didn’t feel were any smarter than me who were doing big things in the real estate space.”
- Kevin Bupp
“The quickest way to get ignored is to ask for something without giving anything in return.”
- Mike Simmons
“Learning by first giving.”
- Mike Simmons
“We need to know we are comfortable with the worst-case scenario.”
- Kevin Bupp
“If you want to scale a business, you have to be open to where the deals are.”
- Kevin Bupp
“I went on a journey examining what went wrong, what don’t I want to do again, and how can I rebuild.”
- Kevin Bupp
“I don’t have that big of a stomach - I would rather buy something that is more tried-and-true.”
- Kevin Bupp
“It’s all about getting educated - you need to learn the intricacies of that investment vehicle.”
- Kevin Bupp
“Go network, get to know others that are in your space.”
- Kevin Bupp
“The seller objections for a mobile home park purchase are not that dissimilar to any other type of real estate.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s a really weird transition where you say, ‘We need more people, but we can’t afford more people.’”
- Kevin Bupp
“I like to be proactive with my hiring.”
- Kevin Bupp
“The companies that get smarter and leaner and stronger will come out of this pandemic better.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Kevin Bupp's Website
Mobile Home Park Academy
Sunrise Capital Investors
Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow with Kevin
Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast with Kevin
7FF Video Vault
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Mike’s Email
In this episode, I am honored to interview Kevin Bupp, who is the Founder & CEO of Sunrise Capital Investors, which invests in mobile home parks, parking lots, apartments, offices, and single-family homes all across the US. He has 16 years of experience in educating investors to locate, acquire, and create “higher than average” returns from the widely misunderstood niche of mobile home park investing. He shares his expertise through the Mobile Home Park Academy and also as the host of The Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow and The Mobile Home Park Investing podcasts, which have become two of the hottest real estate podcasts on iTunes.
Kevin told us about his background and how he first came to real estate investing. He talked about his family’s humble beginnings and the various things he did to make money so he could buy the things he wanted. Kevin described the relationships that first lead him to real estate investing, going to his first boot camp, how he felt coming out of it, and how he made his first deal at the age of 20.
I asked Kevin what he looks for in a good deal and he talked about the importance of sound economic fundamentals in a particular market. He also looks at the area’s policies concerning landlord and tenant laws to make sure they are win-win for both sides. His financial goals include the ability to hold each property and realize a certain level of return on investment initially and throughout the life of the investment.
I wanted to get the details about investing in mobile homes, so I asked Kevin specific questions about this niche of the real estate market. He said they own properties all over the country and normally purchase the entire mobile home complex, but a small percentage of their overall portfolio are individual units, as well.
Kevin discussed his history in real estate investing, starting with single-family and multi-family investments before the housing market crash in 2008. After his business was severely hit at this time, he took a couple of years to re-evaluate the type of property he wanted to invest in going forward. Kevin developed a relationship with a very successful mobile home investor and it really influenced the direction he decided to go next.
Kevin then talked about the specific advantages and challenges of being in the mobile home space. The points he makes about the perception of mobile homes, the issues involved with communities building new communities, and the progression of surrounding developments are super compelling and informative. We discussed some of the details concerning new investors and this type of investment, too.
Kevin described how mobile home parks are remotely managed, either from an office on the property itself or if the community is smaller, from a manager’s home office. These managers perform similar functions to managers of more standard types of properties - collecting rents, handing out late notices, and sometimes representing them in court, if necessary. They then have a district manager who the individual managers report to who regularly visits each property.
Having invested in all different types of real estate, this episode with super successful and exciting investor Kevin Bupp provides a ton of actionable and practical wisdom and I hope you join us!
Notable Quotes:
“Real estate found me - I didn’t find it. I am very blessed and grateful for that coming into my life because I don’t know what I would be doing otherwise.”
- Kevin Bupp
“A real paycheck gave me a taste of that freedom, of paving my own way..”
- Kevin Bupp
“I did whatever I could to hustle and make a dollar.”
- Kevin Bupp
“At my first boot camp, I met a lot of people that I didn’t feel were any smarter than me who were doing big things in the real estate space.”
- Kevin Bupp
“The quickest way to get ignored is to ask for something without giving anything in return.”
- Mike Simmons
“Learning by first giving.”
- Mike Simmons
“We need to know we are comfortable with the worst-case scenario.”
- Kevin Bupp
“If you want to scale a business, you have to be open to where the deals are.”
- Kevin Bupp
“I went on a journey examining what went wrong, what don’t I want to do again, and how can I rebuild.”
- Kevin Bupp
“I don’t have that big of a stomach - I would rather buy something that is more tried-and-true.”
- Kevin Bupp
“It’s all about getting educated - you need to learn the intricacies of that investment vehicle.”
- Kevin Bupp
“Go network, get to know others that are in your space.”
- Kevin Bupp
“The seller objections for a mobile home park purchase are not that dissimilar to any other type of real estate.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s a really weird transition where you say, ‘We need more people, but we can’t afford more people.’”
- Kevin Bupp
“I like to be proactive with my hiring.”
- Kevin Bupp
“The companies that get smarter and leaner and stronger will come out of this pandemic better.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Kevin Bupp's Website
Mobile Home Park Academy
Sunrise Capital Investors
Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow with Kevin
Mobile Home Park Investing Podcast with Kevin
7FF Video Vault
Return on Investments
Just Start Real Estate
JSRE on Facebook
Mike on Facebook
Mike on Instagram
Mike on LinkedIn
Mike on Twitter
Mike’s Email
In this episode, I am joined by Kyle and Kirk Burnett who are twin brothers that invest in real estate together. Kyle lives in Cincinnati with his wife and two girls and has been investing in real estate for three and a half years. Kirk moved to the Dominican Republic five years ago to work as a missionary, where he met and married his wife. Now he works remotely full-time with the Burnett Group while still volunteering at the non-profit organization.
We talked about what they were both doing before getting into real estate investing and what roles each of them play now in their company. While their primary investing market is Cincinnati, they are currently working on expanding into another market. Kyle and Kirk discussed their respective roles, hiring help, and the details of remotely handling deals.
As Kyle and Kirk expand into this new market, they are going to test out the remote business model by utilizing less costly marketing strategies, such as texting and cold-calling, rather than direct mail.
I asked them to describe their business operations and any of the tools they are using to be more successful. Kyle and Kirk talked about a couple of the apps they use (see links for more information) and spoke about the importance of communication between team members. We also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of closing deals over the phone.
We talked about what we might do differently if we were starting over with a clean slate today. Kyle and I both said we would definitely start with flipping houses, but Kirk said he would begin by wholesaling so he could stay in the Dominican Republic and continue to work in ministry. Both said how valuable being part of a mastermind group is and how much they value the relationships and shared information.
I hope you will join me for this super down-to-earth and informative interview with the Brothers Burnett!
Notable Quotes:
“We are going to go for some of the low-hanging fruit to prove the model.”
- Kirk Burnett
“We are full-steam ahead in the new market (regardless of the pandemic).”
- Kirk Burnett
“Something like the pandemic happening tests your business - are there holes in your game?”
- Mike Simmons
“Too many people are playing defense and are fear-based in what they are doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t make this an excuse not to be successful.”
- Mike Simmons
“Here ya go - boom. Quarantine, COVID, now what? You can curl up in a ball and die, or you can figure out your path forward.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to get over your unreasonable or unfounded fears.”
- Mike Simmons
“Imagine the talent you can pull from if you open up your hiring to anywhere.”
- Mike Simmons
“I do enjoy the flipping aspect of things and I don’t think that is something that will ever go away.”
- Kyle Burnett
“I love where I am at, and more importantly, I love the organization and ministry that I serve with and the kids I serve for. That is my number one priority and I wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice that.”
- Kirk Burnett
“You’re just good people, man.”
- Mike Simmons
“Take action. Now.”
- Kyle Burnett
“You don’t want to have the regret of not taking action.”
- Kyle Burnett
“Anybody that is ready to jump in, find a mastermind as quickly as possible.”
- Kyle Burnett
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
2nd Mile Missions
Traction
12 Week Year
7 Figure Flipping
Slack
Google Drive
Burnett Home Buyers
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I am joined by Kyle and Kirk Burnett who are twin brothers that invest in real estate together. Kyle lives in Cincinnati with his wife and two girls and has been investing in real estate for three and a half years. Kirk moved to the Dominican Republic five years ago to work as a missionary, where he met and married his wife. Now he works remotely full-time with the Burnett Group while still volunteering at the non-profit organization.
We talked about what they were both doing before getting into real estate investing and what roles each of them play now in their company. While their primary investing market is Cincinnati, they are currently working on expanding into another market. Kyle and Kirk discussed their respective roles, hiring help, and the details of remotely handling deals.
As Kyle and Kirk expand into this new market, they are going to test out the remote business model by utilizing less costly marketing strategies, such as texting and cold-calling, rather than direct mail.
I asked them to describe their business operations and any of the tools they are using to be more successful. Kyle and Kirk talked about a couple of the apps they use (see links for more information) and spoke about the importance of communication between team members. We also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of closing deals over the phone.
We talked about what we might do differently if we were starting over with a clean slate today. Kyle and I both said we would definitely start with flipping houses, but Kirk said he would begin by wholesaling so he could stay in the Dominican Republic and continue to work in ministry. Both said how valuable being part of a mastermind group is and how much they value the relationships and shared information.
I hope you will join me for this super down-to-earth and informative interview with the Brothers Burnett!
Notable Quotes:
“We are going to go for some of the low-hanging fruit to prove the model.”
- Kirk Burnett
“We are full-steam ahead in the new market (regardless of the pandemic).”
- Kirk Burnett
“Something like the pandemic happening tests your business - are there holes in your game?”
- Mike Simmons
“Too many people are playing defense and are fear-based in what they are doing.”
- Mike Simmons
“Don’t make this an excuse not to be successful.”
- Mike Simmons
“Here ya go - boom. Quarantine, COVID, now what? You can curl up in a ball and die, or you can figure out your path forward.”
- Mike Simmons
“You have to get over your unreasonable or unfounded fears.”
- Mike Simmons
“Imagine the talent you can pull from if you open up your hiring to anywhere.”
- Mike Simmons
“I do enjoy the flipping aspect of things and I don’t think that is something that will ever go away.”
- Kyle Burnett
“I love where I am at, and more importantly, I love the organization and ministry that I serve with and the kids I serve for. That is my number one priority and I wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice that.”
- Kirk Burnett
“You’re just good people, man.”
- Mike Simmons
“Take action. Now.”
- Kyle Burnett
“You don’t want to have the regret of not taking action.”
- Kyle Burnett
“Anybody that is ready to jump in, find a mastermind as quickly as possible.”
- Kyle Burnett
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
2nd Mile Missions
Traction
12 Week Year
7 Figure Flipping
Slack
Google Drive
Burnett Home Buyers
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I talked with Palak Shah, who is the founder and owner of Open Spaces Capital that generates over $1M in revenue. She brought her knowledge and 17 years of experience in building systems, processes, and scaling from her corporate career in engineering leadership to fast track her real estate investing journey. In her first two years investing full-time, she purchased, renovated, rented, and refinanced properties creating a $4M rental portfolio. It is now her passion to empower other investors to pursue entrepreneurship through real estate investing to live a financially free life without taking undue risks or over-leveraging through her coaching program at Open Spaces Women.
We began, as we often do, talking about Palak’s background and what brought her real estate investing. She worked as a mechanical engineer in the corporate world for 17 years, traveling all over the world, loving her career, but when she had kids, everything changed. She had less and less time to spend with her family as she climbed the corporate ladder, and that left her feeling resentful and wanting something more. By the time she decided to leave her corporate job, she and her husband had already invested in a couple of rental properties, and she started to get her footing as an investor with those.
I asked Palak how she transitioned from her full-time job into real estate investing. She walked through how she analyzed the feasibility of working from home while raising her kids rather than remaining in her corporate position. We talked about how vital it is to have the support of your spouse as you move into a venture, especially when investing money.
Palak discussed different investing strategies she utilizes in her real estate market of Philadelphia. She primarily employs the BRRRR (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) Method to grow both her portfolio and passive income. Palak talked about different ways she ‘supercharges’ that particular strategy.
I asked Palak if she is at all interested in other types of real estate investing such as wholesaling or flipping and she talked about how that would require her to expand her skill-set which would defeat the whole purpose of why she got into REI in the first place - to spend more time with her children. She is willing to spend money to hire a reputable wholesaler, agent, or general contractor so that she doesn’t have to spend the time learning those tasks.
Then we discussed how Palak finds her deals. She starts off by saying it does take some time and effort to build a good deal pipeline, but it begins with cultivating good relationships. She works with wholesalers and has done several deals with a realtor, but she still often finds workable deals on the MLS. We talked about how important it is in working with realtors to train them to the specifics you are looking for as an investor and how you run your numbers.
Palak then walked us through a deal she did that ended up cash-flowing $3500 per month. She says she loves the property because so many positive things came out of doing that deal, such as completely revamping the neighborhood and even helping a neighbor to start a business.
Palak said that since they figured out this super-charged BRRRR strategy she really wants to help other investors, especially dual-income families trying to raise kids. She has started a coaching program and has a new cohort beginning June 6th that you can check out by visiting https://www.openspaceswomen.com.
I hope you will join me for this terrific and super-informative interview with brilliant engineer-turned-real estate investor, Palak Shah!
Notable Quotes:
“I felt like a lie had been sold to me - you are told ‘get an education, establish your career, have kids, and everything will be fine,’ but it’s not like that because everything gets really complicated.”
- Palak Shah
“I wanted to make an impact and do something meaningful, but I wanted to do it on my own terms.”
- Palak Shah
“When it was time to figure out what I was going to do next, buy-and-hold investing seemed like the best option.”
- Palak Shah
“When we were a family with two incomes, we just thought of real estate investing as a way to park our money.”
- Palak Shah
“Working from home during the pandemic may open people’s eyes to the fact that they don’t want to go back to the corporate grind.”
- Mike Simmons
“Companies may need to take notice and be more flexible.”
- Mike Simmons
“Is this why I gave up my life, so you could grow up and eventually quit your job?”
- Palak Shah’s Mother
“It is underrated how important it is to have a spouse that supports you.”
- Mike Simmons
“When it comes to investing, that is a couple’s decision to make together.”
- Palak Shah
“You have to figure out how to meet in the middle so you can achieve the best for your family.”
- Palak Shah
“There is just so much information out there, so I wanted to make sure I learned the business properly, and once that was done, there was no stopping me.”
- Palak Shah
“The BRRRR strategy allows you to take a finite amount of funds and grow a portfolio exponentially.”
- Palak Shah
“As you get better at any strategy, you are able to have better margins.”
- Palak Shah
“My ‘why’ is to have more time with my kids.”
- Palak Shah
“Knowing what you want and going after just that - there is a lot of power there.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s the shiny object syndrome.”
- Mike Simmons
“The key is to really know your property avatar.”
- Palak Shah
“For an investor interested in the BRRRR strategy, you need to know two things: can I cash out and can I cash flow.”
- Palak Shah
“With worst-case scenario planning, ask yourself: is that an amount of money you are comfortable losing to learn all the things you will learn from that deal.”
- Palak Shah
“I have learned a lot from deals where I lost money.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Palak Shah's Website
Palak Shah on Instagram
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I talked with Palak Shah, who is the founder and owner of Open Spaces Capital that generates over $1M in revenue. She brought her knowledge and 17 years of experience in building systems, processes, and scaling from her corporate career in engineering leadership to fast track her real estate investing journey. In her first two years investing full-time, she purchased, renovated, rented, and refinanced properties creating a $4M rental portfolio. It is now her passion to empower other investors to pursue entrepreneurship through real estate investing to live a financially free life without taking undue risks or over-leveraging through her coaching program at Open Spaces Women.
We began, as we often do, talking about Palak’s background and what brought her real estate investing. She worked as a mechanical engineer in the corporate world for 17 years, traveling all over the world, loving her career, but when she had kids, everything changed. She had less and less time to spend with her family as she climbed the corporate ladder, and that left her feeling resentful and wanting something more. By the time she decided to leave her corporate job, she and her husband had already invested in a couple of rental properties, and she started to get her footing as an investor with those.
I asked Palak how she transitioned from her full-time job into real estate investing. She walked through how she analyzed the feasibility of working from home while raising her kids rather than remaining in her corporate position. We talked about how vital it is to have the support of your spouse as you move into a venture, especially when investing money.
Palak discussed different investing strategies she utilizes in her real estate market of Philadelphia. She primarily employs the BRRRR (buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat) Method to grow both her portfolio and passive income. Palak talked about different ways she ‘supercharges’ that particular strategy.
I asked Palak if she is at all interested in other types of real estate investing such as wholesaling or flipping and she talked about how that would require her to expand her skill-set which would defeat the whole purpose of why she got into REI in the first place - to spend more time with her children. She is willing to spend money to hire a reputable wholesaler, agent, or general contractor so that she doesn’t have to spend the time learning those tasks.
Then we discussed how Palak finds her deals. She starts off by saying it does take some time and effort to build a good deal pipeline, but it begins with cultivating good relationships. She works with wholesalers and has done several deals with a realtor, but she still often finds workable deals on the MLS. We talked about how important it is in working with realtors to train them to the specifics you are looking for as an investor and how you run your numbers.
Palak then walked us through a deal she did that ended up cash-flowing $3500 per month. She says she loves the property because so many positive things came out of doing that deal, such as completely revamping the neighborhood and even helping a neighbor to start a business.
Palak said that since they figured out this super-charged BRRRR strategy she really wants to help other investors, especially dual-income families trying to raise kids. She has started a coaching program and has a new cohort beginning June 6th that you can check out by visiting https://www.openspaceswomen.com.
I hope you will join me for this terrific and super-informative interview with brilliant engineer-turned-real estate investor, Palak Shah!
Notable Quotes:
“I felt like a lie had been sold to me - you are told ‘get an education, establish your career, have kids, and everything will be fine,’ but it’s not like that because everything gets really complicated.”
- Palak Shah
“I wanted to make an impact and do something meaningful, but I wanted to do it on my own terms.”
- Palak Shah
“When it was time to figure out what I was going to do next, buy-and-hold investing seemed like the best option.”
- Palak Shah
“When we were a family with two incomes, we just thought of real estate investing as a way to park our money.”
- Palak Shah
“Working from home during the pandemic may open people’s eyes to the fact that they don’t want to go back to the corporate grind.”
- Mike Simmons
“Companies may need to take notice and be more flexible.”
- Mike Simmons
“Is this why I gave up my life, so you could grow up and eventually quit your job?”
- Palak Shah’s Mother
“It is underrated how important it is to have a spouse that supports you.”
- Mike Simmons
“When it comes to investing, that is a couple’s decision to make together.”
- Palak Shah
“You have to figure out how to meet in the middle so you can achieve the best for your family.”
- Palak Shah
“There is just so much information out there, so I wanted to make sure I learned the business properly, and once that was done, there was no stopping me.”
- Palak Shah
“The BRRRR strategy allows you to take a finite amount of funds and grow a portfolio exponentially.”
- Palak Shah
“As you get better at any strategy, you are able to have better margins.”
- Palak Shah
“My ‘why’ is to have more time with my kids.”
- Palak Shah
“Knowing what you want and going after just that - there is a lot of power there.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s the shiny object syndrome.”
- Mike Simmons
“The key is to really know your property avatar.”
- Palak Shah
“For an investor interested in the BRRRR strategy, you need to know two things: can I cash out and can I cash flow.”
- Palak Shah
“With worst-case scenario planning, ask yourself: is that an amount of money you are comfortable losing to learn all the things you will learn from that deal.”
- Palak Shah
“I have learned a lot from deals where I lost money.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Palak Shah's Website
Palak Shah on Instagram
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I am joined by Amanda Han. As a CPA, tax strategist, and real estate investor, Amanda Han combines her passion for real estate investing with her expertise in tax tactics. Her goal is to help investors with tactics designed to supercharge their wealth-building using entity structuring, self-directed investing, and income offset opportunities to keep more of what they make.
Amanda begins by giving us a little bit of her background. She talks about how both her parents and grandparents were real estate investors but encouraged her to follow the more traditional route of getting an education, followed by a good job. She began her accounting career at Deloitte, just by chance, in their real estate specialty group. She realized very quickly some of the tax benefits her investor clients could take advantage of, increasing their income while not necessarily working a ton of hours.
Amanda explained that the majority of real estate investors are not aware of the tax strategies available to them. She pointed out that it isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault but that the tax codes are written in a convoluted way. Reaping tax benefits requires very specialized knowledge for each and every industry.
I asked Amanda to explain a little about what is going on with the tax situation during the current COVID-19 pandemic. She said as part of the Cares Act pandemic relief package, the new filing deadline is July 15th. Most of the states are following these guidelines, and Amanda recommended getting more information from AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines.
