How to Raise Money for Real Estate... without Social Media | Ep 141 w/ Chad Schieler

Summary

The BetterLife Podcast: "How to Raise Money for Real Estate... Without Social Media"

Episode 141 w/ Chad Sheeler
Host(s): Brandon Turner & Cam Cathcart
Aired: April 22, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the art of raising capital for real estate without leveraging social media platforms or existing influence, as told by guest Chad Sheeler. Hosts Brandon Turner and Cam Cathcart unpack Chad’s journey from zero to nearly $10 million raised and 500+ real estate units in just a few years, focusing on relationship-building, operational strategies, team creation, and personal rituals for success. The conversation is a candid, energetic, and hands-on look at scaling up in real estate while designing a balanced lifestyle—without burning out or losing your ethical compass.

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Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Chad’s Capital-Raising Success — Old School, High Touch

• [02:12] Brandon: "You have raised, I hear, almost $10 million to buy real estate in the last couple years… And you didn’t have a big social media [presence]."
• Chad’s Strategy [02:24, 04:13]:
  • Relentless in-person networking: 50+ breakfast, coffee, and lunch meetings per quarter.
  • Focus on gratitude: Small branded gifts (Yeti mugs with logos), especially for big investors.
  • Personal touches: Handwritten notes — “That’s a lost art.” [03:59 - Chad]
  • Building an “interest list” BEFORE having a deal; no pitch, just relationship.
  • Consistent, educational follow-up: Monthly email updates evolving into weekly nurture sequences.
  • Subtle ask for referrals: Not pushy, just planting future seeds—"Who do you know who'd want to be part of this?" [07:08]

2. Jumping In — From 9-to-5 to 500+ Units in Four Years

• Chad’s backstory: Midwestern upbringing, college dropout, 17 years as an independent contractor in electronic payments, solid income but craved more challenge and tax efficiency.
• Slow, deliberate research phase (3 years), then bought first 4-unit in 2021.
• Major transitions: “I learned more in the first five months than the last three years of books and podcasts." [10:57 - Chad]
• Escalating from self-funding to syndications, scaling number and size of units—stressing the importance of direct experience.

“Even if you lose money on your first deal… you learn so much more than from any podcast or book.” — Cam Cathcart [11:06]

3. From Solo Hustler to Building a Real Estate Business

• Self-funding as ‘earning the right’: “If I can do my own deals with my own money first… I could earn the right to raise capital from other people.” [15:50 - Chad]
• Gradual transition—balancing day job (electronic payments) with real estate until 50+ units, then full-time real estate.
• Using third-party property management at first due to limited time.

4. Nitty-Gritty: Managing Mid-Sized Multifamily

• Operational headaches: Hard to find good third-party managers in mid-size (20–40 unit) multifamily—“shared management models” can lead to poor performance, push toward internal management systems for control and efficiency [20:10 - Chad].
• Proximity: Investing locally or having ‘boots on the ground’ is essential—“You make all the money when you execute the business plan.” [28:41 - Chad]

5. Market Selection & Growth

• Focus: Indiana (home market), then expanding to Kentucky and Ohio—close enough for Chad’s team to oversee.
• Why Midwest: Cash flow, rent appreciation, business-friendly, landlord-friendly (“red states”) [23:16, 24:54].
• Advice for out-of-state investors: Analyze migration, job trends, landlord laws, find boots on the ground. [24:24]

6. Team-Building in Real Estate

• Hired first admin to buy back time, then director of acquisitions and executive assistant, maintaining “lean” team (3 employees as of recording).
• Importance of attitude/coachability over résumé; learning from miss-hires.
• Team comp: Mix of salary, bonuses, and GP (general partnership) equity—with vesting to incentivize long-term retention [36:49].

"Hire for the entrepreneurial spirit—not necessarily the entrepreneur." — Brandon Turner [38:22]

7. Equity, Compensation, and Hard Lessons

• Brandon’s structure: Gives away ~58% of Opendoor Capital to the team to drive growth; lessons learned about equity splits and vesting, candid reflections on missteps and team dynamics.
• Vesting schedules for equity are crucial to incentivize and retain talent, as open-ended renegotiation can lead to challenges [47:00+].

8. Personal Habits, Lifestyle Design, and Impact

• Chad’s rituals: Weekly and daily ‘Top 3’ prioritization [69:26].
• Family/work boundaries: Phones off by 5:30–6pm to be present [70:02].
• Pursuing immersive experiences: Winters in Hawaii with family, following “Miracle Morning” routine from Hal Elrod [85:23].
• Legacy driver: Creating financial literacy for underserved youth and tenants; piloting programs with local banks and Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University [61:13].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Raising Capital Without Social Media

"It was hard work. A lot of meetings, a lot of breakfasts…gifts, swag boxes, handwritten notes…Creating an experience." — Chad [02:24]

On Taking the Plunge

“Whoever meets a real estate guy that does one deal and stops?” — Chad [10:17]

On Education vs. Action

“I learned more in the first five months of that property than the last three years of books and podcasts.” — Chad [10:57]

On Team Building

“It’s who, not how. You found a who to do the how.” — Brandon [34:21]

On Market Selection

“Live where you want to live. Invest where you want to invest.” — Chad [25:41]

On Equity Sharing

"I give away 58% of Opendoor Capital...My theory is, if I have 10 people with massive upside, I’ll do far more than two times as much real estate." — Brandon [43:56]

On Legacy and Motivation

“The best investment you can make is in yourself.” — Chad [80:51]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Capital Raising Systems, Gifts & Gratitude: [02:24] - [04:03]
• First Deal & Breaking Analysis Paralysis: [09:35] - [10:57]
• Transitioning from Solo to Syndicator: [15:50] - [18:36]
• Challenges of Mid-Sized Multifamily Mgmt: [19:10] - [20:59]
• Building the Team and Hiring Lessons: [34:21] - [37:01]
• Equity Splits & Partner Challenges: [43:56] - [49:55]
• Market Strategies & Expansion: [23:16] - [24:54]
• Financial Literacy Initiatives: [61:13] - [63:43]
• Personal Habits, Rituals, and Screen Time: [69:26] - [74:14]
• Three Books, Two People, One Quote: [79:33] - [80:51]
• Legacy & Family Reflections: [85:54] - [86:50]

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Resources, Habits, and Advice

Books

• Rich Dad Poor Dad — Robert Kiyosaki
• The Book on Rental Property Investing — Brandon Turner
• 10x is Easier than 2x — Dan Sullivan & Benjamin Hardy

Habits/Rituals

• “Top 3” weekly/daily task focus [69:26].
• Miracle Morning routine (SAVERS acronym) [85:23].
• Phones away by dinner for family presence [70:02].
• Fitness challenges and intentional indulgence (pay penalties for cheat foods) [57:07+].

Team Building Advice

• Start with admin for time leverage; move to acquisitions/operational hires.
• Entrepreneurial ‘spirit’ matters more than being an entrepreneur.
• Comp structures: Salary + bonus + GP equity, with vesting.

Market Guidance

• Stay close to home at first.
• Seek steady markets (Midwest), business- and landlord-friendly states.
• Always have boots on the ground for operations.

Raising Capital

• Relationships over reach: Direct, consistent, value-based connections outperform social presence.
• Educate, nurture, and reciprocate loyalty.
• Gradually graduate from self-funding to responsibly raising and stewarding other people’s capital.

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Closing Thoughts

Chad Sheeler’s story is proof that you don’t need social media influence or a massive following to raise capital in real estate—you need relentless relationship-building, integrity, and consistent personal touch. His approach to operations, hiring, and impact-driven investing provides a blueprint for those seeking both financial and lifestyle success. The episode is full of actionable wisdom for aspiring investors, solopreneurs ready to hire, and anyone eager to blend business with meaningful legacy.

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Connect with Chad and Focus Capital

• Website: FocusCapital.com
• LinkedIn & Instagram: @ChadSheeler
• Email/Contact Form: Available via FocusCapital.com

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Charitable Spotlight

This episode’s profits are donated to:

• Indianapolis Uplift Foundation, supporting financial literacy for underserved youth [52:12].

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“Go for it. What’s the worst that happens? The longer you wait, the harder it gets.” — Chad [82:32]

Transcript

[A]

Cam Cathcart.

[B]

Dude, what's up?

[A]

Dude, got a question for you.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

Why didn't the melons get married?

[B]

Watermelon. I. I don't know.

[A]

Cuz they can't elope. They can't, they can't get. No can't.

[B]

I get it. I get it.

[A]

Speaking of melons, I would love to.

[B]

See how you tie this one in.

[A]

I'm in.

[C]

I'm in on this.

[A]

Let's talk about Chad's arm. So Chad, Chad is on the show today. He's a buddy of mine. He's in the 50 and he is just ripped.

[D]

And we talk about fitness today and.

[A]

We talk about real estate, we talk about family and screen time.

[B]

And I have a very important thing to share with the audience. So the screen time. We talk about, we talk about this.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

And we pull up and we look at our screen time for the week. And I thought this was like an average and it was over seven hours. I was very embarrassed and I found out later that night we went to dinner afterwards. I, I have spent seven hours plus this week on the screen, but that's because playoff football was on Sunday and I sat and I watched nine hours.

[A]

Of football and I scrolled last week.

[B]

Well, last week I was at 4 hours, 3 minutes. Okay, average is 4 hours and 10 minutes.

[A]

So actually you, it looked like you lost that discussion and being the worst parent in the room, but actually you were the best dude.

[B]

That's what I was.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

I felt, I was so embarrassed when it said seven hours and you guys are both in the fours and I was like, I, there's some, there's something wrong.

[A]

It just this week was sports. Whatever. All right, well, Chad Sheila is an awesome dude. You're going to love the conversation today. Very, like you said, organic. Very good. Like he's a good, solid real estate investor who started not that many years ago, what, four years ago has 500 plus years units legit.

[B]

So yeah, it was, it was absolutely incredible. And he's still growing and I, I love the fact that he's still out there and going to grow his portfolio to a billion dollars is what he says.

[A]

So yeah, he's got a strong vision. I love it.

[D]

So you'll hear that and more today.

[A]

So without further ado, Chad, Sheila, welcome to the podcast, man.

[C]

What's up, brother?

[A]

How are you, dude? I'm so glad to have you here. This is, it's going to be a good time.

[E]

Aloha.

[A]

It's great. Aloha. All right, man. You have raised, I hear, almost $10 million to buy real estate in the last couple years, which have been immensely difficult time of money. I mean, it's been really hard for me. And you didn't have a big social media. You didn't have a, you know, you don't have a podcast at all.

[C]

You don't.

[A]

Like, you didn't have that going into it yet. You've still raised almost $10 million. You didn't even have a beard. I mean, like, yeah, I call that a beard. How did you raise $10 million, Brandon?

[C]

Great question, man. I mean, hard work. Just a lot of meetings in person. Meetings. Breakfast, coffee, lunches. About 50 a quarter for the last couple years.

[A]

Whoa.

[C]

And one of our key attributes, I think, is how we show invest gratitude and a great experience and getting them to really buy into our. Our, our process. And just gifts and swag boxes and just phone calls and events and dinners. Yeah.

[A]

Can we. Can I dig in on the gift thing? I don't know anybody who else does that. So what does that mean? Like, what are you sending? Like, what does that mean? Are you sending ahead of time? Like, yeah.

[C]

So whenever somebody funds their investment, they get a Yeti with our logo on it. So something small.

[E]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

And our big investors, they get a little something ext. But I learned that in my last business because I found that if I give people like a Henrietta thank you card or a gift, it really shows more retention.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

By the way, you've gotten a lot of gifts that you will never see. But if you see me walking around.

[A]

With a nice yeti cup, it's all been delivered to your house.

[E]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Cam bought my house.

[B]

So you got a bunch of gifts from different capital companies.

[A]

Here's a little tip for everyone out there who decides they want to give gifts to. To build relationship. Because I get gifts a fair amount. 80% of the time, there is no mention of who the gift is from. It's wild how many gifts I get. And I have no idea. I'm just like on my Instagram, whoever sent me that really cool shirt and hat, like, there's no logo on. It's like, thank you, but. Yeah, let me know who you are. Include a handwritten note or something.

[B]

I'm laughing because I've gotten a couple. I'm like.

[C]

The handwritten note part, that's a touch, though.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

That's a lost art.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And sticky cards or a handle note, side of the box. That goes a long way.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

So how did you find. I mean, who. Who Are you talking to, to pitch a deal to like, take me back to the beginning of that idea of like, okay, I'm going to go raise capital. I don't know rich people, where do I go?

[C]

Yeah. So my first four deals were all self funded. I didn't want to raise capital law. I didn't want to. And I felt like it was more of like a twisting people's arm type of thing. So I started with the email list. Thought of who else, who all do I know that's that I fought in last year that knows likes and trust me. And I called them up and said, hey, here's what I'm doing. I'm doing real estate. There's no deal right now at all. So no ask.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

If I have a deal, do you want to be on list for it? Yeah, all right, sounds good. I'll be on list. So I started making this that way, about 100 people or so and sort of just going through that list. And then I had a deal a few months later and I was off to the races.

