S2E286 Real Estate Investing Unveiled - Brian Buffini and Ryan Pineda Part 2

Summary

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Podcast Summary

It's a Good Life — S2E286: Real Estate Investing Unveiled - Brian Buffini and Ryan Pineda Part 2

Date: April 15, 2025
Host: Brian Buffini
Guest: Ryan Pineda

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Overview

In this insightful episode of It’s a Good Life, Brian Buffini sits down for the second part of a candid, wisdom-filled conversation with real estate investor and entrepreneur Ryan Pineda. They explore the challenges and opportunities of scaling a business, maintaining personal values, integrating faith and family with entrepreneurship, and navigating rapid changes in the real estate market, including the role of AI and evolving brokerage models. The tone is authentic, practical, and focused on what it takes to live—and build—a genuinely “good life” while growing a business.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scaling Businesses and Culture

[00:21–05:59]

• Employee Count Is Not a Goal:
  Brian Buffini advises against setting goals based on employee count alone, emphasizing the huge infrastructure and cultural shifts that occur at each stage (from 40 to 400 employees).

  • "The difference between 50 and 100 is radical. Two completely different businesses." – Brian Buffini [00:44]

• Importance of Infrastructure & Culture:
  Buffini recounts his own experience scaling his company and needing to reinvent infrastructure whenever the business grew by around 47%, as per Harvard Business Review.

  • Memorable story: Buffini accidentally hugs a pizza delivery person, illustrating how large organizations lose intimacy and personal connection. [02:19]

• Focus on Customer Needs:
  Buffini stresses that constant connection with the customer is vital for growth and ongoing relevance:

  • "Never lose the contact with your customer. Once you know what their need is, you can meet their need, and that will drive you." – Brian Buffini [03:50]

• Learning from Clients:
  Many innovations—like formalizing peer small groups—came from observing and listening to clients’ needs.

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2. Consistency, Longevity & Purpose

[06:00–10:31]

• Learning from Other Leaders:
  Ryan Pineda shares how he came to respect Dave Ramsey's consistency and resilience through different market cycles.

  • "Now I haven't even been in business that long. And I've seen so many people..." – Ryan Pineda [07:12]

• Changing Processes, Unchanging Purpose:
  Dave Ramsey's lesson: keep adapting processes as technology and markets change, but never lose sight of core purpose.

  • "Your process is always changing, but your purpose doesn't." – Ryan Pineda [07:39]

• Innovation vs. Strategy:
  Buffini on the "expensive" lesson of learning the difference between a plethora of ideas and a focused strategy:

  • "The difference between an idea and a strategy... ideas can cost money and time." – Brian Buffini [08:38]

• Momentum and Leadership:
  As an organization grows, you can't pivot as fast, and it becomes crucial to choose a few grand ideas rather than chasing everything new.

  • "As you become a big leader, what happens is the tail behind you gets harder and harder." – Brian Buffini [09:59]

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3. Prioritizing Family, Faith, and Self

[10:32–18:30]

• Building Around Family:
  Buffini intentionally structured his business around family time, even investing in a private jet to ensure he was home every night.

  • "I would have a much higher, greater net worth today if I didn't own three Learjets back in the day." – Brian Buffini [12:18]
  • "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, lose his own soul?" [12:05]

• The “Wealthy Way”:
  Pineda aligns with Buffini's approach:

  • "I don't work weekends. I work here nine to five, I'm out. I'll have dinner with my family every night." – Ryan Pineda [14:20]

• Balance and Wellbeing:
  Both agree that personal health, faith, and family stability are non-negotiables for true lasting success.

  • "If your marriage is on the rocks, it's going to affect you in business and everything else. If your health sucks, you can't do anything." – Ryan Pineda [14:52]

• Generational Wisdom:
  Buffini applauds Millennials and Gen Z for not wanting to "sell their soul" and for prioritizing quality over quantity of work:

  • "The real key is not the hours you put in. It's what you get out of your hours." – Brian Buffini [15:38]

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4. Faith in Business

[16:39–18:31]

• Living Faith, Not Preaching:
  Buffini shares that his faith is foundational but lives it out through principles rather than explicit preaching.

  • "Who you are speaks louder than what you say... My business is built on seven biblical principles." – Brian Buffini [16:48; 18:00]

• True Success:
  Living values-driven, making choices that are harder in the short term but provide peace of mind and alignment in the long run.

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5. Dealing with Failure and Worry

[18:31–20:20]

• Blind Spots & Growth:
  Buffini stresses the necessity of knowing your blind spots and building teams and processes to offset them:

  • "We will make the same mistake over and over again if we don't grow." – Brian Buffini [18:50]

• Parental (and Entrepreneurial) Anxiety:
  He candidly admits to over-worrying about his children and business, urging listeners that things usually turn out better than feared.

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6. Succession & Viewing Your Business as an Asset

[20:21–23:54]

• Succession Planning:
  Discussion around building a business that could outlast the founder and have asset value independent of a personal brand.

  • "Are you building an asset, or are you building an income?" – Brian Buffini [21:21]

• Investing in Yourself:
  Continuous personal and business growth is vital:

  • "If you take your purse and invest in your head, it's the investment that pays the greatest dividend." – Brian Buffini quoting Ben Franklin [21:47]

• Enjoying the Present:
  "Life in the blender"—Buffini encourages Pineda to appreciate the current craziness of family and business-building as the “good old days.” [23:03]

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7. When to Sell a Business

[23:54–26:38]

• Timing Is Intuitive & Spiritual:
  Buffini suggests that you “know” when it’s time to move on or sell, and that, for people of faith, guidance comes from spiritual insight.

  • "You'll start to get a feeling when it's time to stop... We have the advanced version of that called the Holy Spirit." – Brian Buffini [25:21]

• Asset Creation & Options:
  Continue increasing business's asset value for future flexibility.

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8. The Impact of AI and Market Evolution

[26:34–32:27]

• AI Is Inevitable But Not a Panacea:
  Buffini predicts titanic changes due to AI, likening it to “not bringing your disco moves to a hip hop world”.

  • "AI will be sold as, 'it'll do everything for you.' But it can't replicate emotion, satire, or humor." – Brian Buffini [27:00, 28:30]

• Permanent Human Needs:
  Despite technological shifts, enduring needs for shelter, food, and trust remain.

• Market Dynamics:
  Anticipates real estate deals at every level, more institutional property holding, and likely regulatory response to large corporate owners.

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9. The Future of Real Estate Brokerage

[32:27–39:46]

• Technological Increase Didn’t Destroy Realtors:
  Despite quadrupling in consumer technology since 2017, the majority of homebuyers increasingly want professional help.

