Loading summary
Transcript344 lines
- [00:03]
A
I don't want anybody being in control. Like, I want to be the one that's in control. I want to be the driver in my life. If you're always waiting for that external circumstance to dictate how you feel and what you do, dude, you're going to be swayed left and right and you're never going to know what mood you're in from one day to the next. Instead, why not take the approach of, hey, whatever's going on, whatever's happening, I'm the one that's freaking in control.
- [00:26]
B
Welcome to A Better Life with Brandon Turner. That is Me. Where world class guests share their wisdom on building a better life. Join me as we explore the habits, the actions and the beliefs that have guided their journey, with the aim of helping you apply those lessons to your own. Brody Fawcett, welcome to the show, man.
- [00:58]
A
Thanks, brother. Excited to be here. Excited to do this.
- [01:01]
B
All right, man. Well, you know, I know you currently decently well. Like, you know, founder of real estate investing school, massively successful real estate investor, Amazing choice of where to live in the world because you live here on Maui, and I know that about you, but I don't know almost anything about your past. So that is who Brody is. Who was Brody before all that?
- [01:20]
A
Ooh. I mean, how deep do you want to go?
- [01:23]
B
Deep and deep.
- [01:25]
A
Yeah, man. Just. Just like an average guy. To be honest, growing up, I moved around a ton. Like, I think that I actually remember distinctly in this is like elementary school. Towards the end of elementary school and I'm like, mom, I haven't been to the same school in, I think I'd been like five different schools, every grade, like, we'd move and she's like, you know what, you're right. And I remember that year we didn't, we didn't move anywhere. And so live in Las Vegas, Nevada for a little bit, lived in Utah. We kind of back and forth. And then right before high school, we, we actually moved back to Utah. And my dad would commute from Las Vegas to Southern Utah every single day to work. So five days a week. It was a solid two hour drive one way. And I think he was just like, I don't want my kids to go to high school in Vegas. So. But growing up, like I'm the oldest of six kids. And then actually as I was getting ready to leave to college, my aunt, my uncle, so they both passed away in car accidents. Two separate car accidents is a year apart.
- [02:20]
B
No way.
- [02:21]
A
Yes. Super sad. Super sad. Yeah. And I just remember that as a Kid just going through that. And I. My aunt, she needed a kidney transplant for the longest time. And I remember going over to her house, like, right after she got it, and this was like, you know, six, seven years of her doing dialysis. And I remember just, like, everything being so peaceful and so happy. And the next week, got a call, and she was just on the freeway. Traffic had stopped, and there's a diesel. It was drunk driver, and he didn't stop. Ran into the back of her. And so she left four kids. And then, like I said, a year later, my uncle blew a tire going down the freeway and rolled, and he passed away. And so one of their kids was over 18, so he was kind of on his own. But my mom had this dream, was like, hey, I feel like we need to adopt these. These other three kids. And I'm like, okay, as if you don't have enough kids already, Mom. So. So then I became the oldest of nine kids, if you can believe that. So growing up, like, a lot there of just learning to babysit and just being, like, kind of thrown to this leadership position, whether I liked it or not, being the oldest and having to set the example for my younger siblings. But from there, dude. Yeah, I just, like, love sports. Kind of my thing is just like, I love the idea of working hard. I wasn't always the most talented kid in the world, but I learned that I could work hard and get places that I wanted to go. And that kind of established a lot of where I'm at today is just from. From being put in these situations where I kind of had to. Had to step up, and there wasn't any room for me. When it was time to go to college, it was like, all right, there's no room in the house, so you. You gotta go.
- [03:54]
B
Did you go to college then?
- [03:56]
A
Yeah, I did. I actually went to as much college as you can go to without graduating, so. So I have. I have one semester left for my finance degree. And it's funny, because in that one semester is also the class I need for my associates. So.
- [04:13]
B
So what do you say to. To, like, what are you gonna do for your kids? Like, how do you approach college when it comes to your kids? Should they go? Should they not go? What are you gonna instruct them or guide them toward?
- [04:24]
A
Yeah, yeah, 100%. I mean, I learned a lot from college. Like, I. I met my wife there. I just like the life skills, I guess, of going out, living on your own, like, learning to fend for yourself, figure out, rent, all of these things. That's, that's also when I got into real. For me, I don't feel like I learned enough about like real life and not real life, but about like business and entrepreneurship and all of those things. I don't feel like it was worth it by any means at all. And in fact, like, I ended up doing summer sales and I would come back and go to school and I remember sitting in class and I'm like, I just made more money than my professor makes. And I did that in the last four months. And so it was just kind of like that whole concept. So I think there's a lot to learn there and I definitely encourage my kids to go just from the, the aspect of like, hey, you know, you're, you're going to meet a lot of people, you're going to learn a lot of skills, you're away from home. But at the same time I, I'm also going to encourage my kids. There's so much you can learn. I remember going to like a business seminar and it was two days and I'm like, dude, I just learned more about entrepreneurship, more about finances, more about investing in two days than me as a business major have learned in two semesters. Yeah. And so I'm like, that to me says like, okay, there's a, there's a broken system here. And so I think that that self education space is only going to become more and more important like the older we get. That's just my two cents.
- [05:48]
B
Agreed, man. Well, I want to dig in a little bit about the sales thing. How you made more money in a summer than your professor made all year. But before we get there, you know, one of the aspects of the show is we donate 100% of the profits from all the ad revenue directly towards a charity of the guest choosing. So the question for you is what charity would you choose and why does it break your heart?
- [06:06]
A
Yeah, man. I mean this one hits home for us just being here on Maui and going through all the fires and the devastation there. The last really, I mean, I guess it's been two months now. Still real and still, still raw. But one of the foundations that we were involved in a little bit before the fire is called Monumentors and they help serve homeless kids. In the beginning it was, it was buying them surfboards and skateboards and just providing that environment for them to go out and be like a normal kid. And it's crazy like what they've done since the fires. Obviously you can imagine, most people can imagine how big of a deal it is now and how many more kids are homeless because their house is now burnt down. And so I've just really respected everything they're doing and yeah, so that's for sure who I'd love to support.
- [06:52]
B
Awesome, man. Well, yeah, I definitely want to get into the fire stuff later too because you were in it. You live in Lahaina. And so, uh, we'll get to that too. But first, let's roll the ad. Hey, sorry for the interruption, but real quick. You've heard me talk about the Better Life tribe before, right? But let me tell you three things you might not know about the tribe. First, did you know we have full length world class, high quality real estate investing courses available to all members, including the two most recent real estate investing made Easy and how to scale your portfolio. They're both taught by me. Number two, did you know that only tribe members get to come to December Better Life Summit? It's a three day conference in Vegas where we're going to be setting a 2024 goals and doing some ridiculously cool activities. And third, did you know 100% of the profits from the tribe go to charities that fight human trafficking? I don't take a salary, there's no tax break for me. This is something I just feel called to dedicate my life to. And I hope you are excited about it like I am. If you want to in on these three things. Well, guess what? You can't because the tribe is actually closed most of the year. It's closed except for a very specific number of days. But if you want to get on the waiting list for when we open on those special days, go to a Better Life dot com. Wait, that's a Better Life dot com. Wait. All right, so let's get into making money in sales. What did you do? How did you get into sales? What were you doing? Were you door to door?
- [08:14]
A
Yeah, door to door. I know, I know, right? Yeah.
- [08:18]
B
I haven't done it because it's sounds absolutely brutal.
- [08:20]
A
Oh, just, I mean, think about how you treat somebody that knocks on your door and that's how you get treated.
- [08:27]
B
Yeah, I bet.
- [08:27]
A
So, yeah, it was a grind, man. And for me, like, I feel like I've always been the person who loves the idea of working hard today for an easy tomorrow. And if there's an option to like get all my work done early on, even if it's a longer day, like I'll, I'll totally take advantage of that. And even to this day, like I schedule all my meetings on Mondays. I'm like I'd rather have a really long busy Monday and then just have the flexibility and freedom. And so that's what kind of sold me on the door to door thing and on the sales thing. And even before that, I remember working construction for my grandpa and this was like, you know, middle school, like before you're 16 and can actually have a real job. He'd pay me 12 bucks an hour and he'd say like, hey, there's so much work on the farm. So like you can work as many hours as you want, but if you take lunch off, like you don't get paid during lunch. And other than that, like add up your hours and let me know. And so like at a young age I feel like that concept of holy smokes, I can go put in 14 hour days and instead of taking a nap or taking, you know, an hour lunch, I can maybe take a 15 minute lunch and I can get ahead. And this, this concept of getting ahead, like, I love the idea of it and still do. And that's like, you know, where real estate and passive income comes into play. But leading up to like sales, I got pitched this idea. I was actually walking down campus and someone tapped me on the shoulder and basically it was the idea of, hey, you can go out and work during the summer, you're not going to miss any school, come out and work four months, but you can make more money than you would working year round in between classes. And then you can focus on school and you just don't have to worry about working as much the rest of the year. And that, that sounded good to me. And so I'm like, all right, I'll try it out.
- [10:05]
B
That's cool. What were you selling?
- [10:07]
A
Selling? Alarm systems. Yeah, alarm systems. Door to door, which kind of like home automation, the doorbell, cameras and you know, stuff you control from your phone.
- [10:16]
B
Y. Yeah.
- [10:17]
A
And it's funny because I remember going out and I shadowed the guy that was kind of teaching me and recruiting me for a little bit and I was supposed to shadow him again this next day and he got like a. Some with a dentist he had go get some tooth out or something. And so they're like, well, you're on your own. And I remember being so scared and I get dropped off. You don't have your own car, right? You get dropped off. So that's like accountability because you can't just leave. You can't just leave.
- [10:41]
B
All funny. That's funny.
- [10:43]
A
And I remember I saw his house. I'm like, all right, should I knock this? No. Like I'm just gonna skip it. It's kind of a crappy house. And then I'm just like, you know what, if I'm gonna do this thing, I just gotta suck it up and just go knock on the door. And I remember I didn't know what I was doing, didn't know what I was saying. And he's like, yeah, that sounds good. We've been looking for this, why don't you come on in? And I'm like, okay, just acting like I've done it a thousand times, you know, And I'm texting my manager like, hey, how do I fill out this paperwork? What is this? And I had to go back like three times and fix it by the time I made 500 bucks for, from that sale. And dude, that was a game changer. Talk about like never going back to hourly paid job again. It just kind of like all clicked. And I wish every sale was that easy. It wasn't. But yeah, man, it taught me I have so much respect and love just for the door to door industry because I know what it takes and there's times and like from there I did that for eight years and I grew sales teams and trained and recruited and you know, and then made overrides so when other people would sell and made residual from it a little bit. And anyhow, it taught me so much because there was days where I just remember as like a grown freaking man, just like crying, you know, and like, or like drop kicking my iPad or like. And it sounds so silly looking back now, but it was just so real, so raw. I remember like leaving my family the first two weeks of the summer and the last two weeks. I'd always kind of go out on my own before my family would get out there and just nobody understands the, the grind of it and the sacrifices and it definitely pays off. But like, dude taught me so much, man.
- [12:16]
B
Yeah. What is the secret to success doing door to door sales?
- [12:19]
A
Oh, there's a few of them. I mean, I would say the first thing that comes to mind is just like find out what the top guys are doing and mimic it. Do the exact same thing. Like, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. If it worked for someone else, it's going to work for you. And I kind of took that approach to it. I'm like, hey, I know this person is really good at it. So if I literally like, like I remember just watching videos, I'd play it for five seconds, pause it and I'd repeat the exact same thing. I try and say it in the exact same tone. And I'd play the next five seconds, repeat it, say in the exact same tone. So I just say, find somebody. And this is like, with. With anything in life, really, but, like, find someone crushing it that's doing it a high level. And do the exact same thing they're doing, and you'll. You'll get the exact same results.
- [13:01]
B
We've been looking at that for social media.
- [13:02]
A
Right.
- [13:03]
B
Like, whenever I see, like, a social media video that does really, really well, I'm like, okay, what do they do, how they do it? Let's make that work.
- [13:07]
A
Yeah.
- [13:08]
B
For real estate, it's like, okay, what do they do? Build their team. Show me exactly what they do. And it. It.
- [13:12]
A
What.
- [13:13]
B
What's the famous quote? Like, success leaves clues.
- [13:14]
A
Yes.
- [13:15]
B
It's like, not even clues. Like, success leaves, like, blaring announcements and a very clear path. It's just like, this is exactly what you do. And then you're like, okay, I think I'll do my own thing. And then everyone just go. Try to. Yeah.
- [13:26]
A
Y.
- [13:27]
B
My little daughter does that with cooking. Like, I'm like, hey. She's like, I want to make whatever, muffins. I'm like, okay, great. She's seven, right? She's like, I want to make muffins. I'm like, great. Here's the recipe book. She go, I don't need that. I'm a great cook. Like, okay, I go ahead. And she's just, like, throwing things in there. And of course she gets done with it. And it's just like this pile of gloop. She's like, dad, I made this for you. Try it. And then that's the most scary words to hear as a parent. And it's never good. I'm like, just. Just follow the recipe. It's right there.
- [13:52]
A
Yeah.
- [13:52]
B
She won't do it.
- [13:53]
A
Yeah. Somebody else has been there, done that. And this is why there's a recipe.
- [13:57]
B
Yeah, that's why there is. All right, so I know at some point in your story, you went to Japan because randomly you started speaking Japanese once when we were together, and I was like, what are you doing, man? And I know you went to Japan. When was that? In this. In process.
- [14:09]
A
Yeah. So I'm glad you brought that up, because this helped me a lot in door to door, but it was before this. So I went to a semester of college or two semesters, a year of college, and then I went to Japan for two years, and then I came back, and this was like, one month back from Japan in school where someone's like, hey, do you want to go do this door to door sales thing? So. But yeah, my two years in Japan was, was a volunteer mission for my fort. My church member of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And yeah, man, talk about learning a lot there.
- [14:42]
B
Did you take it before going over there?