[A]

I absolutely love that strategy where you tell people, I don't have a deal. There's no ask. And who's going to be like, yeah, I don't want to hear about your, your, you know, endeavor.

[C]

Make money.

[A]

Yeah, I don't want to make money. I don't want to hear. But it opens up the door. And now that they've said yes, now they've just said yes, you can pitch me later on. And that's just, that's such a phenomenal tool. Whether you're trying to raise money for flipping or, you know, private lending partners or, I mean, or syndication, big multifamily.

[C]

Well, part of this too is like you're not only get them on your list, but you also let them know what you're doing.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

So that's, that's, that's the biggest part of it actually is make sure they know what you're doing. They're being aware. They can start following along. Get used to what you're doing. Start following the process, seeing the deals because you got to, they have to marinate for a while.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Do you then take the email list? What do you nurture it along the way? Um, or do you just, I mean, because you don't want to just like, hey, join my, you know, would you do a deal sometime with me? And then you don't hear from me for nine months and all of a.

[C]

Sudden it's like a year later.

[A]

Yeah. So like, how are you nurturing that relationship along the way.

[C]

So the very beginning, it was just an email once a month. Here's what I'm doing. Here's what we're seeing right now. Here's just looking at nothing right now, but we'll have one that comes up pretty soon. But now we're doing. Now we have like a full on nurturing sequence. Like, people come in the. In the CRM, they got. They're on a weekly email campaign that. For educational processes or purposes.

[A]

Yeah, we just launched that at Opendoor Capital. We have a newsletter now called the Stack, or the Capital Stack, I guess, technically. And it's just like real in depth, like real nerdy economic stuff that, like, some people really love to read. And we just got some writers and did some research and some of the work I did and my team did, and we send it out now every month. And yeah, it's just a way to nurture that relationship. And, you know, some people like the nerdy stuff. Some people, like, would like more lighthearted stuff. And then they follow me on Instagram for that.

[C]

I guess you got to be front of mind, though. You got to be relevant. Like, a lot of people that get into this, they don't know a lot. So they. Part of this for me is education. If I can educate people and help them be more empowered with. With what we're doing, they can make better decisions.

[A]

That's cool. Do you ask investors, like, for referrals of other investors? Like, that's something. Something I've been good at doing. But are you doing that?

[C]

We do a little bit.

[B]

It's.

[C]

It's kind of two sides of the coins. Like, do you want to ask for referrals? Or they do. They want to give them on their own accord.

[A]

Right.

[C]

But I do ask for them. I say, you know what? That's how we're going this business. We're going this through people that we know.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

People that you know. So if you know somebody someday who wants to be a part of this, let me know. I won't say, hey, give me three names, you know, of right now and I'll write them down.

[A]

Because it can get really awkward to ask people.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

But make sure you plant the seed. So, like, they know, like, we're growing the business. We're going a billion dollars. Who's come with us? Who do you know?

[A]

Yeah, people like to be along for the journey. That's very cool. All right, man. Well, that's like the end of the story. I mean, obviously you've raised all this money now you bought five. I know. Like, well, I'll start the way I normally start a podcast. I know you as a real estate investor doing a lot of multi family. I know you have almost 500 units and with the deal you have under contract, which maybe we can talk about, you'll be over six.

[C]

We're getting there.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

It's wild. I know you only got started a few years ago, so I want to talk about the transition from, you know, nine to five into that. And I know you as a husband of one, father of two, including and a member of the 50, which cam here is also.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is how I got to know you.

[C]

So awesome group.

[A]

That's how I know you and that's how Cam knows you. But I don't know a whole lot more about how you get into that. So take us way back. Who was Chad? Oh, no. Schlier. No, you messed it up. Sheeler. Dude, I knew I told you I was gonna mess it up and I messed it up. Yeah.

[C]

Like you saw here, Brandon.

[A]

I was gonna say Schleiler.

[C]

It's always either Schler or Sheeler, but it's Sheeler. So she's German. So you pronounce the second vowel in German language. So it's ie, but it's pronounced e. Whatever.

[E]

All right.

[A]

Who was Chad?

[C]

Who was. What were the roots coming from? Born and raised in West Lafayette, Indiana. So who's your Midwest guy? Very traditional family and didn't go to college for more than three semesters. Dropped out there and I was more of an entrepreneur my whole entire life. And before real estate, I spent about 17 years in electronic payments industry doing credit card processing sales for businesses like the POS Systems.

[E]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

So I'd help them out with their services, with their getting lower fees and we would do clover this point of sale system there.

[A]

And you ran that own company yourself?

[C]

Like I was an independent contractor for a company out of California.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

So independent rep. I was a one man band for like 17 years.

[A]

Wow.

[C]

So did pretty well with that. And it was residual, so built up a big book of business there. But after a while I just was not really challenged anymore and I had a big tax problem to solve.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

It's fun making money. Right. But until you pay the taxes for it too. So, you know, I realized that real estate was probably a way to help solve that. And my CPA agreed with me and started my journey back in 2017 to look into real estate. And I spent three years in my research phase Just analyzed everything under the sun. A lot of properties, a lot of books and podcasts, coffee meetings. Then bought a first deal in 2021.

[B]

In 2021?

[E]

Yep.

[C]

And what was that deal like a four unit.

[B]

A four unit?

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Awesome.

[A]

Let me ask you. A lot of people get stuck in what you just said research phase, and they never get out of it. You were in there for three or four years, so obviously you took a while to get into it. What was, what was the difference? How did you get out of it and finally take action and do it?

[C]

So you're gonna laugh. One Saturday morning, my basement, by 8am I had hadn't bought a property yet. I lived at probably 50 properties so far. And this product came up in the mls, it's four unit building. And I looked probably four in the same row before. So I knew what the. I knew the properties were. They're all the same. And I said, you know what? I'm going to get this property no matter what it cost me. I don't care. I'm getting my first deal.

[B]

Done it.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Because whoever meets a real estate guy that does one deal and stops.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Nobody Y. Dude, that's. I'm, I'm all in on that. I tell people, which I don't want people to lose money. But even if you lose money on.

[C]

Your first deal, lose $30,000. Get my first deal done. So it was for 220. 220k was the price I offered from 230. I said, you have two hours to respond. No inspection required. Of course you said yes.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

So I'm like, oh, now what?

[A]

Yeah, what am I gonna do now?

[C]

So. But ended up being a really good deal. After 18 months, we sold over 300k.

[B]

It's amazing.

[C]

Doubled our money.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, that's cool.

[B]

That is amazing.

[A]

I'm with you, Cam, on that one. I tell people constantly, just get, just go do it.

[C]

Because I learned more in the first five months of that property than the last three years of books and podcasts.

[A]

It's so true. You just gotta go do it a ton.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Our first deal, and I think I've talked about before on, on here, but we, we didn't make any money. We had to actually move into it live on an air mattress with a one year old, a newborn and a dog and rehab it ourselves because we were so underwater on it. And, and I learned more on that first property than, than any podcast. I've been listening to Brand on biggerpockets for a couple of years before that. And I learned a lot more during that first deal than what I learned. Yeah, you just, it's, it's the, you're paying for education in that aspect. And so I think, and like you said, you don't, you don't meet a lot of people that have only done one deal. Like, hey, I did one deal.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Why do you think that is? What's, what's so important about the first deal?

[C]

It's, it's the step of getting over that first line, I think. So there's so much fear and apprehension of what all could go wrong. I met a guy yesterday who like, wants to sell, manage his own property, but he has a PM company right now. And I'm like, dude, it's so easy. But to him it's like there's so much you have to do.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Until you get into doing it, like it's. Everything is always difficult. Until you go do it, like walking for the first time.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Until you go doing it, then it's like second nature. So rolls are the same way.

[B]

And I feel like, because that's how it is with single family houses where when I was starting, like making an offer was so nerve wracking, was like, it's $250,000 or $300,000 for this house now. We make three or four of those offers a day on houses and we, you know. But, but I'm kind of in the same way with like a multifamily where it's like, man, buying a $10 million multifamily is a big deal. Like, that's really scary. And you guys were making offers like that all the time, where it's just, it becomes normal, it becomes routine. Like, like you said walking or riding a bike, where it's just like, hey, the numbers work. The numbers work.

[C]

It's like every deal you do is bigger and bigger and bigger. You look back and like 5 million bucks, not a big deal at all. Yeah, exactly. Raising 2 million, not a big deal at all.

[E]

Yeah, Yeah.

[A]

I remember our very first time we tried to raise. I mean, the first time I ever tried to raise capital, like from a group of people, I hit up two of my buddies and I'm like, hey, so I've been doing this deal. I got this mobile home park. Do you guys want in? And they both like, no, no, we're not in. So I was like, oh. And I only needed like, I don't know, it was like 100 grand or something like that total. I was so just crushed. And then it was like a Year later, I raised, like, a couple hundred, and that's how I got to know Ryan Murdoch. He put some in, and then a friend from that I worked with at Bigger Pockets put some in, and then we did a deal together, and I was like, oh, this kind of worked. And the next time I was trying to raise 4 million, we raised 3. I was like, all right. And then, like, you know, within a year, we're raising $120 million over a summer. And it was like, it just. It builds like that because, like, you gain confidence and knowledge and wisdom and make mistakes.

[C]

I think it's actually harder to raise a hundred grand than a million dollars.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's harder to raise a million than 10 million.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Because you think bigger, and yet the. The kind of people you have to go help out to raise $100,000 is different from people you go for the raise $10 million, you have to think a lot bigger, larger sources than people that actually have higher net worth.

[A]

Yeah, it's true. That's where, like, that whole book. What is that? 10x is easier than 2x?

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

So I feel like you're thinking, oh, how do I raise a hundred thousand? It's like, well, I can go to 50 of my friends, and, you know, they could probably put in 2,000 a piece. And if you're like, no, I got to raise a million dollars, like, okay, I'm just going to go to the guy who has a million dollars.

[C]

Or 10 million.

[A]

Or 10 million. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so it's like just a different clientele, but you also build the systems. Like, you figure out what. What works and what doesn't. And that first deal, like, oh, there's a quote I saw on Instagram the other day. Uh, and it says something like the. It's like, the first three years are not designed to make you money. They're designed to make you good. And it was like an entrepreneur quote. It's like, the first two years aren't designed to make.

[C]

You're learning.

[A]

Yeah, you're learning.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And so, like, with raising capital, or whether you're trying to buy. Do a flip or trying to buy a rental or a burr or a house hack, the point early on is not to necessarily make money. It's to get good. So you got good at it, obviously. So, okay, so you got that. You got that First Deal brought to you by First Deal dot com. Check it out. That's actually why I love First Deal, because I'm like. I'm like, this, this matters so much. Like, you just have to get your first deal. Let's, let's make you money in your first deal. It'll, it'll cement you forever in. All right, first deal. What came next?

[C]

So that was in March 21st that I bought a. Actually, I almost stopped. I got pretty depressed actually.

[A]

Really?

[C]

I couldn't find another deal. I couldn't get out of that over that hump. But I had the bug though. I knew it was like someone to be in. And I, I had very, very small goals. Very beginning. Like I wanted to have like 800 grand in properties in like in the next five years. What was that doing? Yeah, that's such a small goal. But I bought a 15 unit deal in November of 21. Then I bought a 20 unit deal in March of 22.

[B]

And were you funding these all yourself.

[C]

At that first were. Yeah, I was in the mindset to where and I could do that luxury. I'd done well in business prior to that, but I felt like if I can make mistakes with my money first, I could earn the right to raise capital from other people.

[A]

Oh, dude, say that again, will you? Because that, that's so powerful.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

I feel like if I can do my own deals, my own money first and make my mistakes with my own money, which I did, I could earn the right to raise capital from other people.

[A]

Yeah, that's exactly it. I, I did a class recently. I don't remember what it was for, but where I talked about raising capital and how to pitch a deal. And I said it's like Uncle Ben from Spider Man. It's like with great power comes great responsibility. Like you can go raise capital. Sure. I can teach you the technique and how to pitch a deal and make it sound really good. But like, have you earned the right to do that yet? Yeah, because it's big responsibility.

[C]

Lost 200 grand. No, I'm, I should have made 200 grand more. Yeah. On my, my properties, they're all wins.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

But if you don't. Yeah. If you, if you learn on somebody else's dime is painful.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

I mean, I think it goes a.

[C]

Long way too, with raising capital. People now know you. I've self funded my first four deals. Now we're syndicating. So that, that, that speaks a lot.

[A]

I think that's very cool. All right, so talk about getting into the syndication game then. You decided, I'm going to go raise money. I kind of talked about that earlier. I'm gonna go raise some money. Where did you quit your job in that process and then what was your first step in raising that money?