  • "With all the technology out there...this should make all realtors be obsolete, like a travel agent. It's actually had the opposite effect." – Brian Buffini [32:27]

• Shifting Demographics:
  Age of sellers is rising (63, expected to go to 64 this year); older sellers have more equity and different selling behaviors.

• Multi-Channel Lead Strategies:
  Different outreach methods appeal to different generations. Social media runs both as a lead source and as social validation.

• Adapting Marketing:
  Target messaging to older sellers—those most likely to have equity and need for simplified, trustworthy solutions.

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10. Value Evolution: From Coaching to Integration

[39:53–42:31]

• Beyond Coaching:
  Pineda and Buffini agree: as information becomes free, community, accountability, and especially done-for-you services (lead gen, CRMs, marketing) are the real value-adds.

  • "Providing services they're going to pay for regardless...they might as well just pay for them through you." – Ryan Pineda [41:03]

• Becoming Invaluable:
  Build ecosystems where clients are “sticky”—delivering everything they need keeps them loyal and success-oriented.

  • "Now you evolve, and then you provide more value. You become more invaluable." – Brian Buffini [41:27]

• Symbiotic Relationships:
  Employees, customers, and employers should all be each other's “best option.” [41:45]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "I used to know their pet names and their kids and whatever else. And now I'm hugging the pizza delivery gu because I think she works for me." – Brian Buffini [02:19]
• "I'm not going to try to be Dave Ramsey and Dave Ramsey shouldn't try to be Brian Buffini. I'd be a lousy Dave Ramsey. And he doesn't have an Irish accent." – Brian Buffini [03:43]
• "The key here is that your process is always changing but your purpose doesn't." – Dave Ramsey (as quoted by Ryan Pineda) [07:39]
• "If a person will take their purse and invest it in their head, it's the investment that pays the greatest dividend, and no one can ever take it away from you." – Ben Franklin (quoted by Brian Buffini) [21:47]
• "Are you building an asset or are you building income?" – Brian Buffini [21:21]
• "If I'd known how well my kids would turn out, I would've worried an awful lot less." – Brian Buffini [19:32]
• "Who you are speaks louder than what you say." – Brian Buffini quoting St. Augustine [16:48]
• "Ambition is a fantastic thing. The key is to have a healthy ambition." – Brian Buffini [12:10]
• "Don't bring your disco moves to a hip hop world." – Brian Buffini [26:55]
• "These are the good old days. Enjoy the heck out of them, bro." – Brian Buffini [43:28]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Discussing Employee Count and Business Growth: [00:21–02:13]
• Story: Losing Touch With Employees: [02:19–03:49]
• Customer Ideas Drive Innovation: [04:22–05:59]
• Consistency and Learning from Dave Ramsey: [06:00–08:20]
• Adapting Rather Than Chasing Every New Idea: [08:32–09:59]
• Family & Faith vs. Endless Hustle: [10:32–14:52]
• Real Estate Brokerage Trends & Demographics: [31:12–39:46]
• The Rise of AI and Impact on Real Estate: [26:34–32:27]
• Moving Beyond Coaching to Integrated Services: [39:53–42:31]
• The “Good Old Days” Philosophy: [23:03, 43:28]

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Final Thought

Brian Buffini closes with a heartfelt reminder:

“These are the good old days. Enjoy the heck out of them, bro.” [43:28]

And on business longevity:

"Keep creating asset value. You keep getting better and better offers, better, better opportunities." [25:33]

The episode is a generous, practical manual for purpose-driven entrepreneurship, offering hard-won wisdom from two leaders at very different—but equally rewarding—stages of the journey.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

Welcome to It's a Good Life podcast. We're diving back in where we left off with real estate investor Ryan Pineda. This episode is all about how to grow your business and live the good life along the way. Let's listen in.

[Ryan Pineda]

So tell me, obviously, you've seen this story play out, because you've experienced it. What is the next stage for a guy like me, right? I mean, 40 employees to go to 400 employees. Like, what is the difference?

[Brian Buffini]

How long do we have? I. I'll say this. Don't set a goal on how many employees you want to have.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Brian Buffini]

That would be my first recommendation. The. Because you think, like, it's a badge of honor. Oh, like, now I'm the man. You know, the. The difference between 50 and 100 is radical. Radical. Two completely different businesses. Here's a couple of things, if it's worth your while.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Harvard Business said, when a business grows by 47%, its infrastructure shot. The current infrastructure you have today. You grow your business by 47%. You have to reinvent your infrastructure. In my business, I went through a decade where we grew, on average, 49% a year.

[Interviewer]

Mm.

[Brian Buffini]

You having to reinvent the system and reinvent the wheel every year. I mean, and then you're going, okay, forget this. We got to get a couple years ahead of us, and then you can make investments. Oh, by the way, I made these massive investments, and here comes a worldwide economic recession based in real estate.

[Ryan Pineda]

Now we don't even need them.

[Brian Buffini]

Okay? And now it's like, I have all these buildings. I have all this fixed expense and so on and so forth. So I would say make sure. Make sure it's busting out the seams, you know, make sure everybody's optimized, fired up, and doing it. The culture difference between 100 and 200 is radical. Between 200 and 400 is unrecognizable. And so, you know, you have your culture. You guys are entrepreneurs. Everybody's into it. I talked to the receptionist, and everybody's got a smile on their face, and they're fired up. And how you're getting to meet Ryan, you're gonna be in the studio. It's great stuff. Get to 400 people. They're like, who's Ryan?

[Interviewer]

Is he here?

[Brian Buffini]

Oh, he's the guy with the beard. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You know, I'll give you. You ready? I just shouldn't do this, but I'll tell you a little story.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Brian Buffini]

So I walk into my building. I got 440 employees and coaches. We have about 100 coaches and they were all out having some kind of pizza party or something, like whatever else. And I'm a very affectionate guy and I really like my staff and I, I know the majority of them. So one at a time, this one coach had worked for me for 20 years, walks in, Brian comes over, gives me a hug. Well, they're all walking into the headquarters. I'm caught in the lobby one by one, Brian, I'm giving him a hug, giving him a hug, giving him a hug, giving him a hug. So finally there's this gal at the end. I said, well, I'm not gonna leave you out. And I give her a hug and she kind of was like this kind of a cold fish. I'm like, oh, okay. I might be personal space issues or something. And whatever else, I go to walk away and my receptionist, who's still my receptionist today, Rainey, she goes, brian, that last lady was the pizza delivery girl. You don't know. I just hugged her. I didn't know. I used to know their pet names and their kids and whatever else. And now I'm hugging the pizza delivery gu because I think she works for me. The same heart, same motivation, different company. So I, I think this for my advice, whatever it's worth for you, clearly defined goals. And one of the goals is who you want to be who you want to be. And there's lots of people out there. I can take a little bit of this and take a little bit of that. They've got a model, I can follow that. But I'll be the best version of you. You know, like I'm not going to try to be Dave Ramsey and Dave Ramsey shouldn't try to be Brian Buffini. I'd be a lousy Dave Ramsey. And he doesn't have an Irish accent.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

So, you know, have clear cut goals. I would be voracious and focused on who you're trying to serve and where you're trying to get them. And then never lose the contact with your customer that you know what their need is. Because once you know what their need is, you can meet their need and that will drive you. You might end up being a 4000 person company if that's where the need drives you.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Brian Buffini]

But I would say keep the focus on the customer. And if you do that, what their need is, how can we serve you? How can we do better? They'll bring you places. Some of our, like for example, are you in a, you go to a church?