- [14:43]
A
No, no. It's actually funny cause I took it in like middle school and they didn't have it in high school. And I just. And I'd actually been to Japan before on some like sister city, like middle school exchange thing and where I stayed there for like a week, you know, so I had a little bit of exposure to the culture.
- [14:59]
B
You were fluent at that point?
- [15:00]
A
Yeah, yeah, fluent. Fluent, yeah. Japanese is easy. So yeah, you can learn it in a week or two. But yeah, man, just like the door to door stuff where you're like put in this situation. Like I literally remember I was there for a couple months and then I got transferred to this area and it was like a train ride of about six hours. It was beautiful, like along the coast of Japan, but the closest other missionaries were like a four hour train ride away. And I remember knocking on doors there. Obviously we're teaching the gospel, spreading the good word, right? Changing lives. And I remember this probably 6 year old just looking up at me and just staring. And his mom's like, so sorry. He's never seen a white person before. And so aside from like my companion who didn't really speak English, us two that were there or sorry, he spoke English, didn't really speak Japanese. Just like I didn't really speak Japanese there. And you just, you can't rely on anybody and you can't communicate and it puts you in this spot where you're like, well, I got to figure out this language thing and I got to rely on the Lord and rely on myself. You just, you grow in those situations.
- [16:03]
B
So I bet that's got to be. Yeah, that's got to be terrifying, man. But it makes you who you are.
- [16:09]
A
Yeah. As a 19 year old kid, you're like, all right, I got this.
- [16:14]
B
Oh, wild, man. So how long do you stay in sales for before you get into real estate?
- [16:18]
A
Yeah, so I actually bought my, my first house before I officially like committed to sales and was doing that. And so. And I kind of tell a story there because I think it's cool. I think a lot of people relate to that. And then I'll get into how long I was in sales and because it fed my real estate and that's Why I did it, and. Yeah, but, like, first things first. I think I was going to college. And this is even before I started going. I was looking for a place to live, and it was tough. Like, I was struggling finding housing. And a lot of my friends from high school that were happening to go to the same college as me, they were in the exact same boat. And my mom, she always sold real estate on the side. She's kind of like a entrepreneur. She owned her own hair salon. Just did little things like that that I actually learned a lot from talking about, like, my upbringing that rubbed off on me, and I'm grateful for that. But she's like, hey, why don't you buy a house? You know, she sold one or two a year as an agent, and I'm like, well, I would love to buy a house, but I don't think you have seen my bank account. I don't have, you know, 160,000 bucks lying around. This was the price of my. My first house that I bought. And obviously, like, I didn't understand how it worked that you could leverage the bank's money and that. Why would the bank lend you money? That doesn't make any sense. There's something in it for them, and there's interest. And so I started learning a lot of these things. And long story short, got this awesome property, one house away from college campus, and started calling around once decided, hey, yeah, I want to buy a house, and let's figure this house thing out. And my friends are going to move in and rent for me because they don't have a place to live. And this lady's like, hey, somebody that goes to my church, she just passed away. Maybe they want to sell their home. And so you can imagine that conversation, like, hey, I'm sorry your grandma died, but do you want to sell her house? Because I'm interested in buying it. And so it actually worked. Like, it worked out. Got this house. And even then, Brandon, it was probably a couple months in of owning this. And this is why I resonate with a lot of people that, you know, they don't quite, like, drink the Kool Aid of. Of real estate or, like, personal development or whatever, because I didn't see it. Like, I didn't see I was doing it because it sounded cool to own a house. I wasn't doing it because I saw all the other benefits of it. And while I was going to school, I was working at Gold's Gym, and not. Not even, like, the cool part of Gold's Gym, like a trainer or something. I would always tell people, yeah, I work at Gold's Gym. I would hope that they thought I was a trainer, but I worked at the front desk, and so I'd check people in. And I remember being so stoked if somebody came in and they signed up, because I got five bucks, dude. So minimum wage plus five bucks, you're like 13, 14 bucks an hour. And I'm like, let's go. But it hit me because I'm doing that in between going to school, in between, like, hanging out with your friends and dating and living the college life. And then I was working as much as I could. And then on the other hand, I got this check from all of my tenants, my friends that paid their portion of the mortgage. And all of a sudden there was this money left over after I paid all the expenses and after I paid the mortgage on the property. And I'm like, dude, this is the exact same amount of money that, like, I'm grinding for at the front desk over here. And on this side, like, I didn't do anything for it. I literally just collected a check, and it's the same. And so that's kind of like was that aha moment for me where I'm like, dude, I want more of this income that didn't require me to trade my time for it and less of this other income. And that's what, you know, got me diving into real estate and that whole dark, dark hole.
- [19:39]
B
Dark hole of real estate. All right, so you bought that house. What do you keeping it where you. Where's that today?
- [19:46]
A
Yeah, it's funny because I sold it probably, I don't know, six months ago.
- [19:51]
B
Okay. Yeah. You've had a long time.
- [19:52]
A
Yeah, a long time. Yeah.
- [19:53]
B
Would you buy it for what you sell it for?
- [19:55]
A
Yeah. So I bought it for 160. I think it was like, 156. Put 3 1/2% down. My. It was great because my mom was like, I'll give you back my real estate commission. And so, like, that helped, you know, So I wasn't out that much money, which was great. And scary. Like. Like, I forget how scary it was. I'm like, dude, if my friends don't pay rent this month, yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do. Like, that's a scary situation to be in, you know? Anyhow, so I sold it for 500. 500,000 even. Even. And which is funny because I was actually sitting on the beach. Like, Wednesdays are like, my, like, personal days. I usually go to the beach and read or do, do a massage or whatever. But I remember like sitting on the beach. Usually I don't answer my phone, but I answered it and it was a, it was a cold caller. He's like, hey, we're building an apartment complex next to your house. We need some more room for parking. Like, you interested in selling it? I'm like, well, I'm always interested. Everything's always for sale, right? For the right price. And so ended up selling that. That house obviously made some good money there. But I think what happened in between that is, is actually like more powerful than like the what, whatever, 350, 400k that I profited from it because a year later I had done some little things to the house, but I did a cash out refinance on it and pulled some money out. It was like 25,000 bucks. And my parents had co signed for me to get that house in the first place. And that's why I did the cash out refi, because they're like, hey, we need to get our name off of this loan. We're gonna go buy this other thing and whatever. So I didn't realize how cool it was, but I got some cash tax free. And then on top of that, I had 25% down on the property, right? And so I took that money and that got me into my second property. And also like that first property, like the cash flow that came from that, I ended up, you know, doing this strategy that I use multiple times is just renting by the room. And so for me, the closer to college campus and the more rooms there were, especially if they were larger, I could do shared rooms and I could get more out of it versus just a single room. And so yeah, for I tell everybody this and nobody believes me, but like I can track that house back to over a million dollars cash that came from that house. That's cool. Not like a million bucks equity, like a million bucks cash that came from it. And like, yeah, part of it's the 350. I sold it when I sold it and profited. Part of that's like the principal pay down for people living there and then paying down that loan, right, that initial loan. And then part of it's that cash flow, which it cash flowed my. My mortgage on it, the cash flow just went up and up because rent kept going up. But even when I first very, very bought it, very very bought it. First bought it. There you go. When I first bought it, there we go. You know, rent, rent went up. But even then it was still, really well, like, I lived there for free. I didn't have to pay rent, which I chose. We call it the dungeon room because it was the basement and there were no windows or anything there initially. And later we cut windows in. But I cash flowed, you know, when I bought it, around 900. 900 bucks a month. And then, you know, towards the end when I had, it was over $2,000 a month. And obviously when I moved out, like, that freed up, you know, some more money so I could rent out my room and cash flow even more, which made sense to, you know, house hack hop and get into the next one.
- [23:01]
B
House hack hop, It's a good phrase.
- [23:03]
A
It's trademarked. Right.
- [23:04]
B
Jump from one outside to another like this my entire life.
- [23:08]
A
All right.
- [23:08]
B
There's a few things I want to pull out of that.
- [23:09]
A
You like how I just one up the Brandon. Like, you might have invented house hack, but like, I. I won't even tell you about the. About the burr. The burhab. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's. It's. I'll save it for later. Yeah, it's a good one. Okay. All right, so a couple things I.
- [23:26]
B
Want to pull out there. First of all, I love that you made that point that when you're an investor, your property is always for sale. It's always for sale.
- [23:33]
A
Right.
- [23:34]
B
I mean, I sold my. My very first, like my big property. I bought a 24 unit when I was 24 years old. That one was a cold phone call to my property manager who then called me, was like, hey, some guy wants to buy your apartment. And I'm like, okay, how much? Right. Everything's for sale. And so I think, like, yeah, it's a good lesson for real estate investors to realize that there's million. There's what, 9 million real estate investors in America, and they all have properties. So there are lots of properties for sale all the time. You just got to get to know the real estate investors.
- [23:59]
A
Yep, 100%. Yeah. I think that. I think there's two sides to that. There's the one side of just having the right mindset and the mentality of, I mean, you don't know how people like, hey, is your truck for sale? No, it's not for sale. I just got it. Okay, well, what if I gave you $300,000? Oh, yeah, I sell it. Yeah. Okay, so it is for sale. It's just for the right price, you know, and so I think just having that mindset from the very get go is. Is really powerful because you're not in this like fixed mindset, right? Like you're, you're open, like you understand there's always a way to make it work, you know? And then on the flip side of that, when you're buying something, it's just creating a win win scenario. Like there's so many win win scenarios in real estate investing where people like, no, I can't sell it because I have to pay all this capital gains tax. You're like, okay, well what if we figure out a way where we could have you not pay that capital gains tax? You still get the income from it and you keep the cash flow that comes from it, you know? Cool. That's called seller financing. So it works out better for me. Let's strategize this so it works for you, you know, so just taking that approach. I love that.
- [24:57]
B
Yeah, the abundant mentality. That's so good. Also, I want to dig into this. Wednesdays or your personal days, what is this? You take a day every week off. Well, tell me about that.
- [25:06]
A
Yeah, it's funny because Alex asked me like, hey, does this Wednesday work for you? I'm like, yeah, it works to come, come, come record. But it's gotta be after this time, after my massage. But no, man, I think I like Wednesdays cause they're in the middle of the week. I remember thinking when I was a kid, I'm like, if I am in control of my schedule ever, I'm gonna take Mondays off. Because I'm like, everybody doesn't look forward to Mondays. It's like it's extension of the weekend. I'm like, I'm gonna choose Mondays. And so I started doing that for a while once. I kind of like built this dream schedule, this dream life, so to speak. And then I realized really quick is when Tuesday would come around. I fe on the week. And so like I said, I love Mondays now and I still look forward to them. Cause I'm like, pack it all in, let's go like the, the everything I'm not looking forward to. Let's go like Monday's the way to. The way to do it all. But like Wednesdays now are like my days. So for me that gives me like two hard work days. And then Fridays I try not to work a ton either. But Wednesday, just like that, midweek, recoup, re, energize. Like I said, I'm usually, usually do a massage. I'll usually do, you know, kind of like your concept of, I think you, I don't know if you do massage once a week, but like Just get your mind right, you know? And I always love the analogy that you talk about. Like that tornado. You know, at first it's like everything's crazy and it's, like, all over the place. And then throughout the process, maybe it's the day or maybe it's the massage. You get, like, narrowed in on this. This one thing. You get so much clarity. And for me, people think like, oh, that's. That's really expensive, or that adds up. And I actually think it's one of the most, like, profitable.
- [26:38]
B
Yeah.
- [26:38]
A
Days of the week.
- [26:39]
B
I always say. I say that my massage is the most profitable hour and a half of my week by far.
- [26:43]
A
Yeah.
- [26:43]
B
Because when you. And if people are like, well, I can't afford a 200 massage once a week. Okay, fine, go sit at a. In a dark room for an hour and a half.
- [26:50]
A
Yeah.
- [26:50]
B
The problem is, like, people don't want to. People can't sit still for an hour and a half. That's why I have to force myself to do it with a massage.
- [26:56]
A
Yeah.
- [26:56]
B
Even if I go to the beach for an hour and a half, I sit there for 10 minutes. I'm like, fidgeting. I'm like, what do I do? Grab my phone? But a massage, like, I don't have my phone. I'm face down, it's dark, I can't do anything.
- [27:04]
A
Yeah.
- [27:05]
B
And it's the best thing in time. The best thinking comes in after about an hour. Yeah. You're scattered.
- [27:10]
A
So true, man. Yeah. There's a. There's an excuse for everyone to go get weekly massage. Yeah, exactly. Permission.
- [27:17]
B
Yeah. But I found with long distance running, too. And I know you're a runner. Like, I don't know, after an hour of running is when, like, all of a sudden I start getting really, like, all my best ideas.
- [27:24]
A
Yeah.
- [27:25]
B
Area the massages or 100.
- [27:27]
A
100. It's because there's no distraction. Yeah. You know, like, there's no distraction. And that's especially in the world today. Like, you gotta create that. Like, your environment's so important, and you have to be able to facilitate that. If not, life happens so quick and you end up going through the motions because you didn't intentionally create that time. And so I. I think too. Just one more point to add to that. This was something like with my wife and I that took a second to get on the same page with. Because at first it sounds so selfish. Right? Like, it sounds so selfish. Like, hey, this is me. Like, I'm gonna have a second workout today. Or I'm Gonna, you know, sleep in or whatever. Right. Like, it sounds so selfish, but I think after, like, us getting on the same page and her realizing, like, oh, no, this is actually really important to you. And just, like, for her, like, she loves to surf, you know, being out here in Maui. And, like, that's, like, her time. And so we recognize with each other, like, okay, this is really important to you. And we actually scale it. Like, is this a. Like, what. What number is this? For me, like, a 1 to 10. Like, going to bed with dishes in the sink. For me, it's a one. I could care less. I'll wake up and do it in the morning. For her, it's a 10. Like. Like, it is a 10. So. Because we don't really resonate, like, I can't think how you're thinking. I don't know what's really bugging you. It's like, okay, well, Is this a 1? 1 through 10? Where are you at? How important is this to you? Okay, it's a 10. All right. I better get up and go do the dishes or whatever it is. And so I think her understanding, like, for me, like, those days, and she treats it like I'm working. She's like, hey, like, I don't care what you do now. Like, as long as you're home by five, like, it's your thing. I'll view it just as you're working. I'm not going to, like, ask you for a bunch of stuff. And so that's helped me a ton. I just want to throw that in there because, man, getting on the same page just makes you not. You don't feel guilty, you don't feel. And you're re energized. And I feel like because of that, I'm a better husband. I'm a better dad. I'm a better business owner. You got to schedule that in.