[C]

Yeah, there was. There was some big overlap. I mean, I was still in my research phase and podcast library in my car for like three years while I'm on the road doing these different sales calls. And I was still working the job full time until I had about 50 units. So until May or June of 2022. That's when I joined a. A program to help me learn how to raise capital and do syndications and. But I didn't raise capital until February of 23. So I was still working full time until the end of 22.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Doing both.

[A]

What was that like? What was like. Was there a lot of fear when you did finally leave? What was that transition like, leaving the. The steady income?

[C]

Yeah, mine's a little bit different to where I had the residual built up already, so I'm still getting it today, so. But there's still that fear of like, leaving that. That's like. I was working probably three days a week. It was so easy.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Like, I could have kept on coasting for like 20 years, probably. But I wasn't challenged. I wasn't fulfilled anymore. And I'm doing so now. I get fulfillment from. And I can create something and build something.

[E]

Right.

[C]

It's a lot cooler and yeah.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Feels better as a person. Right.

[A]

But there's something filtered to most men, I think, that just says it is something.

[C]

It is. But for LA, probably 10 years prior, every year I'd make a goal on New Year's Day that I buy a property for a rental property. I never would for like eight years. I'm like, this is enough. Let's just go do it now.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

But there was a fear to where you're leaving. A very sure thing to go. Go off and chart a path and be a pioneer and do stuff on your own. But I think once you started doing it and you get some cash flow coming in, a few wins here and there. There's like that. There's a. There's a point where four years ago it was like all that business and now it's like all real estate and like in the middle, it's kind of went through a slow transition over time. It's just been kind of very gradual to the other. The other way.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

And with you buying those multifamily so quickly, the 4 and then like 10 and 20. So you had what, 34 units within six months to a year or something like that.

[C]

How.

[B]

How did you figure out, like, systems on property management? Like, that's a. That's a huge undertaking. I did itself.

[E]

You didn't.

[B]

You just outsourced all that.

[C]

Just figured it out. I was a third party PM company. That was my wife's deal. So she said if you're going to buy these properties you can't self manage because I had a job and there's only so much time in a day.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Now if I had to do all over again, I probably go back to self manage because I would learn a ton by doing it myself.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

But I had no time though, so I had to leverage my time.

[A]

So from the beginning you had a manager.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

That's cool.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Which.

[C]

Very good. But I had one.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Finding a good property manager is a whole different conversation.

[C]

Which we can get to that property too is tough.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

It really is.

[C]

That's a long podcast.

[A]

Yeah. That whole mid sized multifamily is what I would call it so hard. Why? Let's talk about that.

[C]

Why is it so bad? It you can't find a good quality PM company because two things. Number one, there's a focus on revenue, not in a way not net income. And they're using a shared management model. You can't get somebody on site full time at a 40 unit property because the revenue will support it. So what happens then? You got a PM company is going to use one person over like maybe 300 units or two units and they're getting spread so thin so they won't be on the property every week or every day. So what gets done there and before you know it and their costs are so high with their expenses and their vendors, they don't have somebody on site for maintenance. So we went from doing smaller properties to larger properties because of that.

[A]

Yeah. I think that mid size multi like it's a great spot. You know one thing I talk about on the show a lot and when I talk about just in general real estate is like you know, choose your hard. Like pick your hard. Like there are hard. It's hard to raise capital. That's you chose your hard. Most people are not going to be willing to do that. High barrier to entry. So that's what you chose and that's why you're crushing it in real estate. You know we chose like you know, raising capital but mobile home parks but not full ones. We choose like 80% occupied because it's really hard to fill them up. That's my heart I picked.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And so like value. Yeah. Mid sized multi. When I. When we say it's hard doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. And that's just for everyone listening doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Just know that that is the hard you're choosing. So you've got to figure out how to get through it. And generally the best I've ever seen at that level is they build their own self management that is and they run it.

[C]

I will say there is a lot of value to be had in these mid sized properties if you can do it right.

[A]

Yep.

[C]

I mean we made a ton of money on a 20 year property when we sold it a couple of years ago. It was, it was crazy. And you can do that. But I think the only way it works is if you can do a internal management system to where you've got share managers internally, you have more controls and they're very. In a very dense area.

[A]

Yeah, thousand percent. There's a great book out there by a guy named John T. Reed. I probably told the story on the podcast before, but it's called like oh shoot, I'm gonna butcher the name. But it's something like how to rent. Like Rent a rent. Oh shoot, what's the name? It's something like for maximum resale value is how it ends. Like how to manage residential rent Real estate for Max.

[B]

The one you stole from the library.

[A]

It's the one I stole from the library, yeah. Because I read it and it was like designed for mid sized multifamily. That's what John Reed did. He just did mid sized multi family. So he's got a whole. The whole system is like you put in a resident manager and here's how you manage them. And now the book's 30, 40 years old. So like the Internet wasn't around so like. But the, the idea of like you have resident managers living at each property and they report up to you or to a regional. That's how I think you make mid sized multi world.

[C]

I like that.

[A]

And so if you can just choose like that's your heart. In fact, that's what ARC does. Who ARC was on the show recently? Yeah, the same concept.

[C]

And they're all one area too. So with our first properties they were kind of spread out like maybe a half an hour apart, which is pretty, it's pretty tough to manage those internally.

[A]

How are you finding deals? How did you find them? How are you. How has that shifted?

[C]

Yeah, so all of our deals we found through broker relationships for the most part. We found two off market, but mostly through relationships. And it's funny, the one we just, we now have under loi is through relationship. And we wouldn't have this deal right now if it wouldn't make us relationship. So they're so key.

[B]

How are you building and fostering those relationships?

[C]

And this was just me early on and now I have a guy doing acquisitions for us in house. So he's calling the brokers every week, talking to them, going breakfast and lunch and everything like just. And them knowing that we are a very serious buyer. We follow through on our, on our word. We don't retrade. We always close. We can raise capital, we can follow timelines. They just want assurance to close all they want.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, are you focused in Indianapolis or the Indiana market or are you guys all over the place?

[C]

So we just expanded this year actually we were Indiana only until this month and now we're in Kentucky and Ohio.

[E]

Oh cool.

[A]

How do you pick a market?

[C]

I first pick close to home, then 2 hour radius we can get to it easily. And Indiana is a great home base for me. I know the market. Great for taxes, great for schools, low crime and good for businesses as well. And then Kentucky and Ohio is still within a three to four hour radius. We can still get to easily. I still like Midwest is the best. It's very steady, good cash flow, great rent appreciation there. Not a lot of supply coming in compared to other markets too.

[B]

Yeah, I love the Midwest.

[C]

That's great.

[A]

Midwest too. We buy most of our mobile home parks in the Midwest.

[C]

Really?

[A]

Apartments are mostly down south and southeast, but yeah, mobile home parks. We do a ton all over the Steady Eddie. Steady Eddie. Yeah.

[C]

We were tops in the right growth in the last couple last year and a half.

[A]

Really?

[C]

Yeah, in the Annapolis.

[E]

Really?

[A]

Wow. I like, I like, I like Indy as a, as a market. I mean there's, there's good parts and bad parts of every area you go to. So people got to be obviously aware.

[C]

You have to know it.

[A]

You have to know the market. Which is why investing locally you can know the market. What would be your recommendation for somebody who's not on in the Midwest? They live in the coast. Because probably most of this podcast listeners are on one of the coasts. They want to invest in the Midwest. What should they do?

[C]

Bnlp.

[A]

Nobody else done. I do want to ask you about that in a second. But what, what else.

[C]

You'Ve got to analyze? Probably markets that, that will have probably high population growth trends. So maybe u haul online data points, see where people are moving to population, where our job's going into because what's some great demand and where Are markets that are undersupplied. They don't have a lot of ton of new supply coming in. So where's that imbalance at? And red states.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Why red states more landlord friendly. Yeah, just better for businesses.

[A]

Whenever I say that on social media I'm like, I don't buy in California, Washington, Oregon, New York or Michigan.

[C]

Red states.

[A]

Yeah. I don't touch those cities, those states. People are always like, why? I'm like, I only invest in. I don't. They're the blue estates. Like what's wrong with the blue state? Then you get a bunch of angry people like, like Trumper. And I'm like, it has nothing to do with politics or at least it has nothing to do with. But presidential politics. It has to do with landlord policies.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't. How many stories have I heard out of California where it's like, yeah, took me three years to get a tenant out then. Yeah, that stuff.

[B]

If you're trying to sell multifamily there, like tenants are taking hundred thousand dollar payouts just to. Yeah, because they won't leave. I guess it's right. I've been seen on Twitter.

[C]

The old saying goes to like live where you want to live and invest where you want to invest. And that does hold true. You can live in Boston and invest in Arizona or whatever, but if you can find a state or an area that's closer to you, you're going to eliminate that cost of the travel there and back. And I always think it's, it's very wise have boots on the ground. Either you or someone else that's on your team at the property level. You got to be there.

[A]

You got to be there.

[C]

Can't manage a states away and rely on a PM company. You, you can't do that.

[A]

Especially midsize. I bought a 24 unit outside of Cincinnati and I've complained about this a lot. It's like the only deal I've ever really lost money on. And I mean maybe I, maybe I broke even, you could say. But like that was a miserable two years of owning that property. And simply because one, I was living in Hawaii. I just moved to Hawaii, so I'm buying from 5,000 miles away. I couldn't find a good property manager. I went through several of them, I think three or four by the time we were done and they just, you can't check up on them. I had no boots on the ground. I didn't understand that Cleaves, Ohio and Cincinnati, Even though they're 10 miles apart, are not the same. They're very, very different.

[C]

Yeah, you go like, two blocks is a whole different area.

[A]

Exactly. And a lot of, like, a lot of Midwest cities or a lot of just cities in general.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

People get hurt all the time. Because two blocks away. Completely. A completely different.

[C]

Yeah, you could be on the fringe.

[A]

Yeah. So that's why I love the idea, like, what I should have done. At the same time, I bought a mobile home park out in Bangor, Maine, which Bangor is also a rough town similar to Cincy, probably worse economy, worse areas. Like, Bangor, Maine, is not, you know, a beautiful spot, but that one went really, really well. And the difference was Ryan Murdoch was a partner on that deal with me, and he lived in Bangor, Maine. And so, like, he went by the property every single day. But the one in. In Cincinnati, like. Or Cleaves, I guess, like, outside of Cincinnati, like, I. I didn't know what was going on, ever. You talk to the property manager, if you can get a hold of them, and they're like, oh, yeah, everything's fine. I'm like, well, why are 18 units vacant? You know, whatever.

[B]

It's like, what made you buy that property?

[A]

The one in. I was on a 1031 exchange, and I was on day 40, the old tax sale.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

It was like I had to identify. So for those who don't know a 1031 exchange, how you delay your taxes, but you only have 45 days to identify what property you're going to buy, and then you have a few months to close. But, like, I was on literally day 44 or 45, and I was going to lose a bunch of money, and so I was like, you know, I'll just. I'll buy this one. Like, it came in that day as a. What can go wrong? Yeah. What go wrong now in reality? Okay, I did 1031. I didn't pay taxes. I held it for two years. I lost a little bit of money maybe, or maybe broke even, got lost some hair and turned a little more gray. And then I 1031 again. So I kind of did preserve my capital for the most part. I lost for if. If I lost money, and again, it would be a few thousand maybe. But if I lost money, it was a whole lot less than I would have lost on taxes. So you could argue that even in a bad real estate deal, if you, you know, you structure it right, it's really hard to lose, like, overall, so it's still fine. But, yeah, buying in the Midwest without boots on the ground, without somebody who could just drive by yeah, you got to do that.

[C]

That's why I feel like we won't go like other states until we have a presence there. Yeah, I just want to make sure I can protect the. Because you make all the money when you, when you execute the business plan.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

That's how well's created. They make you buy a property, just pay the highest price for it. That's the easy part.

[E]

Yeah. Right.

[C]

But you got to operate it.

[B]

Well, so tell me as somebody that's in the Midwest and, or somebody that's listening to this, that is maybe in the single family space and they want to make that jump to mid size multifamily, like what are the things that you are looking for? Like how would you tell me, like, hey, here's how you look at a deal. Here's the cash on cash that you're looking for. Just give me a quick four or five minute rundown of like, hey, if I've got four minutes to impart wisdom on you or our listeners, what would you, what would you tell me?

[C]

I think initially you look at properties that have been well maintained, that have a gap between today's rents, the property and where they can go in the market. What's that more, what's that gap and what will it take to get there? So we'll take some light renovations to get there. So the deferred maintenance on property. So there's always a 1% rule. Yeah, you know, that's like a, maybe back of the napkin will actually even be a good deal to look at. Or not. You know, is the rental price or rental revenue of the property as a whole, 1% of the purchase price. If it is or close to it, maybe it's good to dig into it. It wouldn't be a hard and fast rule to buy at that price, but it might be a science that it's a winner or a possible one.

[E]

Gotcha.