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

In a small group.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

Okay.

[Ryan Pineda]

We have, we Have a. One of our non pro. Well, we have a non profit where we, we start small groups all across the country for entrepreneurs.

[Brian Buffini]

Great. So we have 390 small groups.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Brian Buffini]

That meet every month here in the US we have a facilitator and a host. Well, one of the real estate small.

[Ryan Pineda]

Groups or Bible studies.

[Brian Buffini]

No, these are real estate small groups. Well, where did I get the. How to do it? The largest independent non denominational church in San Diego. The pastor was a friend of mine and he had his guy that built his small groups because we had. We're helping people grow, develop. We wanted to build a sense of community. So we, we brought him in, made a donation to his church and they helped us build small groups so people could connect together. Yeah, right. So you know, you. That was that. That happened because our members started meeting and they started having these groups themselves. Like, why are you doing this? So your customers have your best ideas. Your customers. I didn't think of that. I'm like, why would you want to get together? Oh. And then when there was five of them and then six of them is actually, it started in Arizona and it spread to Vegas. And our clients were meeting every month. I'm like, why is doing this? And then we go, okay, if we're going to formalize it, we need to go outside, get some help.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And now let's systemize what our customers already want. And now people love it. In our coaching program, they have, they have a group of peers, they send each other referrals, they brainstorm and they got people in common.

[Ryan Pineda]

Are they virtual small groups or in person?

[Brian Buffini]

No, they meet in person now they. During COVID they learned how to do Covid.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

In person and you know, virtual. And then they have. Some people have hybrids.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

But the big principle there is.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

I never thought of that idea. Our customers thought of that idea.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And the more you're in touch with your customers, they're going to give you ideas you never even thought about.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

One thing Dave said to me that was interesting because anytime I can meet a guy who's been in the game a long time, like I was telling Dave, I was like, dude, the thing. I used to be a hater of Dave, you know, just talking about debt and stuff. And us as real estate guys were like, well, we love debt.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

But as time went on, obviously I, I grew up. And the thing that I admire most about him is his longevity and his consistency. It's like, dude, you don't gotta guess what he believes has been the same thing for 30 some years. And I go. And he's been doing the same Talk show for 30 some years.

[Brian Buffini]

Five days a week.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Three hours a day. He don't. He don't stop.

[Brian Buffini]

Relentless.

[Ryan Pineda]

And he don't need to keep doing it, but he keeps doing it. And I was just like, dude, like, you know, how do you maintain that level of consistency? How do you even stay in business that long? Because we all know through the different recessions, technology changes, you know, competition, there's always some new hot thing going on. Right. Like, what I now respect is people who have been at it for a long time. Because now I haven't even been in business that long.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

And I've seen so many people.

[Brian Buffini]

You know why you're thinking that way?

[Interviewer]

Why?

[Brian Buffini]

Because you know you're going to make it when you first start. We're all the same. Am I going to make it?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Am I going to survive? Am I going to get it going? How do I get this plane off the ground?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

How do I keep it off the ground?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Well, you're starting to think about that now because you're like, ah, I am going to make it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Like, this is real.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

Like, actually, I'm really successful. This is really going.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Now who's been doing it for three decades?

[Ryan Pineda]

Exactly. And so I asked him and he said, you know, the key here is that your process is always changing, but your purpose doesn't. And he goes, dude, we've tried Facebook ads, we've tried. You know, everyone told me that Sirius XM was gonna be the next big thing. And maybe it is, I don't know. But yeah, we'll try that. It'll be a new process, but we're not gonna stop normal radio. And then, you know, if podcasting becomes a thing and everybody was charging for it initially I was like, the first podcast in this thing. And, you know, we gave it away for freeze. Like, so our process over these years has always changed and it's still changing.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

But our purpose and our mission never changed.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

And I thought that that was super powerful because sometimes as an innovator and a visionary, I'm like, always having a million ideas, and then it's like we're always testing new things.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

And it was kind of like permission of like, no, you have to be constantly trying and testing things.

[Brian Buffini]

I had to learn expensively because I'm the same way. We're all the same. All innovators, creators are all the same. Is the difference between an idea and a strategy. You Know, because we have ideas and ideas can cost money.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And time. And the bigger you get, what happens is you have two dynamics. One is a fear based thing, which is now you have something to lose.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

And now the second thing is it's harder to move the ship, the bigger it gets.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

You can't pivot as quickly as.

[Brian Buffini]

Pivot as quickly. And, and here's the thing, you don't need to always because you've got this momentum behind you. So now it becomes, okay, what's the one grand idea this year as opposed to when you're starting? What's the 15? I'm going to try.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, I don't know what works. I was here yesterday. The top virtual event studio in the country's here. And we put on a virtual event for our clients and just test it out. It was a new deal for me. It wasn't like the convention centers and the ballrooms I used to be in and all that kind of good stuff. And it was cool. It was cool. It had the same principles, the same purpose. But now with a new idea. So great. That's the hot new idea for us this year. And we're gonna do more and more of this stuff and make it totally interactive and so great. I used to be able to do one of those a month.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Do new. Trying something new every single month. Now you can't do that.

[Brian Buffini]

Which is addictive, which is great. It's full of dopamine. As you become a big leader, what happens is the tail behind you gets harder and harder.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Hang on. I was working on your last idea. You know, the one that you've forgotten about. I'm still trying to implement it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

You know what, that idea, I'm over that idea. Let's do this other idea.

[Brian Buffini]

Exactly. There's things, there's things inside my company that people take very seriously that I haven't thought about in decades. And they think it's the biggest thing in the world. And I, when I find out about it, I'm like, we're still doing that. Yeah, it happens.