I wanted to find out Amanda’s recommendations for newer or smaller investors on when a good time is to begin working with a CPA and employing tax strategies. She said it was important for even brand new investors to consult advisors in order to form to proper legal entities necessary for both tax benefits and protection, and also how to use them effectively.
I asked Amanda to explain a strategy that I have recently become familiar with which is cost segregation. She said first that one of the things that is so attractive about real estate investing is the depreciation that can be claimed no matter how much is put down on the house or other factors. Cost segregation is just the next level of this type of tax advantage. It involves defining all of the components of a particular investment property, not just the building itself. Some of these components may be eligible for an immediate deduction, providing the possibility of taking a higher deduction upfront rather than having everything depreciate over the standard timeframe.
Amanda went on to explain strategies that could benefit some types of real estate investors but not others, giving specific examples. She also gave some great, practical advice on how to determine whether an individual’s tax advisor was helping employ these strategies.
I then asked Amanda about the charity that she and her husband and business partner, Matt, formed named Animals for Armed Forces Foundation. The foundation helps to place shelter animals with current or retired servicemen and women. Normally on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day each year they will work with local shelters to place animals in military homes for free, while the foundation pays for any necessary fees. Amanda talked about how rewarding it is to receive pictures of these pets in their new homes with their forever families.
We then talked about the two books they have written on tax strategies for real estate investors (see links at the bottom). She said that she and Matt read a lot of books about taxes benefits for investors and found them difficult and dull to read and wondered how people who were not CPAs would get any useful information from them, so they wrote their own books to help people find strategies that could help them. The first book is story-based about specific successes and mistakes made by investors and provides actionable, easy-to-understand advice about various tax schemes.
If you are like me, you may not know much about taxes, but please join me for this interesting, motivating, and believe or not, fun interview with tax expert Amanda Han!
Notable Quotes
“I think there is a misconception that investors think they only need to work with a CPA or an attorney when I have ‘X’ number of rentals.”
- Amanda Han
“It is more transaction-focused rather than a number of rentals in terms of who could benefit from tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“In the tax world, there is never a one-size-fits-all strategy.”
- Amanda Han
“In the spirit of Michael Scott, now say it like I am a four-year-old.”
- Mike Simmons
“Flipping burgers - not nearly the upside of flipping houses.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our firm specializes in proactive tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“We have people whose tax preparer is their father-in-law… you can’t fire your father-in-law.”
- Amanda Han
“We always recommend this team-of-advisors approach, where we are all working together.”
- Amanda Han
“I like talking to people that do good things, good people who aren’t just business, business, business, cutthroat - people who care.”
- Mike Simmons
“I don’t like not knowing, but I just don’t know, so thank you for telling me your book is basically for dummies.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our goal in writing the book was to show people what can be done.”
- Amanda Han
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Keystone CPA Facebook
Keystone CPA Website
AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines
Animals for Armed Forces Foundation
The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor
The Book on Advanced Tax Strategies: Cracking the Code for Savvy Real Estate Investors 7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I am joined by Amanda Han. As a CPA, tax strategist, and real estate investor, Amanda Han combines her passion for real estate investing with her expertise in tax tactics. Her goal is to help investors with tactics designed to supercharge their wealth-building using entity structuring, self-directed investing, and income offset opportunities to keep more of what they make.
Amanda begins by giving us a little bit of her background. She talks about how both her parents and grandparents were real estate investors but encouraged her to follow the more traditional route of getting an education, followed by a good job. She began her accounting career at Deloitte, just by chance, in their real estate specialty group. She realized very quickly some of the tax benefits her investor clients could take advantage of, increasing their income while not necessarily working a ton of hours.
Amanda explained that the majority of real estate investors are not aware of the tax strategies available to them. She pointed out that it isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault but that the tax codes are written in a convoluted way. Reaping tax benefits requires very specialized knowledge for each and every industry.
I asked Amanda to explain a little about what is going on with the tax situation during the current COVID-19 pandemic. She said as part of the Cares Act pandemic relief package, the new filing deadline is July 15th. Most of the states are following these guidelines, and Amanda recommended getting more information from AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines.
I wanted to find out Amanda’s recommendations for newer or smaller investors on when a good time is to begin working with a CPA and employing tax strategies. She said it was important for even brand new investors to consult advisors in order to form to proper legal entities necessary for both tax benefits and protection, and also how to use them effectively.
I asked Amanda to explain a strategy that I have recently become familiar with which is cost segregation. She said first that one of the things that is so attractive about real estate investing is the depreciation that can be claimed no matter how much is put down on the house or other factors. Cost segregation is just the next level of this type of tax advantage. It involves defining all of the components of a particular investment property, not just the building itself. Some of these components may be eligible for an immediate deduction, providing the possibility of taking a higher deduction upfront rather than having everything depreciate over the standard timeframe.
Amanda went on to explain strategies that could benefit some types of real estate investors but not others, giving specific examples. She also gave some great, practical advice on how to determine whether an individual’s tax advisor was helping employ these strategies.
I then asked Amanda about the charity that she and her husband and business partner, Matt, formed named Animals for Armed Forces Foundation. The foundation helps to place shelter animals with current or retired servicemen and women. Normally on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day each year they will work with local shelters to place animals in military homes for free, while the foundation pays for any necessary fees. Amanda talked about how rewarding it is to receive pictures of these pets in their new homes with their forever families.
We then talked about the two books they have written on tax strategies for real estate investors (see links at the bottom). She said that she and Matt read a lot of books about taxes benefits for investors and found them difficult and dull to read and wondered how people who were not CPAs would get any useful information from them, so they wrote their own books to help people find strategies that could help them. The first book is story-based about specific successes and mistakes made by investors and provides actionable, easy-to-understand advice about various tax schemes.
If you are like me, you may not know much about taxes, but please join me for this interesting, motivating, and believe or not, fun interview with tax expert Amanda Han!
Notable Quotes
“I think there is a misconception that investors think they only need to work with a CPA or an attorney when I have ‘X’ number of rentals.”
- Amanda Han
“It is more transaction-focused rather than a number of rentals in terms of who could benefit from tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“In the tax world, there is never a one-size-fits-all strategy.”
- Amanda Han
“In the spirit of Michael Scott, now say it like I am a four-year-old.”
- Mike Simmons
“Flipping burgers - not nearly the upside of flipping houses.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our firm specializes in proactive tax planning.”
- Amanda Han
“We have people whose tax preparer is their father-in-law… you can’t fire your father-in-law.”
- Amanda Han
“We always recommend this team-of-advisors approach, where we are all working together.”
- Amanda Han
“I like talking to people that do good things, good people who aren’t just business, business, business, cutthroat - people who care.”
- Mike Simmons
“I don’t like not knowing, but I just don’t know, so thank you for telling me your book is basically for dummies.”
- Mike Simmons
“Our goal in writing the book was to show people what can be done.”
- Amanda Han
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Keystone CPA Facebook
Keystone CPA Website
AICPA State Tax Filing Guidelines
Animals for Armed Forces Foundation
The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor
The Book on Advanced Tax Strategies: Cracking the Code for Savvy Real Estate Investors 7FF Video Vault
For this episode, I interviewed friend and fellow 7 Figure Flipper Dana Mace. She begins by talking about her background and how she began in real estate investing. Dana said that because her step-dad owned one of the largest, privately-owned real estate businesses in Virginia, investing this way was just part of their family culture. She bought her first property at the age of 21 years old and hasn’t looked back since.
Dana was born and raised in Virginia Beach and this metropolitan area is where her business is focused. She and her husband started their newest company, Ubiquitous Properties, with the goal of scaling their flipping business to 60 each year. Dana explained that they picked the name Ubiquitous because it means “omnipotent; all over, everywhere” and that is their objective. We discussed the markets in our prospective areas and what an average deal sold for.
We talked about different strategies for getting on wholesalers’ lists and what was really successful for Dana in her market. She also shared with us how she evaluates her deals. Dana also gave us an idea of the key people she wants to have as part of her team so that she can scale up to a particular level.
Dana shared some of the struggles she has been dealing with this year, but how determined she is to push through and make her business succeed. In order to raise some capital, they pulled off a 7-day flip, and Dana describes what that experience was like.
Next, I wanted Dana to talk about why she started her YouTube channel and what its purpose is. She said that she thinks that the best way to scale something and to learn is just to talk about it. She had initially intended to show a lot of before and after house-flipping situations but was encouraged to put on more varied real estate content, as well.
Join me for this super fun, upbeat and honest interview with fiery real estate investor Dana Mace!
Notable Quotes
“I knew that real estate was the thing to go into.”
- Dana Mace
“If anybody wants a tip, tell them to buy real estate.”
- Dana Mace’s Stepdad
“I have been very fortunate to have people surrounding me my whole life that know a lot about real estate so that I have been able to learn and grow.”
- Dana Mace
“I knew I wanted to do something cool with my life and something cool with my money.”
- Dana Mace
“I just wanted to flip it. I am just flip-happy sometimes.”
- Dana Mace
“No one understands completely how well you are doing because you are just a ninja and crushing it, just doing your thing and not making a big deal about it.”
- Mike Simmons
“When life “lifes” on you, what are you gonna do?”
- Dana Mace
“Life makes its move, and sometimes it feels like ‘Check.’ It is only ‘Checkmate’ when you give up.”
- Mike Simmons
“Find the people that are good at things that you are not.”
- Dana Mace
“The number one thing that has made the biggest difference in my business is getting out of my own way, realizing what I wasn’t good at, quit lying to myself about it, and bring someone in that could handle that for me.”
- Mike Simmons
“What does scaling really look like to me? Being better tomorrow, a little bit better than what you were today.”
- Dana Mace
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Dana’s YouTube Channel
7FF Video Vault
For this episode, I interviewed friend and fellow 7 Figure Flipper Dana Mace. She begins by talking about her background and how she began in real estate investing. Dana said that because her step-dad owned one of the largest, privately-owned real estate businesses in Virginia, investing this way was just part of their family culture. She bought her first property at the age of 21 years old and hasn’t looked back since.
Dana was born and raised in Virginia Beach and this metropolitan area is where her business is focused. She and her husband started their newest company, Ubiquitous Properties, with the goal of scaling their flipping business to 60 each year. Dana explained that they picked the name Ubiquitous because it means “omnipotent; all over, everywhere” and that is their objective. We discussed the markets in our prospective areas and what an average deal sold for.
We talked about different strategies for getting on wholesalers’ lists and what was really successful for Dana in her market. She also shared with us how she evaluates her deals. Dana also gave us an idea of the key people she wants to have as part of her team so that she can scale up to a particular level.
Dana shared some of the struggles she has been dealing with this year, but how determined she is to push through and make her business succeed. In order to raise some capital, they pulled off a 7-day flip, and Dana describes what that experience was like.
Next, I wanted Dana to talk about why she started her YouTube channel and what its purpose is. She said that she thinks that the best way to scale something and to learn is just to talk about it. She had initially intended to show a lot of before and after house-flipping situations but was encouraged to put on more varied real estate content, as well.
Join me for this super fun, upbeat and honest interview with fiery real estate investor Dana Mace!
Notable Quotes
“I knew that real estate was the thing to go into.”
- Dana Mace
“If anybody wants a tip, tell them to buy real estate.”
- Dana Mace’s Stepdad
“I have been very fortunate to have people surrounding me my whole life that know a lot about real estate so that I have been able to learn and grow.”
- Dana Mace
“I knew I wanted to do something cool with my life and something cool with my money.”
- Dana Mace
“I just wanted to flip it. I am just flip-happy sometimes.”
- Dana Mace
“No one understands completely how well you are doing because you are just a ninja and crushing it, just doing your thing and not making a big deal about it.”
- Mike Simmons
“When life “lifes” on you, what are you gonna do?”
- Dana Mace
“Life makes its move, and sometimes it feels like ‘Check.’ It is only ‘Checkmate’ when you give up.”
- Mike Simmons
“Find the people that are good at things that you are not.”
- Dana Mace
“The number one thing that has made the biggest difference in my business is getting out of my own way, realizing what I wasn’t good at, quit lying to myself about it, and bring someone in that could handle that for me.”
- Mike Simmons
“What does scaling really look like to me? Being better tomorrow, a little bit better than what you were today.”
- Dana Mace
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Dana’s YouTube Channel
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing multi-family property investor Teghena (Tenny) Tolofari. Prior to establishing Xsite Capital Investment in 2019, Tenny spent several years leading a major sales force in one of the fastest-growing financial services companies in America. He is also a Global Cyber Security professional supporting the likes of Boeing and Deloitte. Tenny’s major role is building relationships with brokers, property management companies, and investors to ensure the success of their property investment business.
Tenny began by sharing the story of his humble beginnings as a child in Nigeria. He was initially very insecure about his abilities and did not do well in school. Because of the class system in Africa, Tenny realized the only way he could break out of the poverty of his youth was to immigrate to the United States. He made a bet with his mother in which she told him she would find the means to send him to graduate school in America if he could finish college with high honors. That motivated Tenny to get to work and accomplish this goal.
Upon arriving in the States, Tenny began his graduate degree in Management Information Systems at Virginia International University and then transferred to Bowie State University. After graduation, even though he had great jobs and was able to bring his family over to the U.S. from Nigeria, he continued to ask himself, “What’s next?” He then began to learn about finance and it opened up a whole new world to him.
Like so many other budding entrepreneurs, Tenny started self-educating by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki. He found that the financial service platform gave him the opportunity to start his own business and work with others with more experience. During this process, he met his partner, Leslie Awasom. After discovering they were reading many of the same financial freedom books, they began their working relationship by meeting at a brewery to play the Cashflow 101 Board Game. Because Leslie already had a real estate investing company, they decided to merge their business efforts in January of 2019.
Tenny talks about how both he and Leslie were very invested in educating themselves and went to many financial and real estate boot camp and mastermind events. They decided they were going to focus their real estate ventures in the multi-family market and bought their first property, a 192 unit apartment building in Marietta, Georgia. This year, they are looking to expand these efforts.
I asked Tenny how he feels when he hears people born in this country talk about how they don’t have the same opportunities as others and can’t afford to improve their situation. Tenny said it used to make him mad because he believes those are just excuses for not improving yourself, but then realized you can only be who you surround yourself with. We discussed how important it is to appreciate and use what you have and encircle yourself with good people. Tenny talked about the sacrifices he had to make, yet how driven he was to succeed.
Tenny then explained what syndication is because that is what he primarily deals with in his business. He explained the difference between the two business classifications that they have, 503B and 503C, as far as dealing with investors. He also detailed why they decided to go into multi-family real estate investing rather than other options. He gave several examples of the advantages of owning multi-family including spreading out expenses such as management companies and adjusting for vacancies. Tenny also detailed their philosophy for finding and funding deals.
We talked a lot about different ways to build relationships and how important this is in real estate investing. Tenny said one of the strategies that they have when trying to enter a new market is to talk to the property management companies first in order to get an in with the big brokers in that area.
I hope you join me as I get to know this dynamic investor and fantastic human being who built a successful real estate business from nothing with self-education, hard work, and desire!
Notable Quotes:
“You can only be what you surround yourself with.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“Everyone has the opportunity - it’s just how badly do you want it and what are you going to to to get there.”
- Mike Simmons
“I know what I want. I didn’t want that life, like so many of my friends back home, that are struggling to take care of their family.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“A lot of people don’t appreciate what they have. They just don’t understand.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“Gratitude and perspective are things that can help people change.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“People change due to two things: desperation or inspiration. Mine was both.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“I’d never done commercial real estate before… I just had to put myself out there and learn.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“And this is one of my superpowers that I know God blessed me with - I can pick up the phone and call anybody.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“It’s got to be deeper than that… you’ve got to mean it.”
- Mike Simmons
“There’s a lot of things going on in the world right now, a lot of people are scared, but you don’t stop, don’t freeze, keep moving.”
- Tenny Tolofari
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom
Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow 101 Board Game
Tenny’s Website
Tenny’s Phone Number: (202) 569-5072
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing multi-family property investor Teghena (Tenny) Tolofari. Prior to establishing Xsite Capital Investment in 2019, Tenny spent several years leading a major sales force in one of the fastest-growing financial services companies in America. He is also a Global Cyber Security professional supporting the likes of Boeing and Deloitte. Tenny’s major role is building relationships with brokers, property management companies, and investors to ensure the success of their property investment business.
Tenny began by sharing the story of his humble beginnings as a child in Nigeria. He was initially very insecure about his abilities and did not do well in school. Because of the class system in Africa, Tenny realized the only way he could break out of the poverty of his youth was to immigrate to the United States. He made a bet with his mother in which she told him she would find the means to send him to graduate school in America if he could finish college with high honors. That motivated Tenny to get to work and accomplish this goal.
Upon arriving in the States, Tenny began his graduate degree in Management Information Systems at Virginia International University and then transferred to Bowie State University. After graduation, even though he had great jobs and was able to bring his family over to the U.S. from Nigeria, he continued to ask himself, “What’s next?” He then began to learn about finance and it opened up a whole new world to him.
Like so many other budding entrepreneurs, Tenny started self-educating by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki. He found that the financial service platform gave him the opportunity to start his own business and work with others with more experience. During this process, he met his partner, Leslie Awasom. After discovering they were reading many of the same financial freedom books, they began their working relationship by meeting at a brewery to play the Cashflow 101 Board Game. Because Leslie already had a real estate investing company, they decided to merge their business efforts in January of 2019.
Tenny talks about how both he and Leslie were very invested in educating themselves and went to many financial and real estate boot camp and mastermind events. They decided they were going to focus their real estate ventures in the multi-family market and bought their first property, a 192 unit apartment building in Marietta, Georgia. This year, they are looking to expand these efforts.
I asked Tenny how he feels when he hears people born in this country talk about how they don’t have the same opportunities as others and can’t afford to improve their situation. Tenny said it used to make him mad because he believes those are just excuses for not improving yourself, but then realized you can only be who you surround yourself with. We discussed how important it is to appreciate and use what you have and encircle yourself with good people. Tenny talked about the sacrifices he had to make, yet how driven he was to succeed.
Tenny then explained what syndication is because that is what he primarily deals with in his business. He explained the difference between the two business classifications that they have, 503B and 503C, as far as dealing with investors. He also detailed why they decided to go into multi-family real estate investing rather than other options. He gave several examples of the advantages of owning multi-family including spreading out expenses such as management companies and adjusting for vacancies. Tenny also detailed their philosophy for finding and funding deals.
We talked a lot about different ways to build relationships and how important this is in real estate investing. Tenny said one of the strategies that they have when trying to enter a new market is to talk to the property management companies first in order to get an in with the big brokers in that area.
I hope you join me as I get to know this dynamic investor and fantastic human being who built a successful real estate business from nothing with self-education, hard work, and desire!
Notable Quotes:
“You can only be what you surround yourself with.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“Everyone has the opportunity - it’s just how badly do you want it and what are you going to to to get there.”
- Mike Simmons
“I know what I want. I didn’t want that life, like so many of my friends back home, that are struggling to take care of their family.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“A lot of people don’t appreciate what they have. They just don’t understand.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“Gratitude and perspective are things that can help people change.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“People change due to two things: desperation or inspiration. Mine was both.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“I’d never done commercial real estate before… I just had to put myself out there and learn.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“And this is one of my superpowers that I know God blessed me with - I can pick up the phone and call anybody.”
- Tenny Tolofari
“It’s got to be deeper than that… you’ve got to mean it.”
- Mike Simmons
“There’s a lot of things going on in the world right now, a lot of people are scared, but you don’t stop, don’t freeze, keep moving.”
- Tenny Tolofari
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future
MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom
Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow 101 Board Game
Tenny’s Website
Tenny’s Phone Number: (202) 569-5072
7FF Video Vault
For this episode, I have invited four of my friends and fellow real estate investors to talk about their specific market experiences thus far during the COVID-19 pandemic. I asked each of them to introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about their business.
Adam Rae lives in Colorado Springs and operates his business in southern Colorado. His business works in wholesaling, flipping, and rental properties.
Andy McFarland lives in Utah and is also involved in wholesaling, flipping, and owns rentals in three different markets: Salt Lake City Utah, Albuquerque, NM, and Indianapolis, Indiana.
Jeremiah Johnson runs his business remotely from his home just outside of Denver and does primarily wholesaling in the markets of Wichita and Kansas City.
Terry Burger does business in the markets of Atlanta Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina, performing primarily flips.
We began by discussing our different states and markets and the limitations we are seeing with the varied stay-at-home orders and how that has immediately affected our businesses. With the US economy impacted so severely by the pandemic, we all shared our projections about the real estate market going forward. We also considered how the different facets of the business could be influenced by the response of buyers, sellers, and lenders. We talked about different ways we have all implemented some cost-saving measures internal to our businesses, as well.
This episode is filled with “actionable intelligence” that will benefit investors of all kinds, in any state of business development.
Notable Quotes:
“History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
- Mark Twain
“Real estate is the local perception of a national opinion.”