- [29:17]
B
All right, so let's get back to your story then. You got that first house. You did some rent by the room there, started making some money. How did. Where'd your real estate go from there? Walk me through kind of your journey.
- [29:26]
A
Yeah, man. So like I said, that was this big, aha, epiphany moment of, like, how can I go create more of this passive income? And that was, like, the first time I experienced it, right? Like, you hear people talk about it and all these things, but, like, actually experiencing it, where you're like, whoa, like, this is. This is cool. I didn't do anything. I don't have to do anything. And I can keep making this 900 bucks a month, right? And so from there that was the motivation, everything I needed. I met my wife the first year going to school, going to. Well, not the first year. That was, I guess my first year back from, from Japan. I met her and eventually got married. And they do it pretty fast in Utah, like the one to one, like, but like within a year of meeting her, we were, we were married. And so we bought this duplex. It was same thing really close to college campus, just on the other side. And it was a up and down unit. So in the basement there was a full kitchen down there, bedrooms, bathrooms, and the upstairs, same thing. And so we're like, cool, we can live in, you know, this upstairs section, rent out the bottom section. And I think it's important at this point to point out because speaking of, like the sales thing, like I said, I picked it up pretty quick and I was making good money, like good commission based money from it. And so buying this duplex close to college campus, it was like below my pay grade. So I thought at the time, you know, and it actually like, it bugged me for a little bit because I'm like, dude, and you know how it is. Like you see your friends and your wife's like, oh well, we make more money than them. And they just built this, this house. And I call it like the classic three bed, two bath, like two car garage, stucco home, you know, because that's what everyone was doing and building. And so we kind of looked at it like, and we got on the same page of just, hey, let's sacrifice a few years of our life now that we can do things that most people aren't willing to do. And then later we can live like most people can't. And man, that is like, that has been so, so true. Like, that's proven so true. And so yeah, we moved into there and you know, our mortgage was completely covered. Later moved out and that meant we could rent out the upstairs for a thousand bucks a month. So now we're making another thousand dollars of passive income. And we moved into this at that time it was this live and flip that we did. And so we're like, we, I remember we waited and waited and waited for this, this house to come down. It was first it was listed, it was listed at $300,000. We're like, Ah, it needs a little bit of work. Like we can, we can't do it. Next they dropped it to 290 and they dropped it 280 and they dropped it 270 and I'm like, okay, that's it. Like, let's go. We, we put an offer in on it and miraculously there were multiple offers. That's how it goes, right? Like, yeah, cool. So long story short, we got that house and later we sold it for like 600,000 bucks and, and so made some money there. That helped roll things over, but that's kind of what kickstarted. And then along the way, like, that's cool. I love this compounding effect of, of real estate investing because you're, you're cash flowing, right? And if you're not trying to like live off this cash flow and you're being smart and you're still saving it, that compounds and that adds up. And then you mix that in with like, you know, sacrificing a little bit more like the live in flip that we did, and that money adds up. And now pretty soon you don't even have to get super creative. You can just go put 20% down and get a normal investment loan on a property and you're just picking up another one that's cash flowing. And now all that's adding up and it's compounding. And so for me, like early on, even though I was making decent money, you know, as a, as a 20 something year old kid, I knew that like, if I put myself in a spot where I had to spend that money in order to get real estate, then I'd be back to ground zero and I had to like, build that back up, build that back up before I could do it again. And so I'm like, I got this thing figured out as far as, you know, knowing what houses to buy, knowing how they're going to cash flow, knowing how to run the numbers, how to find, you know, these good deals that I started diving into, like seller financing where I try and, you know, strike these deals of like, hey, like, if you're willing to sell or finance this, you know, I can put this much down, I can even pay you more than what you're asking. And so just really like, I knew that, hey, I could still cash flow on this really well. And I have a handful of properties like that I can give you kind of some cool stories on and numbers on. But from there started partnering on stuff kind of the same thing as seller finance. I'm like, if I have this skill set of putting these deals together and know where to find them, nowhere to do it, I don't need to rely on my own money because I have this skill. A lot of people don't Have. Because I've put in the time, and I've read the books, and I've listened to hundreds of hours of Brandon Turner, like, talking about real estate. Right.
- [33:55]
B
Oh, I'm so sorry.
- [33:56]
A
And it's funny because, like, I was, like, excited to meet you, and I thought you were, like, this really cool guy to listen to.
- [34:02]
B
Oh, no. Oh, no, here we go.
- [34:04]
A
I'm just kidding, Kidding. I'm just kidding. No, dude. I mean, you know, never meet your heroes, man.
- [34:09]
B
Never meet your heroes. It's a disappointment for all of us.
- [34:12]
A
I almost moved back to mainland because I'm like, why am I even on Maui? Like, Brandon's not even cool. And then my wife's like, great.
- [34:22]
B
Thanks for coming today. It's brought to you by Better Life. All right.
- [34:26]
A
Hey, when it's your episode, your show, you can cut out whatever you want.
- [34:29]
B
There we go. There we go. You know, I do. I do want to bring up something here. I love that you said the phrase, the compounding effect of real estate investing. Like, that needs to be a book. I mean, there is a book called the Compound Effect from Darren Hardy, and it's one of my favorite books of all time. But there should be a version of that, the compound effect of real estate investing, because that's what it is. Like, when I first got into it, I mean, for the first 10 years, I was just like, does this actually work? Like, I'm sitting there teaching on bigger pockets, going, like, I'm teaching it, but I'm not seeing it yet. Like, it just. It's. And it reminds me of in good to great, I think it is. That's what the flywheel effect of the flywheel principle, where it's like, imagine you have this giant, like, whatever wheel, and you got to push it, and it's so hard, and you get to move, like, one inch. Then you push a little harder and a little harder, and you just keep pushing, and over time, it builds up that momentum until it's unstoppable. Right. And that's what. If I could perfectly describe my real estate journey, it was that. It was like. It just was so hard to get going.
- [35:20]
A
Yeah.
- [35:21]
B
And I just had to rely on that faith.
- [35:22]
A
Yeah.
- [35:23]
B
Yeah. And were you in the same boat?
- [35:25]
A
Yeah, I love that. Like, that resonates perfectly with me because that's. That's my real estate journey, man. Yeah. Wild story. So this is two weeks ago. This is, like, the. The easiest real estate deal I've ever done. Right. Not the most money I've ever made on a deal but two months ago, closed on a property, got a loan on it, everything, Right. Didn't touch it, didn't do anything to it. Didn't do. Like, haven't even seen it since I closed on it. Right. Two months later, went under contract to sell it. Okay. The price difference is $285,000. Whoa. And there's no realtor involved, so no realtor fees being paid out or anything like that. And it's just crazy because I'm like, one. Why don't I do more of that stuff, you know? Like, I wish it was that. That easy, you know? How do you find that work out like that? Dude, it's a long story, but it's a cool story because I actually heard about it on a podcast.
- [36:15]
B
No way.
- [36:16]
A
Yeah, yeah, I heard this guy.
- [36:18]
B
We had time to listen to it, but moving on. How do you find that on podcast?
- [36:23]
A
Yeah, on podcast is actually a piece of land that I heard somebody talking about, like, that they're going to build their dream home. And it always stood out to me because I'm like, oh, I wonder where that's. That's at. Like, he's. He got so excited about it. And long story short, I eventually became friends with this guy that hosts this podcast, which is super wild, the name of it's Real Business Owners. And I found it randomly because I'm like, I'm a business owner. I wonder if this has got some good stuff. Find out. Those guys live in my hometown that hosts the show. Crazy Enough. Anyhow, later, met him at like, this charity dinner and we became friends. And so we'd always talked about this property that he planned on, like, building on. And so got to a point where I was like, hey, dude, you're going to build on that property? Because he had just bought another place. And he's like, I don't think so. Like, we're pretty settled here, where we're at. Kind of moved out to the country a little bit, got some more land, and so wasn't going to build on this. And so I'm like, well, if you're interested in selling it, like, I'd buy it from you, you know? And so he marked it up 100,000 bucks, and he was stoked. Like, he like, make 100 grand on this thing. I'm like, okay, cool, I'll buy it. So he bought it for 500, I bought it for 600, and I sold for 885.
- [37:31]
B
That's insane. You did that?
- [37:34]
A
He's going to. If he listens to this podcast, it's actually funny. So I called him because I was thinking about. So it's. It's funny because I was going to build my house there, right? Like, I was. We were stoked on living there. And. Oh, man, Maui will do this to you. Like, now I will do this to you. And, you know, I just closed on a new house this last week than I have. Yeah, yeah, I'll teach you some stuff one of these days. No, but anyhow, so we're, like, set on it. Like, beautiful property. Built our dream home on it and realized that my wife doesn't want to leave Maui anytime soon. And I love it here, too. It's just. It's too good. So, like, I don't want to hold on this Property for another 5, 10 years if I ever do make it back there. So I did call him. I was like, hey, dude. Because when I bought it, it was. It was market value. Like, it was. So. So I thought. And so he thought. I even thought I was paying a little more money for it than it was worth, But I didn't really care. I was like, it's. I'm not. This isn't a logical investment. This is an emotional investment. And side note, if you make enough of the logical investments early on, you get an opportunity to make more emotional ones, you know? But, yeah, so I called him. I'm like, hey, dude, my intention 100% was to build a house on this. But, like, my wife and I have been talking about selling it. Would you be, like, mad at me if I did? And he's like, no, dude, no, not at all. He's like, honestly, like, I want. Like, if you could make a hundred grand on this thing, I'd be so stoked for you. Like, you just. I mean, you probably make like 40 or 50 grand on it. Like, if you can do that, amazing, you know? And so anyhow, I told one person I was thinking about selling it, and then I got it. So they told somebody and they called me and I'm like, cool, done. Let's do it. So that's wild. Yeah, wild. And I think, like, the purpose of a story is like. Like, yeah, that's great. It worked out awesome. But it's from pushing that snowball, you know, like, the whole thing. Like, it's. It's hard in the beginning. It's so tough to get that momentum. And I remember as a third grader, like, making. I grew up in Utah, right? So it's like making snowballs during recess, and they feel like these huge snowballs you build Forts out of them. And it's funny because I'm like, maybe they're really only like a couple feet taller. Just as a third grader, they're really actually tiny. But we would never. Like, at recess, you kind of trade off. Like the older kids went to recess first and they'd start pushing the snowball and you'd always go after, like the big, biggest one. You'd always push it because that was the easiest one to. To build up and keep getting big. The hardest thing is starting a brand new one. It takes so much time. You're bending over, hurts your back. Like, it just goes so slow. But if it's already going, it's really, really easy. And so, like, same with the fly. Flywheel. Like, exact same thing. Real estate. And I tell people this whole time because it's so discouraging early on, man, where it's like you feel like you're rubbing two pennies together. And like I said, you know, I was scared with my friends, didn't friends slash tenants didn't pay rent that month. Like I didn't know how I was going to pay the mortgage. And I just. That's so real and raw and you got to start somewhere. But like five years, three years goes by so fast. It just flies by. And so if you can get past like that, like, imagine if it's just one year. Like, hey, this whole year I'm focused on learning everything I can, consuming all of Brandon's content. And then I'm going to buy my first house. I'm going to house hack it. I'm going to save my money to do it. And then like the next year I'm gonna buy one more. I'm a house hack hop, you know? And then all of a sudden, like, it starts to, like, year two, three, four, it starts to pick up and get faster and faster. And for me, it was within five years. I built six figures of passive income through real estate. And that wasn't using a ton of money. And so that was like a huge. Just like, dude, I could retire if I want to retire. I could ride off in the sunset, you know, and I'm 20 something years old. And that to me was just like, slowly, like those small things, they're really not small things, you know, and the small things end up being the. The big things. So wild, man.
- [41:18]
B
So I want, I want to specifically dig into that concept of becoming a millionaire before 30. Because you did that, right? Yeah, yeah. And you, you said six figures before 30, like six years of income.
- [41:28]
A
I think I was 25.
- [41:29]
B
Yeah, that's nuts. Through real estate.
- [41:31]
A
Investing through real estate.
- [41:32]
B
Yeah, dude. Okay, so somebody watching this video right now going, that's what I want. Can you give me, like, we used to do a thing on the show. Maybe we'll bring it back. Like, seven. Seven. Was it seven steps in seven minutes? I think is what it was. But if I had to go, like, step by step. I got a timer. We had a timer. I have a timer. You want to break it out? No, I'm just using. I'm timing right here. 51, 50. Okay. How does somebody become a millionaire through real estate investing before the age of 30? Let's say they're 22, 23, 24, something like that.
- [42:00]
A
Yeah, let's go.
- [42:01]
B
Five years. You got five years. Become a millionaire. How do you do it? Through real estate?
- [42:05]
A
Yeah, let's go. This is my jam. I think the first thing, though, you need to find what a millionaire is, not you. But, like, people need to understand.
- [42:13]
B
Okay, all right, man. I got it. Tell me what else. Step one. Okay.