[Ryan Pineda]

So what is your time look like spent today with, with what you do in a day?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So my business is in somewhat of a transition for me because I'm in, you know, I'm in the stage now. I've got the empty nest going on, you know, So I built a business that was built around my family, so my principles first. You know, I was in a business where multiple divorces and screwed up kids were the, the order of the day. You know, everybody wants to be the motivational speaker. You might want to look behind a curtain very often.

[Interviewer]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

I mean, dude, every single one of these guys. I don't say every single, but a high majority of these guys. I mean, think about if you're on the road all the time speaking.

[Brian Buffini]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

How can your family life be good?

[Brian Buffini]

Right. So the only way I could figure that out by. And again, this is the sacrifice. Now, this is. This is not a piece of information I would give anybody, but this is what would work. I bought a Learjet. Warren Buffett, who has a few more books than I do, says it's the indefensible. So for a company the size of mine to buy a Learjet, I had a Learjet for three of them for 17 years. That doesn't make sense. I could have put that money into investments and this and that and the other rebels. Why did it make sense? Because I was home every night because I coached my kids. I was in Houston in the morning. I coach my kids and then had dinner together.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

I'm married 35 years. I got six great kids. Life is blessed.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And I didn't give up that to pursue the brass ring of the money. You know, ask the guys. There's plenty guys. Broke billionaires.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Who they made the money and lost everything in the pursuit of it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, that's what it talks about. What is a profit? A man gain the whole world lose his own soul.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You can do it. Ambition is a fantastic thing. The key is to have a healthy ambition. So I made the sacrifice. I would have a much higher, greater net worth today if I didn't own three layer jets back in the day.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Brian Buffini]

So. And then when the time came and I was great, we'd built the business to a certain point. I went, fine, I'll build a little podcast studio. Sell the plane. Well, now I'm in the stage of life where my kids are all grown, they're all getting married, I got grandkids.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

And so now I'm at a stage where life is good. And so I've done all kinds of things and I'm going to give you a big time all the different who's who I've met and presented in my life. I was fired up to come here today because I see someone like yourself who's having influence and have an influence on this next generation of people coming up in the game of real estate investing and so on and so forth. I couldn't have been more fired up today to be Here to talk to someone who's got influence to help all those folks. I think that's the coolest thing in the world. So my goal is to do more of that and to help out. And I've been. There was an old commercial. It was a baseball thing. Baseball had been very, very good to me. Remember that? It was a famous line. I'm trying to think it might have been Clemente or someone like that. And baseball been very, very good to me. Well, real estate been very, very good to me. And life's been very good to me. And so I'm at a season in my life where I want to give back. I want to share the information. I want to help people. There's a lot of stuff online and you get the headlines and you get the this and that, and there's a lot of bad advice online.

[Ryan Pineda]

Well, anyone can have a platform. It's funny because. So this was my second book, Wealthy Way, and it's kind of what you're talking about. The subtitle is don't go broke trying to get rich.

[Brian Buffini]

Love it.

[Ryan Pineda]

So it's the same concept.

[Brian Buffini]

What's the principles?

[Ryan Pineda]

Well, you got to live the wealthy way. Right. And it's the, it's literally what you've been talking about. And it's the same thing. I've been living even when I was broke financially.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, right.

[Ryan Pineda]

Like, because a lot of people think, oh, how'd you build it? You must have grinded it out all these years. Like, you know, when were you doing the 80 hour work weeks? I was like, I literally was never. And they're like, no, but like, you know, when you're. Not now, but when I go, I was never. I don't know. I'm telling you, this is what I did. And it was always, you know, I'm married 11 years now. I got three kids under five. So I'm like in the thick of it. I can make every excuse. I'm. I'm in the building stage of, of entrepreneurship and wealth and life. And from the beginning, I'm like, dude, I don't work weekends. I work here nine to five. I'm out. I'll have dinner with my family every night. You know, I'm going to be at my Bible study, I'm going to go to church. I'm going to be healthy. I'm going to be, you know, in great shape. Like, because if any of those areas are jacked up, you're screwed.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Like, if your marriage is on the rocks, it's going to affect you in business and everything else, if your health sucks, you can't do anything. It just is what it is. And then if your faith is lacking, well, then you're just eternally. It doesn't even matter any of this.

[Brian Buffini]

So, yeah, here's what I believe. So, again, the millennials been the most maligned generation in history. Mankind by exes and boomers. And what I go is, I think millennials and disease have it better because they realize they don't want to sell their soul.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So I think your message is very timely. I think your methods are very timely because you're like, hey, the real key is not the hours you put in. It's what you get out of your hours.

[Ryan Pineda]

Correct.

[Brian Buffini]

Right. So you're not scrolling for four hours. Your phone doesn't say. Oh, you were on your phone. Time was nine hours and 15 minutes.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Right. You're not. You got to get in. You bust it, get it done. Make sure your time is extraordinarily high leverage. And then self care, personal care, living the good life with all the other good stuff. So, you know.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Now, some people want to be on a hammock at 27, and if they inherited a lot of money, maybe that's the chance. Or maybe they're. If they're one that hits the lick or, you know, what happens is you got the one person, right? You got the. You get the story, you get the name. This person went to Vegas and hit the thing. This person made a million dollars in 12 days on Bitcoin. This person. And you'll have that your whole life. Yeah, you'll have that. And, oh, this person's doing better than me. And this person's. You sound like you're standing on the freeway while the cars are going by.

[Ryan Pineda]

When you're like, oh, I missed out. Yeah, I should have bought Bitcoin was 100 bucks.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

It's like, well, you can still just make it.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

He's got to commit to better actions every day.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

No, that's great. I love. You know, what you're doing is great.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

What do you think about. You know, you've talked about faith a lot. How have you incorporated that into your company and events and everything else?

[Brian Buffini]

Well, who you are speaks louder than what you say. St. Augustine said, Share the gospel at all times, but only use words if absolutely necessary. Now, I'm a guy, you know, I'm nothing without my faith. And the reason I, you know, I, I. When I had this terrible motorcycle accident, I was incapacitated for a while. And all I did was study. I was 19 years old. Studied the Bible. I can tell you that the principles I got from that period of time being stuck for six months, I was getting my real estate license proactively, and you could only go so fast. Then there wasn't online training. And then secondly, I studied the scriptures and all of the principles. There's the richest man who ever lived, wrote a lot of the Bible. His name was Solomon. There's great principles in there. And I learned those things. And so then I applied them to my life and I applied them to my business. And then I've tried to stay true to that. My business is built on seven biblical principles. And so that. That's the stuff. I don't ever beat people over the head with it. It's, you know, it's who I am, but uncompromisingly so in my own life.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, I've had lots of opportunities in businesses and this and that and the other. And it's like, nah, I'm not going to do that.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And so. And that's why you can still enjoy. You got to be able to. You know, my Zig Ziglar used to say, money can buy your bed, but it can't buy you good night's sleep. So you got to be able to have that good night's sleep. Living by your values and doesn't mean there's not bumps on the road. Marriages are. It's work. Raising kids, not easy, but it's the greatest thing in the world. And you want to be able to have a business that supports that, not tears it down.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

No, I love it. What do you think? You mentioned this. Like, things are hard and you're going to make mistakes. What do you think's like, one of the biggest mistakes or failures you made?