“Our asset class is looking pretty sexy right now.”
“We’re not going back to living in tents anytime soon.”
“Real estate is a slow-moving animal and you aren’t going to miss the boat if you don’t buy something tomorrow.”
“I think your grandma’s economics still work here… live on less than you make, invest the difference, have cash reserves, have staying power.”
“I wrote down “actionable intelligence” - I absolutely love that and need to make it part of my vocabulary.”
“It is important to develop empathy and not ego through this.”
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
7FF Video Vault
7 Figure Flipping
Adam Rae's Website
Andy McFarland's Website
Jeremiah Johnson's Website
Terry Burger's Website
For this episode, I have invited four of my friends and fellow real estate investors to talk about their specific market experiences thus far during the COVID-19 pandemic. I asked each of them to introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about their business.
Adam Rae lives in Colorado Springs and operates his business in southern Colorado. His business works in wholesaling, flipping, and rental properties.
Andy McFarland lives in Utah and is also involved in wholesaling, flipping, and owns rentals in three different markets: Salt Lake City Utah, Albuquerque, NM, and Indianapolis, Indiana.
Jeremiah Johnson runs his business remotely from his home just outside of Denver and does primarily wholesaling in the markets of Wichita and Kansas City.
Terry Burger does business in the markets of Atlanta Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina, performing primarily flips.
We began by discussing our different states and markets and the limitations we are seeing with the varied stay-at-home orders and how that has immediately affected our businesses. With the US economy impacted so severely by the pandemic, we all shared our projections about the real estate market going forward. We also considered how the different facets of the business could be influenced by the response of buyers, sellers, and lenders. We talked about different ways we have all implemented some cost-saving measures internal to our businesses, as well.
This episode is filled with “actionable intelligence” that will benefit investors of all kinds, in any state of business development.
Notable Quotes:
“History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
- Mark Twain
“Real estate is the local perception of a national opinion.”
“Our asset class is looking pretty sexy right now.”
“We’re not going back to living in tents anytime soon.”
“Real estate is a slow-moving animal and you aren’t going to miss the boat if you don’t buy something tomorrow.”
“I think your grandma’s economics still work here… live on less than you make, invest the difference, have cash reserves, have staying power.”
“I wrote down “actionable intelligence” - I absolutely love that and need to make it part of my vocabulary.”
“It is important to develop empathy and not ego through this.”
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
7FF Video Vault
7 Figure Flipping
Adam Rae's Website
Andy McFarland's Website
Jeremiah Johnson's Website
Terry Burger's Website
In this episode, I interviewed Will Brown, who is a 20-year-old real estate investor and tech entrepreneur who dropped out of college in May of 2018. Since then, he has run and built a team from scratch without any outside funds to go on and do over 90 deals and $900,000 in assignment fees in less than 2 years. He has since handed the reins of the wholesaling business off to a partner and is 100% focused on building his AI tech startup in Los Angeles. He is massively into personal development and supports others in carving their own path and creating themselves into who they want to be.
Will began by summarizing what brought him to real estate. He and his mom attended a mastermind event in the Fall of 2016, but they didn’t have the money to invest, so that left a little bit of a bad taste in his mouth. In January 2017 he was playing a video game that let you buy and cash flow real estate, and he thought that learning about it for real would be a lot more interesting than sitting on his couch! His first google search on the subject led him to a BiggerPockets podcast, and there was no stopping him from there.
Will started investing by cold-calling off of a probate list and putting himself in the proximity of other real estate investors. He offered his services, in the case of his first deals, by installing security systems in order to learn from other investors. We discussed how you can’t start any kind of relationship by asking for what you need first. Will talked about the need to know your skill-set, and the willingness to work hard for someone else without concern about the outcome in order to learn and grow.
Will gave a detailed description of his first solo deal, and he describes the challenges he faced. He talked about the importance of having a great lawyer and how he managed different aspects of the deal that were new to him. He feels like he learned so much from this first deal and the mistakes they made will never be repeated.
Will described how they find their deals, and talks extensively about building a team. He hired an assistant in the Fall of 2018 and was able to scale his business exponentially because he was able to spend his time more effectively. It helped him so much to have someone to help him do the things he wasn’t particularly strong at.
Will provided the list of technology he currently uses to find deals and the listeners can find these links further down in these show notes. He speaks in-depth about his sales funnel and what he has found to most effectively convert leads to deals.
I asked Will to explain what he is involved in now and how he found a partner in order to run his real estate business. He talked about paying his partner really well in order to keep him and put him on a tiered commission schedule in order to entice him to stay. His partner is now running the real estate completely on his own with minimal interaction with Will.
Will is now completely invested in launching an artificial intelligence company in Los Angeles, which he conceived in a Cabo San Lucas hot tub while at a business mastermind event. His concept is grown from the question of how to provide resourcefulness to humanity because if you solve one problem, another is created. In order to address this, Will is working on creating AI personal assistants for people to help people in problem-solving and life balance.
You have to check out this super energized interview with up-and-coming entrepreneur, Will Brown. He gives a ton of great advice based on a solid foundation of respectable values, along with being an extremely entertaining interviewee.
Notable Quotes:
“Not to say, do this: step, step, step. But it gave me the inspiration of ‘Hey, this guy has done this before,’ and it kept adding proof that yes, this is possible.”
- Will Brown
“I had the drive of setting up the blueprint of my life and laying out the foundation now, not only in acquiring assets but also learning to be a leader, learning to delegate, learning to fail forward, how do you do this, how do you do this... ”
- Will Brown
“You’ve got to love the process. You know, all the crap you have to go through to get it. If you are focused on the results, you are not going to get it.”
- Will Brown
“So what Will did is he basically decided he wanted to be around people who were doing real estate. And you offered your services, you offered to be of value to them. You didn’t say, ‘Show me how to do it, help me start my business, me, me, me.’ Instead, it was like, ‘what can I do for you?’ and then oh, by the way, I get to be around you when you do this.”
- Mike Simmons
“Number one, you are going to be uber-successful. Not because of whatever result you create there, but because of that mindset. That you are willing to give and give and give and give without any expectation in return, but knowing that it comes back.”
- Will Brown
“You had a problem and you figured it out. It’s like chess. It’s like, ‘Check’ and then you move out of that position and you clear the board a little bit.”
- Mike Simmons
“People that try to do it themselves because they are in a scarcity mindset - you are not going to scale if you are just doing it yourself.”
- Will Brown
“Once that shift happens and you get it so viscerally, you can’t go back. Because if I just went back to real estate, I would always be wondering what could be.”
- Will Brown
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Will on Instagram
Will’s Website
Investor Fuse CRM
Spokeo Research Tool
Call Rail Automated VM
Lead Sherpa Auto Text
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I interviewed Will Brown, who is a 20-year-old real estate investor and tech entrepreneur who dropped out of college in May of 2018. Since then, he has run and built a team from scratch without any outside funds to go on and do over 90 deals and $900,000 in assignment fees in less than 2 years. He has since handed the reins of the wholesaling business off to a partner and is 100% focused on building his AI tech startup in Los Angeles. He is massively into personal development and supports others in carving their own path and creating themselves into who they want to be.
Will began by summarizing what brought him to real estate. He and his mom attended a mastermind event in the Fall of 2016, but they didn’t have the money to invest, so that left a little bit of a bad taste in his mouth. In January 2017 he was playing a video game that let you buy and cash flow real estate, and he thought that learning about it for real would be a lot more interesting than sitting on his couch! His first google search on the subject led him to a BiggerPockets podcast, and there was no stopping him from there.
Will started investing by cold-calling off of a probate list and putting himself in the proximity of other real estate investors. He offered his services, in the case of his first deals, by installing security systems in order to learn from other investors. We discussed how you can’t start any kind of relationship by asking for what you need first. Will talked about the need to know your skill-set, and the willingness to work hard for someone else without concern about the outcome in order to learn and grow.
Will gave a detailed description of his first solo deal, and he describes the challenges he faced. He talked about the importance of having a great lawyer and how he managed different aspects of the deal that were new to him. He feels like he learned so much from this first deal and the mistakes they made will never be repeated.
Will described how they find their deals, and talks extensively about building a team. He hired an assistant in the Fall of 2018 and was able to scale his business exponentially because he was able to spend his time more effectively. It helped him so much to have someone to help him do the things he wasn’t particularly strong at.
Will provided the list of technology he currently uses to find deals and the listeners can find these links further down in these show notes. He speaks in-depth about his sales funnel and what he has found to most effectively convert leads to deals.
I asked Will to explain what he is involved in now and how he found a partner in order to run his real estate business. He talked about paying his partner really well in order to keep him and put him on a tiered commission schedule in order to entice him to stay. His partner is now running the real estate completely on his own with minimal interaction with Will.
Will is now completely invested in launching an artificial intelligence company in Los Angeles, which he conceived in a Cabo San Lucas hot tub while at a business mastermind event. His concept is grown from the question of how to provide resourcefulness to humanity because if you solve one problem, another is created. In order to address this, Will is working on creating AI personal assistants for people to help people in problem-solving and life balance.
You have to check out this super energized interview with up-and-coming entrepreneur, Will Brown. He gives a ton of great advice based on a solid foundation of respectable values, along with being an extremely entertaining interviewee.
Notable Quotes:
“Not to say, do this: step, step, step. But it gave me the inspiration of ‘Hey, this guy has done this before,’ and it kept adding proof that yes, this is possible.”
- Will Brown
“I had the drive of setting up the blueprint of my life and laying out the foundation now, not only in acquiring assets but also learning to be a leader, learning to delegate, learning to fail forward, how do you do this, how do you do this... ”
- Will Brown
“You’ve got to love the process. You know, all the crap you have to go through to get it. If you are focused on the results, you are not going to get it.”
- Will Brown
“So what Will did is he basically decided he wanted to be around people who were doing real estate. And you offered your services, you offered to be of value to them. You didn’t say, ‘Show me how to do it, help me start my business, me, me, me.’ Instead, it was like, ‘what can I do for you?’ and then oh, by the way, I get to be around you when you do this.”
- Mike Simmons
“Number one, you are going to be uber-successful. Not because of whatever result you create there, but because of that mindset. That you are willing to give and give and give and give without any expectation in return, but knowing that it comes back.”
- Will Brown
“You had a problem and you figured it out. It’s like chess. It’s like, ‘Check’ and then you move out of that position and you clear the board a little bit.”
- Mike Simmons
“People that try to do it themselves because they are in a scarcity mindset - you are not going to scale if you are just doing it yourself.”
- Will Brown
“Once that shift happens and you get it so viscerally, you can’t go back. Because if I just went back to real estate, I would always be wondering what could be.”
- Will Brown
Links:
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Will on Instagram
Will’s Website
Investor Fuse CRM
Spokeo Research Tool
Call Rail Automated VM
Lead Sherpa Auto Text
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing buy-and-hold real estate investor Henry Washington. I asked Henry to kick things off by sharing his background and what brought him to this type of investing. He said that getting married and the talk of starting a family really changed his mindset about his lifestyle and how he was going to support a family. Like so many others, his real estate journey began by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
Living and working in NW Arkansas, Henry started by just telling everyone he knew that he was a real estate investor and came upon his first deal this way. He then started a marketing campaign by sending postcards and found three more deals. I was really curious about Henry’s first marketing strategy and he explained that he wanted to stay away from what everyone else was doing in order to find a niche market.
Without having any background in construction, Henry talked about how he first started estimating rehab costs. He created a square-footage-based spreadsheet with costs for each discipline he found straight from Google searches. He eventually met and partnered with a guy who had a very strong construction background who proceeded to evaluate properties for him. This partnership allowed Henry to scale his business at a much faster rate.
I wanted to focus on the subject of partnerships with Henry for a bit and I asked him to talk about the elements that were contributing to the success of his partnership. He stressed the importance of shared values and vision and also attributes such as integrity, honesty, and the desire to help people. He also emphasized the importance of open communication in minimizing conflict and successfully working together.
Henry has his values listed on his website and I especially wanted him to define what he means by “servant leadership.” He talked about the importance of focusing on helping people and then success will follow. He believes the more you lead by serving, the more contagious that behavior will be. He recognizes the deals he is getting is because people have a situation and it is vital to him to meet them where they are and make the situation beneficial to both parties.
We then shifted gears to talk about lessons learned by dealing with contractors. Henry talked about the importance of having a detailed scope of work upfront so that he did not waste time talking with contractors that were never going to take the job anyway because of the state of housing market. He also worked extensively with his partner on honing his cost spreadsheet so that he could basically dictate the price of any construction work. Henry talked about the importance of keeping his valued contractors happy so he could establish long-term relationships.
I know that many real estate investors struggle with finding deals, so this was the next topic I asked Henry about. He said his most lucrative deals are currently coming from his lead generation website that he runs a Google ad words campaign on.
As far as Henry’s advice for people just starting in this business, he said after someone has done their due-diligence of self-educating, he advises them to focus their resources on figuring out their market and what a good deal looks like before deciding on a lead-generating strategy. The next step is learning how to properly evaluate properties once they have leads. Henry is convinced that focusing on these three things in order to buy a good deal, is the key to success in this business. Using these principles, Henry continues to grow his business while still having a full-time job in the IT industry.
Henry is a great guy, with a ton of character and depth, so I hope you join us for this newest edition of Just Start Real Estate!
Notable Quotes
“I never saw real estate as something I couldn’t do - I just didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
- Henry Washington
“Being a landlord is easy. I couldn’t fix it if I wanted to… I gotta call a guy.”
- Henry Washington
“You heard what people were doing and decided to do something different.”
- Mike Simmons
“The scale you can get when you have more people helping you - there is a multiplier there.”
- Henry Washington
“You learn really quick in this business, it is not a real estate business, it is a people business.”
- Henry Washington
“I need to be a solution to your problem.”
- Henry Washington
“It is funny how it works out - the people that focus on helping folks end up having more financial success.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
BiggerPockets Pro Member
Henry on Instagram
Henry’s Website
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing buy-and-hold real estate investor Henry Washington. I asked Henry to kick things off by sharing his background and what brought him to this type of investing. He said that getting married and the talk of starting a family really changed his mindset about his lifestyle and how he was going to support a family. Like so many others, his real estate journey began by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
Living and working in NW Arkansas, Henry started by just telling everyone he knew that he was a real estate investor and came upon his first deal this way. He then started a marketing campaign by sending postcards and found three more deals. I was really curious about Henry’s first marketing strategy and he explained that he wanted to stay away from what everyone else was doing in order to find a niche market.
Without having any background in construction, Henry talked about how he first started estimating rehab costs. He created a square-footage-based spreadsheet with costs for each discipline he found straight from Google searches. He eventually met and partnered with a guy who had a very strong construction background who proceeded to evaluate properties for him. This partnership allowed Henry to scale his business at a much faster rate.
I wanted to focus on the subject of partnerships with Henry for a bit and I asked him to talk about the elements that were contributing to the success of his partnership. He stressed the importance of shared values and vision and also attributes such as integrity, honesty, and the desire to help people. He also emphasized the importance of open communication in minimizing conflict and successfully working together.
Henry has his values listed on his website and I especially wanted him to define what he means by “servant leadership.” He talked about the importance of focusing on helping people and then success will follow. He believes the more you lead by serving, the more contagious that behavior will be. He recognizes the deals he is getting is because people have a situation and it is vital to him to meet them where they are and make the situation beneficial to both parties.
We then shifted gears to talk about lessons learned by dealing with contractors. Henry talked about the importance of having a detailed scope of work upfront so that he did not waste time talking with contractors that were never going to take the job anyway because of the state of housing market. He also worked extensively with his partner on honing his cost spreadsheet so that he could basically dictate the price of any construction work. Henry talked about the importance of keeping his valued contractors happy so he could establish long-term relationships.
I know that many real estate investors struggle with finding deals, so this was the next topic I asked Henry about. He said his most lucrative deals are currently coming from his lead generation website that he runs a Google ad words campaign on.
As far as Henry’s advice for people just starting in this business, he said after someone has done their due-diligence of self-educating, he advises them to focus their resources on figuring out their market and what a good deal looks like before deciding on a lead-generating strategy. The next step is learning how to properly evaluate properties once they have leads. Henry is convinced that focusing on these three things in order to buy a good deal, is the key to success in this business. Using these principles, Henry continues to grow his business while still having a full-time job in the IT industry.
Henry is a great guy, with a ton of character and depth, so I hope you join us for this newest edition of Just Start Real Estate!
Notable Quotes
“I never saw real estate as something I couldn’t do - I just didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
- Henry Washington
“Being a landlord is easy. I couldn’t fix it if I wanted to… I gotta call a guy.”
- Henry Washington
“You heard what people were doing and decided to do something different.”
- Mike Simmons
“The scale you can get when you have more people helping you - there is a multiplier there.”
- Henry Washington
“You learn really quick in this business, it is not a real estate business, it is a people business.”
- Henry Washington
“I need to be a solution to your problem.”
- Henry Washington
“It is funny how it works out - the people that focus on helping folks end up having more financial success.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Rich Dad Poor Dad
BiggerPockets Pro Member
Henry on Instagram
Henry’s Website
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I interview buy-and-hold real estate investor Erin Helle. Erin begins by giving us her background and what brought her to this type of investing. She began her career in the military, first attending West Point Academy and then serving on active duty. Because her husband was also in the service, they knew that both of them being on active duty would be short-lived as they planned to start a family. She resigned her commission after about eight years of active duty to participate in the Army Reserves but was released when the Army discovered she had a heart condition. Upon leaving active duty, she began to explore real estate as a way to earn an income and be present for her family.
Since she did not have her own team at that point, Erin decided that any property requiring rehab wouldn’t work for the first go-around. Erin’s first deal, in May of 2018, was purchasing a newly constructed house, still in the process of being built. What she got was a completely rent-ready property, where she went directly from closing to meet her new tenant with keys.
Here I talked about how I had never heard of anyone getting into this industry by paying full-asking price for a newly constructed house, found on the MLS, but that is what is so great about real estate! There are so many ways to do it and be successful.
For her second deal, Erin pursued a flip property, which she and her dad did much of the work themselves. She talks about having learned so many lessons having to do with building relationships with contractors, budgeting, planning, and especially the selling process. The ability to close on the finished property proved to be a little difficult because of the demographics of the area that it was in. Erin knew she had so much to learn, felt like she had exhausted avenues for learning, and thought just getting in there was the best way to move forward.
Having a construction team upfront was one of the biggest lessons she learned from this project. When trying to contract certain aspects of this project out, she found that contractors would either not show up to bid the job, or would be awarded the job and still not show up. Erin also found that some portions of the job were way more costly than she anticipated and had budgeted for. Learning the timing and order of how the individual construction tasks were performed was also very enriching for her.
I then asked Erin what her primary investment strategy is and how she thought the current COVID-19 situation might affect that. She said she doesn’t plan to do any flips soon, but that she is always looking and open for new opportunities. She doesn’t think her rental market is going to be adversely affected by the quarantine situation and doesn’t think she will have to use any type of government assistance that may be available to her. I also shared my thoughts about this unusual situation and I talked about a video I saw that compared the real estate market now to the housing crisis in 2008 and how it was affected after 9/11.
I also wanted to find out how Erin finds her deals, so that is what we discussed next. She talked about the importance of KPIs (key performance indicators) and doing them consistently to see results. We discussed how her business model is more relationship-based than through paid marketing.
Erin then talked about the challenges of running her business remotely and how important it is to have a good team in place in each investment location. We talked about the necessity of a checks-and-balances system to keep everyone on task and doing good work. I commented that I could have an hours-long podcast on how to find, hire, train, and maintain a good team!
In regard to this, Erin talked about the systems she has in place to run her business. She said it is very simple, driven mostly by spreadsheets and contracts. This helps her to keep both herself and her teams on task and the expectations are very clear from the beginning.
I asked Erin what she would do differently if she could wipe the slate clean and use all the lessons learned to start her real estate business again, and she said she would not do anything differently. She believes strongly that any set-back she has experienced has contributed to the person she is and the business she is running.
Join Erin and me for a great interview featuring super actionable advice on both buy-and-hold and find-and-flip real estate investing!
Notable Quotes
“Sometimes the more you know, you can get in your own way.”
- Mike Simmons
“I learned what a release of lien meant in that [first flip property], so that was huge.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s just resourcefulness, dealing with the situation and figuring out how to get through it.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you have the will to get there, you will figure out a way.”
- Mike Simmons
“Water finds a path.”
- Mike Simmons
“[Flipping] is not what I’m supposed to be doing. It is a way to make money, but it's not contributing to my end state.”
- Erin Helle
“I’m encouraging listeners to figure out what they want to do because that’s half the battle.”
- Erin Helle
On systems: “I don’t think you need to have a fancy system or pay for a platform, I think you can do it in a notebook if you wanted to.”