- [42:17]
A
Pull up your cabinets to your net worth right now, Brandon. No, no, because a million. A millionaire has a million dollars in equity, you know, in a property, and you're a millionaire. Like, I know a lot of millionaires. Like, a good example is I bought my house, my first house out here in Maui for a million dollars. Guess how much the lady owed on it. $0. She had a completely paid off. Right. Guess what she did for a living? She collected cans. She collected cans every single day. And she was a millionaire. And she had no idea she was a millionaire. No idea. And so I think it's important to understand, like, this is a bias comment right here. And I know this changes the older you get, and, like, real wealth creation is going to be created, you know, more so in equity. But in the beginning, I think, dude, I'd rather have $100,000 of passive income every single year and not be a millionaire than I would be a millionaire with no passive income.
- [43:10]
B
That's insightful. Can you explain why? Like, why does that. Why does the cash flow matter more than the. Just the millionaire?
- [43:16]
A
Yeah, a lot of different reasons. Like, one, it's more liquid, you know, even if you're a millionaire on paper and you have these different assets, like, you can't always liquidate those really quick and get your million bucks, you know? So that's one thing.
- [43:27]
B
And if you did, you have to pay a bunch of taxes.
- [43:29]
A
Yeah, exactly, exactly. But then, like, it's lifestyle freedom, bro. The idea of Just being able to have your expenses covered and know that's coming in every single month. You know, $10,000 a month is a, that's a lot for a lot of people. You know, it covers like your housing, it covers just having some breathing room. And even if you are still working, everything changes when you're now doing it because it's your decision, not because you're forced into it. And so I just love, love trading like that passive income for that active income because it allows you to live an active lifestyle. Like now you can spend more time doing what you want, where you want, with who you want. Like that's the true lifestyle freedom. Right. So passive income is powerful for those reasons. It's more secure. I think it's more secure. A lot of people, I'll argue with them because they'll be like, oh, I'm not going to get a HELOC on my house, it's almost paid off. Or like I'm not going to, you know, leverage anything because it's almost there. And then I'll have all this freedom. And I'm like, yeah, but would you really, you know, you could, you could get a HELOC on your house and you could put $100,000 in the bank. And that's for a rainy day. You don't even have to touch it. That's way more safe than if you were to, you know, hey, my mortgage is only this much money. I owe this much left on it. And then you could take that other $400,000 and you could buy three different, four different properties and put 25% down on those. And now those are cash flowing. And so now that's paying your, your mortgage off. And so anyhow, just that whole concept of passive income and building, that makes sense.
- [44:59]
B
Is the lesson something like freedom is in liquidity?
- [45:03]
A
Oh yeah, we're supposed to talk about a lesson.
- [45:06]
B
This is just the first lesson I thought, but that's what it seems like you're saying, like liquidity is worth way more to you than the balance sheet.
- [45:12]
A
Yeah, I would say liquidity, but not even so much just liquidity. Like that's important obviously. And that's like, that's in like an emergency, a case of emergency. Like ideally you're, you're not spending money anyway. Like you don't have to spend that money as far as being liquid. And yeah, your millionaire status, you don't have to lose that.
- [45:30]
B
I say it is like you have a bucket of water or you could have a pipe that just flows water 247 always. I'd rather have the pipe.
- [45:37]
A
Yeah. Than so, so 100. Here's another example. Would you rather flip one house, right, that pays you a million bucks and guess what happens at that million dollars? You're going to spend it. And guess what happens when you spend it? It's gone, it disappears, you know, versus like, hey, instead of that, I'd rather buy the rental property that pays me day in and day out. Doesn't matter if I'm sick, doesn't matter if I feel like this or don't feel like it's going to keep paying me. So.
- [46:01]
B
But that also, if you have, if you're making 10,000amonth in passive income from real estate, even if you don't have the million dollar net worth, right. Then you will have it because prices go up, loans get paid down, and so you're going to get it anyway. So becoming a millionaire becomes automatic.
- [46:14]
A
Yeah.
- [46:14]
B
When you focus on the cash flow, dude.
- [46:17]
A
Yeah, 100%. I completely agree with that. It's like you get the best of both worlds. You know, the appreciation's coming at some point and you can never really control that anyways. So why would you try and only invest for that when you can do both, you know? So that didn't answer your question. I'm happy.
- [46:33]
B
That's a good step one.
- [46:34]
A
Steps.
- [46:34]
B
That's like step one is like define what it is you actually want. Like get clarity on. You actually want.
- [46:39]
A
Yeah.
- [46:39]
B
Is it a million dollars or is it a lifestyle that a millionaire lives? There's like four hour work week. Like there's a, he says, like, do you want to be a multimillionaire or you just want to have the lifestyle of a multi millionaire? I think we just want the lifestyle of it.
- [46:50]
A
Yeah.
- [46:50]
B
And you get that from cash flow. You get that from whether real estate or business or whatever.
- [46:53]
A
Yeah.
- [46:54]
B
All right. But people that are, you know, before 30, they're 20, 25 years old, they don't have a lot of money.
- [46:59]
A
Yeah.
- [46:59]
B
So how do you, how do you become a millionaire? How do you buy, how do you get $10,000 a month in cash flow or a million dollar net worth when you have no money to start with?
- [47:06]
A
Yeah, yeah. You want specific, like investing strategies or.
- [47:10]
B
So what would you do?
- [47:11]
A
So the first thing I'm gonna start with is like one, define your dream lifestyle. Like what do you like close your eyes right now. Five years from now? Yeah, we'll say five years from now, 10 years from now, whatever. Like, what is your dream day look like? What does your dream Life look like? Where do you live? What, what's the environment? Like, what's your work schedule? Like, what is your work? What does your family look like? You have kids? And the reason I say that is because that's motivation. And when things get tough, like you have to have that like goal or that why? Or something you're. You're pushing towards. And that step one, dude, every single time, step one. Because when I see people start down the path and then they. Something happens and they get derailed, it's because they're no longer motivated. Like as soon as it comes to the point where you have to actually put in the tedious work and like the honeymoon phase is over of learning real estate and now it's actually got to do it, that's when they fall off. So. So gotta have that, like, know what you're doing, know what you're chasing. And then reverse engineer that. I would say that's probably step two. Reverse engineer. Like what does it look like to live the life that you want? I talk about like three. Three freedom numbers. You know that your first one is like basic necessities to cover. Like what does it look like? I remember as a college kid googling what's the average income in. In my county. And I still remember. Cause it was like 42,000 bucks. And I don't know if it's gone. I hope it's gone up since then. Like I hope it has. But I remember like that was now a goal of mine. Cause I'm like, as soon as I get here, like I'm making passively what people are making actively. And that was such a cool milestone. But I think it's important to like, hey, in order to. In order to get where I want to be. What does it take? You know, passive income wise. But anyway, that was level one is just like cover my. My basic expenses, my bare needs, not living the life that I want, but it's covered. Level 2 is replacing my job right now. Like, what would it look like to replace my job and cover all my expenses? You know, like where you're actually working now you don't have to work. And then level three is like that I try not to cuss, but like that fu. Money, right? That like. Like, hey, I can do whatever I like. This is what I'm really chasing. This is my big goal. But I would say level two. Yeah. Get clear on like reverse engineering. What does that lifestyle look like? Because it becomes even more real. And then you start to put that together. Okay, I need this many Deals that cash flow this much money in order to get there, right? Then you can figure out the how. Like the bigger the why, the easier the how. And so the next step you look at like just like gps, you put in your destination, you know where you want to go. That's the first step, right? The next step is knowing like where you're at. So number three would really be like, you need to understand exactly where you are, exactly what you have to work with. I'm telling you how to get somewhere, depending where you start, is going to be completely different instructions and directions on how to get to the same destination, even the same destination that we're all going to. So you gotta be clear on where you're at. Like a lot of people, and this is a good example, a lot of people, you know, they have a ton of equity in their house and they haven't tapped into it and they're like, I can't invest real estate, I don't have any money. A lot of people have this crazy good skill set of like, maybe it's sales or maybe they, you know, they're good at talking to people or whatever it is. Maybe they're good at finding deals. Like, what are your strengths and how can you utilize those to your advantage in building that safe passive income as fast as you can? And so the other thing that I would say just with that is once you have that clarity of exactly where you're starting at, and it helps to get outside eyes too, and people pointing out like, hey, you have this or you're good at this. It's kind of like the springboard because now you can craft your exact path or what strategies am I going to use based on now I know where I am, now I know where I'm going and what I'm chasing. Now the next four steps or however many steps we're doing is just like, what are the strategies are going to get me there to allow me to utilize where I'm at to the best of my ability?
- [50:51]
B
What strategies you like? If we were talking real estate specifically for somebody younger to get that million dollar, is it vacation rentals? House hacking? Burr, like, what do you like?
- [51:00]
A
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think almost just kind of going back to, to my story a little bit, right? Like house hacking, house hack hopping. And then from there, like, like I said, you're building up and those might take you the longest to do, right? But like you're learning a lot along the process. You're figuring a lot of it out. Seller financing I love because you can create this win win scenario and you can get these low down, you know, properties that, like, a lot of times you have these sellers that are like, hey, I don't want to worry about paying all this capital gains. But then I also love this cash flow that comes from this property. But then I hate it every time, like something leaks or the roof goes out or whatever, I have to replace it and I just have to stress and worry about it. And I'm paying a property manager, but a lot of times they haven't raised rent in 10, 15 years, right? So you can see this opportunity, like, hey, I can come in here, I can negotiate a low down payment, right? Cause I'm using the resources I have, right? I'm trying to get the biggest return out of the least amount of money possible. And usually not always, but like, the highest cash on cash return is going to come from when you use the least amount of your own money. Typically, that's how it works. So if I can strategize, hey, how can I put this lower amount down? Which seller Financing, like I said, is a great way to do that. And it might take you like, like asking a hundred people if they're interested. Like, it doesn't matter, you know, if you're willing to put in the work, you're gonna find one. And so then you come in, you raise the rents a little bit maybe, you know, and you're obviously cash flowing from there without putting a lot of money down. That'd be like one thing after the house, hack, house, hack, hop. And then after that, I think partnering, dude, like, because you have enough experience at that point, at least. Like, this is how I did it where I invested so much. And it doesn't have to be money, right? Like now I think there are shortcuts you can take where you can, you can pay money. Like, you have a program like that. I have a program like that where we literally, like, it's a shortcut, right? Like if you pay to play, but it's a huge, huge shortcut. And you save time, money, energy, resources. But like, even if you're not in a spot to do that or willing to do that, like I said, I learned from you, dude. I learned from your books. I learned from just hours and hours. It's actually like weird because I, I knew all like your little jokes and you like little stuff about you that, like, stuff that you would never know unless you, unless you like, liter. Just like, oh, that was five years ago he said that. But it was like this intro to this and he just like made this comment and then I'm like, oh, that went to the back of my mind. And anyhow, just wild. But anybody can do that, right? They can. Like that's free. Just put in the work. And so once you learn that and you have that skill set now, you find somebody else with a partnership. And I think the biggest key to partners where people mess up is they find someone that has the exact same strength that they do. Like, if you have a lot of money, you find somebody else with a lot of money. If you don't have a lot of money and you love real estate, you partner with somebody that doesn't have a lot of money in leverages and it doesn't do anybody any good. You need someone that complements each other. And so a lot of people with money, a lot of times, like time is their most valuable asset. Right. So if you can put yourself in a spot where you're like, hey, I have the time. And I found this deal and I learned and I'm an expert now. Okay, you have the money and you want to put it in a deal. Like, I just, I just barely raised 600,000 bucks for a deal. Guess what? The down payment is $600,000. Like I didn't come with any money. And both of us will cash flow about 20,000 bucks a month from one deal. So on his end, he stoked out of his mind because he's like, dude, I didn't have to find this deal, I didn't have to stress about it. And I'm putting in 600k, but I'm making 20k a month. This is amazing. And for me, I'm like, cool. I didn't have to do anything, any of the work except. Or I did all the work. I found the deal. But after that I didn't have to like work for all this money. So that's awesome.
- [54:31]
B
What kind of deal was that? Would you buy that?
- [54:33]
A
It's a glamping. It's a glamping project. Yeah. So it's. Yeah, just vacation Airbnb. But you know, that brings up a point that I geek out on it.
- [54:42]
B
Yeah. I think that still maybe we can kind of end this little segment here of the how to get rich before 30 with this idea is that I'm curious if you agree with this. And it sounds like by that, by that deal, it does. The best cash flow is not in just boring, normal, typical rentals. It's in some sort of unique industry that's more business related, like glamping. Or I do mobile home parks or assisted living. They're all like the more business side and they seem to produce way better cash flow than just going to buy a rental house that's on the mls. Would you agree?
- [55:09]
A
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, there's a little more work into it. Right. Which is probably why, like you said, it feels more like a business. But yeah, like the stuff too, that it's. There's a barrier to entry. You know, like a lot of people can just throw money down on a random 4 Plex, or they assume, oh, this is an apartment, so it's going to be really good. So I'm just, I have a lot of cash. I just sold my business, I'm just gonna buy this apartment complex. Whereas the other stuff takes a little bit more work.
- [55:34]
B
Yeah, I think in the money is in hard. Like, that's what I think most people get wrong in the world is that money is in the difficult things. So almost everybody I know that's not in like our world, they see something difficult and they go, okay, I don't want to do that. So what's the easier option? What's the easiest house to buy? If I'm gonna buy a rental, what's the easiest rental to buy? But there's never money in what's the easiest.
- [55:52]
A
Yes.
- [55:53]
B
All the money is in what's the hardest. What's the thing I have to figure out and work and sweat and cry and stay up until three in the morning trying to figure out how to pull it off? Yeah, that's where the money's at.
- [56:02]
A
Yeah, no, that's so good. And that not just the money, that's where like the growth is. That's where the. Yeah. You know, if you do what's easy, life's hard. If you do what's hard, life's easy. And it's just like. I guess it applies to real estate, I guess it applies to finances as well. Is everything else in life.
- [56:17]
B
What's your worst real estate deal you ever did? Ooh.
- [56:24]
A
What story do I tell? Worst is like, lost the most money, biggest headache, or sure regretted the most.
- [56:33]
B
What came to mind when I first said it? Something popped in your head and you're like, oh, I don't know if I want to tell that story.