[C]

But you gotta, I think you gotta be in an area to where people care about their credit. You know, average, average tenant may be gonna have a decent credit score. Yeah, I wouldn't say buying a property that's gonna be rents to $5 a month per unit in rent.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

So you're looking at like class B. Class B.

[C]

Class B. I mean class C could be good if it's in a class B area. Yeah, Class A is gonna be a higher price, obviously. And if you're just getting started, you want to find something you can afford, obviously. So I think class B is the way to go.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, like how you said cloud if you could do A class C in a class B area because you can't improve the area, but you can improve a property.

[C]

You can't move the property.

[E]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You can't move the property, but you can move the. You can improve it. So yeah, if you can buy a C class in a B area, that's, that's usually pretty solid.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Or if you can improve the property to be more of a B class type, but it's still in a B area to try. It's about, it's all about who you attracting.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

You tracting C tenants at your B property? Well, it's not going to be very good. Yeah, you want, you want to have B tenants in your, in your B property or, or greater.

[A]

Yeah, I talk about that in one of my, one of my books. I don't know which one, but I have. What there's like, yeah, there's, there's class of tenant, ABCD class tenants, ABC class D class areas and then ABC D class properties. So you have those three things and generally like you're not the, the quality of your tenant or the. Whatever you want to call it. The, the ABCD of your tenant is the average of the other two. And so if you have an A class property and an A class location, you're gonna get an A class tenant. But if you have an A class property in a C class area, you'll get a B class tenant. You're gonna get kind of the average of that. And people don't generally go outside of that for price reasons or just that's how they, that's how it is. And so I just. Good reminder too. If you have a property in a D class area and you're just like this sucks if you make it eight. Well, yeah, but if you can make it. So actually I have a property. One of my actually favorite properties is in A. I would call it a C minus. Like I don't know if I'd quite go D, but it's pretty rough area. Like if you're in Grays Harbor, Washington, everyone just calls it like B Street. It's like, oh, it's over B street. Oh man, B street. Like be careful.

[C]

It's not B class street.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, it's not B class there. Like that's, that's B streets like a D. And this is like on the edge of it. So. But I made the property look A class for the area. Like I really went above and beyond and that has been actually one of the easiest properties we've had. To manage and to run. We've had great tenants and never. I don't think we've had a single eviction there in 10 years. I don't know, nine years. That's Rosie's four plex.

[E]

Okay.

[A]

It's been great. And what that taught me again is I made it look like an A class. I started getting B class tenants that live there like good solid people who just want a nice place to live but that's where they're used to living. They've always lived in that area their whole life and so they just going to continue living there. They just want a Chip and Joanna Gaines looking house.

[C]

I think something else too is like if you're going from single family to multifamily, I think look at the vintage is so important too because when people first go to bigger property.

[A]

What do you mean by vintage?

[C]

Sorry? Well, the year is built. Properties in the 60s and 70s or 50s can have a lot of problems and they could be great deals too. But do due diligence very well and do a good inspection because make sure you don't get into.

[E]

Yeah on those.

[A]

That's so true.

[B]

How would somebody learn though if you've never bought a 40 unit, like what does that due diligence look like?

[C]

You hire an inspection company, do a full inspection, walk every unit and I would get your PM company involved on that inspection as well to review it to make sure they can help you analyze what, what they saw. So that way you can, you can get together a list of what would cost to cost, renovate the property and bring up the maintenance issues.

[A]

What is the biggest challenge you've overcome in your real estate career?

[C]

Biggest challenge is probably just to make decisions quicker and not overanalyze things. Hence the three years of research. I'd say part two of that is like has been going from a one man band for 18 years and just sales to now creating a team and hiring people and learning lessons there. And, and it's, it's a couple different things. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Business front.

[A]

Let's dig into the team thing because that is something that a lot of people, there's a lot of solopreneurs out there doing real estate just on the weekends and evenings. And probably most people listen to this podcast are in that boat and they look at guys like now, you know us like the three of us now have teams, we have employees, we have people doing the work for us so we can sit around a podcast. Right. So like how do they like what lessons did you learn in getting there where you had a team, where'd you start, and kind of what lessons you learn in that process.

[C]

The first person I ever hired was In May of 22, when I knew I wanted to get in the real estate more. But I had to let go of some of the customer service work on my other business. So I hired an admin. So I got my time back. Now I could put it all into real estate. So I'm like, aha. So it's who, not how. Right. So you found a who to do the how. And. And then now in real estate now it's been. I've learned a lot about hiring, made some bad hires. I had to fire three so far. So it's been. It's been tough, but a lot of money lost. But I've learned you've got to really take your time hiring and hired not from the resume, but from the actual attitude and the person, the coachability, the drive, the discipline, just. And are they gonna. Even with a small company, do they have that entrepreneurial spirit? Yes, because they've got to be able to be like a self. Self starter. To be in their own lane and wear many hats.

[A]

That's so good and so true. And I think about people we've hired and fired. Yeah, it's like the entrepreneurial spirit is important. How do you find those people? How are you finding employees?

[C]

I found two through a job search, like a recruiter. One was through just somebody who I met on LinkedIn. We met about a year and a half ago and stayed in touch and put a job offer out there. And he applied to it. So that was really organic. And that's probably the best way to do it really is just people in your network or people that were referrals. So we're at a point now to where people refer people to us to work for our company because we're smaller and more in a growth base.

[A]

How many employees do you have now?

[C]

Three currently.

[A]

Okay. So yeah, that's. I'm assuming you're just working day to day with all of them.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Like you're just leading the team and driving it lean.

[C]

I mean, yeah.

[A]

Would you consider yourself the visionary or like more the integrator? Like in between.

[C]

I'm like a 76 mile. Still the abstraction. Yeah, I'm like, I have visionary tendencies, like kind of a.

[A]

To the.

[C]

And not very organized sometimes, but I'm very like detailed, analytical. Hence the three years again. Right? Yeah, I'm kind of a mixture. I'm kind of chameleon, I guess, kind of weird.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you. I guess the order in which you hire, what did you do and what do you recommend? Like, who do you hire to build up a real estate team like you have?

[C]

Who did I hire?

[A]

Yeah, like, yeah, who do you. Like you hire with the admin. But then who came? Who came next? What was your order?

[C]

Yes. My other company that I hired.

[A]

So that got your time back.

[C]

Yep. And then I hired a director of acquisitions.

[E]

Okay.

[C]

To get to go over all the underwriting and deal sourcing.

[B]

Can I ask you, how do you compensate? Is that off of acquisition fees or did you salary that person at first or commission? Like, what did that look like?

[C]

Yeah, salary plus a bonus.

[E]

Okay.

[C]

Off the act fees and part of the promote when we sell the deal. So I want to give a little care there. I want to have some, some, some teeth in this to where they want to be vested for a long time with the company and have some incentive.

[A]

Yeah, I'm a big believer in that.

[C]

Like, I am too.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And then I have an executive assistant and she's salary plus a bonus. So she actually does the work for Focus Capital and my other business still with the custom service work to keep those customers going. And then asset manager.

[B]

Oh, sorry. Yeah, Asset manager. One question I have for both of you is when you both agree that, like, we're looking for entrepreneurial people, how do you find those people that aren't just going to work for you for a year and be like, okay, I learned. Now I'm, I'm out. Because if you're entrepreneurial, you want to go do your own thing eventually.

[C]

Yeah, that's a great point. And there's something we said where I've heard this quote. It says it's like, lead people to where they. They could leave you, but lead them in a way they won't want to leave you. That's good, right?

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

So you want. You got to teach people because you want them to be their own.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Let's say in their own lane. Right. You want to meet their own decisions and like, do things themselves, be proactive. If you pay them and pay them well and treat them right, they should stay with you. But if they leave you, you know what, you've done them a good favor.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. There's a difference between hiring someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and hiring an entrepreneur. Right. So, like, I'm not typically, like, my. Most of my people were never entrepreneurs. Like, they didn't run their own business for years on their own. And then I hire them to come in because now you're taking somebody who is like a wild animal out there and you're putting them in a cage.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Those people, like, it's hard to like. I could never go back to that. Right, you could never go back to that. You couldn't either. But you hire somebody who has the entrepreneur tendencies. They're always dreaming up ideas and think, oh, this would be a cool thing. Or I could solve this problem. I can do this with no direction. Like, those are the things I'm looking for. So they have entrepreneurial tendencies and mindset and that they like solving problems that are not very clear, but they haven't yet done it. One like technical way to do that of course is like if you do like a disc profile on them, if you hire a high D, they're gonna leave you. Like, I'm a big believer in that. You hire a high D, they're gonna be gone.

[B]

I'm a 98.

[C]

Yeah, I'm all. I'm a C. Yeah, I'm too. But we're gonna change that, actually.

[A]

See, yeah, I'm kind of mid se. I'm like mid on all of them.

[C]

I just boring. So I've got an employee who is, he's very much an entrepreneur minded. But he's told me he's like, Chad, I don't have that risk appetite to do my own.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

So he, he'll, he'll work with me and we'll build the company and he'll work alongside me. But he doesn't want to do it on his own.

[A]

Yeah, that's.

[C]

So that's a good example of that.

[A]

Yeah, that's exactly what you want. It's somebody like that. And so, and then I've heard that quote many times, but I love it. It's like, make your vision so big that your team's vision fits inside of it.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So like, what does my team want? Like, maybe one of them. Like, I just want $5 million and retire someday at 5 million bucks. Great. I can get you there. Let's get you there. Working here. Yeah, let's get you there. This is how we're gonna do it. You're gonna get this piece of the gp. We get to this amount, you've got your money. So my vision, they can make. My theory is they can make more working for me than they can make on their own.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. And they get structure and they get no risk. It's. It's a waste. I want to go work for me. Like, I'd rather.

[C]

Let's be there.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Less Stress less, gray hair and yeah.

[B]

Much easier catching an eye at the 50. We talked about that a lot. And dude, he's so good with his employees. But he was talking about. And he drew it on a piece of paper, like, here's my vision is this huge circle. And he's like, every single person that comes onto my team, I ask them what their vision is. And every single person they can fit, like, I want to do this. Well, that fits within this vision. I want to do this. It fits within this vision. He's just drawing circles.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

And so like you said, his vision is so big that every single one of his employees can fit within that. And I think that's great and brilliant. And like you said, like, almost everybody that works for you can make more money working for you than working somewhere else.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And if they can't, then, like, I mean, if, if they can't make enough for me and I can't pay enough, I'm going to wish them well in their way. I'm going to help them establish themselves at their new thing. Like, good for them. It'll. It'll come back to me someday.

[E]

Yeah, right.

[A]

Like you said, treat them like so good that they never want to leave you. And if they do, everyone, everyone leaves eventually. Some job. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, all right, so what about those people who don't have the money to hire? They want to build a team. They just can't even fathom being able to dish out $100,000 a year salary.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Five partners. There's people everywhere that would partner with you, like a joint venture or co GP that have other skill sets that you don't have that could fill in the blanks. So if your skill sets going to go find a property and analyze it, some else out there can go raise capital for you and sign the debt.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So maybe I think the solution there is like be part of some groups, some networking groups locally or nationally, and.

[A]

People do want to partner up and people drastically. How do I want to phrase this? Like, people desperately want to follow somebody. Most of the world, like most people just want to be told what to do. We wouldn't say that. But like I always say, like, you go to a shoe store, you don't want the shoe sales and just going, yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of shoes in here. You want them to be like, this is a shoe for you. I sold two options. Yeah, exactly. This one or this one. I'm like, thank you. Like, make this easy on me. I want to follow your lead.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. But in, in business and life, people like to follow a strong leader. And so if you can be the person that has the vision and the we're going, they're going to be a never ending number of people that are willing to line up with you and be part of that because they want to be part of something. They just don't have that, whatever that oomph or mental problem that we all have that makes us actually go do it on our own, they don't have that. And so like, they would rather. They want to go there, everybody wants to go there. They just don't want to go there on their own. And so you can find those people and if you have to partner with them, like Ryan Murdoch. When I started Opendoor Capital, my first person on board was Ryan Murdoch. And Ryan and I just partnered. I had no money to pay him, so I just said, hey, take whatever percent of the deal. I think it was like 10% or something of the GP on this first deal. And that worked. And then I actually moved to go back full circle to our conversation. I moved Ryan over to a salary role soon after that. Once we started making money, I was like, hey, let me just pay you a salary. I paid him a good salary. Plus he got part of the GP and he was running the company. He burned out in a year. Like, he was just like, I don't like because he's not. He was a, all of a sudden he was a caged tiger. And he's like, I can't handle being a caged tiger. I got to go out and rescue turtles in the water. And so like, then I moved Ryan back out. Now Ryan's on the board of directors and Ryan's crushing it on board of directors because now he's back in the entrepreneur seat. Like, he's not. Yeah, he's in the right seat again. So like I, it. He was the wrong person. I mean, maybe at the time it got us to where we, it did, but it was always, it was never going to last long. But then I brought in Walker and Walker has been with me ever since as the CEO now of Opendoor Capital. And he's phenomenal because he likes that job, like that role.