- Erin Helle
“I wouldn’t do anything differently. Everything that I have learned and every step I have taken backward has contributed to the person you see now and the business you see here.”
- Erin Helle
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Erin on Facebook
Erin on Instagram
Erin's Company Website
Erin's Email
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, I interview buy-and-hold real estate investor Erin Helle. Erin begins by giving us her background and what brought her to this type of investing. She began her career in the military, first attending West Point Academy and then serving on active duty. Because her husband was also in the service, they knew that both of them being on active duty would be short-lived as they planned to start a family. She resigned her commission after about eight years of active duty to participate in the Army Reserves but was released when the Army discovered she had a heart condition. Upon leaving active duty, she began to explore real estate as a way to earn an income and be present for her family.
Since she did not have her own team at that point, Erin decided that any property requiring rehab wouldn’t work for the first go-around. Erin’s first deal, in May of 2018, was purchasing a newly constructed house, still in the process of being built. What she got was a completely rent-ready property, where she went directly from closing to meet her new tenant with keys.
Here I talked about how I had never heard of anyone getting into this industry by paying full-asking price for a newly constructed house, found on the MLS, but that is what is so great about real estate! There are so many ways to do it and be successful.
For her second deal, Erin pursued a flip property, which she and her dad did much of the work themselves. She talks about having learned so many lessons having to do with building relationships with contractors, budgeting, planning, and especially the selling process. The ability to close on the finished property proved to be a little difficult because of the demographics of the area that it was in. Erin knew she had so much to learn, felt like she had exhausted avenues for learning, and thought just getting in there was the best way to move forward.
Having a construction team upfront was one of the biggest lessons she learned from this project. When trying to contract certain aspects of this project out, she found that contractors would either not show up to bid the job, or would be awarded the job and still not show up. Erin also found that some portions of the job were way more costly than she anticipated and had budgeted for. Learning the timing and order of how the individual construction tasks were performed was also very enriching for her.
I then asked Erin what her primary investment strategy is and how she thought the current COVID-19 situation might affect that. She said she doesn’t plan to do any flips soon, but that she is always looking and open for new opportunities. She doesn’t think her rental market is going to be adversely affected by the quarantine situation and doesn’t think she will have to use any type of government assistance that may be available to her. I also shared my thoughts about this unusual situation and I talked about a video I saw that compared the real estate market now to the housing crisis in 2008 and how it was affected after 9/11.
I also wanted to find out how Erin finds her deals, so that is what we discussed next. She talked about the importance of KPIs (key performance indicators) and doing them consistently to see results. We discussed how her business model is more relationship-based than through paid marketing.
Erin then talked about the challenges of running her business remotely and how important it is to have a good team in place in each investment location. We talked about the necessity of a checks-and-balances system to keep everyone on task and doing good work. I commented that I could have an hours-long podcast on how to find, hire, train, and maintain a good team!
In regard to this, Erin talked about the systems she has in place to run her business. She said it is very simple, driven mostly by spreadsheets and contracts. This helps her to keep both herself and her teams on task and the expectations are very clear from the beginning.
I asked Erin what she would do differently if she could wipe the slate clean and use all the lessons learned to start her real estate business again, and she said she would not do anything differently. She believes strongly that any set-back she has experienced has contributed to the person she is and the business she is running.
Join Erin and me for a great interview featuring super actionable advice on both buy-and-hold and find-and-flip real estate investing!
Notable Quotes
“Sometimes the more you know, you can get in your own way.”
- Mike Simmons
“I learned what a release of lien meant in that [first flip property], so that was huge.”
- Mike Simmons
“It’s just resourcefulness, dealing with the situation and figuring out how to get through it.”
- Mike Simmons
“If you have the will to get there, you will figure out a way.”
- Mike Simmons
“Water finds a path.”
- Mike Simmons
“[Flipping] is not what I’m supposed to be doing. It is a way to make money, but it's not contributing to my end state.”
- Erin Helle
“I’m encouraging listeners to figure out what they want to do because that’s half the battle.”
- Erin Helle
On systems: “I don’t think you need to have a fancy system or pay for a platform, I think you can do it in a notebook if you wanted to.”
- Erin Helle
“I wouldn’t do anything differently. Everything that I have learned and every step I have taken backward has contributed to the person you see now and the business you see here.”
- Erin Helle
Links:
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Erin on Facebook
Erin on Instagram
Erin's Company Website
Erin's Email
7FF Video Vault
In this episode, Coach Mike Venos joins me to talk about several life lessons he has learned through over 35 years of coaching kids of all ages. Mike has been the Head Swim Coach at Brother Rice High School for 22 years, Mercy High School for 4 years, and Beachwood Recreation summer club for 17 years. In the time that he has served as the head coach for these teams, they have captured a combined nine Class A / Division I State Championships and 24 Catholic League Championships. He has coached 14 individual and 15 relay-team State Champions, over 50 All-Americans, and two United States Olympic Trial qualifiers.
Mike has received many local, state, and national accolades during his very successful career, is a member of the Catholic League Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the Brother Rice Hall of Fame this spring. In addition to coaching, he teaches Theology at Brother Rice.
Due to everything currently going on in the world concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, my goal with this show is to glean some wisdom for people in dealing with challenges. I started the interviewing by asking Mike why he thinks some people rise to challenges and some shrink from the same opportunities. Through interacting with his students and athletes he said you find out how much you can push them, the kids that are willing to go the extra mile, who is hungry to succeed, and who is born with innate ability take on difficulties. He said certainly these attributes can be innate to a person’s personality, or sometimes can be drawn out of them.
We discussed how sports are such a great forum for allowing people to make mistakes and learn from them. We also discussed the role of parenting in producing people who are more resilient human beings and how different parenting is today then it was when we were kids.
We backed up a bit to explore Mike’s background. He told me his dad was in sales and his mom was a Religious Education teacher, and how he got into swimming because his dad told him he wasn’t going to sit on the couch waiting to play his primary sport, which was baseball. Even though joining the swim team was not his first choice, he learned to love the sport for several reasons. He said it is a sport that you absolutely get out of it what you put into it, and because it is individual in nature, there is no hiding behind a talented teammate. With his love for the sport, he began coaching, which very naturally led him into teaching. He talked about how his upbringing helped develop creativity, which helps him find different ways of interacting with and reaching his athletes and students.
I then wanted to explore some of Mike’s coaching philosophies. He had given me several famous quotes he lives by and we proceeded to walk through those. First, he said that it is very important to have a philosophy and not just a plan based on Bear Bryant’s quote, “Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, then winning takes care of itself.” That led to a lengthy discussion about having your values as the foundation for everything you do and then formulating a plan from that core. A person’s ethics and morals don’t change based on circumstances, but if you make a plan before examining what you believe in, that could lead to dishonorable or damaging decision-making. We discussed how important a person’s character and integrity it is and how much easier it is dealing with people of virtue.
Coach John Wooden famously said, “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” We discussed the importance of not trying to control the uncontrollables. Mike said that sometimes finding out what you can and cannot control can be difficult, but it vital to keeping your stress level low, enjoying life and succeeding. We discussed how appropriate this message to our current world situation and the wide range of people’s reactions to social distancing and quarantine mandates.
Coach Venos then talked about trusting the process and his own personal motto of “It’s not about winning but being the best” which is born out of Pat Summit’s famous quote of, “Our emphasis is on execution, not winning.” Regardless of your business, it is important to stick with your philosophy and goals, be flexible when required, but trust in your abilities, in the work you have put in, and that things are going to work out. We need to take the perspective that life is a journey, keeping the big picture in front of you, even when faced with obstacles.
We talked about the New England Patriots system and how they built a dynasty on trusting the process, even while not having the most talented players and having to adapt to different strengths.
The quote of, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable” attributed to the Navy Seals led us into a conversation of the Seal officers we know and many of their admirable qualities, especially in times of challenge. The ability to rise to the current challenge and to look at obstacles as opportunities rather than some kind of punishment is essential at this time and as we approach an uncertain future. We pointed out how this time of forced isolation was actually a gift - a time to engage with our families, deepen relationships, and reevaluate our priorities.
Coach Venos’ convictions may be born out of a lifetime of teaching and coaching, but they are applicable to all industries, age-groups, and walks of life.
Quotes:
“I like to surround myself with and hire people who have athletics in their background. People who have been on a team, because they typically know what it means to work hard to get something and to sacrifice for the betterment of others.”
- Mike Simmons
“You don’t let the goal define who you are.”
- Mike Simmons
“How people appear on paper is not as important as what they are made of.”
- Mike Simmons
“You can make a good kid fast, but not necessarily a fast kid good.”
- Coach Venos
“Most of my philosophies are not original… you have to look at successful people and emulate them.”
- Coach Venos
“How many times do we ask for a reset button?”
- Coach Venos
“If we keep dwelling on the negative aspects, we are going to miss these opportunities that are right in front of us.”
- Coach Venos
“People are making decisions right now out of fear that are not in their best interest.”
- Mike Simmons
“Good athletes don’t rise to the occasion, they fall back to their level of training.”
- Coach Venos (a variation on Navy Seals quote)
“Every boo on the road is a cheer.”
- Scotty Bowman
“You have to reframe challenges as opportunities.”
- Coach Venos
“It is a time to re-form family bonds and reinforce all the relationship in our lives.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Coach Mike Venos
Jocko Willink
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Coach Bear Bryant
Coach John Wooden
Coach Pat Summitt
Coach Scotty Bowman
Navy Seals
In this episode, Coach Mike Venos joins me to talk about several life lessons he has learned through over 35 years of coaching kids of all ages. Mike has been the Head Swim Coach at Brother Rice High School for 22 years, Mercy High School for 4 years, and Beachwood Recreation summer club for 17 years. In the time that he has served as the head coach for these teams, they have captured a combined nine Class A / Division I State Championships and 24 Catholic League Championships. He has coached 14 individual and 15 relay-team State Champions, over 50 All-Americans, and two United States Olympic Trial qualifiers.
Mike has received many local, state, and national accolades during his very successful career, is a member of the Catholic League Hall of Fame and will be inducted into the Brother Rice Hall of Fame this spring. In addition to coaching, he teaches Theology at Brother Rice.
Due to everything currently going on in the world concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, my goal with this show is to glean some wisdom for people in dealing with challenges. I started the interviewing by asking Mike why he thinks some people rise to challenges and some shrink from the same opportunities. Through interacting with his students and athletes he said you find out how much you can push them, the kids that are willing to go the extra mile, who is hungry to succeed, and who is born with innate ability take on difficulties. He said certainly these attributes can be innate to a person’s personality, or sometimes can be drawn out of them.
We discussed how sports are such a great forum for allowing people to make mistakes and learn from them. We also discussed the role of parenting in producing people who are more resilient human beings and how different parenting is today then it was when we were kids.
We backed up a bit to explore Mike’s background. He told me his dad was in sales and his mom was a Religious Education teacher, and how he got into swimming because his dad told him he wasn’t going to sit on the couch waiting to play his primary sport, which was baseball. Even though joining the swim team was not his first choice, he learned to love the sport for several reasons. He said it is a sport that you absolutely get out of it what you put into it, and because it is individual in nature, there is no hiding behind a talented teammate. With his love for the sport, he began coaching, which very naturally led him into teaching. He talked about how his upbringing helped develop creativity, which helps him find different ways of interacting with and reaching his athletes and students.
I then wanted to explore some of Mike’s coaching philosophies. He had given me several famous quotes he lives by and we proceeded to walk through those. First, he said that it is very important to have a philosophy and not just a plan based on Bear Bryant’s quote, “Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, then winning takes care of itself.” That led to a lengthy discussion about having your values as the foundation for everything you do and then formulating a plan from that core. A person’s ethics and morals don’t change based on circumstances, but if you make a plan before examining what you believe in, that could lead to dishonorable or damaging decision-making. We discussed how important a person’s character and integrity it is and how much easier it is dealing with people of virtue.
Coach John Wooden famously said, “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” We discussed the importance of not trying to control the uncontrollables. Mike said that sometimes finding out what you can and cannot control can be difficult, but it vital to keeping your stress level low, enjoying life and succeeding. We discussed how appropriate this message to our current world situation and the wide range of people’s reactions to social distancing and quarantine mandates.
Coach Venos then talked about trusting the process and his own personal motto of “It’s not about winning but being the best” which is born out of Pat Summit’s famous quote of, “Our emphasis is on execution, not winning.” Regardless of your business, it is important to stick with your philosophy and goals, be flexible when required, but trust in your abilities, in the work you have put in, and that things are going to work out. We need to take the perspective that life is a journey, keeping the big picture in front of you, even when faced with obstacles.
We talked about the New England Patriots system and how they built a dynasty on trusting the process, even while not having the most talented players and having to adapt to different strengths.
The quote of, “Get comfortable being uncomfortable” attributed to the Navy Seals led us into a conversation of the Seal officers we know and many of their admirable qualities, especially in times of challenge. The ability to rise to the current challenge and to look at obstacles as opportunities rather than some kind of punishment is essential at this time and as we approach an uncertain future. We pointed out how this time of forced isolation was actually a gift - a time to engage with our families, deepen relationships, and reevaluate our priorities.
Coach Venos’ convictions may be born out of a lifetime of teaching and coaching, but they are applicable to all industries, age-groups, and walks of life.
Quotes:
“I like to surround myself with and hire people who have athletics in their background. People who have been on a team, because they typically know what it means to work hard to get something and to sacrifice for the betterment of others.”
- Mike Simmons
“You don’t let the goal define who you are.”
- Mike Simmons
“How people appear on paper is not as important as what they are made of.”
- Mike Simmons
“You can make a good kid fast, but not necessarily a fast kid good.”
- Coach Venos
“Most of my philosophies are not original… you have to look at successful people and emulate them.”
- Coach Venos
“How many times do we ask for a reset button?”
- Coach Venos
“If we keep dwelling on the negative aspects, we are going to miss these opportunities that are right in front of us.”
- Coach Venos
“People are making decisions right now out of fear that are not in their best interest.”
- Mike Simmons
“Good athletes don’t rise to the occasion, they fall back to their level of training.”
- Coach Venos (a variation on Navy Seals quote)
“Every boo on the road is a cheer.”
- Scotty Bowman
“You have to reframe challenges as opportunities.”
- Coach Venos
“It is a time to re-form family bonds and reinforce all the relationship in our lives.”
- Mike Simmons
Links:
Coach Mike Venos
Jocko Willink
7 Figure Flipping
Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months
Coach Bear Bryant
Coach John Wooden
Coach Pat Summitt
Coach Scotty Bowman
Navy Seals
In this episode, I am joined by Chris Arnold. Chris is the Co-Founder of COSA Investments, one of the largest wholesale companies in the DFW Metroplex. COSA is operated and managed by a US virtual team which has allowed Chris to run his company while living in Tulum, Mexico. He is also the founder of Arnold Elite Realty which is a cutting-edge boutique brokerage consisting of a team of seasoned agents. Most recently Chris has launched his REI Radio coaching program. This program is designed to teach real estate investors the marketing stream that everyone knows about, but NO ONE is doing!
Chris contends that having a real estate business can afford people freedom of time, freedom of resources, and freedom of location. Even though he started traditionally by representing buyers, Chris soon branched out and has become very successful in one of the most cutthroat markets in the country.
As we are currently in a sellers’ market, the real estate business is very competitive, but people who are building their businesses now are in great shape and poised to really thrive. This is why I wanted to talk to Chris about his business processes and how he promotes and grows his business.
I asked Chris to explain to me his business flow from the point of when they first get a lead. He used the analogy of the bus. You have all the seats on the bus that need to be filled (referring to positions that need to be filled in your company), but as the boss you have your butt in each one. As a leader, Chris said quickly find that you need to “fire” yourself as quickly as possible from each seat by finding a more qualified person for that particular spot. This can be humbling, but is necessary for him to be able to operate his business at the visionary level.
Chris stressed that they have had to develop really good systems for every aspect of their company’s process, and he pointed out that EVERYTHING is a system, even a routine as simple as getting up in the morning. Some processes they have implanted which have proven to be very successful are answering calls live and not allowing them to go to voicemail, having their prospecting assistants pre-qualify leads, and upon discovering a hot lead, the call is transferred automatically to the acquisition manager. They do this using Grasshoper software and you can find the website link at the conclusion of these show notes. Chris said they do not contract any properties without first doing an inspection, so the acquisition manager will recommend which ones need to be scheduled. They employee their own inspector, so the whole process can be complete within 48 hours. Whenever possible, the acquisition manager will complete the deal over the phone, again to decrease time delays and increase scalability.
When I expressed surprise at their company’s ability to close deals over the phone, Chris said it all starts with belief. People in this business need to overcome the myth that you have to meet in person and begin to develop their skills for connecting with people over the phone. Of course, he says it is not black and white and that older people may need a handshake and smile, but even if 50% of their business is done over the phone, that markedly increases their scalability.
They employ two full-time people responsible for closings and pushing deals through the title companies, and a director of dispositions who is solely responsible for re-selling properties.
All of this allows them to boast of a contract to close period of 23-25 days, when most companies are more in the range of 50-75 days.
I then asked Chris how they are finding your leads and he talked about the four marketing pillars they concentrate on: online marketing, direct mail, co-wholesaling, and their most effective strategy, radio ads. Chris pointed out some interesting facts about radio ads including how there is virtually no competition in this medium, it is cutting-edge for finding property, it is a trusted vehicle for advertising, and fits well with their target audience of consumers 50+ years old. They have found that when you advertise on radio you have instant credibility and achieve something akin to celebrity status. After quite a lot of split-testing, Chris has found that they get far more leads with the ads he has recorded himself versus using someone well-known, with a recognizable voice.
I asked Chris to tell me about some of the lessons they have learned about radio advertising in the nine years they have been using it. He said the biggest thing is that people automatically assume they cannot afford it, but like with real estate, they do not pay retail for airtime. Chris says the key is to do research and find the pertinent reports on a station in order to negotiate effectively. Like anything else, being an intelligent buyer is incredibly important.
We then discussed other ways of finding deals, including co-wholesaling. We compared our experiences and stressed that it is about control. I talked how in my company we require the other person needs to stop marketing the property and cannot accept other offers after our company takes control of the contract. This is so important in maintaining good relationships with other people. Chris talked about how they are always proactively building relationships with other wholesalers in what he termed the “learn/earn model.” Other people will bring him deals and he will educate them along the way, because they stress the importance of caring about growth of others and how it adds a lot of value to their own business through networking.
Chris has found that the return of investment for radio ads is now similar to what it used to be for direct mail. There are a couple of advantages to utilizing radio rather than other methods, such as it is not list-dependent, is low-maintenance, and it hits a wider audience. I asked him how often he changes is radio ads and surprisingly he said they have basically run three ads in nine years. Again, split testing shows the repetition of a precise message becomes hypnotic and is very effective.
Chris spoke about how people who are new to radio can get intimated because of all variability, but like he stressed earlier in the show, it works to your advantage when you can hire someone experienced in this arena. His company has branched out into assisting others in exploring and getting started with this type of marketing. Chris said those who are interested in are welcome to visit his website at wholesalinginc.com/reiradio and book a consulting call. He finished up by stressing how important it is to figure out what works in this competitive market and to differentiate yourself, doing the little things that matter so much to achieve success.
Notable Quotes:
“The driver [of working in this business] is always freedom and what we can do with that freedom.”
- Chris Arnold
“Living the Caribbean life was something I always dreamed of being able to do.”
- Chris Arnold
“You can have the business that you want, where you want, in this industry.
- Mike Simmons
“The flip side of that pain [being in a competitive market] is you are going to see some of the greatest innovation come out of that market. This makes you really good at what you want to do.”
- Chris Arnold
“I’d rather take a fast nickel than a slow dime [wholesaling vs. flipping].”
- Chris Arnold
“I like the velocity of wholesaling.”
- Mike Simmons
“What we sell and beat out others on is professionalism.”
- Chris Arnold
“Just do the things you can control.”
- Mike Simmons
“Radio: marketing source that everyone knows about and no one is using.”
- Chris Arnold
“We buy our radio like we buy our real estate: at a discounted, wholesale prices.”
- Chris Arnold
“Anyone who has experienced high-level success, they stood on the shoulders of someone else and learned from them, whether it is an athlete or an entrepreneur.”
- Mike Simmons
Links and Resources:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
https://grasshopper.com
https://www.wholesalinginc.com/reiradio/
In this episode, I am joined by Chris Arnold. Chris is the Co-Founder of COSA Investments, one of the largest wholesale companies in the DFW Metroplex. COSA is operated and managed by a US virtual team which has allowed Chris to run his company while living in Tulum, Mexico. He is also the founder of Arnold Elite Realty which is a cutting-edge boutique brokerage consisting of a team of seasoned agents. Most recently Chris has launched his REI Radio coaching program. This program is designed to teach real estate investors the marketing stream that everyone knows about, but NO ONE is doing!