[Brian Buffini]

Oh, how long do we have?

[Ryan Pineda]

I got all day.

[Brian Buffini]

I. I wrote a book one time was called Taking Care of Business. And I. In the intro to the book, I said, here's the 10 biggest mistakes I've made in business.

[Ryan Pineda]

Okay.

[Brian Buffini]

And each one of them was a business that had a clang to it. You know, I think you got to know your strengths, but you got to know your blind spots. You got to know what your blind spots are, and then you got to have people and processes around you that protect you against your blind spots. We will make the same mistake over and over again if we don't grow. So I'd say make sure you know what your blind spots are. I would say this if I could. You know, I'M not trying to turn this into grandpa's advice show here today. If I could say this, if I'd have known how well my kids would have turned out, I would have worried an awful lot less.

[Interviewer]

Mm.

[Ryan Pineda]

So do you think you lived with.

[Brian Buffini]

A lot of stress and just more than I needed?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, when you're parenting like you're trying not to screw them up more and you're trying to turn out great people.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Oh, I don't wanna do. I don't wanna screw em up and screw. And I would say it's even more intense today. You know, one of the things I look, you know, we would travel with six kids and before we had the plane, you know, you get in a commercial plane now, today people are like sharp as getting on planes. They get the this and the that and the cradles and the. And, and so a lot of modern parenting is like avoiding the mistake. I don't want any bad thing to happen to my kid, you know, and when adversity is what makes us right. So I just, you know, like I said, and I think even for myself, if I'd have known how well everything turned out, I'd have worried less myself.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

I'd have worried less about the money, I'd have worried less about the, the business or the future. And so whatever that's worth to you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, you're. I mean, like I said, I walked here today. You know, I know what I saw here today because I've lived it for three decades.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And I was very excited by what I saw here today.

[Ryan Pineda]

What do you think would be the future of your company?

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

I was talking to Dave about this. Right. When it's, it's personality driven.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

It's got your name on it. And you've been at the head for 30 years. Do you think about succession or maybe selling one day? How does all that play out?

[Brian Buffini]

Well, all of the above. All the above. It depends the kind of business you built. Right. So you know, if you're going to sell one day, it's, it's. What is the revenue stream that is repeatable, that doesn't have your name next to it. So if someone wants to buy your business, it's like, okay, you know what, how much revenue do you have coming in the door? That's repeat. Whether it's subscription or project, projective revenue that is not specifically generated or facilitated by you personally. So that becomes, that becomes the asset value. So are you building an asset or are you building an income? If you're Building an income. Then the goal is to leverage the income and then buy assets.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

It's a cash business.

[Brian Buffini]

Right. So if it. And so that's that dynamic. But I would say this. Always view your business as an asset. And I would also say personally view yourself as an asset. That's why personal growth and development and training and coaching make sense. You know, Ben Franklin was America's first millionaire.

[Ryan Pineda]

I know that.

[Brian Buffini]

He said, if a person will take their purse and invest it in their head, it's the investment that pays the greatest dividend, and no one can ever take it away from you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So. And you've obviously done a lot of that, and then you provide a lot of that. So invest in yourself. But the second thing is view your business as an asset. Okay. What is the business worth? What's the asset worth? Yeah, itself. You know, one of the things people don't realize is when they invest in real estate, that it's a business.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

The property itself is a business.

[Brian Buffini]

Managing real estate in hand. And it's a business like. That's a business has to be managed like a business. So what's the asset value? So it's like, what's the repeatable revenues? And so it's all about what you want. Sometimes you can do a joint venture. Sometimes you partner up. You know, distribution and capital will always be the constriction. So how do you expand your distribution? How do you keep capital? You need capital to expand. Why do companies go public, get more capital, more capital. And so the goal is capital for more distribution. So sometimes you could partner up with people and you go, hang on a second here. You guys do this, we do that. How about we send you some of our clients? You send you some of your clients, things like that. So joint ventures, partnerships. But view it as an asset.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And there's different seasons coming for you, and it's great. You are in the middle of. You are at the circle of the storm. Absolutely fantastic. Three kids under five. I call that life in the blender.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Brian Buffini]

Life in the blender. That's the greatest. You are living today. The good old days. You are right now. The good old days. These are the good old days. I was talking. I have a CFO that's been with me for 22 years. And he was talking to me the other night. He goes, man, I remember we'd sit on a plane after doing an event. We'd just done a great job and made a bunch of sales, and we'd be having a nice meal and telling great stories. And yet all these people have been with me for, you know, years. It was just great camaraderie and funny. He goes, man. And the thing I remember is that we knew those were the good old days. I have a very successful business today. It's different than that.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

It's not the same. So you're, from what I see in the middle of the good old days, you're in the middle of it. Enjoy the heck out of it. It'll grow and it'll be bigger. It'll be that. It'll be this great. But you're having a good time now and enjoy it.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

How do you know when is the right time to sell, if that? I mean, I'm sure you guys have been offered over the years and other things. Like what I guess has prevented you from selling, because, I mean, you guys have. I don't even know, but I'm sure you've done hundreds and hundreds of millions in revenue. So, like, what's more than over a billion dollars in sales?

[Brian Buffini]

So let me ask you this. When did you know it was time to start this business?

[Ryan Pineda]

Well, as far as real estate goes, I had no choice. I'm like, I. I need to make money.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

As far as coaching goes, when the demand. Well, I had already had so many people like, dude, teach me how to do it. Teach me how to do it. Like, it was just like, dude. So at first, I didn't even want to coach. I just wrote a book. I was like, read the book. I'm tired of explaining this over and over again. Just read the book. Here's the manual. And then I saw Russell Brunson speak in 2018. He's like, dude, you can just create a course and sell your knowledge. I was like, oh, okay. So I created a course in 2018. Still didn't coach. I'm like, I don't want to, like, yeah, be hands on. I'm busy doing my own thing. But I didn't start coaching until 2020, so.