[B]

What's Walker's disc?

[C]

I'm interested.

[A]

Good question. I don't remember. Yeah, I don't remember. I gotta look that up.

[C]

No, with Walkers, you pay him off salary or, or part or ownership equity.

[A]

Yes, he has equity. He has GP ownership in every deal we do. And then he gets salary on top of that. And yeah, so he. That's. There's some bonus stuff in there a little bit, but generally, yeah, it's. It's GP and a substantial amount, I think. I don't know if I should say what his part is, but it's like. It's a good amount.

[B]

Yeah, I give away make per year. No, I'm kidding.

[A]

What's his Social Security number? No, but my, my team, this is. Now, this is excessive. I'm not advising people necessarily do what I'm about to say, but I give my team a total, including my partners Brian and Ryan, who are on the board. They're actually partners of mine, but total. I give away 58% of open door capital, so I only actually keep 42% for myself because all my executives all have equity, all my team has equity. So I lose half. But my theory there is if I have roughly 10 people that have a chunk of my company, if, If I have 10 people now that have a massive upside, I will do far more than two times as much real estate. Like that's the goal with giving away equity is I will do more than twice as much. So if I give away half or a little more than half, I will do a little more than half as much, you know, and we already have obviously going from zero to a billion of real estate, but wouldn't have been possible without the structure.

[B]

So if you had any nasty splits or like. I've talked to so many people in the probably last couple of months where they've partnered on deals with people and they've gone into it and they had a really nasty breakup, but they own this property together and they hate each other. Have you had that yet or.

[A]

I wouldn't say any. Any. My. We've. We had some, like, we brought in a partner early on back, whether it was me and Ryan, we brought in one third another partner and I love the guy, but it just, it didn't work out. It was a wrong fit. He was way too busy with a wholesaling business that he was doing. And so, yeah, that was a little awkward to get him out because.

[B]

Did you have to buy him out or did. Is he still in that deal?

[A]

Here's both the benefit and the downside of GP to your team as a reward is that every single new deal you do is a, an opportunity to get people out, which is great. So it's like, oh, we're just not doing. You're not on the next deal. Still ideal. But the downside. Yeah, it's just one Deal. But the downside is it's an open opportunity for renegotiation every single time you do a deal.

[E]

Right.

[A]

So the first. Oh, yeah, it was probably the first 10 deals we did. Our first, like, 10 funds or maybe eight funds that we did at Opendoor Capital. Every time, it was half a dozen conversations of me and my team renegotiating. I think I deserve a little more, and I needed more. And how come that guy has two.

[B]

So it's.

[A]

And they're all my best friends in the world. Like, these are my favorite people. And it was just continual conversations and renegotiations. And then. And like, at some point, like, I just, like, I pay all salaries out of my 42% for the company. So, like, acquisition fee comes in. This is, again, probably not the right way to do it, but this is how I did it. Acquisition fee comes in. Let's say a million bucks. Come in. I lose 580,000 right away. Acquisition. Sorry, a million dollars? Yeah, an acquisition fee. Come in. I lose 580,000 of that to my team for bonuses. But, you know, GP equity.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I pay 420 salaries out of the 420. That's.

[C]

Oh, wow.

[B]

So you don't walk with anything.

[A]

Well, I mean, I don't make any money, period, because even the salary I get, I donate because I want my investors to know I don't make money to the end. But, yeah, it's. It's a lot of money to lose. So it was. You can't just keep whittling Brandon down. So then what the conversation turns into is, okay, well, that person really is doing a lot more. And they're full time now. They were only part time before. So we do got to give them another point of equity. We should. Who is it coming from?

[C]

And then it's like, Brandon.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Is it me? And at a point, like, I just. That's why I went from 50 to 49, 48, 47.

[E]

@.

[A]

Finally, when we got to 42, it was like we had a discussion with the whole team and they could all see what was happening. And we found out from this point forward, we are locking this in for good. Like, this is what we have going forward. We're not changing. And we've been pretty solid on that since.

[B]

Have you had anybody that's come in, though, that you're like, this person deserves a part of the gp?

[A]

I mean, I feel like they all deserve it, but I love to share.

[C]

So somebody leaves is. Do they forfeit their gp?

[A]

I don't have it set up that way. I know people do. I'd love to know what you're doing.

[C]

So what I've done, and I think it's very fair, we've got a two year vesting period which most deals are a five year time.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So that's fine. And you've got it when you get hired, whatever deal we have going on right now or after you get hired, that's the deal you're a part of to earn a share of the GP that we would earn as a company on that particular deal. Now if you leave and there is a separation phase, if you leave within like 180 days and we sell a property, you still get part of the fee. If it's like more than six months later on, there'd be no, nothing at all. So it's definitely a incentive. Incentivize. Incentivization to stay at the company.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Is kind of the technique there.

[A]

Yeah, that's, that's. I probably should have set up something more like that. But at the same time I. Other than that very first guy that we brought in that was the only person with, I think the only person with equity that's ever left. And that one was an easy one because it was only the very first deal. Otherwise every single person maybe that's. Again, nobody's left because they all have equity and they, they see us like climbing more and more now if I were suddenly go, we're not buying anymore, we're done, then they'd probably leave because now there's no future vision, there's no more. So I like.

[B]

But does that put you. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

[C]

Is the bulk is what, like what ratio of. If you don't say of their competition is from the, the GP compared to like salaries that have more than half.

[A]

In terms of acquisition fee pieces. It's not that. I mean it's probably 2010 to 20% of their, their salary. So they make a, you know, healthy enough salary. But it's the big carrot of course at the end because if, you know, even if you only. I mean some of my, my team members have 1%, let's call it. Well, 1% of a, you know, billion dollars someday is a lot of money.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And so like that's still enough to keep people excited long term. But again, if I were to stop today, then there's that carrot disappears and there's still money there. But they already have that. Right. Because I don't, I don't do a vesting. That's what I should have done. AJ Osborne Once talked about this, where he does that. It's like every deal is a new vesting period for that deal.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

And you have to stay seven years.

[A]

Yeah, it's like five or six. Seven years.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And that's pretty like. And I. I wish I would have thought a little more about that. The biggest lesson I learned is I made all executive comp decisions and all employee comp decisions and everything on my own in my head without ever asking for help from anybody. Like, how stupid. Like, I'm talking hundreds of millions of dollars of decision making that I made like over breakfast. Like, you get this and you get this.

[C]

I don't think so. But you got a lot of people to join your, Your, your journey in.

[A]

Yeah, it's worked out, but it's just ridiculous. Like I did.

[C]

You paid them very, very well.

[A]

Good.

[B]

Me a story where you gave away a percentage of your GP just in your driveway talking to somebody.

[A]

It's just like, oh, we were just. Yeah, it was.

[B]

That's amazing.

[A]

Yeah, it was actually a negotiation. It was one of the many negotiations, but it was with Ryan. It was when Ryan. And I don't know if I won't tell the whole story because I'll let him tell that story when he comes on, but yeah, he basically like, was running the company, so he had GP and salary. He left, like, to. To go retire. And he literally was like, I'm retired, I'm done. And then after a few months, he's like, I'm kind of bored. He's like, I went back in. And I was like. It was that conversation that I was like, okay. And I gave him all, all his equity back in.

[E]

Really?

[A]

And it was like, yeah, just over a. But I don't regret it at all. I mean, Ryan's one of my favorite people in the world and Ryan has made me more than I will ever, ever pay him. Yeah, I owe him forever.

[C]

If you hit the right people, man. If you're the right people, so much faster with the right people.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you feel like though, for you, because like you said, now you have to continue moving forward for all these people. Do you feel like you're somewhat chained or trapped to that? Where it's like, I, I kind of do want to retire. I've got a three month old and.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Just want to sit around and hang out for a while with my family.

[A]

I mean, that definitely plays into it, but I don't. Like you said, like, like we're talking about earlier, like, I can never get to the point where I'M just sitting around, relax. Right. So they're always going to be a vision. Now, could I say, you know what? I'm going to stop Opendoor Capital and go put, you know, just keep the deals we have going, but I'm gonna buy more. I'm gonna go build ref instead the mortgage company betterliferef.com. check it out. I that, but this definitely keeps me because I have to keep the team moving.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Because I don't want people to lose heart and then not manage the current deals we have. So I will continue to build opener capital to keep the team happy. But if the team wasn't involved, would I do it? I don't know. I, I, I'm, I'm a adhd. Like, I'll jump for a new thing every year.

[C]

Same.

[A]

So. Hey, question for you, Chad. Going back, what I usually ask at the beginning of the show. One thing we do unique on the show is we dedicate 100% of the profits from the Better Life podcast to charities of the guest's choosing. So where are we sending this week's the money that we make?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Where are we sending it?

[C]

Yeah, we're the Indianapolis Uplift Foundation.

[A]

What do they do there?

[C]

It's a foundation that creates more financial education awareness with young adults, underprivileged, underserved people. One of my passions as a person, to create more literacy with financial education.

[A]

Oh, dude.

[E]

Awesome.

[A]

Well, that's what we'll send a check.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, so picture this.

[D]

I just signed a lease with a tenant. They seemed great on paper. Then a few months in, everything kind of started going sideways. Suddenly they're missing rent deadlines, there's a broken window, the neighbors are complaining about them. I realized I put someone in my rental property without properly screening them, and now I was living a landlord's nightmare. But lucky for you, you don't have to make the same mistakes as I made early on, because you have the luxury of using Turbo Tenant. So if you're managing any rental properties right now and you're still trying to vet tenants and collect rent and keep track of work orders and market all your vacancies, look, Turbo Tenant is going to be your best friend. It's an app that allows you to do all of that and so much more all in the same platform.

[A]

Plus, it's like, stupid cheap.

[D]

Like, seriously less than your Netflix subscription. I don't even know why it's so cheap. And if you want it even cheaper, I got a discount for you. Just go to turbotenant.com betterlife and use code brandon10 for 10 off. Or go to my Instagram and DM me the word toolbox and I'll send you a link to a bunch of cool free tools that they have, like the rent estimator, financial freedom calculator, and more.

[B]

Guys, I'm down £15.

[A]

Are you?

[B]

I am.

[A]

No way.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

£15 in a week and a half.

[A]

What are you doing, Naid?

[B]

Well, the first 15 is always really easy. I've only drank once in the last week and a half.

[A]

That's impressive.

[B]

Walking 8, 000 steps a day. Basically doing what you guys did in the fitness challenge. Doing it for myself because I hate being told what to do, so it had to be for me.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Did you hear? I heard a study recently, they did a study on what would result in more like fat loss. Cardio alone. Lifting alone, or both. Cardio and lifting?

[C]

No, lifting.

[B]

Lifting.

[A]

It's lifting alone.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Even lifting alone with, like. How does that make any sense? I don't understand.

[B]

Because lifting, I've always heard it burns more calories, the long run. So, like.

[A]

But if you're lifting. Let's say you're lifting four days a week, or you're lifting four days a week and running, it's still better. Even though you're doing the same amount of lifting, it's still.

[B]

I didn't know that.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I feel like the cardio.

[C]

After you're lifting, you're gonna, like, burn the. Burn the muscle gain.

[A]

You gain maybe, and then therefore, you get.

[B]

So lifting is better than doing lifting.

[A]

And cardio, like, adding cardio.

[B]

I misunderstood your question.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Then why do you do cardio?

[A]

I mean, I like running.

[C]

You have to do cardio to have good heart health.

[A]

Yeah, correct. Heart health.

[C]

My favorite, though, is doing a cardiovascular. I'm sorry, a weightlifting circuit training that is raising your heart rate at the same time.

[B]

Like cross stuff.

[A]

Is that what you do? CrossFit?

[C]

Well, that or F45.

[B]

45 is great.

[A]

45. I don't know.

[C]

Let's take a functional fitness class. It's similar to CrossFit, but not as hard in your body.

[A]

I've seen their signs. Aren't they blue, blue and red?

[B]

Maybe 45 is the better version of CrossFit. Because I think CrossFit, you get hurt a lot. There's nobody that I know that has done CrossFit for a long time that hasn't had significant injuries. But F45 is still high intensity. It's 45 minutes of circuit training. It's quick.

[C]

It's all planned out.

[A]

It's class I used to always complain about. I say the same thing about CrossFit. I'm like, yeah, I don't get CrossFit people because they just do a sport that they're just gonna injure themselves. I mean, most people get injured. Excuse me, I'm go to Jiu Jitsu now. Like, it's just like, I'm like, wait a second.

[B]

Like, it's same.

[A]

I'm such a hypocrite. Yeah, but he's going back for more.

[C]

To keep getting beat up all the time.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

My problem, because I love that type of working out, but if I'm by myself, which I work out typically by myself, I can't do that. Yeah. I'm just not going to do it because it's hard. And I'm like, no, I'd rather just lift heavy. And that's.