Chris contends that having a real estate business can afford people freedom of time, freedom of resources, and freedom of location. Even though he started traditionally by representing buyers, Chris soon branched out and has become very successful in one of the most cutthroat markets in the country.
As we are currently in a sellers’ market, the real estate business is very competitive, but people who are building their businesses now are in great shape and poised to really thrive. This is why I wanted to talk to Chris about his business processes and how he promotes and grows his business.
I asked Chris to explain to me his business flow from the point of when they first get a lead. He used the analogy of the bus. You have all the seats on the bus that need to be filled (referring to positions that need to be filled in your company), but as the boss you have your butt in each one. As a leader, Chris said quickly find that you need to “fire” yourself as quickly as possible from each seat by finding a more qualified person for that particular spot. This can be humbling, but is necessary for him to be able to operate his business at the visionary level.
Chris stressed that they have had to develop really good systems for every aspect of their company’s process, and he pointed out that EVERYTHING is a system, even a routine as simple as getting up in the morning. Some processes they have implanted which have proven to be very successful are answering calls live and not allowing them to go to voicemail, having their prospecting assistants pre-qualify leads, and upon discovering a hot lead, the call is transferred automatically to the acquisition manager. They do this using Grasshoper software and you can find the website link at the conclusion of these show notes. Chris said they do not contract any properties without first doing an inspection, so the acquisition manager will recommend which ones need to be scheduled. They employee their own inspector, so the whole process can be complete within 48 hours. Whenever possible, the acquisition manager will complete the deal over the phone, again to decrease time delays and increase scalability.
When I expressed surprise at their company’s ability to close deals over the phone, Chris said it all starts with belief. People in this business need to overcome the myth that you have to meet in person and begin to develop their skills for connecting with people over the phone. Of course, he says it is not black and white and that older people may need a handshake and smile, but even if 50% of their business is done over the phone, that markedly increases their scalability.
They employ two full-time people responsible for closings and pushing deals through the title companies, and a director of dispositions who is solely responsible for re-selling properties.
All of this allows them to boast of a contract to close period of 23-25 days, when most companies are more in the range of 50-75 days.
I then asked Chris how they are finding your leads and he talked about the four marketing pillars they concentrate on: online marketing, direct mail, co-wholesaling, and their most effective strategy, radio ads. Chris pointed out some interesting facts about radio ads including how there is virtually no competition in this medium, it is cutting-edge for finding property, it is a trusted vehicle for advertising, and fits well with their target audience of consumers 50+ years old. They have found that when you advertise on radio you have instant credibility and achieve something akin to celebrity status. After quite a lot of split-testing, Chris has found that they get far more leads with the ads he has recorded himself versus using someone well-known, with a recognizable voice.
I asked Chris to tell me about some of the lessons they have learned about radio advertising in the nine years they have been using it. He said the biggest thing is that people automatically assume they cannot afford it, but like with real estate, they do not pay retail for airtime. Chris says the key is to do research and find the pertinent reports on a station in order to negotiate effectively. Like anything else, being an intelligent buyer is incredibly important.
We then discussed other ways of finding deals, including co-wholesaling. We compared our experiences and stressed that it is about control. I talked how in my company we require the other person needs to stop marketing the property and cannot accept other offers after our company takes control of the contract. This is so important in maintaining good relationships with other people. Chris talked about how they are always proactively building relationships with other wholesalers in what he termed the “learn/earn model.” Other people will bring him deals and he will educate them along the way, because they stress the importance of caring about growth of others and how it adds a lot of value to their own business through networking.
Chris has found that the return of investment for radio ads is now similar to what it used to be for direct mail. There are a couple of advantages to utilizing radio rather than other methods, such as it is not list-dependent, is low-maintenance, and it hits a wider audience. I asked him how often he changes is radio ads and surprisingly he said they have basically run three ads in nine years. Again, split testing shows the repetition of a precise message becomes hypnotic and is very effective.
Chris spoke about how people who are new to radio can get intimated because of all variability, but like he stressed earlier in the show, it works to your advantage when you can hire someone experienced in this arena. His company has branched out into assisting others in exploring and getting started with this type of marketing. Chris said those who are interested in are welcome to visit his website at wholesalinginc.com/reiradio and book a consulting call. He finished up by stressing how important it is to figure out what works in this competitive market and to differentiate yourself, doing the little things that matter so much to achieve success.
Notable Quotes:
“The driver [of working in this business] is always freedom and what we can do with that freedom.”
- Chris Arnold
“Living the Caribbean life was something I always dreamed of being able to do.”
- Chris Arnold
“You can have the business that you want, where you want, in this industry.
- Mike Simmons
“The flip side of that pain [being in a competitive market] is you are going to see some of the greatest innovation come out of that market. This makes you really good at what you want to do.”
- Chris Arnold
“I’d rather take a fast nickel than a slow dime [wholesaling vs. flipping].”
- Chris Arnold
“I like the velocity of wholesaling.”
- Mike Simmons
“What we sell and beat out others on is professionalism.”
- Chris Arnold
“Just do the things you can control.”
- Mike Simmons
“Radio: marketing source that everyone knows about and no one is using.”
- Chris Arnold
“We buy our radio like we buy our real estate: at a discounted, wholesale prices.”
- Chris Arnold
“Anyone who has experienced high-level success, they stood on the shoulders of someone else and learned from them, whether it is an athlete or an entrepreneur.”
- Mike Simmons
Links and Resources:
Rich Dad Poor Dad
https://grasshopper.com
https://www.wholesalinginc.com/reiradio/
In this episode, I’m joined by Andy McFarland. Andy is not only a successful investor and mentor, but also a close personal friend. He and I have traveled together as members of the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind, and his stellar character and willingness to encourage others to succeed have aided him in his journey to becoming a self-made expert in the world of real estate.
I first asked Andy to talk about how the world of investing has changed in the last 5 years, the strategies he’s implemented, and the lessons he’s learned. First, and most importantly, Andy emphasizes the necessity of authenticity within the business. This applies not only to your customers, but your employees, or as Andy calls them, his team. We discuss the (understandable) tendencies of newcomers who are looking for that hidden gem or technique that is sure to help them rise to the top, forgetting that being genuine is what really ensures success.
Andy talks about the dangers of cramming sales techniques down the throats of your customers and how that always ends in disaster.
Of course, profits matter. Sales matter. But people matter much, much more.
In this business, it’s not uncommon to have high turnover rates. Andy and I agreed that our teams look much different than they did in the beginning, and more often than not, for good reason. People tend to move on to new avenues and adventures, and what was right for them at a previous time may not be in the future. Andy’s business and team have both changed in big ways since their origin, and he’s grateful for the lives he’s been able to touch every step of the way.
Andy also advises leaders to never forget to stay current. He told the story of his struggle to push through a period of frustration with his team, who wasn’t implementing certain strategies he was advising. They were never unreceptive, but he noticed that they weren’t attempting the encouraged methods. In hopes of understanding their resistance, he went back into the field himself and discovered quickly that the game had changed. His employees had adapted to the new industry, and he had failed to keep up. When he began reconnecting with sellers, he began to feel the benefits of this human element for the first time in a long time.
We then dove deep into the blessings of what we do, and why we do it. As a man of faith, Andy believes that God has used his position in this business to meet true, human needs. He recalled a incident of a seller who was in deep, financial decline. Some investors, Andy says, may have been tempted to walk away from the deal, fearful that the investment wouldn’t be worth their while. Others may have even taken advantage of this man’s desperation. However, Andy chose to show grace and compassion. He listened to the man, and worked alongside him to make a plan that would help him to pick himself up. Though the money made from this investment wouldn’t be outrageous, humanity took precedence and Andy was able to bless this family in a way that only he could, simply because he took the time to listen.
We ended the discussion on the issue of comparison. Many step into this business with a hope of having more time for what matters to them: time with loved ones, things you enjoy, etc. However, they fall into the never-ending circle of wanting more simply for the sake of having more. When people have a 1 million dollar company, they then want a 10 million dollar company, and then a 100 million dollar company, and so on. Making more money almost always leads to spending more money if you’re not wise, and won’t bring satisfaction like knowing that you live a life loving others well and impacting them positively.
Andy is the guy in our 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group that we call “the rabbit” because people are always chasing after him for the big secret of success, or simply because his realness is so attractive. Give this episode a listen to hear his best-advised tactic, which really isn’t a tactic at all.
For more information on our 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group, feel free to contact me and I’ll make sure to get you more information.
Notable Quotes:
“What have I learned over the years? The people matter. The people matter in all aspects of the business. Your business is your people.”
-Andy McFarland
“What I want most is have an impact on people’s lives. Not a thousand people’s lives. I want to have an impact on one person’s life, one at a time. And if that happens a thousand times great.
-Andy McFarland
“There are few people I know in the industry who truly do right by people intentionally and for no gain… or leverage. I think people need to hear that.”
-Mike Simmons
“I’m not at all saying don’t try to make money and grow your business, because you should, because you can do more good that way. But I think building a company that provides income for those who work for you feels better than closing a deal.”
–Mike Simmons
“Find good people, treat them well.”
–Mike Simmons
“We all feel better when we serve people.”
–Andy McFarland
“The problem is, in the beginning, people are so freaked out about getting a deal that they go in there with that energy and they struggle.”
-Michael Simmons
“Money amplifies what you already are. It won’t change your life. It will just make you more of what you already are.”
-Andy McFarland
“The reasons why people are unhappy it all boils down to comparison.”
-Michael Simmons
Links and Resources:
https://7figureflipping.com/
https://fliphackinglive.com/
Elite Homebuyers
Rich Dad Poor Dad
The Total Money Makeover
In this episode, I’m joined by Andy McFarland. Andy is not only a successful investor and mentor, but also a close personal friend. He and I have traveled together as members of the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind, and his stellar character and willingness to encourage others to succeed have aided him in his journey to becoming a self-made expert in the world of real estate.
I first asked Andy to talk about how the world of investing has changed in the last 5 years, the strategies he’s implemented, and the lessons he’s learned. First, and most importantly, Andy emphasizes the necessity of authenticity within the business. This applies not only to your customers, but your employees, or as Andy calls them, his team. We discuss the (understandable) tendencies of newcomers who are looking for that hidden gem or technique that is sure to help them rise to the top, forgetting that being genuine is what really ensures success.
Andy talks about the dangers of cramming sales techniques down the throats of your customers and how that always ends in disaster.
Of course, profits matter. Sales matter. But people matter much, much more.
In this business, it’s not uncommon to have high turnover rates. Andy and I agreed that our teams look much different than they did in the beginning, and more often than not, for good reason. People tend to move on to new avenues and adventures, and what was right for them at a previous time may not be in the future. Andy’s business and team have both changed in big ways since their origin, and he’s grateful for the lives he’s been able to touch every step of the way.
Andy also advises leaders to never forget to stay current. He told the story of his struggle to push through a period of frustration with his team, who wasn’t implementing certain strategies he was advising. They were never unreceptive, but he noticed that they weren’t attempting the encouraged methods. In hopes of understanding their resistance, he went back into the field himself and discovered quickly that the game had changed. His employees had adapted to the new industry, and he had failed to keep up. When he began reconnecting with sellers, he began to feel the benefits of this human element for the first time in a long time.
We then dove deep into the blessings of what we do, and why we do it. As a man of faith, Andy believes that God has used his position in this business to meet true, human needs. He recalled a incident of a seller who was in deep, financial decline. Some investors, Andy says, may have been tempted to walk away from the deal, fearful that the investment wouldn’t be worth their while. Others may have even taken advantage of this man’s desperation. However, Andy chose to show grace and compassion. He listened to the man, and worked alongside him to make a plan that would help him to pick himself up. Though the money made from this investment wouldn’t be outrageous, humanity took precedence and Andy was able to bless this family in a way that only he could, simply because he took the time to listen.
We ended the discussion on the issue of comparison. Many step into this business with a hope of having more time for what matters to them: time with loved ones, things you enjoy, etc. However, they fall into the never-ending circle of wanting more simply for the sake of having more. When people have a 1 million dollar company, they then want a 10 million dollar company, and then a 100 million dollar company, and so on. Making more money almost always leads to spending more money if you’re not wise, and won’t bring satisfaction like knowing that you live a life loving others well and impacting them positively.
Andy is the guy in our 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group that we call “the rabbit” because people are always chasing after him for the big secret of success, or simply because his realness is so attractive. Give this episode a listen to hear his best-advised tactic, which really isn’t a tactic at all.
For more information on our 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind group, feel free to contact me and I’ll make sure to get you more information.
Notable Quotes:
“What have I learned over the years? The people matter. The people matter in all aspects of the business. Your business is your people.”
-Andy McFarland
“What I want most is have an impact on people’s lives. Not a thousand people’s lives. I want to have an impact on one person’s life, one at a time. And if that happens a thousand times great.
-Andy McFarland
“There are few people I know in the industry who truly do right by people intentionally and for no gain… or leverage. I think people need to hear that.”
-Mike Simmons
“I’m not at all saying don’t try to make money and grow your business, because you should, because you can do more good that way. But I think building a company that provides income for those who work for you feels better than closing a deal.”
–Mike Simmons
“Find good people, treat them well.”
–Mike Simmons
“We all feel better when we serve people.”
–Andy McFarland
“The problem is, in the beginning, people are so freaked out about getting a deal that they go in there with that energy and they struggle.”
-Michael Simmons
“Money amplifies what you already are. It won’t change your life. It will just make you more of what you already are.”
-Andy McFarland
“The reasons why people are unhappy it all boils down to comparison.”
-Michael Simmons
Links and Resources:
https://7figureflipping.com/
https://fliphackinglive.com/
Elite Homebuyers
Rich Dad Poor Dad
The Total Money Makeover
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I interview Susan Lassiter-Lyons. Susan is an investor, entrepreneur, author, and investment coach to assist people in creating wealth. She’s the CEO of Lassiter Publishing Group, a financial publisher specializing in income and growth opportunities.
If you’re looking to succeed, read Susan’s book Getting the Money. She reveals her step-by-step approach to getting money. This is not for people who can quickly get money from lenders, this is for the start-up entrepreneur who is interested in building their capital and wealth, but they don’t have the start-up money. Susan is very candid in her methods and leaves nothing to spare in her book. She explains, in detail, how to grow from a one-person team to a larger company and how to find and secure the money for your company to thrive.
Susan first dives into money lending and how you should view money lenders. Don’t look at money lenders as an all-powerful entity. Look at them as personal investors - they are sharing with you their money because they can’t do the work you are doing. Check your mindset when you are asking for money - how are you viewing yourself concerning the person who is investing in you and your company?
Next, she moves into identity and how many flippers don’t want others to know they are flipping. We call this the “secret identity.” Listen in on how my wife and I were caught flipping houses at Sunday dinner with my family.
Listen in to find out how being passionate and excited about your company will create energy around you and make others want to invest in your company. Learn about how you can leverage yourself and your level of expertise into larger syndications. Find out about the concept of being “big time” on how to be able to “shoot higher” with your business to be able to scale and grow.
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I interview Susan Lassiter-Lyons. Susan is an investor, entrepreneur, author, and investment coach to assist people in creating wealth. She’s the CEO of Lassiter Publishing Group, a financial publisher specializing in income and growth opportunities.
If you’re looking to succeed, read Susan’s book Getting the Money. She reveals her step-by-step approach to getting money. This is not for people who can quickly get money from lenders, this is for the start-up entrepreneur who is interested in building their capital and wealth, but they don’t have the start-up money. Susan is very candid in her methods and leaves nothing to spare in her book. She explains, in detail, how to grow from a one-person team to a larger company and how to find and secure the money for your company to thrive.
Susan first dives into money lending and how you should view money lenders. Don’t look at money lenders as an all-powerful entity. Look at them as personal investors - they are sharing with you their money because they can’t do the work you are doing. Check your mindset when you are asking for money - how are you viewing yourself concerning the person who is investing in you and your company?
Next, she moves into identity and how many flippers don’t want others to know they are flipping. We call this the “secret identity.” Listen in on how my wife and I were caught flipping houses at Sunday dinner with my family.
Listen in to find out how being passionate and excited about your company will create energy around you and make others want to invest in your company. Learn about how you can leverage yourself and your level of expertise into larger syndications. Find out about the concept of being “big time” on how to be able to “shoot higher” with your business to be able to scale and grow.
In this episode I discussed the 10 things every successful real estate investor knows. These are things that you should know as well. Please check this episode out because these are all things that I have learned over the last 10 years and have spent the last 4 or 5 years teaching other people to help them reach their goals!
In this episode I discussed the 10 things every successful real estate investor knows. These are things that you should know as well. Please check this episode out because these are all things that I have learned over the last 10 years and have spent the last 4 or 5 years teaching other people to help them reach their goals!
In this episode I interview someone who I respect quite a bit, Nate Johnson. Nate is an incredible businessman and the COO of Blackjack Real Estate, the company owned by my good friend Bill Allen. Nate runs the operation of that company and is a phenomenal operational mind and is responsible for helping Bill grow that company from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 in just 3 short years. Nate has tons of experience and insight into what it takes to affectively and successfully grow a real estate investing company.This is not an interview that you can afford to miss!
In this episode I interview someone who I respect quite a bit, Nate Johnson. Nate is an incredible businessman and the COO of Blackjack Real Estate, the company owned by my good friend Bill Allen. Nate runs the operation of that company and is a phenomenal operational mind and is responsible for helping Bill grow that company from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 in just 3 short years. Nate has tons of experience and insight into what it takes to affectively and successfully grow a real estate investing company.This is not an interview that you can afford to miss!
In this episode I talked to Jesse Trujillo. Jesse is a real estate investor in San Diego. I met him in October of this year at Flip Hacking Live which was held in San Diego. Jesse is a very smart investor and a great guy, but what is really interesting about his business is that he will do 80 deals this year (flips) Without spending a dime on marketing!! You have to listen to this interview, especially if you're struggling to find deals and worried that you don't have enough of a marketing budget to grow your company. Jesse blows all of those myths out of the water!
In this episode I talked to Jesse Trujillo. Jesse is a real estate investor in San Diego. I met him in October of this year at Flip Hacking Live which was held in San Diego. Jesse is a very smart investor and a great guy, but what is really interesting about his business is that he will do 80 deals this year (flips) Without spending a dime on marketing!! You have to listen to this interview, especially if you're struggling to find deals and worried that you don't have enough of a marketing budget to grow your company. Jesse blows all of those myths out of the water!
In this episode is all about building the business that you want. Not the business that other people have told you you should want. Every decision we make in our companies have in effect on us, our free time, and ultimately the business that we end up with. I want to make sure that everyone listening to this podcast is clear on what they want and what that means when it comes to building their business
In this episode is all about building the business that you want. Not the business that other people have told you you should want. Every decision we make in our companies have in effect on us, our free time, and ultimately the business that we end up with. I want to make sure that everyone listening to this podcast is clear on what they want and what that means when it comes to building their business
This episode was all about my experience during the Flip Hacking Live week in San Diego! This was an incredible event that featured dozens of highly successful real estate investors, and also some incredible national speakers that blew everyone's mind! There is no week of the year that makes me more excited about the next 12 months then Flip Hacking Live. I'm going to breakdown some of the highlights and tease some of the upcoming features that I will be having on this podcast!
This episode was all about my experience during the Flip Hacking Live week in San Diego! This was an incredible event that featured dozens of highly successful real estate investors, and also some incredible national speakers that blew everyone's mind! There is no week of the year that makes me more excited about the next 12 months then Flip Hacking Live. I'm going to breakdown some of the highlights and tease some of the upcoming features that I will be having on this podcast!
Today I'm talking to some incredibly intelligent real estate investors. Thery are primarily wholesalers, and have an incredible system for generating leads. Not only are they generating high margin leads, But they are closing most of their deals over the phone! These guys take analytics and business metrics to a new level. They have managed to transform their business into a highly profitable machine that allows them to not only kill it in their market, but in remote markets as well!
Today I'm talking to some incredibly intelligent real estate investors. Thery are primarily wholesalers, and have an incredible system for generating leads. Not only are they generating high margin leads, But they are closing most of their deals over the phone! These guys take analytics and business metrics to a new level. They have managed to transform their business into a highly profitable machine that allows them to not only kill it in their market, but in remote markets as well!
In today's interview I talked to Tyler Jensen. Tyler is a friend of mine and an incredible real estate investor. He is a pure house flipper, and has transformed his flipping business and created an ultra efficient flipping machine that is now been able to do a full rehab project in 7 days! That is a unbelievable accomplishment and I'm excited for him to breakdown how he gets it done. You don't want to miss this!
In today's interview I talked to Tyler Jensen. Tyler is a friend of mine and an incredible real estate investor. He is a pure house flipper, and has transformed his flipping business and created an ultra efficient flipping machine that is now been able to do a full rehab project in 7 days! That is a unbelievable accomplishment and I'm excited for him to breakdown how he gets it done. You don't want to miss this!