[Brian Buffini]

But you knew it was a time to start.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And there's an excitement to that, and there's momentum to that. You'll start to get a feeling when it's time to stop. And. And being a person of faith, you get. We get the. We have the advanced version of that called the Holy Spirit.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

And you'll start to get a sense of things. And so it's not an idea, and it's not Jerry Maguire. I had a bad piece of pizza, and I wrote a mission statement. You know, who's coming with me, I got the fish. But you'll know when it's time or if it's time.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, and for Dave Ramsey, he picked out his, he built out his network of speakers. He's done.

[Ryan Pineda]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

He's been clearly planning and he's got Rachel Cruz, his daughter, who's fabulous, by the way. Great woman. And so that's the way he's chosen to go. And I, I've got a lot of options in front of me right now and I'm weighing it up, but, you know, it's not, it's not totally clear to me at this stage. I've. The good news is keep creating asset value. You keep getting better and better, offers better, better opportunities. So, yeah, it's good, it's good time to be doing it. But like I say, I would look at myself if I was 35 looking at Brian Buffin's day. Go, man, he has everything I'm hoping for. And I look at you and I go, man, what would I give to be sitting back in his seat? You follow me?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Because I have the outcome and the result. But you're in the middle of the juice of building, creating, making it happen, Figuring it out.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Trying to figure it out with your family and then helping people out. It's good stuff.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Where do you see the world going with AI and the market? Would you agree there's going to be more changes than ever before with just all this stuff happening?

[Brian Buffini]

100%. 100%. I mean, like, I feel like you.

[Ryan Pineda]

Can'T just be like, oh, well, we're going to run the same playbook, you know, that we've been like, yeah, it's all just changing so quickly.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah. Well, they say don't bring your disco moves to a hip hop world. Right.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So I would say, AI, I mean, we're, we're, we're actually launching AI programs ourselves this year. You have to. AI now the thing that happens is people abdicate to technology. Oh, it's just going to do everything for me, you know, and it'll be sold that way. It'll. AI will find you the house, it'll do the fix up, it'll, it'll remodel the calling for you. It'll do whatever else. It'll do everything and then it'll, it'll put the kids in bed and you go to the beach. That's how it'll be sold.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And there's a lot. And by the way, the reason why people get taken advantage of by scams like that is, they want to be taken advantage of. Okay.

[Ryan Pineda]

They want to believe it's true.

[Brian Buffini]

They want to believe it's true. You mean I get to do no work, make no sacrifice? There's no hardship in this thing at all. Great. Where do I sign? And you'll be signed. Then they sign up for the next thing. Okay. So AI is brilliant in regards to the ability to create efficiencies, effectiveness, things like content development, communication processes. There's some brilliant. It's staggering. And the speed of AI is staggering. There's always going to be things that people need. So for example, food, shelter, clothing. Those are. Those have been around for thousands of years. And they'll be around for thousands of years in the future.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

People providing value. For example, I was at the studio yesterday. We had multiple languages tuned in from different parts of the world. They have an AI translation system.

[Ryan Pineda]

It's just translating you instantly.

[Brian Buffini]

And we didn't use it.

[Interviewer]

Oh.

[Brian Buffini]

We brought in people.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Brian Buffini]

Because the AI can't communicate emotion. It can't communicate satire and it can't communicate humor.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Brian Buffini]

Which for an Irishman, that's the worst thing in the world.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Brian Buffini]

So it's coming.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Do the work now. Like you plant seeds in the springtime so you can harvest in the fall.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

20, 26. It'll be game on.

[Ryan Pineda]

You think it's just going gangbusters?

[Brian Buffini]

It will be. I know it. And there will be at every level of the market, there's going to be deals in regards to not just real estate deals, but there's going to be deals where acquisition. Acquisition has been held up with big companies that then goes down into mid sized companies, that then goes down into small companies. There's going to be money that's sitting on the sidelines that's going to be incentivized to come into the market. Okay. I do believe on the real estate side of things, they're going to have to put like Blackstone and those boys being in the marketplace. I'm sure you bump into them all the time. There's going to be some work there. There's an awful lot of real estate in the hands of giant corporations right now. Single family homes.

[Ryan Pineda]

What do you think they're going to force them to sell or.

[Brian Buffini]

I think they're going to. I think they're going to make them a commitment that they can only hold a certain level of the portfolio. Now this is. That's going to be a fight because the lobbyists run Washington.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

But I do believe there's a heck of a lot of real estate held in not Blackstone is obviously the, you know, the giant of all giants, but there's a bunch of other mid range companies. You know, I, a friend of mine is, he owns a Canadian company and they have 16,000 homes in America. You know, I mean, that's who your people are competing with. Yeah, that's who my agents are competing with. And that's who a first time buyer is competing with.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And so they'll come in, the house is worth 400 grand and the investor will pay it for 450. And they don't think twice about it.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

Because they're renting it out, they're looking at it, they're trading that X many times earnings.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

You follow me? So I do think you're going to see some changes there tactically that is could definitely come in because they've squeezed out the homeowner and, and construction can't keep up. We've had a shortage of housing for 11 years, 14 years, and it's not going to get fixed anytime soon. I lost my house in a fire in 2007. Those people who lost their houses in California, they, I don't care what they say, it's going to take forever to get them rebuilt.

[Ryan Pineda]

At least five years.

[Brian Buffini]

Probably five. You're dealing with the Costa Commission in California.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, I know.

[Brian Buffini]

So where the California permitting, You know where they were last weekend? My daughter is currently managing a coffee shop in San Diego. She said the place was filled.

[Ryan Pineda]

They're all going to San Diego.

[Brian Buffini]

San Diego. They're going everywhere. They'll be here in Vegas.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

They'll be buying houses two at a time here in Vegas.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

They go, What? What? That's 2 million. I'll take two of them. Right?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Realistically, where do you think realtors go in the long term, like as a profession?

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah, I, I think the real estate brokerage business is going to have to morph and change significantly.

[Ryan Pineda]

Like, kind of like what exp and all them are doing or how do you.

[Brian Buffini]

Well, to some degree, I mean there's many models. There's a lot of models out there now, even beyond those guys.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So the brokerage business carries all the liability and gets very little of the upside.

[Interviewer]

I know.

[Ryan Pineda]

That's why I got rid of my brokerage.

[Brian Buffini]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

It just doesn't make sense.

[Brian Buffini]

People are always going to look for someone to trust and they go, okay, Brian, you're the real estate advocate for real estate agents. Well, think about this. You sold your real estate brokerage when two Years ago.

[Interviewer]

Ish.

[Brian Buffini]

Okay. Well, yeah. And you got in. When, when did you get in?

[Ryan Pineda]

Well, as a broker, yeah, we started in 2017.

