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 before 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 has grown his house-buying company through the use of his website DannyBuysHouses.com. They buy houses in San Antonio, TX and he has helped hundreds of homeowners sell their houses fast in the Lonestar state. Many people recommend them when asked who is the best house-buying company in San Antonio.

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 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 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 was 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 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 businesses 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 businesses.

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.”