Today I talk about why it’s important to laser focus and not try to do all things in your business at the same time. Especially is a beginner it’s important that you focus and try to be great at one aspect of the business before moving on to another. Believe me I have made this mistake!
Today I talk about why it’s important to laser focus and not try to do all things in your business at the same time. Especially is a beginner it’s important that you focus and try to be great at one aspect of the business before moving on to another. Believe me I have made this mistake!
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I had the distinction of speaking to Tommy Griffith, who has worked at companies such as PayPal and Air b’n’b. He has been executing real estate search engine optimization for more than ten years. Tommy currently runs ClickMinded, a digital marketing training platform for marketers and entrepreneurs. Tommy started ClickMinded as a side project while working full-time at Airbnb and grew his new business until ClickMinded began to generate more revenue than his annual salary.
His journey started with the Four Hour Workweek in the realization he could work “off script” and start his business while working full-time. From reading this book, Tommy created an ebook and figured out how to get his book to the top of Google search engines. Tommy went into debt, creating a business that failed. He didn’t have the experience, passion, or capital to build his new business. As a result of this business experience, however, he learned SEO and internet marketing.
He landed a job working SEO with PayPal in 2008 when SEO first landed on the internet scene. While working at PayPay, he started tinkering with side projects to pay off his debt from his failed enterprise.
In 2011, Tommy had an idea for an iPhone app development lead generation website. After creating this platform, he failed to continue to have an interest in his project. Tommy emphasizes that you need to want to get out of bed and to be passionate about your work or project.
When he joined Airbnb, the company was small, with under 50 employees. As his job came to a close, Air was hosting Beyonce for an event in a rental.
Listen in to find out the definition of exit velocity, learn how to build an unfair advantage, and why you should have connections when you move forward into a new business. What are the key components Tommy now uses when he builds a remote team? Learn how to find and hold onto your organization, including how to write your job description.
Links and Resources
ClickMinded
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I had the distinction of speaking to Tommy Griffith, who has worked at companies such as PayPal and Air b’n’b. He has been executing real estate search engine optimization for more than ten years. Tommy currently runs ClickMinded, a digital marketing training platform for marketers and entrepreneurs. Tommy started ClickMinded as a side project while working full-time at Airbnb and grew his new business until ClickMinded began to generate more revenue than his annual salary.
His journey started with the Four Hour Workweek in the realization he could work “off script” and start his business while working full-time. From reading this book, Tommy created an ebook and figured out how to get his book to the top of Google search engines. Tommy went into debt, creating a business that failed. He didn’t have the experience, passion, or capital to build his new business. As a result of this business experience, however, he learned SEO and internet marketing.
He landed a job working SEO with PayPal in 2008 when SEO first landed on the internet scene. While working at PayPay, he started tinkering with side projects to pay off his debt from his failed enterprise.
In 2011, Tommy had an idea for an iPhone app development lead generation website. After creating this platform, he failed to continue to have an interest in his project. Tommy emphasizes that you need to want to get out of bed and to be passionate about your work or project.
When he joined Airbnb, the company was small, with under 50 employees. As his job came to a close, Air was hosting Beyonce for an event in a rental.
Listen in to find out the definition of exit velocity, learn how to build an unfair advantage, and why you should have connections when you move forward into a new business. What are the key components Tommy now uses when he builds a remote team? Learn how to find and hold onto your organization, including how to write your job description.
Links and Resources
ClickMinded
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
In this episode I am actually being interviewed by Biill Allen on his podcast - House Flipping HQ. Bill is interviewing me about me systems and processes and how I track numbers in my business.
I also reveal the subject of my presentation at the upcoming Flip Hacking Live event in San Diego this October 2019!
In this episode I am actually being interviewed by Biill Allen on his podcast - House Flipping HQ. Bill is interviewing me about me systems and processes and how I track numbers in my business.
I also reveal the subject of my presentation at the upcoming Flip Hacking Live event in San Diego this October 2019!
In this episode I discuss why I believe some people succeed and others fail. I have coached and mentored hundreds of people over the last few years and see a definite common thread in those who succeed. People who do not achieve their goals do not have a key trait that I think is critical. Check out this episode to find out what that is
In this episode I discuss why I believe some people succeed and others fail. I have coached and mentored hundreds of people over the last few years and see a definite common thread in those who succeed. People who do not achieve their goals do not have a key trait that I think is critical. Check out this episode to find out what that is
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I chatted with a friend of mine, Terry Burger. Terry is an incredible investor and a real inspiration to those in the flipping business. One of the things I love most about Terry is that he is a family man who prioritizes his wife and kids over everything, including his business. Yet, he has managed to build an incredibly valuable business that continues to grow! He definitely shows that you can have the lifestyle you want and be successful as an entrepreneur without sacrificing your personal life.
The biggest compliment, I believe, that you can give someone is that they’re a very good person. Terry Burger is one of those guys!
Terry’s background is in classical music and teaching middle school. He wanted a career change and jumped into real estate. Within his first year of getting his real estate license, he sold 50 houses. The first year “I ran around like I had my hair on fire” selling and flipping homes. His wife was pregnant with their first son and was understanding and supportive of Terry in his new position.
As the kids started growing, Terry realized he needed a change in his schedule, especially on Saturday mornings, when his son was playing soccer. He missed his son’s first soccer goal, and that was his stake in the ground moment when he knew his work schedule had to change.
When Terry was turning 80 to 90 homes per year with his team, the recession hit. Terry went from his highest selling year to selling 12 homes in 2009. He lost his second home so he could keep his primary residence. The hardest part was his selling his Baby Grand Piano so his family could afford to live for the next three months.
After the recession, Terry had to figure out a way to make money using real estate. He listened to real estate podcasts and educated himself on how to be an investor in real estate and house flipping. Terry offered one of his clients to buy his home, after getting together money from his friends, which started his involvement in flipping homes.
Listen in to find out how Terry went from being a real estate agent to becoming a full-time real estate investor, how he rebuilt his team, and why he took a 50% pay cut to start his new endeavor. How the Seven Figure Mastermind gave Terry the tools to move onto the next level.
Notable Quotes
“Mike Simmons, it’s an honor to be here, man. You’re my hero!”
-Terry Burger
“My favorite game growing up was Monopoly, so I was destined to get into real estate.”
-Terry Burger
“My son played soccer, and my goal was to be at every game. I had to show a house on Saturday and missed my son’s game. My wife texted me and said, ‘Collin just scored his first goal,’ and I was devastated.”
-Terry Burger
Find out how Terry Burger turned around his crazy workweek to more effective and less crazy work life to find balance for his family.
“People leak who they are...you’re gonna leak the good stuff, you’re gonna leak the bad stuff. A leak has a source somewhere.”
-Terry Burger
A turning point after the recession was when Terry found out about a local investor making money on flooded homes.
“There was a huge flood that came through my area and flooded a bunch of houses which were bought by an investor. The investor told me he was making $40,000 to $50,000 on flipping houses. I went home and looked up the company, and, sure enough, it was true. He was making this type of money.”
-Terry Burger
Terry was working with a client to sell his home as his realtor, and the client repeated he didn’t want to have buyers walking through his home. Realizing this was the opportunity he was looking for to become an investor, Terry offered to buy his home.
“Sir, I’ve been really wanting to buy my first investment property, and I’m willing to make you an offer on your house, can you give me three or four days?”
-Terry Burger
Terry remembers one of the Seven Figure Masterminds retreats he attended in San Diego.
“I had two problems. One, I was still trying to sell real estate. Justin jumped all over me, he said, ‘Next time you come here you better not sell a single house!’ It forced me out of my comfort zone, like Linus with his blanket, I had to leave my blue blanket behind.”
-Terry Burger
Links and Resources
Link to this episode on itunes: https://apple.co/2Yprm6t
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I chatted with a friend of mine, Terry Burger. Terry is an incredible investor and a real inspiration to those in the flipping business. One of the things I love most about Terry is that he is a family man who prioritizes his wife and kids over everything, including his business. Yet, he has managed to build an incredibly valuable business that continues to grow! He definitely shows that you can have the lifestyle you want and be successful as an entrepreneur without sacrificing your personal life.
The biggest compliment, I believe, that you can give someone is that they’re a very good person. Terry Burger is one of those guys!
Terry’s background is in classical music and teaching middle school. He wanted a career change and jumped into real estate. Within his first year of getting his real estate license, he sold 50 houses. The first year “I ran around like I had my hair on fire” selling and flipping homes. His wife was pregnant with their first son and was understanding and supportive of Terry in his new position.
As the kids started growing, Terry realized he needed a change in his schedule, especially on Saturday mornings, when his son was playing soccer. He missed his son’s first soccer goal, and that was his stake in the ground moment when he knew his work schedule had to change.
When Terry was turning 80 to 90 homes per year with his team, the recession hit. Terry went from his highest selling year to selling 12 homes in 2009. He lost his second home so he could keep his primary residence. The hardest part was his selling his Baby Grand Piano so his family could afford to live for the next three months.
After the recession, Terry had to figure out a way to make money using real estate. He listened to real estate podcasts and educated himself on how to be an investor in real estate and house flipping. Terry offered one of his clients to buy his home, after getting together money from his friends, which started his involvement in flipping homes.
Listen in to find out how Terry went from being a real estate agent to becoming a full-time real estate investor, how he rebuilt his team, and why he took a 50% pay cut to start his new endeavor. How the Seven Figure Mastermind gave Terry the tools to move onto the next level.
Notable Quotes
“Mike Simmons, it’s an honor to be here, man. You’re my hero!”
-Terry Burger
“My favorite game growing up was Monopoly, so I was destined to get into real estate.”
-Terry Burger
“My son played soccer, and my goal was to be at every game. I had to show a house on Saturday and missed my son’s game. My wife texted me and said, ‘Collin just scored his first goal,’ and I was devastated.”
-Terry Burger
Find out how Terry Burger turned around his crazy workweek to more effective and less crazy work life to find balance for his family.
“People leak who they are...you’re gonna leak the good stuff, you’re gonna leak the bad stuff. A leak has a source somewhere.”
-Terry Burger
A turning point after the recession was when Terry found out about a local investor making money on flooded homes.
“There was a huge flood that came through my area and flooded a bunch of houses which were bought by an investor. The investor told me he was making $40,000 to $50,000 on flipping houses. I went home and looked up the company, and, sure enough, it was true. He was making this type of money.”
-Terry Burger
Terry was working with a client to sell his home as his realtor, and the client repeated he didn’t want to have buyers walking through his home. Realizing this was the opportunity he was looking for to become an investor, Terry offered to buy his home.
“Sir, I’ve been really wanting to buy my first investment property, and I’m willing to make you an offer on your house, can you give me three or four days?”
-Terry Burger
Terry remembers one of the Seven Figure Masterminds retreats he attended in San Diego.
“I had two problems. One, I was still trying to sell real estate. Justin jumped all over me, he said, ‘Next time you come here you better not sell a single house!’ It forced me out of my comfort zone, like Linus with his blanket, I had to leave my blue blanket behind.”
-Terry Burger
Links and Resources
Link to this episode on itunes: https://apple.co/2Yprm6t
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You're in luck! I've been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called "Seven Figure Flipping." This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line "help," and we'll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I'm publishing a recording of a presentation I gave at last year's Flip Hacking Live Event. In my presentation, I will describe the disposition process you can use in your business if you're a wholesaler to 10X your returns and profitability on every real estate deal you do!
First, I want to talk about mindset. Second, I'll show you effective strategies. Third, I'll tell you about the tools of the industry which you should have in your toolbox to make you a more effective wholesaler.
Do you know the role of a disposition manager? Their purpose is to take a contract and sell the contract to the end buyer. Disposition management is often an underserved part of the business. I'll talk about the "how" of the disposition manager. I'm very passionate about this position in real estate wholesale, as this can make or break your real estate deal.
Targets are a great way to achieve and exceed your goals. There are moral and ethical ways to not only hit your target goal but to go past your goal and find out how much you can attain with the right tools.
How much should you make for a fee? Avoid the "good enough" mindset. The parameters you give someone are the parameters they will work within their business. Aim high and create high parameters to reach and extend yourself and your team to create not just right, but excellent results. Remember, "time kills deals." You want to move fast with a sense of urgency to achieve our metrics.
Create a sincere rapport with sellers. Buyers' relationships should never create first look opportunities. Know the steps of building your buyers list, who you should call, and which buyers are not inside your price range. Above all, don't let your opinions get in the way of getting an excellent deal for your business.
What should you put in your listing? Find out what you should have as a downloadable file, the location, perks of the neighborhood, and other descriptions to enhance the curb appeal of your listing.
Listen in to find out how many days you need to close, have your deposit in the bank, and close the deal on the home to make your process more effective and efficient. Find out what moves through the minds of landlords and how they price out their real estate. Who should be completing the pre-work for sales? When you shouldn't work with a buyer and when to and when not to show the home.
Links and Resources
Flip Hacking Live
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
SHOW SUMMARY
- Get the 411 on upping your wholesaler game to 10X your returns as I recap my presentation at last year's Flip Hacking Live workshop. Did you know you can make money when you sell and buy? How can you make more money as a wholesaler? I'm going to show you how to use metrics and create goals for your real estate investment business. Learn the how-tos of the trade, which will benefit you as a business wholesaler and how to build your buyer's list. Which real estate ducks should you have in a row to make your process efficient to get the best price for your property.
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You're in luck! I've been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called "Seven Figure Flipping." This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line "help," and we'll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I'm publishing a recording of a presentation I gave at last year's Flip Hacking Live Event. In my presentation, I will describe the disposition process you can use in your business if you're a wholesaler to 10X your returns and profitability on every real estate deal you do!
First, I want to talk about mindset. Second, I'll show you effective strategies. Third, I'll tell you about the tools of the industry which you should have in your toolbox to make you a more effective wholesaler.
Do you know the role of a disposition manager? Their purpose is to take a contract and sell the contract to the end buyer. Disposition management is often an underserved part of the business. I'll talk about the "how" of the disposition manager. I'm very passionate about this position in real estate wholesale, as this can make or break your real estate deal.
Targets are a great way to achieve and exceed your goals. There are moral and ethical ways to not only hit your target goal but to go past your goal and find out how much you can attain with the right tools.
How much should you make for a fee? Avoid the "good enough" mindset. The parameters you give someone are the parameters they will work within their business. Aim high and create high parameters to reach and extend yourself and your team to create not just right, but excellent results. Remember, "time kills deals." You want to move fast with a sense of urgency to achieve our metrics.
Create a sincere rapport with sellers. Buyers' relationships should never create first look opportunities. Know the steps of building your buyers list, who you should call, and which buyers are not inside your price range. Above all, don't let your opinions get in the way of getting an excellent deal for your business.
What should you put in your listing? Find out what you should have as a downloadable file, the location, perks of the neighborhood, and other descriptions to enhance the curb appeal of your listing.
Listen in to find out how many days you need to close, have your deposit in the bank, and close the deal on the home to make your process more effective and efficient. Find out what moves through the minds of landlords and how they price out their real estate. Who should be completing the pre-work for sales? When you shouldn't work with a buyer and when to and when not to show the home.
Links and Resources
Flip Hacking Live
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
SHOW SUMMARY
- Get the 411 on upping your wholesaler game to 10X your returns as I recap my presentation at last year's Flip Hacking Live workshop. Did you know you can make money when you sell and buy? How can you make more money as a wholesaler? I'm going to show you how to use metrics and create goals for your real estate investment business. Learn the how-tos of the trade, which will benefit you as a business wholesaler and how to build your buyer's list. Which real estate ducks should you have in a row to make your process efficient to get the best price for your property.
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Marco Santarelli. Marco is the host of the Passive Real Estate Investing Podcast and the founder of Norada Real Estate, a premier real estate investment firm. His mission is to help others to create passive income and financial freedom by taking the guesswork out of investing for the past 15 years. His team is dedicated to researching top real estate growth markets and structuring complete turnkey real estate investments to minimize risk and maximize profitability.
Marco started investing in real estate at the age of 18 after watching his mother work extremely hard at two jobs after their parents divorced to raise her two sons. He purchased his first rental at 18, fixed up the home, and rented the house.
Many years later, Marco made the leap in 2003 to get back into real estate after trying other businesses. In the nine months after his re-introduction, he accumulated 84 doors, mostly single-family small apartments. Others were asking Marco to coach them, although he wasn’t interested. Marco offered to pass along deals to others, realizing there was a niche business to provide investment property rentals to investors. These properties could become turn-key properties and wanted to define a minimum standard for real estate.
Marco refers to minimum standards within his own company’s standardization for rental properties. There are standards which Marco’s company defines for turn-key real estate:
- Property is in a good, stable market
- Property is located in a good, safe neighborhood
- Property is new or newly renovated or new
- Tenant occupied
- Cash flow positive
- Can be managed by full-service property management
Remember that turn-key rent-ready real estate is differentiated from the minimum standard for real estate can be in good condition, there may be limited life left on the roof, the home is stabilized with cash flow, a tenant. You can cash flow until you have to make renovations.
At some point, you’ll need to take your profits and create a passive stream of income to start on the pathway to financial freedom. You need to know the criteria that you want for your investment portfolio, so you aren’t wasting time on real estate, which does not fit the requirements for your portfolio.
Marco has ten rules for real estate investing:
- Educate yourself and build your knowledge to ask intelligent questions
- Set your SMART investment goals to create a roadmap and action plan
- Never speculate or gamble on properties
- Invest for cash flow to cover all services
- Be market agnostic
- Start with the Market in Mind and be market agnostic
- Diversify across markets geographically
- Always use a professional property management company
- Maintain control
- Leverage your investment capital
Listen in to find out the details about market agnostic and taking a top-down approach to purchase property, how to provide diversification and minimize risk, and when you should buy within a two-hour range of your home and when you shouldn’t abide by this rule.
In This Episode:
[03:57] Background on who Marco is and how Marco built his business.
[06:49] Is there a minimum standard for real estate?
[10:08] Creating a passive stream of income.
[11:05] Marco’s Ten Rules of Successful Real Estate Investing
[35:03] Look at real estate as an asset to be managed on a national basis and find out who you want on your real estate team.
[36:27] Asset protection attorneys and other services you want to have when you are investing in real estate.
[38:34] How do you know if the zone or neighborhood you want to invest in is good?
[40:57] Desirable markets in which to have turn-key opportunities.
[44:30] Mindset and attitude of a good investor.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Marco Santorelli on Twitter
Marco Santorelli on LinkedIn
Norada Real Estate on the Web
Norada Real Estate Investment on Facebook
Passive Real Estate Investing on the Web
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Marco Santarelli. Marco is the host of the Passive Real Estate Investing Podcast and the founder of Norada Real Estate, a premier real estate investment firm. His mission is to help others to create passive income and financial freedom by taking the guesswork out of investing for the past 15 years. His team is dedicated to researching top real estate growth markets and structuring complete turnkey real estate investments to minimize risk and maximize profitability.
Marco started investing in real estate at the age of 18 after watching his mother work extremely hard at two jobs after their parents divorced to raise her two sons. He purchased his first rental at 18, fixed up the home, and rented the house.
Many years later, Marco made the leap in 2003 to get back into real estate after trying other businesses. In the nine months after his re-introduction, he accumulated 84 doors, mostly single-family small apartments. Others were asking Marco to coach them, although he wasn’t interested. Marco offered to pass along deals to others, realizing there was a niche business to provide investment property rentals to investors. These properties could become turn-key properties and wanted to define a minimum standard for real estate.
Marco refers to minimum standards within his own company’s standardization for rental properties. There are standards which Marco’s company defines for turn-key real estate:
- Property is in a good, stable market
- Property is located in a good, safe neighborhood
- Property is new or newly renovated or new
- Tenant occupied
- Cash flow positive
- Can be managed by full-service property management
Remember that turn-key rent-ready real estate is differentiated from the minimum standard for real estate can be in good condition, there may be limited life left on the roof, the home is stabilized with cash flow, a tenant. You can cash flow until you have to make renovations.
At some point, you’ll need to take your profits and create a passive stream of income to start on the pathway to financial freedom. You need to know the criteria that you want for your investment portfolio, so you aren’t wasting time on real estate, which does not fit the requirements for your portfolio.
Marco has ten rules for real estate investing:
- Educate yourself and build your knowledge to ask intelligent questions
- Set your SMART investment goals to create a roadmap and action plan
- Never speculate or gamble on properties
- Invest for cash flow to cover all services
- Be market agnostic
- Start with the Market in Mind and be market agnostic
- Diversify across markets geographically
- Always use a professional property management company
- Maintain control
- Leverage your investment capital
Listen in to find out the details about market agnostic and taking a top-down approach to purchase property, how to provide diversification and minimize risk, and when you should buy within a two-hour range of your home and when you shouldn’t abide by this rule.
In This Episode:
[03:57] Background on who Marco is and how Marco built his business.
[06:49] Is there a minimum standard for real estate?
[10:08] Creating a passive stream of income.