[Brian Buffini]

Okay. So I would say the amount of technology that's available for a consumer to buy and find a home, do a transaction on their own since 2017 has quadrupled. Yeah, you can find a home. You got Zillow. You got all kinds of places you can go. There's all kinds of apps and processes you can do. Do a real estate transaction on your own. You know that for sale by owners was the lowest number in history last year.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Brian Buffini]

6%. And half of those were inter family transfer.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Brian Buffini]

So the vast majority of people at a higher level than ever before are looking for a real estate professional.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Brian Buffini]

Now the real estate professionals having to act a little different, charge a little different, work a little different, but more people with all the technology that's out there. And you'd say, well, geez, this should, this should make all realtors be obsolete. Like a travel agent. It's actually had the opposite effect. It's more complicated, more difficult, and people go, I'm busy, I have a life and I need to make this my biggest investment. I need someone to take care of it for me.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

The stakes are too high.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

A travel agent is like, yeah, okay, I book a hotel. Like, what are we doing?

[Brian Buffini]

It was a bad breakfast. I'm not going back.

[Ryan Pineda]

Yeah. Like, but you know, my only asset for most people, the biggest purchase of my life ever. You know, at 38 years old, first time homebuyer, I don't know anything. Like, clearly if I'm buying a house at 38, I probably haven't had like a ton of success yet, or else I would have bought one way earlier. And it's like, man, okay, yeah, it'd be hard to trust.

[Brian Buffini]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

I even see it on our side. So, you know, we do a lot of direct to seller marketing. And so I run.

[Brian Buffini]

How's that work?

[Ryan Pineda]

So, I mean, I've done direct to seller in every way you can imagine. So, I mean, I, I, I've done a lot of the things that realtors do. Well, you know, we used to do cold calling, texting, direct mail, all that stuff. Then I was on TV for years. So I did TV commercials for about four years. And it was just me saying, hey, I want to buy your house, give you a cash offer and all that. And then last year, I mean, obviously I've been on social media for a while, and I've been running social media ads for all My other businesses, I was like, you know what? I'm going to try going direct to seller on social media. So we started running Facebook ads, you know, saying, hey, we'll give you a cash offer on your home. All this stuff. And it's really interesting to see the different demographics and how they respond. Because, for example, if you cold call somebody, they don't trust you.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

It's an outbound dial. It's like, who are you? How'd you get my number?

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

On a TV commercial, we would get a ton of old people because old people watch tv. Younger people don't really watch cable as much. So a lot of these old people, they want to go on in person appointments and have you look at their house. And it's very old school. And they're not like tech savvy.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

Social media is so different than all of them in that they've been kind of zillified, I would call it. And Open Door used to like the moment they submit, we call them and they're like, so, yeah, like, what's the price?

[Brian Buffini]

Right?

[Ryan Pineda]

And they're. So it was a transition for us because we are part. And I'm sure realtors are probably the same where it's like, well, hey, we gotta come meet you in person and like do a presentation and see the house and all this stuff. They don't want that. Yeah, they're way more like, yeah, just what's the price? Like, Open Door gave me this price.

[Brian Buffini]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

This person, like, where are you guys at?

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

And they're like, all right, if that price works, I'll sign the contract right now.

[Brian Buffini]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

And I've never seen that in my career.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

It's crazy.

[Brian Buffini]

And that's that vein. And then add this because this is where the. This is where you guys can really kill it.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Brian Buffini]

At the beginning of the show, I said the average age of a seller last year was 63.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

Now, believe it or not, 63 and 70 year olds, they're on social media too.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

Now what they want to know so you can call them and you can connect with them. They. They'll use social media to make sure that you're legit.

[Ryan Pineda]

Yeah, Research.

[Brian Buffini]

So don't have a goofy social media profile. Don't have no shirt on, drinking out of a beer bong. We're posting memes on your social media.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Because the person who wants to validate if you're for real, you know, so in the back end, for older people, they use social media to see if you're legit Yep. So now you call them, now you connect. Now they still might want it in person.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And by the way, you're going to see it in 20, 25. I believe the age will go up another year. I believe the average age will be 64 this year.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Brian Buffini]

Who has more equity?

[Interviewer]

These guys.

[Brian Buffini]

These guys. Okay. They're the ones with all the equity. And, and also, by the way, some of them want to pass on to their kid or grandkid, for example. One of the things we helped. We have a company in Arizona called Long Real Estate. They're great company and just had their president out here at our event. Well, they have a bunch of over 55 communities in Tucson.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

So guess what? Grandma and grandpa want to leave the property, but they can't. To their grandchild.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And the grandchild's 28 years of age. I ain't doing that.

[Ryan Pineda]

What am I gonna do with this?

[Brian Buffini]

So now you get this property. That's a fantastic opportunity in a 55 community by fixed turn. Cuz they've got the, they've got the 1970 decor on it and the rat pack pictures on the wall. Now you come in, fix, turn and sell to an over 55 who's moving to Tucson.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

So that's where again, know the demographics, know the numbers.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

I'll be, I'll be happy to share. I'll have some great data for you. I'll send you some of that.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

It'd be great for future broadcasts for you. But there's so you again. Now you have the. Okay, great. I got the young person over here and I got this. And there's tech savvy. Now I got the person over here. They're not tech savvy, but I'm doing the co caller, I'm doing the marketing, I'm doing the mailings.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

And now they check out to see if you're legit on social media and they might need the appointment. So these are the folks, the older folks have all the real estate and all the equity.

[Ryan Pineda]

Do you teach your, you know, all your students and your clients to go after those kinds of people since they have the houses like so you remember.

[Brian Buffini]

How you said I just read the book and why can't you read the book and do it?

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And you realize that not everybody's Ryan Pineda.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And then. Okay, I need coaching and training. So for example, our company provides all the marketing and resources for all our clients.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Brian Buffini]

So millions of homes every month get the same marketing every month from our agents.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

We provide it to them. In fact, we. We mail it. Our partners actually here in Vegas, we mail it from a central place. We have email, we give them all the same social media posts, all that kind of stuff, and they, they kind of lay that groundwork down. Well, when we see the changes in the markets, we adjust the marketing and so on, so forth. So last year we started focusing, like, the number one reason why people are moving, 23% of all sellers moved, was to be closer to family. Yeah, great. So we're sending out marketing pieces going, hey, have you thought about being closer to home, being closer to family? Here's the benefits of being closer to family. It helps you live longer, richer life. Da da da da da. And so I actually looked at a piece of real estate in Nashville, Tennessee. Recently. Beautiful home, actually, next door neighbor to Dave Ramsey. And I looked at this home and the people were moving into Nashville proper. And I'm like, why are they moving into town? And then I. And then I asked, I said, they have grandkids. Exactly. I have three grandkids and they just moved out of town. And, you know, not everybody has access to an airplane. But, I mean, I don't want to live in Virginia, but if I didn't couldn't get there quick and fast, I'd probably be buying a house there. So, yeah, you adjust your marketing.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

To those dynamics. So people are older, people are richer. That's where all the equity is. And you better make sure that people who are trying to buy those, you know, buy and fix and turn. And again, the older community, a lot of them have an update. You know, you get into your house, at a certain point, you're not looking at, you're not going, what's the latest? Stone and tile and whatever else and stuff's dated. So they're perfect for this.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

They don't want to do it. They don't want to have contractors coming in their house. They have lots of equity, so they're willing to give you a discount.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Ryan Pineda]

You know, you just said something interesting that we started doing so for years, all we did was coaching. And, you know, it's great. And had tons of success. We've made great money. And this last about six months, I realized that people are valuing information and coaching less and less in just like the entire marketplace, where as information becomes more freely available, it's like, okay, you know, what do you do? Right. So what do you add beyond just learning how to flip a house?