- [56:38]
A
Yeah, no, I actually, I actually, I actually don't have a lot of deals that I've lost money on. To be honest. I don't know if I have any. But like, I have horror stories for sure. And the one that popped into my mind was we bought this house and the guy that was already renting it, he happened to be a contractor. So he said. And so we're like, oh, this is going to be perfect. We need to fix up the house and we can trade him work for rent. And so it'd been like three months. And I'm like, all right, he's got to make some progress. I've been sending materials, like, to the house. He's been going to, you know, Home Depot. And I've been. I've been calling and like, paying on my card, you know, with him. He hands the phone to the register, whatever, and I pay for it. And he tells you what's being paid for. And so, like, three months go by and I'm in town. So I drive by this house and I'm like, one. It looks the exact same, just like all messed up and beat up. And I knock on the door and they open the door, it was the wife. The husband was gone. And I could see back in there. I'm like, what is going on? I could smell it. That was the worst thing. I could smell it, you know, And I'm like, what's happening? And the basement was kind of like unfinished. And so one of the things is he was doing all the drywall. And at this point, I've spent like tens of, well, probably a little over $10,000, right, just on materials. And then, not to mention, he's not paying rent. And I. And I'm like, can I come see the progress on this thing? And I go down there and it looked like a four year old had, like, cut little pieces of drywall. Like, not even cut them. Like, broke them in half and like, glued them to, like, the. It was horrible. It was so bad. It was so bad. And so I'm like, yo, what's going on? This wasn't the deal. This wasn't what we agreed on, what we talked about. And I gave him another chance to try and, like, fix it, you know, and that didn't go down. And so eventually.
- [58:22]
B
Well, that always works well, doesn't it?
- [58:23]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Well, you feel guilty, like, hey, I have my kids, and I'm like, this is especially you, Brandon. No, I don't know. Maybe people know this, but you're like the softest guy that exists, period. Snowball.
- [58:39]
B
Yeah, I'm a nice guy. We are opposites.
- [58:42]
A
Has Alex not rubbed off on you yet?
- [58:44]
B
He's getting there. Zero. We argued today, and I'm pretty sure I won, so whatever. I always think I always win. I always win. That's the thing. I can be. I can win and be kind.
- [58:54]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't need to be angry when you're always winning. That's the.
- [58:58]
B
You don't need to be angry or get upset when you write the checks. That's the thing. That's the rule. I always win. I quit.
- [59:07]
A
Anyway, so.
- [59:08]
B
Yeah, so that worked out really well.
- [59:10]
A
Yeah. Yeah. So ended up, like, evicting them. And I remember. I remember because they're supposed to be out by this certain time. Of course, they weren't out. Long story. After they. After they got out, he wasn't happy, which is an interesting thing. Of course he's not happy. He's getting kicked out of his free house, and he hasn't done anything. And I'm like, where did all the materials go that I bought? I think he was selling them. And anyhow, so he took, like, a sledgehammer before he left all the walls, just opened them up. There's. Oh, just left all this stuff. Trash. Like, imagine like a toilet trash can and kitchen trash can just spread out all over the house. And so he did. He did whatever he could just to. To go out with the bang. And so anyhow, it, like I said, had somebody else come in, and aside from, like, what I was out materials and letting them live there for free, I ended up flipping that house and still made a little bit of money on it. So it worked out all right.
- [60:03]
B
That's the great thing about real estate. Real estate is the most forgiving asset class. A lot of stuff can go wrong, and if you just wait a little bit, it usually goes right.
- [60:11]
A
Yeah.
- [60:12]
B
Which is why being able to hold on to property is so important. If you can hold on long enough, you'll almost always be fine.
- [60:17]
A
Oh, yeah, dude, look at most people and, you know, oh, wait, they're wishing they would have held on.
- [60:21]
B
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
- [60:22]
A
Actually, anybody, like, what's your biggest regret? Yeah. And that was actually the second thing that popped my mind after you said that was like, the worst real estate you deal you did is like. Like, is the house. Yeah, I sold that. I shouldn't have sold. You know, I'm like, that was the worst deal I did. Because I know what that would look like if I would have held on to that. And I think a lot of people would say the same thing.
- [60:40]
B
That's a great perspective. I often think of, like, I, you know, I've. I've said the same thing. I don't. I've only lost money on one deal ever. It was One flip I lost like 10 grand on. It sucked. And so I say, I, yeah, I really never lose money on real estate. Just one time. But no, I've lost a lot of money on real estate. I sold my first house for $90,000, worth 500 today. Sold my other house for 220. It's worth 800 today. So I've lost a lot of money in real estate, but I've lost it by selling too early.
- [61:06]
A
Yeah. And, and on the flip side of that, I think, like, I always look as an opportunity cost, you know, and like some of the ones that I, I have sold, I'm like, oh, this I, I wish I would have kept it, but I'm like, you know, if I look at that, I did make that money that I rolled into this and I wouldn't. And, and then I took that and that rolled into this. And so I'm like, I wouldn't have had that if I didn't do that. So I think there's, there's pros and cons, and everyone has their own timing. And I also think too, it's like you invest with the, the worst case scenario in mind, not the best case scenario in mind. And that's the key to not losing a lot of money. You know, anytime you're like, oh, this is this pencils. When everything's like, looks perfectly and then all of a sudden one thing goes wrong, you're in trouble. Like, I'd rather, hey, worst case scenario, does this thing still work and it still pay itself? Then I know, like, average case scenario and best case scenario, it's going to absolutely crush it.
- [61:58]
B
That's great, man. So you're one of the most in shape people that I know. Like, just looking at you, you're. You're super in shape. You've run 174 mile ultra marathon, is that right?
- [62:08]
A
Yes. Hopefully no one's watching on YouTube. As long as they're listening, then I would say yes.
- [62:13]
B
Yes. All right. How does fitness play into your life and how does that assist or not assist your business and real estate life?
- [62:21]
A
For starters, the easy answer is like, how you feel is how you function. You know, if you feel good about yourself, you feel good about your body, whether that's like looking in the mirror and being happy with what you see or whether that's just like, hey, I feel healthy, right? Like, I feel I can, I can. If I get ran over by a grandma in the parking lot, like, I can fight back. Right? Like, whatever. However you feel is how you function. So that's important for me. Like, it's just a part of my routine where if I. If I'm missing that in my day, I just don't feel as good, you know, I just feel better when I'm doing it. So I feel like when I'm working out allows me to perform, you know, at my highest peak. And then the other side to it, like, just kind of. We just talked about, like, if you do what's easy, life's hard. If you do what's hard, life's easy. I. I remember, like, I wrestled for. For like a. I was two years. It was like middle school right before, for high school. I never want to be known as, like, the wrestler kid, you know, but.
- [63:15]
B
Like, from now on, you will always be known as the wrestler kid. Can we agree? The wrestler Brody. The wrestler kid.
- [63:23]
A
Oh, man, this I'm doing to myself. He had like, all the cool basketball players and. Are you writing that down? Like this is. He's making a note right now. I gotta remember to call Brody. This. The rest of his life is this one the office.
- [63:35]
B
Because I don't want to be known.
- [63:36]
A
As like, a guy.
- [63:37]
B
You're the fire guy.
- [63:41]
A
But man, that taught me so much. Like, so much. Just like, talk about sucky practices and it's one versus one, you know, and you're in this situation where it's just like, it's so tough. But then it taught me so much. And I think that then I ran track and that was like, you're on your own. I took state and track in high school. And man, just like, you want something so bad, you don't have any excuse. You can't blame it on anybody else. If you lose, it's your fault. And so I think anytime you're training for something like that, when you have that high level of accountability to where you're like, if it is to be, it is up to me. There's nobody else I can blame. It's just going to be me and so forth for that, like, fitness and like, you know, like the, the ultra marathon that I ran with my wife that you're talking about. It's ranked one of the top three hardest foot races in. In the world. Like, doing something like that and accomplishing that feat. I didn't even realize it at the time, but, like, it changes everything. Like, it changes everything, dude. Like, I. Anytime something hard that comes up. I can't tell you how many times my wife and I have said this to each other. Is like. Like something we don't want to do we're like, really tired. And like, even, even I remember, like, we're working on this house and it was like, probably 2 2am because we. It was an Airbnb and we had people checking in the next day. Right.
- [64:56]
B
I've been there.
- [64:58]
A
Yeah. You're like, why am I doing this again? Like, why, why? How did I end up with the hammer in my hand? You know? Anyhow, we always say, like, hey, at least we don't have 50 more miles to run tonight. And it's the amount of times we've said that. It just goes to show, like, accomplishing something like that or like any. Anything physical that you're proud of, that you put in the work that you did, you get to rely on that for the rest of your life. You get to pull on that. Like, when things are. When things are hard and things are tough. And like, I don't want a hard life from a standpoint of like, things happening or go through trials or anything like that. But, like, I know that when those come up, like, I'm as prepared as I can be because I've paid the price in a lot of other areas.
- [65:37]
B
Why would you do 174 mile ultramarathon? Like, where was that? Like, you're like, hey, honey, I got a really great idea. Let's go run to, I don't know, the mainland.
- [65:49]
A
So it's funny, it was actually the opposite. She said to me it was her idea. It was her idea, man.
- [65:54]
B
And like, she is pretty hardcore like that. She's awesome.
- [65:56]
A
She is pretty hardcore. Yeah, she is pretty hardcore. And it was crazy because she was kind of going through. We had a miscarriage and she was kind of like, just like, kind of like lost herself for a second from that standpoint of, like, we just found out about that. And like, anyone's gone through that is, like, is super tough. Right? On so many levels. And so she needed something to kind of distract her and get this. She. She sees this in a magazine and I'm like, who reads magazines? Or like, where did even. We don't even get magazines. I don't know if it was like one of those free things that came in the mail, but this race, you get a bunch of people that from all over the world that run. And so you have to apply to run it. It's capped at a certain amount of people. And you wear your. Your country flag, like, on your arm. And. And obviously I'd ran and we'd both ran marathons and we enjoyed running long distance running, but nothing to that extent, by any means. And I remember she called me because when I was doing door to door still at the time, and she's like, hey, do you want to apply for this race? And she's like, tell me a little bit about it. I'm like, oh, it sounds cool. I'm also thinking there's no chance that we're going to actually get accepted into something like this. And I'm like, yeah, sure, you can apply. A few weeks later, we actually got accepted, so now we're like, oh, crap. And there's not a lot of time before this race either.
- [67:15]
B
How much competition is there for this that you have to compete for the spot for this 175 mile. There's a lot of crazy down the door to get people out there.
- [67:24]
A
Yeah, I mean, I just say that to make it sound like it was like a lot of people wanted to do it. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
- [67:32]
B
The race runner, the race people in charge were like, hey, we got two people applied. Bunch of morons.
- [67:38]
A
We're the only ones that paid. Everybody else got it for free. It's probably true. That's what I was thinking. Like halfway through the race, you're like, dude, why did I do this? But yeah, man. So got accepted and this was a crazy time because, you know, I'm. I'm. We were living in Texas and I'm running this, this sales team of 20 something, you know, salespeople. And. And I'm trying to work and perform. And I remember one of my leaders came into town. They'll do that every month and do a meeting and whatever, do some trainings. And he's like, you look like a ghost, man. What happened to you? Because we had to get our miles in and so a lot of it just time on your feet and time on the trail. And so it was hours of running in the morning and then I'd have a full day of work. And so it was a lot, but it was the best time. Even just training for the race was so good for my wife and I. Speaking of no distractions, like we were talking about earlier, like, you're running, you're on a trail, you and your wife, the sun's barely. It's dark when you start, you know, like, it's quiet, it's pretty, like good smells and nobody's around you. And so the conversations and just like, was so good for us and it was so fun and so, yeah, why did I do it? I kind of got, like I said, roped into it somehow. I do, like, hard things And I'm like, okay, this could be a cool, fun thing to do. But yeah, I was asking myself that multiple times when the race actually started. Like, why am I, Why did I do this? And about 70% of the race is sand and it's hot, and so you get a lot of blisters. Anyhow, this is a crazy story. I don't even know if you knew this, but like 100 miles into this 174 mile race, my wife. So she passes out, right? And a lot of people don't finish just because they get hot. And it's food and like, like, you gotta carry all of your own supplies. It's self supported, so aside from water, no one can help you with anything or else you're disqualified. Right? And she's like, she's passed out before. Like, just didn't, you know? I remember being like in Cancun and it got really hot and like, she didn't eat a lot or whatever. But this time it was different because it was like, it was like 10 seconds to, like, wake her up. And so I was like, pretty nervous. I'm like, hey, like, are you good? Like, what's going on? And they have eight doctors for this race that kind of follow you throughout the whole thing just to make sure everybody's safe and all this stuff. And you have checkpoints you have to make it to and time caps. And anyhow, one of the doctors comes over and is like, just helping her out, you know, making sure she's good. And we're like, trying to figure out, like, what's going on, what could happen. And he just asked, he's like, there's not a chance you could be pregnant, right? And. And we're both like, no, there's not a chance. Like, literally both, like, no. And then, well, there's always a chance. And so he's like, I got criticized for this from all the other doctors, but, like, I have pregnancy tests in our, like, gear bag or whatever. And he's like, everybody laughed at me when I put it in there. Like, we're in the middle of the desert. Like, we're not. You're not gonna need this. And he's like, I just feel like I should bring it. So I brought it. And so, long story short, middle of nowhere, 100 miles into this race, my wife goes and pees on this stick and finds out she's pregnant.
- [70:41]
B
That's amazing.
- [70:42]
A
So crazy. Crazy. And that's. And that's Mia, you know, my youngest one, that's her dude. And so it's man. It was cool because that's why we did it in the first place or why she wanted to do it. Didn't even realize that till, you know, looking back, like, how much of a cool blessing that was. But, yeah, dude, just so many times.
- [70:59]
B
Like, your daughter's also run an ultra marathon. That's great.