[C]

Pick it up, put it back down.

[B]

Yeah, that's. That's my problem is I like lifting heavy. And so I never get my heart rate up. I'll do as heavy as I can, you know, five reps, a four by five, and then take five minutes in between.

[C]

Strength. Yeah, I'm pretty strong too.

[B]

I'm pretty strong, but I'm beefy and.

[C]

I need to squat.

[E]

Huh.

[B]

I could, I could, I could hit 500.

[A]

Could you really?

[E]

Yes.

[A]

Impressive, man.

[B]

Look at squat. 500. Deadlift.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

What do you.

[B]

Over 500? Bench. Bench isn't good. Probably I would guess 275.

[A]

That's pretty good.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Chad, what are you benching my.

[C]

I hit 365.

[A]

Did you really?

[C]

I'm at three, probably three right now.

[B]

Can we cut that from this?

[C]

But my squat's only £400. I work on that.

[A]

My squat was like, I think 250. So you guys are both killing me.

[C]

Quadzilla over there.

[A]

Yeah, Quadzilla. So we did a fitness challenge in the 50 and you had the distinct honor of. What was you lost? 4% body fat.

[C]

Yeah, I lost 4%, gained 10 pounds.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Which is wild to me. How did you.

[C]

And I had to pay like somewhat 800 in fees.

[A]

So, yeah, we had this. Great. Okay. So everyone said, you know, the, the rules were we did a three month or two and a half month, like.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Get fit for Maui kind of thing because all the guys. The 50 were coming out and so a bunch of us did this challenge where anything you ate, food wise, that was not according to what you defined as your eating plan or like what, what I call food Integrity. Anything you ate was $20 penalty. So if you ate an Oreo cookie, it was 20 bucks. If you ate two Oreos, it would be 40 bucks. Right. A slice of pie, 20 bucks. Two slice of pie, 40 sleeve of.

[B]

Oreos would bankrupt you.

[A]

Bankrupt you. Now, we did allow a thing called the one bite rule, which you allowed one bite.

[C]

One really big bite.

[A]

Yeah. So there are some fun pictures of people eating a very large bite of like a cinnamon roll. But I love. It was super fun. And then it was like, if you missed, you do, what, three workouts a week? I think it was.

[C]

No, it was.

[A]

Was it? No. Three week, maybe four.

[C]

Four.

[A]

It might have been four. And there was a couple other criteria in there. Anyway, steps today or 8,000 steps. 8,000 steps a day. And if you missed it, you had to pay someone, too. And protein had to get your body.

[C]

Weight or 180 grams.

[A]

180 grams.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

The. The funny thing is, I think at the end, I think we ended up with like $8,000 in fees. I saw.

[B]

I saw how much the guys in that made, and it was insane.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

So the guy who won, Rob Chi, he won first place. He dropped a ton. That guy is looking good.

[B]

Didn't he get like 3500 bucks?

[E]

What?

[A]

Yeah, it was like 3500 bucks.

[E]

Something.

[A]

Dude.

[B]

Colin.

[A]

Colin.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, he was already.

[A]

He already was good.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Abs, Jeez. Anyway.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think Brian. Brian Underwood, he didn't cheat one time the entire. He had zero penalties, which.

[B]

That's insane.

[A]

So he got a bunch of money, too.

[C]

I lost so many cheat meals.

[A]

No, me too. I was the worst cheater, though. I got a thousand dollars sheets. I think you.

[C]

I had 740.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And I sent today's Venmo to you today, so you got that?

[A]

Thank you.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Now I gotta collect everybody's. I think, like, three have come in. We have, like 10 more to get, and then I'll get it out to the winners.

[E]

I know.

[A]

I hound these guys.

[C]

Well, you had. You have zero friends of Venmo. How's this possible, Brandon? This is like the.

[A]

Right.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Confirmed it. We should check that. Oh, that's funny. Anyway, so now the fitness challenge. I highly recommend everybody here. If you've not done a fitness challenge, like, every dude that did the finish, I think one didn't. But every other dude but one who was in this group, like, lost significant body fat, gained muscle. Looked better.

[C]

Just pushes you more.

[A]

It pushes. And it was fun. It was. I love the 20 rule. I'm doing it again this quarter.

[B]

Should we start a fitness challenge for better life?

[A]

I know we keep talking about it. We probably should. Or just join the 15 and come join ours.

[B]

Join. Join the 50.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Which now you're in.

[E]

Yes.

[A]

You can be in part. You can be part of the fitness club. The fitness challenge.

[E]

Change.

[C]

What's the next one?

[A]

I don't know. We haven't talked about it. We gotta figure that one out. But we're gonna do it again for sure. Because it's just. I. There's something magical, but just doing work together, like, it wasn't even that much of a commitment. It's like once a week, you post your picture, your stuff.

[C]

It was simple.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

And then just. But what I loved about it is it made me. Every time I want to eat that Oreo. Cook. Yeah. 20 bucks. Yeah. It makes you think twice. And it goes back to what, Like Adam with my body tutor who we had on the podcast a while ago, he talks about this made a big impact on my life. Is like, make your indulgences. He calls it like, you. You're cheating, but make your indulgences worth it. Like, you're just grabbing a beer out of the fridge on a Tuesday afternoon because you're bored, that you should pay 20 bucks for that, but you're. Or grabbing an Oreo off the counter because it was sitting there. 20 bucks, but your daughter makes you a cupcake. Yeah. That's worth that.

[C]

So worth it.

[A]

It's like Derek Sivers line. If it's not a hell yes, it's a no.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

It kind of forces you to do that with food. If it's not a hell yes, it's a no.

[B]

Well, and I did that.

[E]

That. That.

[B]

That's one of the things I did. Which my parents don't know I drink, so hopefully they don't listen to this. But once a week. Once a week, I'm only allowed to drink. And that changes everything. Where it's like. Because it's not like I'm drinking a lot, but at night when I'm watching the sunset, I'm like, man, this would be really great with a big, swell ipa.

[C]

Hey, have you tried the NA beers yet?

[B]

No.

[C]

Athletic beers.

[A]

Yeah, athletic is legit.

[C]

There's a hazy ipa. It tastes like a beer.

[A]

Does it really? Dude, I have a whole. I have a whole case in there. We should try one. Yeah, I will. We should drink some. Yeah. I'm actually not a beer guy, but I love. I love if I'm gonna drink beer. It's athletic brew my wife makes for me.

[C]

So much like one of those things. Are you serious right now?

[B]

Na beers.

[C]

Cool.

[A]

They actually are the by far the best I've had of any.

[C]

They're pretty good though.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So they're good stuff. All right, man. What's next in your life? What's coming up? Where do you see yourself real estate wise? What are you building towards?

[C]

Well, we're on a mission, man. We're gonna acquire a billion dollars in real estate. And our mission is twofold. One is we're impact a thousand families through real estate investing positively. And we're impact a thousand residents with the financial literacy courses.

[A]

Oh, explain that.

[C]

So we're starting this right now, one of our bigger properties and we partner with the bank and they have to do these like community reinvestment credits or whatever. And they're going to be helping us host courses at our property to the tenants to teach them how to use the Dave Ramsey program. French Beach University. And the goal there is to help them become more financial literate with their, with their finances, their. Their debt, which only help them and the property itself with the revenue, with the collections. And I, for me, it's like I've had a big soft spot whole entire life with just doing something that's being more. This is a more fulfillment. It's more of a passion for me. And if I can impact people that are underserved, that just don't really know how to manage money the right way, it's more of making an impact for me. And my dad at early age taught me so well. I'd listen all till it's probably mid-30s to his device, but it's. It's something you have to do.

[A]

Dude, that's. That's amazing. I, I don't think we've talked about this, but I've had this plan for a long time where I want to get a bunch of apartment operators together and then we just go hire Dave Ramsey like once a year. Yeah, because if we had like, let's say I had 30,000 combined tenants, it's like, I mean, Dave would probably do it for free, but if we had like 30,000 people on a Zoom and you offered, hey, if you show up for the whole Zoom, you get 25 bucks off your rent or something like that, like, like, I think it would make such an impact in these people's lives and an impact in our lives because people like, would pay their bills. Like, Dave Ramsey changed my life. He's changed millions of Americans lives. Same here.

[C]

My twenties.

[A]

Yeah, it's. Yeah, my twenties. It was solid advice for our tenants and they will be a, like, better off financially if we just force them to go through some Dave Ramsey training. So anyway, I've been talking about that for years. We got to talk about that more.

[C]

We need to.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Part of, part of the education, though, too, is like getting people to accept they need to actually go. Go into the course. Because then when you're so far on that one side of the fence, like, you can't. You have blinders on. You can't like, see out of the hole. Like, you're so deep. So part of. Is like getting them maybe conditioned to, like, hey, check this out. Could help you out. There's, there's, there's more coaching involved.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

But that could really impact attendance quite a bit.

[A]

Financial piece. I mean, if anybody's on Dave Ramsey's team that's watching this, please connect me with them. But I bet, like, I wonder if they've looked at this. So Financial Peace University was completely built off churches. Right. Which is a really good, smart business business model. Going to churches. Church buys the program and all the members of church go. But I think they could 10x their revenue by going to apartments instead of churches.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. Like, if they go to apartment, like, would I buy, like, what is a church paying for Financial Peace? I don't call it five or ten grand.

[C]

I talked to them a while back and what they do is they. It's a discounted rate.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

For an apartment community, you can buy maybe like 20 bucks a person is what it is stuff like 100 bucks a person.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

I feel like package. That would be such a great. Yeah. Especially if you like. Or have a church.

[E]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Or have the church go to the apartment and just.

[C]

Yeah, with him.

[A]

That's a good idea too, because then the church is going to come do it because they want to, like, be in the.

[C]

Spread the word.

[A]

Spread the word.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And donate to the church helps them.

[A]

Yeah, that's a, That's a cool idea. We interviewed that guy in the podcast with Apartment Life, I think they're called. Right. And they like, that's a cool model for kind of a charity, so to speak. What they do is they will put in a resident manager, essentially a resident manager into an apartment complex. You have to give the unit for free, but then they'll put the person in there and then that person does community events and like, I love that. And they're constantly looking for how they can serve and help. So it's Almost like putting a missionary into your apartment.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

In exchange they get free rent and you get somebody that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's gonna cost you a thousand bucks a month.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

He had all these stats about, like, at apartment complexes that have. That the tenants stay. Yeah.

[A]

They stay way longer.

[B]

Stay way longer.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Every Friday night you're having to get together and eating pizza and.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

Watching a movie or something.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And then those people are just there, like, they're not pushy. They're not like saying, oh, come, you know, come to Jesus. They're just like there. And if people are having problems, they can talk to them, which people do.

[C]

It's a thousand dollars a month. You're in a miss and rent from the one unit.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

How many more renewals will you.

[A]

Exactly.

[C]

Taking care of how many last turns we have to do. Yeah. One less turn per month.

[A]

It makes me actually think. I'm just thinking aloud here. But like, I got, like, I have some apartments in Texas in Austin, Texas, and Austin's dropped. I mean, their vacancy is terrible right now. Like, I think we're at 20% vacancy across Austin, the market. So, like, I've got a lot of vacancies at some of my. I have a 400 unit in Austin. There's a bunch of vacancies there. So it wouldn't even cost me anything. I was thinking, thinking out loud here, but, like, it's already vacant. It's already vacant anyway, so it's not cost me anything. It's going to be years, but, you know, at least a year before you get small field probably if the market turns there. So. Yeah. Could I even hire. I mean, maybe it's apartment life, which already built the system, but can I also just find somebody as like, community, like, make a role? It's like, hey, you get free rent and 500 bucks a month and you're in charge of the community, and so you're in charge of talking to every person, delivering flowers to people on their birthday, whatever. The thing is, give them a list. Like a system. Yeah, that's a cool idea. Like, I would have done that when I was in my 20s, been like, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'll be the community person. Just hang out with people and throw a pizza party.

[C]

How do you find those people now?

[A]

How do you f. Yeah, yeah. How do you find them? But.

[B]

But I think it's easy to find them. Like if you get free rent and yeah.

[A]

For a few hours.

[B]

And if you would like to hang out with people, it's like, yeah, they're doing that job anyway for free.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So I got to think more on.

[A]

That, but that could be legit. It's like you're just like our residential love ambassador. You just got to love on the people that live at your property. And for that, you get free rent. And we'll give you a thousand bucks a month to spend on people.

[C]

The director.

[B]

I think it is a really cool idea. Yeah. And giving them a budget to spend on people where it's just like, hey, we know this person is struggling.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This happened. Or they just had a kid.

[A]

Or you just let all the tenants know, like, this is the person that's.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, dude, that's such a cool idea.

[C]

And also, on the disc profile, will they be like a maybe S or an I?

[A]

Yeah, probably. Yeah, exactly. A high I for sure. Like, interpersonally.

[E]

Right.

[B]

Is si.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Not a circle D. Yeah.