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Ryan Pineda]

And community obviously plays a role. Accountability. But I would still Consider those parts of, like, coaching. They're just different ways you would coach. So we started providing services like what you're talking about. So we started doing lead generation for them.

[Brian Buffini]

Yep.

[Ryan Pineda]

And just that alone, I. I could not believe how much that skyrocketed. Everything.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

And I was like, if I'd have known this four years ago, I would have just been. I could have been doing this the whole time.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Ryan Pineda]

But then also, like, providing their CRM and providing, like, all the services they're going to pay for regardless. They might as well just pay for them through you.

[Brian Buffini]

You're following my path. I have a CRM that has 22,000 users. And because what you're doing is you're meeting the need of the market. And. And by the way, you're like, hey, get on the phone and cold call. Guess what people don't want to do.

[Ryan Pineda]

Get on the phone and co call.

[Brian Buffini]

Great. So that's the need.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Okay, so if I. If I fill that gap for you, are you willing to. Are you willing to pay for it?

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Brian Buffini]

And the answer is yes.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So great. So now you evolve, and then you provide more value. You become more invaluable.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And so now it's like, hang on a second here. All my leads come from you guys.

[Ryan Pineda]

You can't leave.

[Brian Buffini]

If I leave, I'm a. Yeah, we.

[Ryan Pineda]

Got your CRM, we got your leads, we got your coaching. You don't have a business if you le.

[Brian Buffini]

Here's the deal.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So I believe in business. I believe this with my employees about me, and me towards them, and I believe this towards my customers. I believe I need to be your best option and you need to be mine.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

So for my customers, I don't expect people to stay loyal to me, whether their business has changed and life has changed just because of that. I need to be their best option today.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

But also for customers that you need to be mine. If you're going to mistreat my staff or whatever else, you're gonzo. And then for my staff, we have. We've won the best place to work in San Diego seven years in a row.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Brian Buffini]

Okay. But with that premise is when you're here, you got to be my best option, and we've got to be yours. Which means it's like a fair competition.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

You know, it's a fair competition. We want to pay you well, treat you well, enjoy your work, do that whole thing. And by the way, for that, you've got to do well, be in the game, you know, Whatever else. I mean.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Weird. It's just. Everybody should just be excellent.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah, that's.

[Ryan Pineda]

That's just what it comes down to.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah. So I see that around the building here. Just so you know.

[Ryan Pineda]

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, dude, I could talk to you all day about all this, and I know your time is valuable and you got things to be doing, but it really means a lot, you coming through, sharing your wisdom, being an example of, you know, consistency and longevity and providing so much value to the real estate industry as a whole. And so even for me, I'm. I'm excited that you're getting out more on. On the tour with. With these different things. And, you know, hopefully it's the first of, you know, a lot of things that we could do together for sure.

[Brian Buffini]

Well, honored to be here. Congratulations on everything you're doing. Fired to meet your team and what you're doing. And, like, if I could. Like I say, these are the good old days.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

Enjoy the heck out of them, bro.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

Where can people find you if they're realtors trying to get help and everything else?

[Brian Buffini]

The name is Buffini, right? An Irish woman, Italian name, buffini.com. and go there and you can find everything you need.

[Ryan Pineda]

How much was that domain? I always ask people who have good domains.

[Brian Buffini]

So here's the deal. Believe it or not, you know, when we started, you know, some guy in England who was an investment banker whose last name was Buffini. So we were Buffini and company for 25 years, which is a real pain to have to type.

[Ryan Pineda]

That is a big domain.

[Brian Buffini]

And for whatever reason, and I asked him, he wanted a million dollars, and I said, fine, I like ant. And so for whatever reason, he let it drop. He let it drop. And I bought it for 5200 bucks.

[Ryan Pineda]

He let it drop.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah.

[Ryan Pineda]

He just didn't renew it.

[Brian Buffini]

Well, finders weepers, you know, hey, you. You not a smart guy? I mean, he just needed to come to me with a better offer.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Brian Buffini]

And he let it drop. And my guys are always. We have lots of domains and trademarks and whatever else.

[Ryan Pineda]

You saw it pop up, and they.

[Brian Buffini]

Bought it for 5,200 bucks, and dang. So now we're buffini.com. it's a lot easier.

[Interviewer]

Dang.

[Ryan Pineda]

That's a good one to get. I've tried buy pineda.com but he don't want to sell.

[Brian Buffini]

He will just hang tough.

[Ryan Pineda]

Just hang.

[Brian Buffini]

Hang tough.

[Ryan Pineda]

But I got Ryan Pineda.com and I got that way before I was anybody for 900 bucks. So that was good.

[Brian Buffini]

Yeah. So where do I send people to? What's. What's the. What's the best way to get a hold of you?

[Ryan Pineda]

Yeah, I mean, for anyone who wants to do flipping and wholesaling. Wealthy investor dot com. Okay, so.

[Brian Buffini]

Right. I mean, we have a giant amount of realtors who probably benefit. Some of them would benefit.

[Ryan Pineda]

Yeah, we got a ton of realtors that we help out.

[Brian Buffini]

Great. Sure.

[Ryan Pineda]

That's great. Awesome. Well, guys, go check them out. Especially if you are a realtor, they are the top coaching company in the entire world. Like you just said, 3 million people done, $1 billion in sales. The results don't lie. So go check them out and we will catch you on the next episode.

[Podcast Host]

Inspiring stuff. And if you enjoyed today's conversation with Ryan, you won't want to miss our upcoming virtual event called Motivate. It's with Brian Buffini and Ed Mylett. It'll be packed with insight, inspiration, and the kind of energy that gets you moving. For more information and to book your seat, head to betheny.comlive2025. Thanks and we'll see you next time.