- [71:01]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [71:02]
B
Everyone's like, I hope she tells people that. Like, Yeah, I ran 174 miles. I was in someone's belly.
- [71:07]
A
That's true. Hey, that's true. Yeah. Everyone's like, you should name her. You should name her Sandy. Or you should name her, like, like, hilly or, like, all these names everyone's coming up with. But. But my wife actually, like, finished the race. All the doctors were like, hey, is it good for and safe for her to finish? And they're like, yeah, we feel like she's good. And so. And I was like, one. I was so happy because I'm like, dude, we're got through the hardest part of this race. I know her, and I know me. Like, we're gonna have to come back and do it again if we drop out now. And then the other thing was, like, I couldn't complain the rest of the race because anything I said, it was like, well, I'm pregnant and I'm still doing this, so. Oh, man. But, yeah, just for sure, the hardest thing I've done, for sure.
- [71:46]
B
What a blessing to go through challenge like that with your spouse. Right. Like, nothing forges a better bond than doing something extremely difficult together, whether it's military, like Alex, or whether it's Whatever. But, like, when you do that sort of activity with your spouse, like, yeah. I mean, Heather have never been closer than when we go through hard times, whether it's our choosing of a hard time, like, we're doing a challenge, like, hey, we're gonna do P90X together.
- [72:08]
A
Yeah.
- [72:09]
B
Or whether it's brought on to us, like a miscarriage, or, you know, like, those are the times you just draw closer together.
- [72:15]
A
So, yeah. No, it's so true. And I'd rather do that intentionally and create that than unintentionally. Like, let's manufacture the hard stuff so that, you know, it doesn't just come at us and we're not ready for it.
- [72:26]
B
Well, speaking of your wife, what do you love about her?
- [72:29]
A
Oh, if you were to ask me, like, when we got engaged and I married her, I'm like, someone say, like, why would you marry. Why are you marrying your wife? Or why are you. Whatever. Why do you want to Marry her, I would say, because she supports me. But then I feel like we got married and there was like a bait and switch there. Like, I'm like, where'd all the support go? I'm just kidding that this is a.
- [72:46]
B
Social media clip 100%.
- [72:48]
A
That sounds bad. That sounds bad. There's some truth to that. And I always say that to her and like, wait, wait, wait. How did this. Now this shows.
- [72:55]
B
I thought you're supposed to serve me all day long and be my, my helper, but all of a sudden you have a real life.
- [73:00]
A
What's going on? I know, right? No, but, dude, I mean, she's like. When you talk about all the principles of like, like dedication and like, what it takes to being disciplined and being. She. She has a, you know, a woman fitness app, you know, and. And she, she, dude, she's an entrepreneur. She crushes it. But like, she. I see it every single day. Like, she was awake at 4:30am this morning. I'm still laying in bed. Like, I see her run past our window and this is like 4:45 at this, at this point, you know, like, she's getting up, getting after it, getting it done, man. Like, I just appreciate that about, like, she, she practices what she preaches, but like all those things, like the discipline, like, hey, this, like, I'm getting a phone call. Guess what? It's not during my work hours. Like, I'm not answering it. Oh, it's past this time. Guess what? I put my phone away. Like, I put my phone in the bathroom when I go to bed at night, and it's not sitting right. Like, all the things that you hear you're supposed to do, like, like, don't eat that you shouldn't, you know, whatever. Like you said you're gonna do this. She told me the other day, because I've been traveling a lot and I just gotten home like two days ago, and so my schedule was. Was all messed up. It was four hours behind. And so I'm like, getting up at five is really, really early. And so I slept in a little bit longer. And I was like complaining to her saying like, man, that threw off my schedule because. Threw off when I was in a workout, threw off like getting started, getting going, dah dah. And she's like, did you decide the night before that that you were gonna sleep in? And I'm like, well, no, I didn't decide. I decided when I, When I went to wake up and I realized how tired I was. She's like, yeah, I don't Let myself sleep in. Unless I decide the night before. Because if you sleep in the next morning, it's because you're feeling it in the moment. You're making a decision in the moment. Not something that's been pre planned, but like, we all can say that, but like she actually freaking does it. And so, I mean, one of the many things. And she's an amazing, amazing mom. And just, oh, man, she's tough.
- [74:43]
B
But why are we talking to Brody? Let's get her here. I think she'll come on next week. That's why I told her not to come today. So we can interview them both separately. Yeah, let's do it. Next. Let's see if she's our next week.
- [74:50]
A
Yeah, the next.
- [74:51]
B
Yeah, next episode, when this comes out. Next episode. Like, let's have your wife.
- [74:55]
A
Cool.
- [74:56]
B
Okay, we're going to do it or else I'm going to edit this part out and it won't make it in the show. It's logistically difficult. But still here. This part of the video recording is still here. She's coming on next week.
- [75:06]
A
Or you might just delete this episode. Once you, once you interview her, you're.
- [75:09]
B
Just like, oh, yeah, she's waiting.
- [75:11]
A
Yeah, we don't even need.
- [75:12]
B
We don't need Brody. All right, man. Couple more questions I want to get into, related to your wife, the fires in Maui. I know she really stepped up in a lot of ways, but can you walk us through what was your experience with that when the, when the fires hit and then what was your experience throughout it? And then I want to know kind of your views today on how things are going and et cetera.
- [75:29]
A
So, yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously a hot topic right now, right? The whole world, the whole world knows about what happened. And it's interesting when something like that happens is you get a lot of different stories. And I think it's the first time in my life where I'm like, dude, I lived it, you know, like, I mean, not from a standpoint of like, our house didn't burn down or anything like that. You know, a lot of our friends homes did, you know, we know people that died in the fire. But like, other than that, I was in the heart of it, like throughout everything happening. You know, people say, oh, you live in Maui? Like, no, I live in Lahaina, where the fires happened, you know, and so even driving over here, like, you drive, you think, oh, it's been a few months, everything's gonna be back to normal. And you, you look out the windows, you're driving through town and it's, you see black and ashes and it's flat. You know, it just, it's still the same as far as like it looked right after it all burnt down. You know, nothing's changed. It's not going to change for a few more years with all that. Right. So it's very real, it's very raw. You know, we're, we're so blessed. Like we consider ourselves so blessed. And it's, it's interesting because even when I moved to Maui, like at first, you know, it's been whatever a year or two and first time I got here, I'm like, I'm moving back. Brandon's not that cool.
- [76:42]
B
Keep it coming, man, keep it coming.
- [76:44]
A
No, I'm just kidding. But like when we, we move, moved out here, like we didn't know why to be honest. Like, we spent some time in, in like the Virgin Islands and we like, we knew we wanted to buy a house on an island somewhere and I told you I moved out here. Like we committed to six months and the way we bought our house, it's multi unit and all these things. We're like, oh, we can live in one unit and then you know it's going to be a great investment, yada, yada, yada, whatever. And we committed to six months and then we have never left. And so like while we're there, we're like, man, like, this is awesome. We love it, we love the lifestyle, we love everything about it here. It's why we're still here. But like, didn't still really know like why we were meant to come here. And I really feel like during that whole fire situation it answered those questions and it's like, dude, this is why we were supposed to be here. And you know, we just got so much closer to the community in general throughout that whole thing. But there's so many different things to speak to on here, I think during the fire and like as it happened, there's all the chaos there and I know a lot of people have questions on that or like, what was that like? Or how did that go down? And most people didn't even know either because you didn't get a text message, you didn't get. Power went out, you know, earlier that day and once the power went out, cell phone, you know, to call went out, we could still text, but that was about it. And we knew there's like powers went out because there's some fires up on the, the mountains and whatever. And I know you got, you even Got evacuated, right? So it's like there's. There's fires, different parts of Maui and different things going on. It was. Which at the time knew nothing about. I think it was a little bit. It was that night that you got evacuated. But like, you just assume it's up in the hills somewhere and that's kind of where it started. But communication, man, like, if you don't have that communication. That's one of the things I learned, especially post fire, is like, man, there's no communication. It causes a lot of problems. It's like, how do you communicate just in general on a daily basis? Because it is so key. But I remember texting my wife. She was just leaving one of our friend's house. We can't call. So we're texting and it's like weird text messages. Like, she's saying, like. Like, I don't know if I'm gonna make it home. Like, what are you talking about? Because what I had done, I had better service at the beach. So I. I took my truck and I drove in the parking lot and I sat up there and I was, I was hotspotting. Don't ask me why hotspot worked, but you can't make a phone call. But. So I had my computer and I was hot spotting. I was just working right there. So she's texting me and the. The weather's fine where I'm at. Like, like, it's perfect. There's not a cloud in the sky. Obviously, we knew the power was out. She's telling me, like, hey, like, I don't know if I'm gonna make it home. Like. And then she's like, there's. There's power lines in the street. And then there was this scooter guy that, that came in front of her and she, like, she texted me, like, oh my gosh, I thought. I thought I saw somebody just die. It got stuck under a car. And she has her nursing degree and so she's like, I. The car actually backed over, backed over the person. And so I was making sure he was okay. And he got up and everything's fine. And, And. But she's like, I was nervous leaving the car because our kids were in there still. And it's so funny. Like, she's telling me all these things and texting me some of them. But like, she's like, I was planning on what I was gonna do if the jeep blew over. And like, I had to get the kids and run to the ocean, right? And it's just crazy. Because you don't think about those things and how blessed you are. And our friend's house, there was one point where she almost turned around. Cause she's like, my surfboard was gonna blow out of the back of the truck, and I didn't want it to blow away. And so I also didn't know, you know, how crazy it was gonna get. So I was gonna go back to our friend's house, but she didn't. It was a good thing they didn't because they evacuated our house, and their house caught on fire probably 20 minutes later. And so you kind of have it. And I actually talked to you. I don't know if it was the next day or the day after when I got some service, because you were like, hey, how can I help? What's going on? Like, would you need some help over there? Like, because they're not letting people really in or out at that point, so it's hard to know what's going on. And so, you know, I appreciated that. But I remember you and I talking, and this is actually probably like. Like, probably two days after it all kind of the initial fire happened. But you're like, yeah, it's kind of like the fog of war, you know, this is Brandon giving me, like, a pep talk when we're. We're. We're on the inside over here. But he's like, like, you've heard of that concept, right? The fog of war, you know? And I'm like, yeah, and it's so true. You know, in the moment, there's all this. All this stuff happening, and things are crazy around you and like, ah, you don't know which way's up, which way's down. And that's like the time to. To shine, you know, that's. That's like the separation season. That's like, what's going to set you apart, you know, as someone who's a leader and does something or doesn't, you know, not just this fire, but, like, you know, even with real estate, I think there's so many different directions to go. Even with life, there's so many different directions to go. But it's like, if you're in that fog of war, like, this is your opportunity, you know, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to, like, do what everybody else does and panic and freak out, or are you going to. To, you know, like, rise to the top and. And be a voice and be a leader? And so speaking of, like, my wife being, like a rock star, you know, like, what happened was that next morning, still didn't know how crazy things were. I got some service. I hiked up the top of this mountain and started realizing, like, all. All the damage and, like, how many people had died and, like, slowly starting to put the pieces together, talking different people and different things happening. It's so crazy because the whole world probably knew what happened at this point, but, like. Like, not us that were on the inside. You know, if no one's communicating to you and you don't have service, you. You have no idea how bad it was. And so started figuring that out. And then they were starting to let people evacuate, and you know how the island works. Like, there's a. There's a backside to get where I live, and not many people drive on that, but they opened it up to people to go around the backside. And so that was our first thought, you know, like, okay, cool. You got to get. Like, we don't know the fires are still burning. You know, like, we got to get, get. Get out of here. We don't have power. Luckily, we had solar with a backup battery. Like, that was huge lifesaver because it kept our fridge, you know, cold and stuff like that. And luckily, my wife had just went to Costco. You know, like, you have these little blessings. But so everyone started getting out. We packed up all of our stuff, and we're like, you know, you got to protect your family. That's, like, the first things first. And so we're on our way out, and some of our friends, they got a hold of us, and they were on. They'd already gotten out, and they're over at Costco, like, hey, we got a hold of this guy with a. With an airplane. He's going to fly some stuff over. If you want to be in, there's, like, a private airport really close to my house, and if you want to meet him and help unload all this stuff. And we're like, yeah. So some of our friends that hadn't left yet, we dropped our kids off with them, and my wife and I went to go help unload, you know, these distribution stuff. This is a tiny plane, right? And long story short, like, we. We go to this spot where a bunch of people are gathering, and we're just handing out, like, everything we have, you know, just whatever's in the back of my truck, and there's lines of people in. And we had been gone for probably two months before that, we were in Europe. And one of the reasons we came back this is two days before the fire that I Got back to Maui. One reason why we came back is because my little girl started first grade, so she's starting school. And so we got back, we went and did the parent teacher open night, or whatever they call it, right back to school night. Met the teacher, she's all excited, and her school was in the heart of Lahaina, which is crazy. Thinking about just a huge blessing that the next day school started, you know, and that's the hardest place to get in and out of. That's where the most damage was done with this fire. And so, so blessed that, like, there weren't kids there going to school and. And my daughter wasn't there, but here handing stuff out. And, you know, I see her teacher that's like, everything's normal, you know, that he's, the day before excited to have her in class, and she's excited to go. And then all of a sudden, everything's gone. His house is gone, has nothing, is literally, like, in line to get food and water and supplies because, like, has nowhere else to turn, right? People that I know, you know, like, in the community, people from my church, like, they're in line. And so what have happened is we. We ran out of stuff, you know, really quick. And there are other people helping too, of course, you know, and trying to get things over. But then you have people there with babies, and they're like, hey, do you have any baby formula? Like, hey, do you have any insulin? Hey, like, we need this. We need diapers. And we're like, like, there's no way that we can leave, you know, like, how do you leave people like that? Like, we have a car. We can get. How do you leave? And so, yeah, my wife, like, stepped. Stepped up for sure. And that was the next two weeks. We end up a week later. We. We had our parents come and grab our kids and just last two weeks we're, you know, at the airport, a bunch of flights coming in, and tried to raise as much money as we can. And so many people helping and all you guys over here helping and just, Just. It's interesting. And where my wife, like, really stood up and stepped up is speaking of fog of war, right? You don't know, like, who's in charge and, like, who to turn to. And that's part of the problem is if you don't have the title, people aren't gonna listen to you and respect you. And we didn't have the title, you know, we're like, just trying to help. And so my wife created the title, you know, she's Just like, I'm head of distribution. Like, this is what I'm doing. And, you know, it just turned into. It was crazy, like, to see what happened even today, like, she's still, like, going to meetings with the county, and she's the only one that doesn't for the county. That's, like, in part of this thing, because she, like, she put herself in it. You know, everyone else is. They're on payroll. You know, not like it's about money, none of that, but, like, they. They were hired for the job, to do the job, and. And she put herself there, and so she rose the occasion. And. And the biggest issue we were having is there were all these people that needed stuff, these district, different distribution points, but, like, they weren't communicating within each other of, hey, I need this, or I have enough of this. And so kind of put that system together, and it turned it into the point where like. Like, dozens of people a day. Hey, I'm supposed to talk to Andrea. Where's Andrea? Where's Andrea? At Planeswood Land? Like, hey, I can't talk to anybody. Andrea. I have to give this to Andrea. She probably got interviewed by, like, 15 or 20 different news stations. Like, I just. We need to talk to Andrea. She's head of this. And. And so, like, as I've thought about that a lot, I think just like, man, if you don't have a title and if you're gonna wait for someone to give it to you, like, you've waited too long.