[B]

Not a C. And probably not a D. Yeah, but.

[A]

And probably a good one. Like. Like what apartment life does is married couples. So it's like. And one of them usually works full time. They both might work full time, but there's around to help people and serve.

[C]

That's such a cool idea.

[A]

Hey, if you're listening to this podcast and you live in Austin, Texas, and you want to be my love ambassador, we didn't understand. If you want to try that out, let me know. Shoot me a DM or something on Instagram.

[B]

That would be great on LinkedIn.

[C]

Resident lover.

[B]

Exactly. Tell. Tell me about. So you have a. A pretty big contract or pretty big apartment under contract right now?

[E]

We do, yeah.

[A]

What can you tell us about. I mean, it's not closed yet, so, like, I know you got.

[C]

It's under 200 units. Some 200 units in the Midwest.

[E]

Uhhuh.

[A]

How'd you find that one through.

[C]

It's on. It was on market, actually. This deal is kind of tainted. Like, it's. This is a good lesson, actually, for sellers. So this deal has been on the market for a while and probably three different brokerage shops and they came out, like, way too high on the guidance and never got any traction. They still went with somebody else. They need traction. And as you can imagine, like, if you're a buyer like us and we see this deal like, oh, there's a deal again back on the market. Like, are you going to chase it as heavily now? And you've seen the last couple years in the market, probably not. So it's been one of those things where we've really been at the right place the right time. And it's a awesome discount to what it costs to build new. It's brand new. It's a year old. It's crazy.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, it's incredible.

[A]

That's awesome.

[C]

I could share more in a couple weeks, but, yeah, we'll be in a cutter in about a week and a half here. So it's a. It's a big deal for us. We're excited. It's. It's one of these to where it's. We normally do value add projects. We have one development right now.

[E]

Yep.

[C]

This is a newer product, so it's a lot less risk to go get the return. No renovations really needed at all. And that's a. That's a big risk component too, with value add. Right. So we're in.

[A]

Your capex should be a lot lower too, like all the. Because you're not replacing anything. It should be.

[C]

There's like zero. We may go out of swimming pool is all we're going to do, probably. That's it.

[A]

That's awesome, man.

[C]

Maybe some paint.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Very cool. Congrats on that.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Thank you.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Let me know when it closes.

[C]

We're growing. I will.

[A]

You got to raise capital for that one, I'm assuming.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

A couple dollars?

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

About 12 million.

[B]

About 12 million.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

You got this?

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, man. What is a habit or weekly ritual or habit that has had the biggest impact on your. Your business?

[C]

My business. Okay. So I do a top three of the weekend. Top three every day. So start the week, I do my top three things. I have to finish that week. So I also stay focused every day throughout the week because I get a. To the all the time. And then every morning I have my top three that day I have to finish. And the folks there is like the idea there is if you knock out your most important things first, it's like the whole, you know, the jar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that helps me stay focused.

[A]

Very cool. I like that. What about. Same question. But habits or rituals that have the biggest impact on your family life?

[C]

Throwing away at 5, 30 or 6. Just put it somewhere else. Leave them a car, honestly, sometimes.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

So I can be present.

[A]

That's beautiful.

[C]

It's been a challenge, though.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

It's tough as a business owner and a guy, and it just. It's tough not want to even a person these days. To have your phone in your hand and look at all the time. It's like a weird like. Like an addiction, right?

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

We're all addicted.

[C]

Put it. I know. It's craz. It's like put it somewhere else and just. You can't even see it and just be present your family, you know. I'm still working through that but it's getting better.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

I've been feeling lately. I saw, I saw it must have been a meme or you know, a thing on Instagram or somewhere. But it basically said like if you look at your kid and your kid's addicted to screens, look in the mirror because you are too. It's like your kid will mimic what you do. And when I look at Wilder and Wilder is definitely like he loves Minecraft more than anything. He like more than any. He always says I love it more than anything in the universe. Phrase more than everything in the universe. It's like he's so obsessed with Minecraft or in any screens really. If he can't get out of Minecraft he'll do. I mean he, he, he literally if we're like sitting somewhere where they have no screens, he will grab my watch and sit there just like pressing buttons on my watch.

[E]

Really?

[A]

Cuz he just like has to be. And I'm like. And part of me is like I gotta fix it. And I am fixing it. Like we're, we're limited to like once a week and we're doing well stuff but I'm like there's a reason he's there. It's like I'm on my phone too much. Like it's like he's just me and so like I have to fix me if I want to fix him. And so like I got some, you know.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Habits and rituals around the phone. Like it goes off at 6pm it's like that's.

[B]

Have you guys looked at the brick at all the.

[A]

Yeah, I like the idea. I have one.

[C]

You have one like smash the phone with a brick.

[A]

There's a little device called Brick.

[B]

Well, I think it's cool. And I don't have one but it. What I have seen is you can lock everything on your phone but like texts or calls and so that way I can still have my phone on me in case something important happens. Because there's always things that are happening in our business.

[C]

Is an app for your phone?

[A]

It isn't. It's an app that works with a little device. So it's a little like device you touch your phone to. Almost like you're scanning it and then it turns on the app which then limits everything on your phone.

[B]

So like I could have the brick in the. The seashed and then when I'm leaving I'm going to the house and the only way I could get back on Instagram or tap it again, Twitter, is I have to go to the sea shed and tap it and unlocks. And at that point I'm going to be like, I'm not going to do that.

[A]

So I love the concept of it. Here, here, here's what I didn't like about it. And this is no diss to them. I love the company. It was a great, it's a great product. And I just think maybe that what I'm about to say will be fixed and maybe it already is. It's like one, I'd forget to brick it and so I'd leave it at the office. That's what I bought it for. So I leave it at the office. So I brick it when I go home. And now I don't have to worry about it. Well, I'd leave and I'm like, oh, shoot, I forgot to hit the brick thing. So then it's just not off. Right. And the other thing is like, I wish, like, it was if I didn't take leave at the office, if I was at home, I would just go unbrick it again when I needed to use it real quick. Like, I still have to have self discipline to go do that, so it has to be harder to get to. So anyway, I guess what I would probably do.

[B]

But you could like take it to my house. You can leave it at my house.

[A]

I couldn't leave it at your house.

[B]

Then you have to go there to brick it, Right? Or could you brick it?

[E]

Correct.

[A]

That's the problem. I have to go to your house to brick it. So if I could brick it without having to touch the thing, if I could just like press the button, maybe there's a way on the app to do it. I don't know. I didn't actually look. Instead I just actually, for a long time, I don't have it on there right now. For a long time I just set really, really strict parental controls on my phone to like, you only have one hour of this a day. And at this time it shuts off. And then I made Heather put a password on it. And so that worked really well for a good like six months where it's like, it was like, my phone's dead. I can't, like, I literally cannot use it. That worked okay.

[B]

But yeah, I did that. But then I just figured out the password and so, yeah, I'm just logged back in where the, the Screen Time app has not worked well, where I Just always log back in. I'd love to not be on my phone.

[E]

Ye.

[A]

So I'm going to, I'm going to tell an idea here and I, I'm a big believer in like sharing ideas. Even though this one, I'll be really sad if somebody steals this and goes and builds a business without giving me any money from it because it's such a good business idea. I really. This goes back to our fitness challenge. Me and Jeff Hol. I'm going to give Jeff Hol big shout out. He was on the podcast, had this idea and we were chatting one night about creating an app where you compete on screen time with all your friends. And so the same way the fitness challenge.

[C]

Lower screen time.

[A]

Yeah. For lowest screen time time. And you just, every week everybody puts in, let's call it five bucks a week, and you just automatically takes it from Your Venmo or PayPal or whatever. Automatically goes into the pool and you have, let's say, eight people in your friend group and it just looks at your screen time. And like, I, Even though I even like the idea of like, there's no like, well, but I need it for work. It's like that. Oh, suck you to be you. Like, it's like, it's just pure screen time. Your phone is on.

[C]

It is tracking your laptop.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. You go use your laptop if it's for work.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Just get off your phone. But then you, at any moment, you, you can pick up your phone and you can look and see what all your friends screen time's at right now. And you're competing for lowest.

[B]

I think that.

[A]

And then the winner gets the bulk of the money. And the app, of course, takes a 10% cut if people check the app too much.

[C]

It'll go against your screen time as well.

[A]

It does. Yeah. That's. So there's a. Yeah. You don't want to check too often.

[C]

But I love.

[A]

I, I think that app would crush in a couple ways. One, it's very clear monetization strategy because you just take a piece of whatever one's putting into the pot.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And two, it's got the viral loop built right into it. It's like, I, I'm not going to do it alone. I'm going to tell you about it and you about it. And I guar. Guarantee you, if I would have told right in this circle, if we were just chatting, I'm like, dude, you guys got to join me on this thing. Would either of you like. No, I don't want to. Yeah, you Might.

[B]

I would be so embarrassed if people saw my screen time.

[C]

What is it?

[B]

That's true.

[A]

I think you should pull it up right now. Do you have your phone on you? Let's look at who's the worst right now. The three today.

[B]

We're only looking at today.

[A]

No, I think we should average. How do you.

[B]

How do you. Where do you go?

[A]

Okay, so you go to settings and screen.

[C]

Screen time.

[A]

Okay. We're gonna look and see who's the worst, and then we're gonna move on to the ending of the show. But I'm very curious of who's got the worst. I'm sure it's me, guys.

[B]

No.

[C]

So daily average.

[A]

Yes. Screen time.

[B]

What's today?

[E]

Tuesday.

[A]

You should be able to go weekly or daily? Daily average. It's that top number.

[E]

Yep.

[A]

Daily average. That should do. The last seven days, I think. Is mine worse? Mine is four hours, 56 minutes.

[C]

Oh, mine's four hours, eight minutes.

[A]

Oh, you're my six hours. I lose. What are you at, Cam? I lose.

[B]

It doesn't matter. There's no way that it's that long. Oh, you know what it is? I know what it is. Okay. Is I. No, I do. I have the Headspace app and I turn it on at night to this like hour and a half long meditation.

[C]

So you can actually go by category. Like social media apps.

[A]

Yeah, you can.

[E]

You know what?

[B]

You can. How do you see all app.

[A]

You can still play the meditations with your phone.

[C]

But it's not screen time, though. It's just playing.

[A]

If it's just playing, it doesn't count.

[B]

Oh, but I leave it open.

[A]

Why would you do that? Weird.

[E]

Know what?

[A]

Are you at seven. Seven, Dude, I've been there.

[B]

Cut. Cut that.

[A]

No, this is.

[C]

It's easy to cut now.

[A]

First £15.

[B]

Easy, easy, easy.

[A]

There.

[B]

There's got to be. I'm.

[C]

I'm going to.

[B]

I'm going to dive into that tonight, cuz I'm not. I'm not on it for that long.

[A]

No, I agree. It's probably something like that. Like. Or you.

[B]

When you're on the phone, does it. Does it count as you're talking on the phone?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

I'm a big phone.

[C]

Talk one of those.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

What? The phone app is an app, okay.

[B]

That I. I talk on the phone for probably two hours a day.

[C]

Well, wait a second. Maybe not.

[A]

There's also a setting. Yeah.

[C]

Bonus.

[E]

Okay, good.

[B]

That's got to be what it is.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

I think there's a setting that also shares like your watch. I believe I could be wrong on this, but I think it shares your watch time with your screen time, with both combined. And then every time your watch, you look at it or you move like, it just. It's like a minute. And it was like a minimum of a minute. Again, that might be conspiracy theory, but for a while I was like. I was like. I didn't touch. There was days I did not touch my phone at all because every Saturday I leave it off and it would be like, you were on for 33 minutes today. And I was like, no, I wasn't.

[C]

It has some upsetting. So every Saturday you turn it off.

[A]

Yeah, I. I don't. I'm not really good at right now. I need to get back on it. In fact, I'm going to commit to that right now.

[E]

But, yeah.

[A]

Friday night. Do you know about the, the. You ever heard this idea about the Sabbath? The Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday night to go Saturday night. Right. Very common. Like, people know that. What I didn't know and I learned is it doesn't begin at sunset on Friday night. It begins at the third star that appears in the sky on Friday night.

[E]

Wow.

[A]

At least. At least that's what I read one time. And I love this concept because what we would do is on Friday night, with family, we'd go outside and we'd look for the stars, because nobody realized that stars come out one at a time. Because, like, I mean, they're always out. Right. But they appear.

[C]

Brightest is first.

[A]

Yeah, the brightest is first comes out. So what we do is we go outside and we're all just looking. The sun's down, and you're looking, and you're looking, and then you're like, there's the first one and all the kids get excited and there's a second, there's a third, and then it ends with the third star on Saturday night. And so we go outside again Saturday night. But it created such magical moments every time. It's been a few moments, months since we've done that. I'm going to bring that back anyway. What you find out?

[B]

I found out that. So I'm over two hours on. On messages today, which doesn't make sense. So there's something off with that andhour and 25 on Instagram. But that makes sense because I. I made three reels for the next three days.