[11:05] Marco’s Ten Rules of Successful Real Estate Investing
[35:03] Look at real estate as an asset to be managed on a national basis and find out who you want on your real estate team.
[36:27] Asset protection attorneys and other services you want to have when you are investing in real estate.
[38:34] How do you know if the zone or neighborhood you want to invest in is good?
[40:57] Desirable markets in which to have turn-key opportunities.
[44:30] Mindset and attitude of a good investor.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Marco Santorelli on Twitter
Marco Santorelli on LinkedIn
Norada Real Estate on the Web
Norada Real Estate Investment on Facebook
Passive Real Estate Investing on the Web
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You're in luck! I've been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called "Seven Figure Flipping." This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line "help," and we'll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I talk about what's been going on with me over the last couple of years.
I started and modeled my show after my John Lee Dumas, and offered my show five days a week. I changed my model and took on a partner. As time went on, I joined a high-level coaching program in which I met great friends. Seven Figure Flipping is an amazing mastermind program in learning how to make your business great.
Most people don't realize how much work they need to put into growing a new job. I delve so deeply into coaching and mentoring that I wasn't able to make time for everything. I decided to say no to my podcast.
Now, I have new philosophies and experiences to share with others as a result of growing my business and coaching other entrepreneurs. Similar to speed dating, you talk with others about their experiences, which gave me exponential growth.
I've learned so much in the eleven years of my real estate business. I have many new perspectives and offerings, along with mentoring and coaching others to grow their business.
I haven't been able to be here for you, and I apologize. Moving forward, I'm bringing back my usual schedule with better content.
Listen in to find out what I'm going to bring in to future podcasts moving forward, wholesale real estate, house flipping, and who I'm going to bring into the hot seat.
In This Episode:
[02:02] How I started off my show five days a week.
[03:18] When I took on a role as a leader in Seven Figure Flipping.
[05:42] Why I decided to say no to my podcast for the past year.
[07:23] How my viewpoints about real estate have changed and evolved.
[08:43] What I’ve learned about real estate eleven years into my business.
[09:21] What I’m going to bring in to my future podcast episodes.
[12:01] I wouldn’t believe I could have accomplished this much business at this point in my real estate career!
[14:22] Come and meet me at Flip Hacking Live.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Flip Hacking Live
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You're in luck! I've been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called "Seven Figure Flipping." This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line "help," and we'll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I talk about what's been going on with me over the last couple of years.
I started and modeled my show after my John Lee Dumas, and offered my show five days a week. I changed my model and took on a partner. As time went on, I joined a high-level coaching program in which I met great friends. Seven Figure Flipping is an amazing mastermind program in learning how to make your business great.
Most people don't realize how much work they need to put into growing a new job. I delve so deeply into coaching and mentoring that I wasn't able to make time for everything. I decided to say no to my podcast.
Now, I have new philosophies and experiences to share with others as a result of growing my business and coaching other entrepreneurs. Similar to speed dating, you talk with others about their experiences, which gave me exponential growth.
I've learned so much in the eleven years of my real estate business. I have many new perspectives and offerings, along with mentoring and coaching others to grow their business.
I haven't been able to be here for you, and I apologize. Moving forward, I'm bringing back my usual schedule with better content.
Listen in to find out what I'm going to bring in to future podcasts moving forward, wholesale real estate, house flipping, and who I'm going to bring into the hot seat.
In This Episode:
[02:02] How I started off my show five days a week.
[03:18] When I took on a role as a leader in Seven Figure Flipping.
[05:42] Why I decided to say no to my podcast for the past year.
[07:23] How my viewpoints about real estate have changed and evolved.
[08:43] What I’ve learned about real estate eleven years into my business.
[09:21] What I’m going to bring in to my future podcast episodes.
[12:01] I wouldn’t believe I could have accomplished this much business at this point in my real estate career!
[14:22] Come and meet me at Flip Hacking Live.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Flip Hacking Live
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You're in luck! I've been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called "Seven Figure Flipping." This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line "help," and we'll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I chat with and interview a friend of mine, Bill Allen. I've had Bill on my show previously, check out my other interviews with Bill to get even more great information on real estate investing. Bill is a successful real estate investor that managed to build an extremely impressive business while working a full-time job in a very short amount of time. He's one of the smartest investors I've ever met. In addition to chatting with Bill about how he created his real estate portfolio, I'll also show you why the most common objections people use as an excuse for not being able to create a real estate-based business.
Bill looked into flipping real estate for a secondary source of income and completed his first flip while he was stationed in Maryland in the Air Force. He joined the 7 Figure Real Estate group and made more money than he had ever hoped. Bill is looking for a 40% to 50% growth in numbers from last year to this year.
Bill talks about how his future goal to be around for his children and how real estate was going to be a part of his more significant goal. He talks about how you need to be passionate about accomplishing your intention to stay focused on your real estate growth. Concentrate on your why early on to stay on task to complete your goal. In the first year, he flipped over 60 homes.
Objection: I'm not able to create a real estate business if I have a full-time job. Not true! Bill was able to make a seven-figure income while working his full-time military position.
Bill looks at marketing, similar to fishing. He has a net and throws the net over a large area of the lake. To accomplish reaching many people, he spent $3000 a month for six months for a direct mail campaign. To generate the income you want, you need to go all-in, which is what Bill took action on when he started his real estate business. Bill's market is made of 350,000 people with a response rate of 3%, which is good for direct mail. One aspect of Bill's marketing was to delegate by hiring an assistant who would perform tasks needed to run the business, such as lead delegation, answering phones, and various accounting duties.
If you don't have the capital Bill has to put into your marketing, you can still run an effective marketing campaign with these suggestions: network and speak to others, go with wholesalers to deals, learn the trade and make deals, get a list that is pre-foreclosure or tax-delinquent, drive around on trash day (to see who is not putting their trash out) and write down the address of homes without owners and research these homes. You can put more time into your business if you don't have a large budget for marketing.
Listen in to find out and how Bill and I both built our teams, how and what worked for Bill and me when delegating work to other members of his team, Bill's marketing campaign plans, and when to run your company from a higher role. Also, Bill explains how and when he decided to work more at a C-level position and how he started to work smarter instead of harder.
In This Episode:
[04:04] Bill introduces himself, how he started in the business.
[07:22] What are the initial items or actions Bill used to get started in real estate.
[10:59] Bill’s early realizations about flipping real estate transactions.
[14:06] Your job is to figure out what is the best way to monetize or exit your property.
[14:56] What type of marketing did Bill create in the past and what marketing is Bill currently implementing for his real estate business?
[22:32] How Bill delegated his work and time for different tasks to build his real estate business.
[24:21] Exponential marketing growth and how I invested in my marketing.
[25:30] Bill’s suggestion for marketing on a smaller scale budget.
[29:20] Reevaluate how you are spending your time if you don’t have time OR money to invest in your new business.
[30:08] How Bill and I build our teams from the ground up.
[35:58] Who should you hire first and what tasks should you outsource?
[40:36] When working with real estate, create a company, not just a job for yourself.
[43:12] At what point can you afford to work on your company instead of in your company?
[46:10] What Bill’s day currently typically looks like after over three years in his business.
[49:30] Seven Figure Flipping is about giving and sharing your success with others.
[53:07] Come and check out Flip Hacking Live (link in resources below).
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Flip Hacking Live
Beyond Profit: Bill Allen Shares His Story
Black Jack Real Estate
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You're in luck! I've been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called "Seven Figure Flipping." This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line "help," and we'll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I chat with and interview a friend of mine, Bill Allen. I've had Bill on my show previously, check out my other interviews with Bill to get even more great information on real estate investing. Bill is a successful real estate investor that managed to build an extremely impressive business while working a full-time job in a very short amount of time. He's one of the smartest investors I've ever met. In addition to chatting with Bill about how he created his real estate portfolio, I'll also show you why the most common objections people use as an excuse for not being able to create a real estate-based business.
Bill looked into flipping real estate for a secondary source of income and completed his first flip while he was stationed in Maryland in the Air Force. He joined the 7 Figure Real Estate group and made more money than he had ever hoped. Bill is looking for a 40% to 50% growth in numbers from last year to this year.
Bill talks about how his future goal to be around for his children and how real estate was going to be a part of his more significant goal. He talks about how you need to be passionate about accomplishing your intention to stay focused on your real estate growth. Concentrate on your why early on to stay on task to complete your goal. In the first year, he flipped over 60 homes.
Objection: I'm not able to create a real estate business if I have a full-time job. Not true! Bill was able to make a seven-figure income while working his full-time military position.
Bill looks at marketing, similar to fishing. He has a net and throws the net over a large area of the lake. To accomplish reaching many people, he spent $3000 a month for six months for a direct mail campaign. To generate the income you want, you need to go all-in, which is what Bill took action on when he started his real estate business. Bill's market is made of 350,000 people with a response rate of 3%, which is good for direct mail. One aspect of Bill's marketing was to delegate by hiring an assistant who would perform tasks needed to run the business, such as lead delegation, answering phones, and various accounting duties.
If you don't have the capital Bill has to put into your marketing, you can still run an effective marketing campaign with these suggestions: network and speak to others, go with wholesalers to deals, learn the trade and make deals, get a list that is pre-foreclosure or tax-delinquent, drive around on trash day (to see who is not putting their trash out) and write down the address of homes without owners and research these homes. You can put more time into your business if you don't have a large budget for marketing.
Listen in to find out and how Bill and I both built our teams, how and what worked for Bill and me when delegating work to other members of his team, Bill's marketing campaign plans, and when to run your company from a higher role. Also, Bill explains how and when he decided to work more at a C-level position and how he started to work smarter instead of harder.
In This Episode:
[04:04] Bill introduces himself, how he started in the business.
[07:22] What are the initial items or actions Bill used to get started in real estate.
[10:59] Bill’s early realizations about flipping real estate transactions.
[14:06] Your job is to figure out what is the best way to monetize or exit your property.
[14:56] What type of marketing did Bill create in the past and what marketing is Bill currently implementing for his real estate business?
[22:32] How Bill delegated his work and time for different tasks to build his real estate business.
[24:21] Exponential marketing growth and how I invested in my marketing.
[25:30] Bill’s suggestion for marketing on a smaller scale budget.
[29:20] Reevaluate how you are spending your time if you don’t have time OR money to invest in your new business.
[30:08] How Bill and I build our teams from the ground up.
[35:58] Who should you hire first and what tasks should you outsource?
[40:36] When working with real estate, create a company, not just a job for yourself.
[43:12] At what point can you afford to work on your company instead of in your company?
[46:10] What Bill’s day currently typically looks like after over three years in his business.
[49:30] Seven Figure Flipping is about giving and sharing your success with others.
[53:07] Come and check out Flip Hacking Live (link in resources below).
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Flip Hacking Live
Beyond Profit: Bill Allen Shares His Story
Black Jack Real Estate
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I chat with Anna Myers, who is an incredibly successful commercial multi-family real estate investor. Anna began her investing career in San Diego after leaving the IT industry. She has successfully applied her knowledge and experience in the IT world to create a brilliant and successful real estate company. Besides running her own real estate company, Anna is also an instructor at Multifamily University. Anna and Neil, a founder of Multifamily University, partnered to purchase apartments in 2018 and are looking to put more apartments in their portfolio.
Anna’s grandfather was a real estate magnate in California. She is the youngest grandchild of the family of a commercial real estate family. Her first career was in computer programming, and her degrees are all in IT. Her next job was as a digital photographer in southern California. She learned about business ownership and found out about scaling a business. She then set a five-year plan to exit her photography business and to become a full-time real estate investor.
Initially, Anna planned on investing in a single-family home. As she analyzed markets, she realized this was hard to scale. The value of a commercial multi-family home is much better than a single-family home. The variables you can control put you ahead financially than a single-family home. She took a boot camp on investing in commercial multi-family and decided to dive into this investment.
Anna talks about the types of markets you want to look for when investing in your new property. Elements to look at are job growth, population growth, and other factors. She also looks at these factors in a specific way. All of her purchases have to make sense from a data standpoint.
She currently has a team of real estate investors. Anna’s team are equity investors who are trained on how to use data science to buy apartments using data-based information. Their team does not buy in California. Make sure to partner with people who live in the town you are investing in and people who are willing to travel to the investment city regularly. Additionally, make sure you have a suitable lender and broker relationships to get the best deals.
Anna describes how to find a good property manager by setting up appointments, asking the right questions, and looking at their Google and Yelp reviews, among other metrics. Property management for 80 units and above, make sure you have a person who is full-time property management for this investment. Your manager will also need someone to look over them to see the progress of the property. Anna has a tracker to have visibility into this day-to-day process.
Listen in to find out what types of buildings are more desirable, should you purchase a building that already has renters, and what types of renovation are appropriate for the types of tenant buildings and area you are renting your apartments. Find out what percentage of your building do you need to have filled with getting a Fannie Mae loan and information on Bridge Loans. Learn how you can experience tax benefits with opportunity zones.
In This Episode:
[03:47] I introduce Anna Myers to the show.
[09:28] Why investing in multi-family homes?
[13:18] What is the difference between single family home and commercial markets?
[15:50] Anna describes her real estate investment team.
[18:25] How to find a good property manager.
[20:13] Anna’s portfolio and the types of commercial properties they invest in with their company.
[22:29] How to improve your net operating income.
[24:52] Should you purchase a building that already has renters?
[28:00] Moving the building and planning to sell the building.
[31:08] Types of renovations to do and what renovations to leave for the next investor.
[35:47] How to optimize asset management with data science.
[41:10] Census tracts and opportunity zone funds.
[51:37] Anna’s webinars to learn more about commercial investment property.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Anna Myers Dominates the Real Estate Space with Tech
GroCapitus.com
Data Science for Real Estate Investors
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, I chat with Anna Myers, who is an incredibly successful commercial multi-family real estate investor. Anna began her investing career in San Diego after leaving the IT industry. She has successfully applied her knowledge and experience in the IT world to create a brilliant and successful real estate company. Besides running her own real estate company, Anna is also an instructor at Multifamily University. Anna and Neil, a founder of Multifamily University, partnered to purchase apartments in 2018 and are looking to put more apartments in their portfolio.
Anna’s grandfather was a real estate magnate in California. She is the youngest grandchild of the family of a commercial real estate family. Her first career was in computer programming, and her degrees are all in IT. Her next job was as a digital photographer in southern California. She learned about business ownership and found out about scaling a business. She then set a five-year plan to exit her photography business and to become a full-time real estate investor.
Initially, Anna planned on investing in a single-family home. As she analyzed markets, she realized this was hard to scale. The value of a commercial multi-family home is much better than a single-family home. The variables you can control put you ahead financially than a single-family home. She took a boot camp on investing in commercial multi-family and decided to dive into this investment.
Anna talks about the types of markets you want to look for when investing in your new property. Elements to look at are job growth, population growth, and other factors. She also looks at these factors in a specific way. All of her purchases have to make sense from a data standpoint.
She currently has a team of real estate investors. Anna’s team are equity investors who are trained on how to use data science to buy apartments using data-based information. Their team does not buy in California. Make sure to partner with people who live in the town you are investing in and people who are willing to travel to the investment city regularly. Additionally, make sure you have a suitable lender and broker relationships to get the best deals.
Anna describes how to find a good property manager by setting up appointments, asking the right questions, and looking at their Google and Yelp reviews, among other metrics. Property management for 80 units and above, make sure you have a person who is full-time property management for this investment. Your manager will also need someone to look over them to see the progress of the property. Anna has a tracker to have visibility into this day-to-day process.
Listen in to find out what types of buildings are more desirable, should you purchase a building that already has renters, and what types of renovation are appropriate for the types of tenant buildings and area you are renting your apartments. Find out what percentage of your building do you need to have filled with getting a Fannie Mae loan and information on Bridge Loans. Learn how you can experience tax benefits with opportunity zones.
In This Episode:
[03:47] I introduce Anna Myers to the show.
[09:28] Why investing in multi-family homes?
[13:18] What is the difference between single family home and commercial markets?
[15:50] Anna describes her real estate investment team.
[18:25] How to find a good property manager.
[20:13] Anna’s portfolio and the types of commercial properties they invest in with their company.
[22:29] How to improve your net operating income.
[24:52] Should you purchase a building that already has renters?
[28:00] Moving the building and planning to sell the building.
[31:08] Types of renovations to do and what renovations to leave for the next investor.
[35:47] How to optimize asset management with data science.
[41:10] Census tracts and opportunity zone funds.
[51:37] Anna’s webinars to learn more about commercial investment property.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Anna Myers Dominates the Real Estate Space with Tech
GroCapitus.com
Data Science for Real Estate Investors
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, Amir Dukic joins me to chat about his AirBnb model of investing in which he and his wife have been very successful in implementing. Amir is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has a background in IT and engineering. After purchasing his home in Charlotte, he and his wife decided to make the separate dwelling attached to their home into an Air rental. AirBnb’s are more successful in metropolitan markets than traditional vacation home markets. Business and family travelers will often use AirBnb to get a sense of what the neighborhood is like, especially if they are planning to move to the city or town.
The types of travelers who utilize AirBnb are looking to get away from the downtown scene, however; they want to be close enough for a short car ride to arrive downtown. Paint the picture of what your property looks like through your description on your account. Highlight the neighborhood and why your potential guests want to stay in your neighborhood at your location.
Amir and his wife quickly realized the income from their unit covered the mortgage for their home. They decided to acquire more properties to rent through a master lease model. This removed the barrier of having large amounts of capital to purchase multiple homes.
What would happen if the owner of the home wants to sell? Amir and his wife protect themselves with contracts and are strategic about the lease terms and term of leases which they sign.
Amir explains how he and his wife scaled their business from one rental at their home to over 70 rentals. Early on, they realized they needed to automate processes as they were performing all the upkeep manually, which used up much of their management time. Amir brought in a partner, James, to build the backend technology to assist them in automating much of what they did in the day-to-day business.
A well-performing property is filled 60% to 70% occupancy, at 30% occupancy the property breaks even. Automating their property, especially heating and cooling, reduces the amount of money used to upkeep the properties.
Amir also makes sure their property is safe by changing the codes often and giving specific laws to managers and cleaners.
Make sure to avoid pitfalls for your AirBnB, such as buying the cheapest Wi-fi and not having hot tubs and other costly amenities. Amir takes out many items they don’t have to have, however,’ laundry is a must. Many people will stay long-term, and a washer and dryer is a necessary amenity. These lead to more issues and higher costs. Focus on purchasing for location.
Listen in to find out how to evaluate a house for rental and the rules and guidelines you want to use to determine rent. Find out how to use resources online to assess the amount of rent you can charge at a location. Learn what the aesthetic reasons to purchase or lease a home for rental on AirBnb are. What can you easily replace or redecorate to make your home more appealing? Should your home you rent be a large home, small home? How many bedrooms or bathrooms should you have in your rental home? Where should you start when considering renting on AirBnb?
In This Episode:
[04:19] Amir talks about his background and how he ventured into the AirBnb model of investing.
[06:28] The market where Amir’s first Air is located. What types of markets work for AirBnb?
[08:13] Where is the most desirable markets to have an Air?
[09:50] How the marketing component plays into filling your Air rental.
[10:56] The success of his first Air rental, what Amir learned with his first rental unit.
[15:03] Why would someone want to offer their space as a master lease?
[17:11] Typical lease terms for a master lease on a property.
[20:52] How Amir and his wife scaled their business from one rental to over 70 rentals.
[22:22] Rental processes James was able to automate with his program.
[26:42] What types of problems can derail and Air rental?
[30:42] How should you determine rent for your rental? What is the rule or guideline for charging rent?
[31:18] How to pre-evaluate for occupancy of your rental.
[33:27] Physical characteristics of the house you want to have when renting out a home.
[36:04] How many bedrooms and bathrooms should you look for in a home?
[39:11] What about proximity of your rental to a major city in a state?
[43:25] How to paint a picture of the surrounding area.
[44:13] Bad calls Amir made when securing a property for rent.
[45:35] Where to start if you are thinking about running an AirBnb model.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Air DNA
Mash Visor
Amir’s Rabbu.com Property Management in Charlotte
Contact Amir at Amir@rabbu.com
Do you need help investing in real estate? Do you understand how to grow, scale, and profitably build your company into the business that you want it to be? You’re in luck! I’ve been working for the past several years with some of the most successful real estate investors in the industry and from around the country. Names such as Andy McFarland and Bill Allen, along with myself, have built a program called “Seven Figure Flipping.” This exclusive mastermind and coaching program is designed to get you and your business to the next level. Interested in finding out more? Email me at Mike@juststartrealestate.com with the subject line “help,” and we’ll get on a call together to see if this program is a good fit for you and your business.