- [86:24]
B
Yeah.
- [86:24]
A
You know, if you don't have the title and you. You want that title, whether that's real estate investor, whether that's. That's whatever, dad, husband, leader, like, create the title. You know, you just got to create the title and do it. A lot of times people say you need to grow there before you can go there. I think sometimes you just have to go there before you can grow there. And you'll grow into that.
- [86:43]
B
So that's wild, man. Yeah. I would love to talk to your wife more about her on, obviously, her side of all that and what went down, but in a much less, maybe much different way back when Covid came down, right. And all the. I mean, no one knew what was going on. I mean, it was a million stories, million problems. I remember, like, the landlord restrictions started coming up. Like, you can't evict, and you can't do this. And that started, like, pouring in early in Covid, and I started freaking out a little bit. Just like, what am I going to do? I got all these Tenants, I don't know, like, what if they don't pay rent? I'm going to do this. And I just got. I got nervous, I got fearful. And then I remember just making a decision that I was not going to be fearful, I was going to be confident. And I'm not always this way. And so this was a rare occasion where I was just like, no, I'm just going to be a leader in this. And I just sat down, I wrote down, like, here's the five things I'm going to do in order. If tenants don't pay rent, like, if this doesn't get better, here's what I'm going to do. Number one, I'm going to work with them on this. Number two, I'm going to try this. I'm going to look for government programs. And I was like, this is what I would actually do. Then I made a video, and it's like one of the most popular videos I ever made on the Internet. And everybody, like, there's hundreds of comments. Everyone's like, thank you. Finally, somebody figured this out. And it was. It's in that where I was like, I didn't actually know what to do. I just said, I just. I made a choice to be a leader in a hard time, and then 99 of people in the world would just look up, look to that person the same way your wife did.
- [87:59]
A
Yeah.
- [87:59]
B
And again, it's not like a. It's not a. It's not a title anybody gives you. It's just, you can step up and lead. And then the crazy part is, as soon as I did that, I wasn't afraid anymore. Like, I wasn't scared. It's just like, okay, well, this is what I do.
- [88:11]
A
Yeah.
- [88:12]
B
And, yeah, that's a good lesson for tragedy in general and hard times. You just be a leader instead of a scared follower.
- [88:19]
A
Yeah. It's interesting. I just. I just watched a movie on the. The airplane, and you probably know which. Which one it is, but it's a little bit older. It had to do with the submarines. And they went on this mission and basically they had to intercept something from this German submarine. And it was like some typewriter code thing. Yeah. You know, I'm talking about that. Yeah. Anyhow, so along the way, like, spoiler alert. But along the way, right, they, like, they have to pretend that, hey, they're Germans, and they have to get, you know, that they're, hey, we're here to help fix your submarine, when actually they need to get in the submarine to get this. You Know, device that decodes things or whatever. Long story short, the. The captain ends up dying, right? And there's another guy that's promoted to captain because the captain dies. At this point, there's a few people left, and the. The kids are scared. They're young. They're looking at him and like, like, what do we. What do we do now? You know? And. And he responds. He's like, like, like, does it look like I have all the answers? Like, I don't. I don't know. Like, I'm figuring this out, just like you guys are figuring this out. And then later, like, the older guy, you know, the. Wasn't the captain, but has all the experience and wisdom, and. And he looked at him. He. He actually, like, he's like, permission to speak freely? And he's like, yeah. And he, like, grabs him and he's like, don't you ever say that to them again. Like, the captain always has the answer. Even if you don't have the answer, you always have. Have the answer. And I'm like, dude, such a good leadership principle, you know?
- [89:43]
B
It is. Did you find it? Oh, There's a few. 571.
- [89:49]
A
Yeah, that's it.
- [89:49]
B
Yeah. Matthew McConaughey is in it. How did you forget this? All right, last question on the fires, and we'll move towards wrapping this thing up. But what do you think of all the conspiracy theories going on? People will want to know, like, how much, like, the blue roof. Like, why didn't the blue roofs burn or what other ones? Oprah is burning down everyone's property because Oprah wants all the land. Like, what. Where do you see the government wants to build Smart City over there, so they took all of it. There's lots of. But those probably the three most common.
- [90:15]
A
Yeah. Should we. Should we start a new one?
- [90:17]
B
Sure.
- [90:19]
A
Should we create a new one and see if it can go. See if it can go viral?
- [90:22]
B
It will, because people love conspiracy theory. They love to believe that there's a deeper reason to why tragedy happens. But.
- [90:28]
A
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean. I mean, first thing, I think I. I try to be more of an optimist. Right.
- [90:33]
B
One.
- [90:33]
A
I think that, like, it would take a lot of evil people to do something like that. And. And I like to think that majority of people are good, you know, like, majority of people are good. And I don't think you get that many evil people to kind of collaborate together, because that's a very evil thing now.
- [90:51]
B
It's hard to get two people. Like, when you hear, like, two serial Killers together. It almost never happens. Like, it's always like such a shock because there's two evil people that happen to find each other.
- [90:59]
A
Right?
- [91:00]
B
Yeah. That's not a normal story. Maybe gangs are an exception. Like, you get gangs, you kind of get that culture, but still it's not normal. High functioning, high paid, middle class people deciding, I'm gonna go murder today.
- [91:11]
A
Right? Yeah, yeah. And I think is what you talked about. People also just want. They're addicted to drama. They want stuff to talk about. They want like anything that they like, feel like we have to have an answer or something that makes sense to everything, you know? And yeah, I try not to like, get too distracted by all that stuff, but I had a conversation with my, my neighbor, this is here in Hawaii, and he's super into it, man. Like, everything. Oh, so into it. So into it. Such a good guy, but he's into it. And I just remember and he was moving his family. Like, he's like, we're getting out of here. I'm buying farmland in this other country. He had this whole plan. He showed me his tickets, he's flying out to do this, that and that. And I just said to him, I'm like, look, like if that's the case. And he was talking about that whole 15 minute city thing that you're talking about, you know, and like, and he's showing me the plans. He's like, this is, is this is right on top of our house. Like, like, what are they gonna do for our houses? You know? Like, that means our homes don't exist right here, you know? And, and I'm just like, okay, like, even if this crazy thing were to happen, and maybe it does and maybe it doesn't, and I'm like, first things first. You think anyone's gonna let you, like, take your land? Like, you, you see what happens? You know, who you're talking to with the locals here? Like, nobody's taking, no one's taking the land, you know, So I wouldn't be too worried about that. But I just said to him, like, like, man, there's so much energy that goes into like thinking about all this doomsday stuff. And I'm like, even if this does happen in 10 years from now, like, even if it does, like, I would rather be an optimist and I would rather fill my things with like, good positive hope over the next 10 years, even if it does happen, than I would like be stressing, worrying, moving. And I'm like, why do you live here? Like, why do you live On Maui, you know, why do you live here in the first place? And he's like, well, it's, you know, good weather, like, beautiful beaches, this, that, that. I'm like, you're gonna let someone take that away from you because of this, this idea of something that happened? You're gonna go move your family in another country, like, to get away from the government or whatever. I'm like, I don't want anybody being in control. Like, I want to be the one that's in control. I want to be the driver in my life, you know? Like, if you're always waiting for that external circumstance to dictate how you feel and what you do, dude, you're gonna be swayed left and right, and you're never gonna know what mood you're in from one day to the next. Instead, why not take the approach of, hey, whatever's going on, whatever's happening, I'm the one that's freaking in control. I'm in the driver's seat. And, like, you can burn my house down. You can do whatever. Like, it doesn't matter. I'm gonna come back, I'm gonna build back because I make the decision and, like, I'm the one that has the pen and to write my own story. Somebody else doesn't write my own story. I write my own story. And I can change it if I want to change it, and I can erase and start over, but, like, like, the end of the day, I'm the one with the pen, nobody else.
- [93:54]
B
What about Oprah? Does she have the pen?
- [93:57]
A
I don't know. We should bring her on.
- [93:58]
B
We should bring. If anybody has a connection to Oprah. I would love to talk to Oprah and tell her side of the story, but no, for those who don't know, Oprah does not live anywhere near Lahaina. If people knew Maui, like, they would know. She lives, like, an hour away and many, many miles away from the people. Just assume Maui is like the size of, you know, my, my, my seashed here. And so any spot happens to be next to Oprah, that's not the case.
- [94:22]
A
So.
- [94:23]
B
And Oprah's roof is not blue, so it's a normal looking roof. All right, man. Well, we'll get. We'll get part two here on. On Lahaina from your wife at some point in the near future.
- [94:32]
A
Yeah, she's got all the deets.
- [94:33]
B
Yeah. But let's move on to the last three segments of the show. This one's called the three, two, one pivot. The three, two, one pivot. Is basically three. The word pivot comes from the idea of you are going one direction and then your life takes a pivot. It changes because of something that you read, somebody you met and something you heard. So it's three pivot books, two pivot people, one pivot quote. What three books changed the direction of your life?
- [94:55]
A
Yes. I'm a big book guy. Books at different times have, like, changed my life. A few that kind of come to mind. Like one of them Free to focus. I think it's Michael Hyatt that wrote that. Yeah, got that somewhere.
- [95:06]
B
Yeah, it's either in here in the house. I just saw it the other day.
- [95:08]
A
Yeah, this is typical Brandon. Like, you talk about a book and he's like, hold on a second, I got something for you. He like, will go in his. I don't know where you go, like in your bedroom or you've got like a secret book?
- [95:17]
B
No, I got buried in my house, in my living room. That top shelf, like across my entire living room.
- [95:21]
A
Yeah.
- [95:22]
B
Anyway.
- [95:22]
A
Yeah, you've given me a few books like that. Here you go. So I love that. Like, at a time where like, things were busy and crazy and chaotic. Millionaire Success Habits by Dean Graziosi. Love that book.
- [95:35]
B
That's so funny.
- [95:35]
A
It's right there.
- [95:36]
B
We're just talking about that today. I literally. It's been in my house for two years and I brought it down like an hour ago to bring in my room.
- [95:42]
A
Have you read it yet?
- [95:42]
B
Yeah, it's great.
- [95:43]
A
So good. Yeah.
- [95:44]
B
So many good things in there.
- [95:45]
A
Yeah. I'm actually just looking at these books. That's what it is.
- [95:48]
B
It's just kind of a list behind me. No, that's. That's super funny. Nobody's ever mentioned that. But book. And today I brought it down here and I put it in my shelf, like just before you got here. Dude, that's. That's manifestation right there.
- [95:58]
A
Yeah, that's crazy.
- [96:00]
B
Anyway, keep going.
- [96:01]
A
But no, love that book, dude. Like, it's. I mean, it's just an easy. A lot of stuff we've talked about today, you know, just like that mindset of like a millionaire and just having that. It's just a simple, easy read that gets you in the right.
- [96:13]
B
Yeah, I didn't want to like it because I was like, ah, D. He's a late night TV guy. You know, he's selling courses. I mean, he was on TV long before, like when I was in high school, he was selling stuff. I was like, ah, it's not going to be good. I'm like, it's actually really good. Like, yeah, it was well made. So. Yeah.
- [96:25]
A
Yeah, it's crazy. Crazy how good it is. Like, the most recent book I read that, that I liked is 10x is easier than 2x.
- [96:31]
B
I love that book too. Just read that too. Phenomenal.
- [96:34]
A
Benjamin Hardy. So, so good. Just that whole concept in general is. And he gives a few examples of just even like real estate stuff. You know, I think it applies. Yeah, I know this isn't just a real estate show, but. But I mean it applies to more life principles and, than anything. But like, especially with real estate too.
- [96:51]
B
Alex, you read that 1 10x easier than 2x. I have not. Yeah, that's a good one. We should read it. Like, we should be like a better life thing. Everyone reads it and talks about it because it's like, it's a great book. I'm a bookaholic.
- [97:00]
A
Yeah, we actually messaged him. He sent us 10 books to, to give out. So like, oh, really? That's super nice of him. Yeah.
- [97:06]
B
Super good people. All right, that was the three pivot books. What about two pivot people? People have changed direction. Life.