[A]

There you go. So it might. This is why my question for Apple. Somebody can tell me in the comments if you're watching this on YouTube, whether this is true or not.

[B]

I'm at four hours already today, but.

[A]

I think it might. If you pick it up for 10 seconds, I think it rounds everything minute. I'm not. I could be wrong, but that would make sense to me that that's why it's doing that. So when it says you've been on for two hours, you just answer 200 or whatever that is. Text messages. It'd be more than that.

[B]

Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm shooting back texts all the time, but no way I've been two hours on. On. I'm embarrassed. I'm very embarrassed right now.

[A]

All right, man. We got to move on anyway. This was a great show, but we got to move on to the three, two, one, pivot. This is the part of the show where we talk about things that have changed the direction of your life in a more positive way. So we'll start with three books that have changed the direction of your life.

[C]

Rich dad, Poor Dad. First one, great book. This book by Rental Property Investing by some guy named Brandon Turner.

[A]

No way.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Hey, man, that's awesome.

[C]

Didn't know 2x is easier than 2x.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Good.

[C]

I've read it three times so far. It's so good.

[B]

That's awesome. I got that at that conference we were at in Utah, and I have.

[A]

Not read it yet. Really?

[B]

So I need to read it.

[A]

Dude, it's so good.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So good.

[C]

Actually, all of Dan Hin's books are really good. Like who? Not How Gain. Just I. I love how he, like, talks in between each chapter.

[A]

I agree.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

The audiobooks were excellent on that because of that.

[E]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

It's kind of. David Goggins does the same thing. They talk in between each chapter anyway. Solid.

[E]

All right.

[B]

Who are two people that have changed the direction of your life?

[C]

My dad, for sure, and a good friend named Ethan.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

Back home. Why?

[B]

Why Ethan?

[C]

He's a mentor to me.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

He's a very Christian guy, and he's. He's been on this path quite a bit. When you ask him for advice, some people give you all the advice in the world to tell you have to do. But he asks questions to make me think and come with my own answers. And it makes you really think. I think it builds you as a leader as. Just to make better decisions. He's very inspirational.

[A]

How about one quote that has changed the direction of your life or that you live by?

[E]

I.

[C]

The best investment you can make is in yourself.

[A]

That's good.

[C]

The best investment is in yourself.

[A]

What does that mean to you?

[C]

You probably can't get a 50 extra 100x investment in real estate or other investment like you can in yourself. Like you, there's just so much you can grow by investing yourself through education or through coaching or even investing in like a fitness challenge or you know, a fitness class. Right. You're bettering yourself like and as you better yourself and your health and your body and your knowledge and your experiences, like, you can become a better person, do more in life and just be a better husband, father, friend, business owner. I just think it's best to invest in yourself if you can.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

Awesome. Next mini segment. Past, present, future. So if you could go back and talk to 20 year old you, you, what advice would you give them?

[C]

Oh man. Well, you're what, 24 now? No, I would, I would get started so much earlier, man. I would, I would, I would have left a comfortable job like after year two and taking more risk. Like I'm okay taking risk now. I'll be 44 in a couple days. But it's when you're younger you can, you can go broke five times.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

And you can get back on your feet. But you, you have a lot more energy earlier, earlier on your 20s to take more risk and do more things. I'm having fun now, but I would have done more.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm gonna ask a side question before we get to the present one. Just, I think this will be good for the gram. What is your best advice for people in their 40s getting into real estate for the first time?

[C]

Do it now. Don't wait another year. The longer, the longer you wait, the harder it gets, man. Because you get less and less risk tolerant.

[A]

Tolerant.

[C]

Yeah. The older you get. So if you wait one more year, that's one more year. You probably aren't going to go do it and won't make those same moves. Do it now. And I, I heard this quote a while back too. It's like, what would the. I'm gonna see how it goes. So I think it's like, what would the 80 year old you like give. Give be giving you advice on like, and when you're on your deathbed someday, what, what would you wish you would have done and what regrets would you have? Usually people say they, they regretted it and take more chances, do more or doing business ventures or go on more vacations or have more experiences or work less. Right. I just like, life's so short, man. It's a mist.

[B]

I think that's the number one regret I remember. I don't know if I saw it on Instagram, so I don't know if it's true or not. In the very limited time that I spend on my phone. Yeah, I did see that there was something that they had interviewed a bunch of people, like, on their deathbed, and their. Their number one regret was that they didn't take more risks.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

So it's just like, go, Go for it. Like, what's the worst that happens?

[B]

I mean, that's one of the reasons we're here in. In Hawaii, honestly, is I was. I knew that When I was 80 years old, looking back on my life, I would 100 regret the fact, because my wife and I always talked about it, that we didn't move here and try it. And we could have gone here and hated it and figured out that this wasn't the place for us. And I would always regret not trying it, though. And I would. If we moved here and we ended up not liking it, like, we would move back and. And I would be pumped that we tried it. And so. And I. I run through, like, a lot of situations and, and new things through that of like, in 50 years, am. Am I going, what am I going to regret more? The fact that I didn't try it or the fact that I did try it? And so, so good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

My wife wants to move here so bad. We just have the winners here for right now, but. Yeah, I know. We should.

[B]

It's paradise.

[A]

You're over on Aahu, right?

[E]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

I like Aahu.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

It is very nice going back to the past, present, future. The present question is, what have you done recently in your life that's given you a better life? Like, could be a habit trait, routine. Purchase something that's made your life better.

[C]

This year, I. I go more to the experience.

[A]

Okay. The.

[C]

I. I kind of go back to the. Going to Hawaii for the winners. Yeah, that's been something cool for a family to do right now, or our kids are pretty, pretty small.

[A]

What's wrong with winners in Indiana?

[C]

I mean, it's like maybe zero back home. Actually, we had a heat wave today. It's like 40 degrees back home, but it's pretty, pretty cold back there.

[A]

Yeah, they probably are.

[C]

But as far as routine, you know, getting the morning routine is a little bit different here in Hawaii versus Indiana, but that's always been a thing for me. The last eight years, it's just the morning routine. The first half an hour. I wrote this book called the Miracle Morning by.

[A]

We had him on the podcast. Podcast, yeah.

[C]

The whole Savers acronym, you know, just first half an hour and that way you focus on yourself.

[B]

It's one of my favorite things to do is the Savers routine. So you have. And we haven't got to talk a ton about your family, but I know beforehand we were talking that you have two kids and. And one question that I like to ask is we have the question like, what is your legacy? But I. But the way that I like to word it is like someday you're going to. You're going to die and hopefully that's a long way away.

[C]

And.

[B]

And your kids are going to speak at your funeral. And what do you want them to tell the world about their dad?

[C]

Oh, that's so deep, man.

[E]

Yeah, that's deep.

[C]

I want to be remembered as somebody that was significant and gave back and created and created more awareness around potential education with. With young adults and children. I think there's. There's a. There's this. There's a missed generation with financial education these days. And there's just. And you're a product of your environment and you can't. Little kids just can't control that. And if, if you've. We've got to figure out how to fix this new generation to teach them these things, the entrepreneurship in school so they can teach their kids as well and fix. We got. We gotta break this cycle. But I would remember for somebody who made an impact.

[E]

Yeah.

[C]

Not about somebody who was wealthy or had some cool toys or cars, but just make an impact.

[E]

Love that.

[A]

Well, let's wrap things up. Two final questions. First, what is coming up in your life like, personally that you're just excited about what's coming up in the near future besides, you're Turning how old?

[C]

44. 44, yeah.

[A]

Very cool. What else is going on Coming up soon?

[C]

I mean, back to Indiana in two weeks here.

[E]

All right.

[C]

It's not really exciting though. Our biggest ever. We're closing here pretty soon. Be on a contract with. With companies growing. I've had some delay gratification the last few years. Personally, I haven't like bought some toys and cars recently, but that's coming someday. It is coming.

[E]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

You got to delay that while you're building. Yes, yes.

[B]

What is going to be your first, like big toy, you know, it sounds.

[C]

It sounds so bad. I want a G wagon, you know. You ever shut the door on those things, man?

[B]

It's got not. But it's.

[C]

They just.

[A]

They.

[C]

It sounds so cool and rides. I probably won't buy one though.

[A]

But you should at least put it on that. Put it, put it on the, on the board as like, that's what I'm going to get when I get something. So it's like, hey, when I get my first $10 million or whatever the thing is, it's like, that's what I'm going to get.

[C]

I was a car guy years ago.

[B]

I think it's so important to have like, those.

[E]

What.

[B]

What's something that is just stupid, but I'm going to spend money on it to like, work towards. So the other night, my daughter Riley, she loves steak. It's ridiculous. She will. Oh, she eats steak every night. Night. She wants steak. And she can eat a whole steak in one sitting and wants to go to state, like, everything steak. It's so weird how much she loves steak. And so I was like. And I've been thinking through with my kids of like, I want to do some sort of like, really cool trip for them when they're like 13, 14, where it's a slaughterhouse. Well, not that, but I looked up the top five steakhouses in the world and so like, one's in Spain, one's one's in Sydney, one's in Argentina.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

One's in New York. And I'm like, how cool would that be if, like, I. I was at a place financially where we could fly first class and we could just like, take a week and we could go hit all five of the top steakhouses. And then I was telling Lexing, like, what if we planned out, like, I planned out a topic every night at dinner, like, to talk to her about. And, And I think that's just super cool. And it would cost a lot of money because I would not do that if I wasn't flying first class to fly all that. But it's just a fun thing for me of like, I don't know if it'll ever happen. She might hate steak when she's 14 years old, but. But it's just like a fun thing to think through of like, I've got to. I've got to have some money for that. So I've got to.

[A]

That's funny.

[C]

Start.

[B]

Start planning for that.

[A]

So I love that I, I do the Four Seasons jet. Have you heard? You know, the Four Seasons around the world?

[C]

It's like 300 grand.

[A]

Yeah, 300 grand a person. You have to have two people. So it's 600 grand. Like between five and 600 grand. But you basically f, like fly around the entire world. World and go to like 10 or something like that. Different cities and stay at the four seasons of each one. It's all four class. Yeah, it's all first.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

It's just ridiculous. And it says the most.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Absurd, but yeah. You're paying half a million to Bucks, like 10 days, 20.

[C]

That's for everything included.

[A]

Everything included.

[B]

And is the jet like private to just YouTube or is there like other people that are doing.

[C]

It's like. Yeah, full on.

[B]

I've never heard there's like I think.

[A]

20 people in each trip or something like that. So it's like a cater trip, Small group. Yeah, that'd be legit. So if I ever make $100 million, I'm taking half a million. And you're going to go on more.

[B]

Than half a million because it's per person, right?

[A]

Yeah, take my whole family. It'll be. It'll be a couple million bucks. Whatever. I'm doing it. All right.

[E]

Love it.

[B]

Last question for you. Where can people find you at and find your company at.

[C]

Yeah, so we're on. I'm on LinkedIn on Chad Sheila, Instagram. Our company is focus capital.com plural. You can email me. I'm on there as well. Fill out a form. I'll talk to you guys. Great.

[E]

Awesome.

[A]

Where the name Focus Capital come from?

[C]

You know, I had a. An assessment test, a behavioral test test taken about a couple years ago and my number one attribute was focus, which is really interesting because I add all the time and I can't focus on some things, but I have like hyper focus in some areas as well.

[A]

Very cool. I'm surprised I wasn't taking like FocusCapital.com seems like that would.

[C]

I had to buy like three grand.

[A]

Oh, okay. I was like. I was like, that's a good.

[C]

At first I had an invest focused dot com. It was free. Free.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

About a year I was like, I gotta buy this domain. Yeah, let's go do it.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Good. Good stuff, man. I like the name. That's a solid, good name.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

All right. FocusCapital.com. check out Chad everywhere. You can find him. And that's our show, everyone. So thanks for coming in today. This is amazing. You're awesome.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Thanks for being part of the 50. Yeah, it's awesome.

[E]

Boom.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that, my friends, is the show.

[D]

Thank you for tuning in. And hey, before you go, if you enjoyed this episode or if you just enjoy the show in general, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Wherever you listen to podcasts, we really.

[A]

Do value your feedback and we read.

[D]

The comments we make future decisions about topics and guests and everything else. Plus it helps us reach more people and the more reviews we get, the more people hear it and watch the show and share it and it's it's awesome. Last but not least, please head over to social media. Consider befriending me, following me subscribing to all that stuff at Better Life and my personal page at beardybrandon, especially over on Instagram, YouTube and really everywhere else. So thank you again for listening. I'm honored that you would bring me along on your journey toward building wealth through real estate investing without losing your soul. Now this show is about living a better life. But if you want my opinion on what it takes to live the best life ever, just go to abetterlife.com best life to hear some of my views on life and spirituality. I think you'll like [e-mail] BestLife with that said, thanks for listening to the show. We'll see you next week.