In this episode, Amir Dukic joins me to chat about his AirBnb model of investing in which he and his wife have been very successful in implementing. Amir is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has a background in IT and engineering. After purchasing his home in Charlotte, he and his wife decided to make the separate dwelling attached to their home into an Air rental. AirBnb’s are more successful in metropolitan markets than traditional vacation home markets. Business and family travelers will often use AirBnb to get a sense of what the neighborhood is like, especially if they are planning to move to the city or town.
The types of travelers who utilize AirBnb are looking to get away from the downtown scene, however; they want to be close enough for a short car ride to arrive downtown. Paint the picture of what your property looks like through your description on your account. Highlight the neighborhood and why your potential guests want to stay in your neighborhood at your location.
Amir and his wife quickly realized the income from their unit covered the mortgage for their home. They decided to acquire more properties to rent through a master lease model. This removed the barrier of having large amounts of capital to purchase multiple homes.
What would happen if the owner of the home wants to sell? Amir and his wife protect themselves with contracts and are strategic about the lease terms and term of leases which they sign.
Amir explains how he and his wife scaled their business from one rental at their home to over 70 rentals. Early on, they realized they needed to automate processes as they were performing all the upkeep manually, which used up much of their management time. Amir brought in a partner, James, to build the backend technology to assist them in automating much of what they did in the day-to-day business.
A well-performing property is filled 60% to 70% occupancy, at 30% occupancy the property breaks even. Automating their property, especially heating and cooling, reduces the amount of money used to upkeep the properties.
Amir also makes sure their property is safe by changing the codes often and giving specific laws to managers and cleaners.
Make sure to avoid pitfalls for your AirBnB, such as buying the cheapest Wi-fi and not having hot tubs and other costly amenities. Amir takes out many items they don’t have to have, however,’ laundry is a must. Many people will stay long-term, and a washer and dryer is a necessary amenity. These lead to more issues and higher costs. Focus on purchasing for location.
Listen in to find out how to evaluate a house for rental and the rules and guidelines you want to use to determine rent. Find out how to use resources online to assess the amount of rent you can charge at a location. Learn what the aesthetic reasons to purchase or lease a home for rental on AirBnb are. What can you easily replace or redecorate to make your home more appealing? Should your home you rent be a large home, small home? How many bedrooms or bathrooms should you have in your rental home? Where should you start when considering renting on AirBnb?
In This Episode:
[04:19] Amir talks about his background and how he ventured into the AirBnb model of investing.
[06:28] The market where Amir’s first Air is located. What types of markets work for AirBnb?
[08:13] Where is the most desirable markets to have an Air?
[09:50] How the marketing component plays into filling your Air rental.
[10:56] The success of his first Air rental, what Amir learned with his first rental unit.
[15:03] Why would someone want to offer their space as a master lease?
[17:11] Typical lease terms for a master lease on a property.
[20:52] How Amir and his wife scaled their business from one rental to over 70 rentals.
[22:22] Rental processes James was able to automate with his program.
[26:42] What types of problems can derail and Air rental?
[30:42] How should you determine rent for your rental? What is the rule or guideline for charging rent?
[31:18] How to pre-evaluate for occupancy of your rental.
[33:27] Physical characteristics of the house you want to have when renting out a home.
[36:04] How many bedrooms and bathrooms should you look for in a home?
[39:11] What about proximity of your rental to a major city in a state?
[43:25] How to paint a picture of the surrounding area.
[44:13] Bad calls Amir made when securing a property for rent.
[45:35] Where to start if you are thinking about running an AirBnb model.
Links and Resources
Just Start Real Estate on the Web
Just Start Real Estate Coaching
Get in Touch with Mike at Just Start Real Estate
Air DNA
Mash Visor
Amir’s Rabbu.com Property Management in Charlotte
Contact Amir at Amir@rabbu.com
This Week’s Episode:
Beka Shea joins me on this episode. Beka is an investor that I think highly of, as well as a personal friend. Beka went to school for mechanical engineering. After graduating, she became a US Naval Officer, serving on an aircraft carrier. After serving, she worked as an engineer in the energy arena, helping to build a power plant to support aircraft carriers stationed in Japan. In an effort to spend more time at home with her daughter, Beka got into real estate investing. She has built a team to support her business of flipping houses, wholesaling, and rentals.
In this conversation, you will hear Beka’s story. You will learn why Beka got into real estate investing and how her first deal came together and became the foundation for her real estate career. Since she comes from an engineering background, Beka is extremely strategic, and she explains why she does things certain ways. Beka also describes moving markets and adjusting to real estate in different areas of the country. Beka is very open and transparent in this conversation, and you will get great insights into her pricing, team-building, and much more.
You’ll Learn:
- [06:41] - Beka talks about her life before real estate investing.
- [09:05] - Beka explains why she decided to get into real estate.
- [09:43] - Beka shares that she was very nervous about her first meeting.
- [10:39] - After attending a meeting, she asked her friend about a loan, but the friend instead wanted to become a partner.
- [11:49] - Beka talks about evaluating properties.
- [13:43] - She shares the results of her first investment.
- [14:35] - Beka describes her partnership and explains why they split.
- [15:49] - Beka lists the next few deals and explains why two similar deals ended with very different results.
- [19:13] - Two years ago, Beka relocated to Pennsylvania. She talks about how some expenses vary from location to location.
- [22:14] - Beka explains why she decided to go through a coaching class and shares advice on deciding whether or not you should pay for coaching.
- [28:13] - Beka shares how coaching changed her mindset and business.
- [33:56] - We talk about adjusting to the changing market.
- [35:38] - Beka talks about her policy on showings and pricing.
- [36:55] - Beka shares how things are currently going with her business.
- [37:50] - Beka describes her team.
- [43:26] - Beka shares her goals, including a unique goal for revenue.
- [47:54] - Beka explains what she would do if she needed to start her business from scratch in a new area.
- [50:11] - Beka says that you will never estimate your repairs correctly.
- [52:02] - Beka addresses her goal setting strategies and what she wants for the future.
- [53:01] - We discuss the need for coaching, even for people starting out.
Resources:
The 12-Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months - Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals. If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
This Week’s Episode:
Beka Shea joins me on this episode. Beka is an investor that I think highly of, as well as a personal friend. Beka went to school for mechanical engineering. After graduating, she became a US Naval Officer, serving on an aircraft carrier. After serving, she worked as an engineer in the energy arena, helping to build a power plant to support aircraft carriers stationed in Japan. In an effort to spend more time at home with her daughter, Beka got into real estate investing. She has built a team to support her business of flipping houses, wholesaling, and rentals.
In this conversation, you will hear Beka’s story. You will learn why Beka got into real estate investing and how her first deal came together and became the foundation for her real estate career. Since she comes from an engineering background, Beka is extremely strategic, and she explains why she does things certain ways. Beka also describes moving markets and adjusting to real estate in different areas of the country. Beka is very open and transparent in this conversation, and you will get great insights into her pricing, team-building, and much more.
You’ll Learn:
- [06:41] - Beka talks about her life before real estate investing.
- [09:05] - Beka explains why she decided to get into real estate.
- [09:43] - Beka shares that she was very nervous about her first meeting.
- [10:39] - After attending a meeting, she asked her friend about a loan, but the friend instead wanted to become a partner.
- [11:49] - Beka talks about evaluating properties.
- [13:43] - She shares the results of her first investment.
- [14:35] - Beka describes her partnership and explains why they split.
- [15:49] - Beka lists the next few deals and explains why two similar deals ended with very different results.
- [19:13] - Two years ago, Beka relocated to Pennsylvania. She talks about how some expenses vary from location to location.
- [22:14] - Beka explains why she decided to go through a coaching class and shares advice on deciding whether or not you should pay for coaching.
- [28:13] - Beka shares how coaching changed her mindset and business.
- [33:56] - We talk about adjusting to the changing market.
- [35:38] - Beka talks about her policy on showings and pricing.
- [36:55] - Beka shares how things are currently going with her business.
- [37:50] - Beka describes her team.
- [43:26] - Beka shares her goals, including a unique goal for revenue.
- [47:54] - Beka explains what she would do if she needed to start her business from scratch in a new area.
- [50:11] - Beka says that you will never estimate your repairs correctly.
- [52:02] - Beka addresses her goal setting strategies and what she wants for the future.
- [53:01] - We discuss the need for coaching, even for people starting out.
Resources:
The 12-Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks Than Others Do in 12 Months - Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals. If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
Mike Cowper joins me again on the podcast. Mike is my business partner, and I enjoy bringing him on the podcast to discuss our business and the strategies that we have used to grow our business to what it is today.
In this conversation, you will hear Mike, and I discuss some of the common seller objections. You will encounter seller objection, and we share some of our techniques of overcoming this objection. These objections are usually legitimate questions and concerns and handling these concerns and addressing them in a productive and respectful way can help move the sale to the next step.
Connect with Mike Cowper:
Mike Cowper on LinkedIn
You’ll Learn:
- [06:09] - Going through a realtor is more conventional. Buying from a wholesaler is new to a lot of people.
- [06:50] - We discuss how to respond when the seller says they would like to collect other quotes.
- [10:22] - We share some tips for new people on how to sell you and your business when competing against more established businesses.
- [13:30] - Sometimes people are just not sure if they’re ready to sell. We explain how to handle this scenario.
- [16:19] - Mike and I discuss how to handle a situation where the seller believes the price you offer is too low.
- [20:14] - We talk about renovations and why you should not be afraid to inflate renovations numbers to the seller.
- [23:10] - We talk about a seller stating their neighbor’s house sold for a certain amount. The response involves using comps to show this is not a like-kind sale.
- [25:28] - The seller says another realtor told them they could get more for the house. We share how we handle this situation.
- [31:40] - Mike explains that the goal isn’t to hoodwink anybody, but rather to be honest with sellers.
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.
If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
Mike Cowper joins me again on the podcast. Mike is my business partner, and I enjoy bringing him on the podcast to discuss our business and the strategies that we have used to grow our business to what it is today.
In this conversation, you will hear Mike, and I discuss some of the common seller objections. You will encounter seller objection, and we share some of our techniques of overcoming this objection. These objections are usually legitimate questions and concerns and handling these concerns and addressing them in a productive and respectful way can help move the sale to the next step.
Connect with Mike Cowper:
Mike Cowper on LinkedIn
You’ll Learn:
- [06:09] - Going through a realtor is more conventional. Buying from a wholesaler is new to a lot of people.
- [06:50] - We discuss how to respond when the seller says they would like to collect other quotes.
- [10:22] - We share some tips for new people on how to sell you and your business when competing against more established businesses.
- [13:30] - Sometimes people are just not sure if they’re ready to sell. We explain how to handle this scenario.
- [16:19] - Mike and I discuss how to handle a situation where the seller believes the price you offer is too low.
- [20:14] - We talk about renovations and why you should not be afraid to inflate renovations numbers to the seller.
- [23:10] - We talk about a seller stating their neighbor’s house sold for a certain amount. The response involves using comps to show this is not a like-kind sale.
- [25:28] - The seller says another realtor told them they could get more for the house. We share how we handle this situation.
- [31:40] - Mike explains that the goal isn’t to hoodwink anybody, but rather to be honest with sellers.
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.
If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
This Week’s Episode:
Mike Cowper joins me again on the podcast. Mike is my business partner and I enjoy bringing him on the podcast to discuss our business and the strategies that we have used to grow our business to what it is today. In this conversation, you will hear Mike and I share the tools that we use with our business.
We are frequently asked about the technology and apps that we use help our business run smoothly. If you are looking to streamline your business and get yourself and your team operating in an organized manner, this episode will be extremely valuable for you.
Connect with Mike Cowper
Mike Cowper on LinkedIn
You’ll Learn:
-
[05:45] - Mike explains that there are an infinite number of tools out there. Knowing what you need is the first step in finding the app to help solve your problem.
-
[06:12] - Many people are app junkies. I explain why it’s sometimes best just to ask people what they use and stick with it.
- [07:05] - The #1 app that we use with our business is WhatsApp. We describe the app, explain why we prefer it over other messaging options, and share how we use this messaging app.
- [10:37] - The second biggest piece of technology we use is Google and its services like Docs, Drive, etc.
- [13:42] - Google Voice is a great way to have a 2nd phone line dedicated for business. I encourage you to use this as a buffer and changing out your private line.
- [14:55] - I also use Sideline for additional phone lines. This is a free app that provides you with a local telephone number.
- [15:44] - Trello is a to-do app that helps you organize tasks and projects.
- [17:08] - Podio is the CRM service that we use to organize and manage leads. Podio is the brain of our company.
- [19:18] - I recently downloaded Boomerang for Gmail. This service allows you to track emails and it gives you reminders.
- [20:40] - FollowUp.cc is a similar service that Mike uses. This service also has a Chrome plugin.
- [21:40] - For faxing, I use MetroFax. There are lots of fax services out there, but this has been fast and reliable for me.
- [21:23] - I use TurboScan to scan documents and email them to people.
- [23:07] - With our business, we use DocuSign. If I need to sign something and I don’t have access to a printer, I use SignEasy.
- [24:12] - Mike uses Evernote to collect his documents, and he explains that it could even be used as a CRM.
- [25:24] - We use Zoom with our business. It’s a video-conferencing software that we prefer over Skype and other alternatives. Mike shares some of the features we really like about this service.
- [27:20] - Mike talks about Jing, which is a free screen-capture application. We use this for our training manuals and videos.
- [28:30] - Mike uses IFTT to share receipts and notes with our bookkeepers. He also sends himself notes to his email.
- [29:27] - Our team uses Calendly for group-wide scheduling.
- [30:18] - If you need to leave a message, but don’t have time for a conversation, you can use slydial or slybroadcast to bypass a phone call and go straight to voicemail.
Resources:
WhatsAppGoogle DriveGoogle VoiceSidelineTrelloPodioBoomerangFollowUp.ccMetroFaxTurboScanSignEasyEvernoteZoomJingIFTTCalendlySlydialslybroadcast
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.
If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
This Week’s Episode:
Mike Cowper joins me again on the podcast. Mike is my business partner and I enjoy bringing him on the podcast to discuss our business and the strategies that we have used to grow our business to what it is today. In this conversation, you will hear Mike and I share the tools that we use with our business.
We are frequently asked about the technology and apps that we use help our business run smoothly. If you are looking to streamline your business and get yourself and your team operating in an organized manner, this episode will be extremely valuable for you.
Connect with Mike Cowper
Mike Cowper on LinkedIn
You’ll Learn:
-
[05:45] - Mike explains that there are an infinite number of tools out there. Knowing what you need is the first step in finding the app to help solve your problem.
-
[06:12] - Many people are app junkies. I explain why it’s sometimes best just to ask people what they use and stick with it.
- [07:05] - The #1 app that we use with our business is WhatsApp. We describe the app, explain why we prefer it over other messaging options, and share how we use this messaging app.
- [10:37] - The second biggest piece of technology we use is Google and its services like Docs, Drive, etc.
- [13:42] - Google Voice is a great way to have a 2nd phone line dedicated for business. I encourage you to use this as a buffer and changing out your private line.
- [14:55] - I also use Sideline for additional phone lines. This is a free app that provides you with a local telephone number.
- [15:44] - Trello is a to-do app that helps you organize tasks and projects.
- [17:08] - Podio is the CRM service that we use to organize and manage leads. Podio is the brain of our company.
- [19:18] - I recently downloaded Boomerang for Gmail. This service allows you to track emails and it gives you reminders.
- [20:40] - FollowUp.cc is a similar service that Mike uses. This service also has a Chrome plugin.
- [21:40] - For faxing, I use MetroFax. There are lots of fax services out there, but this has been fast and reliable for me.
- [21:23] - I use TurboScan to scan documents and email them to people.
- [23:07] - With our business, we use DocuSign. If I need to sign something and I don’t have access to a printer, I use SignEasy.
- [24:12] - Mike uses Evernote to collect his documents, and he explains that it could even be used as a CRM.
- [25:24] - We use Zoom with our business. It’s a video-conferencing software that we prefer over Skype and other alternatives. Mike shares some of the features we really like about this service.
- [27:20] - Mike talks about Jing, which is a free screen-capture application. We use this for our training manuals and videos.
- [28:30] - Mike uses IFTT to share receipts and notes with our bookkeepers. He also sends himself notes to his email.
- [29:27] - Our team uses Calendly for group-wide scheduling.
- [30:18] - If you need to leave a message, but don’t have time for a conversation, you can use slydial or slybroadcast to bypass a phone call and go straight to voicemail.
Resources:
WhatsAppGoogle DriveGoogle VoiceSidelineTrelloPodioBoomerangFollowUp.ccMetroFaxTurboScanSignEasyEvernoteZoomJingIFTTCalendlySlydialslybroadcast
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.
If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
This Week’s Episode:
Joni and Kirk Yates take care of the books for my company. Joni has an extensive career in administration, working with Fortune 500 and small companies. Kirk has worked for Fortune 500 companies and has expertise in sales, management, the automotive aftermarket, mortgages, and banking. Both Joni and Kirk work extensively in QuickBooks. Joni and Kirk are my favorite hires.
If you are trying to scale your business, if you don’t keep accurate books, you can’t out-earn the problems that bad bookkeeping creates. I’m guessing you don’t want the stress of books. You didn’t start your real estate business to do bookkeeping. We have a special offer we’d like to share with you. For just $350 Joni and Kirk will set up your books, get you caught up for 2017 and get you headed in the right direction. You have until April 4th to take advantage of this opportunity. Regardless of the size of your business, it is $350 to get your books caught up. Learn more at REIBooksOnline.com.
Connect with Joni and Kirk Yates:
Website: REIBooksOnline.com
You’ll Learn:
-
[07:10] - I tell the background story of how I met Joni and Kirk.
-
[10:41] - Joni explains what it was like to come on board with our company and help us get headed in the right direction with our books.
- [11:50] - Joni and Kirk explain how bookkeeping for real estate is quite different than other businesses.
- [16:09] - Because this is such a specialized bookkeeping situation, it’s important to make sure you get the right person that knows or can learn.
- [18:25] - As Joni and Kirk have grown, they can use their experiences to help with the process with other clients.
- [20:24] - I ask Joni and Kirk to share what habits Mike and I have with our business that impact them the most.
- [21:28] - I share some of the benefits of having someone keeping your books. This gives you a lot more data and information to run your business better.
- [22:41] - Joni shares that she is in her client’s books on a daily basis to stay up on everything and make sure that everything is in order. I explain why this helps you with your business.
- [28:04] - We have a special offer for you to have Joni and Kirk help you get your books under control.
- [33:48] - Kirk explains what can happen to a business if your books are not in order.
Resources:
REIBooksOnline.com
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.
If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
This Week’s Episode:
Joni and Kirk Yates take care of the books for my company. Joni has an extensive career in administration, working with Fortune 500 and small companies. Kirk has worked for Fortune 500 companies and has expertise in sales, management, the automotive aftermarket, mortgages, and banking. Both Joni and Kirk work extensively in QuickBooks. Joni and Kirk are my favorite hires.
If you are trying to scale your business, if you don’t keep accurate books, you can’t out-earn the problems that bad bookkeeping creates. I’m guessing you don’t want the stress of books. You didn’t start your real estate business to do bookkeeping. We have a special offer we’d like to share with you. For just $350 Joni and Kirk will set up your books, get you caught up for 2017 and get you headed in the right direction. You have until April 4th to take advantage of this opportunity. Regardless of the size of your business, it is $350 to get your books caught up. Learn more at REIBooksOnline.com.
Connect with Joni and Kirk Yates:
Website: REIBooksOnline.com
You’ll Learn:
-
[07:10] - I tell the background story of how I met Joni and Kirk.
-
[10:41] - Joni explains what it was like to come on board with our company and help us get headed in the right direction with our books.
- [11:50] - Joni and Kirk explain how bookkeeping for real estate is quite different than other businesses.
- [16:09] - Because this is such a specialized bookkeeping situation, it’s important to make sure you get the right person that knows or can learn.
- [18:25] - As Joni and Kirk have grown, they can use their experiences to help with the process with other clients.
- [20:24] - I ask Joni and Kirk to share what habits Mike and I have with our business that impact them the most.
- [21:28] - I share some of the benefits of having someone keeping your books. This gives you a lot more data and information to run your business better.
- [22:41] - Joni shares that she is in her client’s books on a daily basis to stay up on everything and make sure that everything is in order. I explain why this helps you with your business.
- [28:04] - We have a special offer for you to have Joni and Kirk help you get your books under control.
- [33:48] - Kirk explains what can happen to a business if your books are not in order.
Resources:
REIBooksOnline.com
If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - mike@juststartrealestate.com. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.
If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!
Are you looking for past episodes of this podcast? You can go to
Just Start Real Estate Archive 1
and/or
Just Start Real Estate Archive 2
You can find these in iTunes, or whereever you listen to podcasts! Enjoy!!
Are you looking for past episodes of this podcast? You can go to
Just Start Real Estate Archive 1
and/or
Just Start Real Estate Archive 2
You can find these in iTunes, or whereever you listen to podcasts! Enjoy!!