- [97:12]
A
Yeah. So it's so hard. Like, you hear like, oh, I'm a self made millionaire. Whatever people say all the time, it's just like, there's definitely no such thing as a self made millionaire. And I think when I think of like, people that have changed my life, I go to like, certain things about certain people. You know, like, everyone's heard you never trade places or never take advice from someone you want to trade places with. You know, but there's, I think there's certain categories that you will take advice from in their life. And like, yeah, I would absolutely trade places with you in this specific category. And I feel like those are the people that have had the biggest kind of impact on me. I would say, like the first one, just one of my sales leaders early on. And he just inspired me to like, his name's Casey Bob. But like, inspired me to one, write down my goals every single day. It's called top 10. And I remember he's like, hey, if you do this for six months straight, I'll buy you a pair of shoes. And like, it seems so silly, but like, I'm like, okay, I set. Set the reminder of my phone. And then six months from now, I also set another reminder to make sure I followed up to get my shoes, you know, and never missed a day. But that was like eight years ago, dude. And it's. I. And that's what I Do. Oh, yeah, I got the shoes. Yeah, yeah.
- [98:19]
B
They still wearing them? No, no, every day.
- [98:23]
A
I haven't. I haven't worn them yet. They're in, like, trophy case. No, I'm just kidding. No, they're like 100 shoes. But it was. It was good because it instilled that habit of, like, writing my goals down every single day. And I remember. This is funny because he pretty much. I don't say forced me to go to this conference, but it was. It was 10,000 bucks. And that was like a big ticket for me at the time. And I remember, like, dude, can I even, like, really afford this? Is this smart? And, man, just it. That changed my mindset because now I was the person that, like, I invest in myself, and anytime I invest in myself, I get a return. And it just inspired me to, like, do those things. Think bigger. I remember one time I went to him. Sorry, I'm probably. I'm probably supposed to say a name and move on. No, man, I love this.
- [99:07]
B
We're going for a record podcast link.
- [99:08]
A
This is great, man.
- [99:09]
B
I love it.
- [99:10]
A
We're gonna have to. And once we edit all the bad stuff out, it's gonna be like the shortest podcast we don't edit. Man, I love it. No, but I remember I went to. I went to two mentors, right? And this is the time my wife and I were gonna buy a house that was more expensive than like. Like, we'd bought in the past. And, like, man, maybe she get these guys advice, you know, at the time, they're both probably worth, like 80 million bucks, right? Yeah, 80 million bucks. Now they're both worth over, you know, over, I don't know, a couple hundred million, right? And one of them, he's super conservative, and this isn't the guy that I'm talking about, but, like, he's helped me out a lot. And he's like, can you pay cash for it? I'm like, no. He's like, don't buy it. So I'm like, okay. And then I went to the seller mentor. He's like, like, can you afford it? I'm like, yeah. And he's like, is it going to inspire you, like, waking up there to do your best work? And I'm like, yeah, 100%, you know? And he's like, hey, if it's going to inspire you to, like, do your best work and live your best life, then. And you can afford it, do it. Like, no questions, do it 100%, do it. You know? And I just always remember that advice and that kind of stood out to me, you know, I love it. And it's an excuse to buy the. Yeah, that's the real reason I had.
- [100:22]
B
A friend tell me that about Hawaii when it was, like, when I was thinking about moving here here, I said, will you be more ambitious and inspired to be great in Hawaii? And I was like, I definitely would be. The rain of Washington, where rain 300 days a year.
- [100:34]
A
Yeah.
- [100:34]
B
Like, I will be more happy with, therefore, more energy. And it is 100% worked.
- [100:39]
A
So is it. Is it worth.
- [100:40]
B
Yeah, you know, I'm a little. Little happier now than I was before. Is that, like, the gym? That's how it is for me.
- [100:47]
A
Yeah.
- [100:47]
B
Probably. Like, if I go to the gym, I feel great. Yeah.
- [100:50]
A
But.
- [100:50]
B
And same thing, Sunshine.
- [100:52]
A
Yeah.
- [100:52]
B
I'm like, now I'm useful to the world. Yeah.
- [100:54]
A
That's what.
- [100:54]
B
It's tough being in an area where it rains all the time.
- [100:56]
A
Were you more soft or less soft?
- [100:59]
B
After you talk about my waistline, I was more soft. Moving on. One. One pivot quote. What's a quote that's impacted you? Changed your life a little bit.
- [101:11]
A
Yeah. I'm also a quote guy, too. So it's. I think I said one quote that made. Made an impact on me early. I've said a few of them, but, like, early on, it was just like, hey, I'm gonna sacrifice, you know, a few years of my life now so I can and live like most people won't. So later I can, you know, live the rest of my life like most people can't. And that was, like, good motivation to just like, grind it out in the moment and, like, hey, I'm. I'm building this. This foundation, you know, the. The other one, too. Like, if you do what's easy, life's hard. If you do what's hard, life's easy. Like, those things, it's funny. They've already. They've already came up, and I have a whole. Actually have a whole, like, hundreds of. Of notes in my phone of quotes. But, like. Like, my little girls, like, the same. Like, if you do, it's easy. And they're like, life's hard. If you do, it's hard. And they'll say, life's easy. And so just ingraining that those principles is. Has been super rewarding.
- [101:58]
B
I love it, man. All right, next segment. Past, present, future. Let's start with the past. What's your advice to your younger self?
- [102:05]
A
Be confident. Which is interesting, because if you ask, like, a lot of my friends or you ask. Ask anybody that was around me in high school, they would be like, what? Like, you were confident. I was student body president and like, oh, you, you were confident where you were, you know, as captain on, on football team, whatever. But it's just funny because I wasn't, dude, I wasn't confident. And I think that I would have reached like the next level in whatever I was doing had I been confident. And it's just, man, people love confident people. And I think that that's just how you like get there. You have to just like almost fake it till you make it, but just like, hey, I got this, I'm good. And, and I didn't, I didn't have that. You know, it was always just kind of like tippy toeing is what I felt like a little bit.
- [102:48]
B
What's something you've done in the past year implemented into your life? An action or habit or a routine that's given you a better life?
- [102:56]
A
Yeah, this is like such a good, a good question. Yeah. Yeah. Where did you come up with this? Chad. Chad. GPT. Let's get, you know, should we thank them? I'm just, I'm just, just kidding them.
- [103:09]
B
ChatGPT is a them. Okay.
- [103:11]
A
Yeah.
- [103:11]
B
Or even pronouns to chat. GPT.
- [103:13]
A
It's Oprah and her, her, her employees. They live on the island of in the blue roof. In the blue roof, dude. So, so I started a mastermind group this, this year and I talked to you a lot about it. I'm in your mastermind group, but we meet quarterly and this is the first year I've done that. Like, I've always wanted to do it. We just, we just had this last weekend was our last, last, you know, quarterly meetup for the year. And I told everybody, I'm like, I got more out of this than, than all the attendees, like, throughout the year. Hands down, that's probably like the, the newest thing that I feel like I've implemented. But it's been a good, a good chance to like be around people that are thinking big, doing big things and to just like be vulnerable, open up. Like, this is what I'm going through. This is what I'm trying to figure out, like any advice you have here and, and that's just kind of like that support system and that network. And, and even if somebody's like listening to this, they're like, oh, I can't afford yet to go to go pay to play or be in a mastermind. I remember like a few years back, I started something called the fire pit series and I just texted like, some of my friends that, like, they own businesses, they're doing cool things, and some of them are above me, some are below me, some the same level as me, but I'm like, hey, once a month on this day, if you guys want to come over, I have a fire pit, my house, I'll. Whatever gets some roast, some marshmallows. But, like. Like, bring your. Your biggest business problem, like, let's talk about it, you know, and we just went around the circle, spent two hours doing that, and it was. No one paid any money. No one did anything like that. But, yeah, I think, like, a habit like that. That's the last year that's probably made the biggest impact of my life.
- [104:47]
B
Love it. All right, last question of past, present, future. What do you want your legacy to be? What do you want people to talk about after you. You pass away? And they say, yeah, Brody was.
- [104:57]
A
Yeah. When I think of, like, who I want to emulate and, you know, you asked the question earlier on, I think mentors or something along the lines of that. Right. I think like, my grandpa. And if I were to describe him, I think of two words, and he's a hard worker and a man of God. And I always, like, remember those two things. And I'm like, oh, like, I want to be. I want to be like that. I want people to think of me and think of those things. And I had a real estate event that I hosted last week called the Investors Workshop. And someone that was there, she's like. She's like, hey, she gave me the best compliment that I've probably ever gotten, right? And she's like, I'm not trying to blow smoke up your butt, but, like, the reason I'm here is because of the life that you live. And, like, I see you and your. Your. Your wife on social media, and I see, like, from friends, and I'm like, well, you can't believe what you see on social media, so let's take. Let's take that out of it. But. But no, she's. There was like, such this genuine, like. Like, I'm here because I wanna. I wanna be you. Like, I wanna do what you're doing. And to me, it was such a big compliment because I'm like, I want to be the person that inspires people to, like, dream bigger, faster. You know, like, we're. You could ask somebody, like, what has Brody done for you in your life? And they're like, well, if you would have asked me what my dream life looked like before I met Brody, I would have said this, but, like, after being associated with him, you know, like my 10 year plan, I realized, like, I can do this in one year. And, you know, those things that I thought the impact that I was going to make, I didn't realize it was going to be 10x that, you know. And so, yeah, I just want to be that person that provides those type of experiences that people wouldn't normally have where you look back at the end of the year and like, like, what was the best part of your, your year? This year. And like, oh, that one time I did this, this and this with Brody or because of Brody. Like, to me, that's, that's like a good legacy. I want to live helping people live a, a bigger life. And I think a lot of times too, it's. Dude, I'm talking so much, man.
- [106:57]
B
Keep it, man.
- [106:57]
A
Golly.
- [106:59]
B
You're on podcast.
- [107:00]
A
Yeah, I don't even know what we're.
- [107:01]
B
You're literally invited on a podcast to talk.
- [107:03]
A
So, no, I, I, we're not at.
- [107:05]
B
Three hours yet, so we got time.
- [107:07]
A
Oh, man. Okay. Well, if people are still listening at this, at this point in time. No, dude, I think that I love this, like, faster concept and dreaming bigger, faster. And I just, I just went and bought the URL for, like, dreaming bigger, faster and dream bigfast.com and just because I love, love, love, love, I think we sell ourselves short thinking, like, cool. When I do X, Y and Z, and when I get to this point in my life, then, like, then, yeah, I'm gonna go, like, get this house in Hawaii or like, like, yeah, then I'm gonna go be able to do this or, like, when I retire from my job or if I can just put enough money away to do this. We don't know what we don't know. And that goes for you, that goes for me, that goes for everybody. And so, like, I think one of the biggest gifts you can give to somebody is if you help someone understand. And this is coming from. These are the biggest gifts people have gave to me. Like, you help them understand. Like, you don't have to wait all this time. There's actually this, like, this way you can go and do this, this and this, or this way of thinking that if you just change these few things, everything else changes and it's not as out of reach as what you're thinking. That's powerful to me.
- [108:11]
B
Yeah, man. Amazing. All right, what are you excited about right now? What's coming up in your world?
- [108:16]
A
Oh, dude. Well, I've been excited for this podcast For a few years now. But now that it's.
- [108:23]
B
Oh, now it's all downhill from here.
- [108:25]
A
That's why I keep talking so much. I just literally, so excited to be.
- [108:28]
B
As long as we possibly can.
- [108:31]
A
Dude, you know what? Like, right now, like, I'm excited to. Slow down. That might sound weird and strange and, like, you know, we just bought a new house here on Maui, moved into this last week, like we were saying, and.
- [108:42]
B
Which I haven't been invited to yet.
- [108:44]
A
Yeah, Yeah, I know. Oh, you're invited over this weekend. I don't come and get my first.
- [108:49]
B
House, but I haven't been to your first house. I never got invited. Your first house, house. I better be invited to your second house.
- [108:55]
A
You're invited, dude. But, like, it's. It's funny because I used to always care about the inside of the house, you know? And I, like, I could care less. I just care about the land. And this. This is, you know, it's on a little over an acre, but, like, beautiful ocean views, and then on the other side, you have beautiful mountain views. And it's just like, oh, it's so fun to be in. Just being in that house is maybe just realize, like, okay, I'm excited to just slow down for a minute. Like, and I told my wife last night, I'm like, like, new goal. I never want to miss the sunset, never want to miss the sunrise. Like, if I'm in a meeting or doing something that, like, causes me to miss that, like, I'm doing it wrong. So excited for that, bro.
- [109:30]
B
Love that. Where do people find you? Where do they connect with you, learn more about you, pay for your stuff, all that good stuff, so you can.
- [109:38]
A
Find me at a better life dot com.
- [109:40]
B
Perfect. All right.
- [109:44]
A
I don't believe in social media, so. No, just kidding. Huge, huge believer in social media. But Brody Faucet on IG or at real estate investing school, Just, like, you go to school to learn lots of stuff. You go to real estate investing school to. To learn about real estate and building passive income. So that's what we do there.
- [110:03]
B
And what about your website, Brody The Wrestler Kid? Faucet.com.
- [110:07]
A
You better buy that URL before this goes.
- [110:10]
B
Buy that before we're done talking. It's gonna be great.
- [110:14]
A
Oh, you're gonna make a shirt with it?
- [110:15]
B
I totally gonna make a shirt about that. Brody the wrestler kid. All right, man. Thank you for being on here today. You're amazing, dude.
- [110:21]
A
Thanks for having me, man. Much love.
- [110:23]
B
And that is the show. Thank you, everyone, for tuning in to another episode of A Better Life with Brendan Turner. I hope you enjoyed the insights and the wisdom brought to you today on the show. If you found value in this episode, please consider leaving us a rating and a review on your first favorite podcast platform. Your feedback actually does help us improve the show. We look at the feedback, I look at the feedback and we can reach more people with our message of living a better life. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Follow me on Social Beardy, Brandon and hey, before I go, this show is all about the habits, actions and beliefs that can give you a better life. But in case you're interested and you want to know my opinion on what it takes to live the best life ever, and that includes some of my kind of weird spiritual beliefs, maybe check out a better life.com best life a better life.com best life thank you again for listening and I will see you next time on A Better Life with Brandon Turner.