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- [00:03]
A
Welcome to the solarpreneur podcast, where we teach you to take your solar business to the next level. My name is Taylor Armstrong. I went from $50 in my bank account and struggling for groceries to closing 150 deals in the year and cracking the code on why sales reps fell. I teach you how to avoid the mistakes I made and bring in the top solar dogs of the industry to let you in on the secrets of generating more leads, following up like a pro, and closing more deals. What is a solarpreneur, you might ask? A solopreneur is a new breed of solar pro that is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve mastery. And you are about to become one.
- [00:43]
B
Okay, what's going on, everybody? I am stoked because today we have someone that I've been trying to get on for a long time now and finally was able to get this superstar on. So we got the one, the only Brody Fawcett coming on. Brody, thanks for coming on the show with us today.
- [00:58]
C
Yeah, man, thanks. Having me, I just, I just played hardball for a little bit to make it seem like I was a big deal or something. I just kind of, you know, didn't show up. Blew you off. Blew you off. And then we finally made it happen.
- [01:11]
B
So I know I got my.
- [01:14]
C
Really not that hard to get a hold of. Just made it seem like that.
- [01:17]
B
I know. I'm glad I got you before you got too big because any longer in this then probably have to.
- [01:23]
C
Oh, we don't have to worry about that, Trust me.
- [01:26]
B
Yeah, well, no, I'm excited because, yeah, I talked to you. My wife did your. Your guys, a little race in Kanab, Utah, which is actually my hometown there. So we talked out there and yeah, we've been following you guys for a while. So it's been cool to see your journey. Hanging out in Hawaii now and just excited to have you on. So thanks. Yeah. Do you want to. Yeah, do you want. Do you want to give a little bit of your background and all that for people that haven't checked you out as much, Brody, Maybe like how you got. And then transitioned into real estate?
- [01:59]
C
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I love the show, by the way. I think it's. It's so cool. Like, this is the stuff kind of out of the door to door space, but did it for eight years. And I mean, this is the stuff like I would thrive off of, right? Like, anything I could get my hands on to learn and get. Like the competitive edge was so crucial. And it's crazy, like, how many more Resources there are now as opposed to, you know, five, six, eight years ago even. And so props to you guys are listening to this and like taking it serious to actually get better at, you know, going out and being a better sales professional. And it makes all the difference. Like it really is the competitive edge. So yeah, I appreciate you having me on, but yes, I got started in I guess the door to door space. All, all my eight years were with one company, Vivint, and I got recruited on college campus. I thought I had it all figured out. I knew what I wanted to do and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, hey, are you on the track team? And I'm like, what kind of question is that? So random. But it opened up the loop to have a conversation. And so he started telling me about sales and the opportunity to basically go get ahead and spend the summer working hard so that you can, you know, make money and get ahead. And I always love the idea of working hard today for an easier tomorrow and just, you know, stacking cash or what it may be saving up for a rainy day, like for whatever reason that's always just made me feel like at peace. And so I'm like, okay, this could be a cool opportunity to go get ahead in life. And anyhow, I ended up, I think I had three years of school left at that point. Two or three years left and I still have one semester left. So eventually I dropped out of college with one semester to go. And I'm like, hey, I'm just going to dive into this sales world and spend more time building a. A team and going from there and just kind of, yeah, lasted a lot longer than most of us probably plan on. Right as we get into to door to door, it's like, oh, I'm just starting and you know, I'll do this for a little bit while I'm going to school and eventually became my career, which I love. Like, I. I think there's a lot of stigmas around just the industry in general and sales and obviously we all know this, but people think you have to be, you know, a slime ball or people think that the job's so hard because you have to travel and move to these different areas. And I just owned it. I loved, I thrived off of like the hard work and the grind and being willing to do something that nobody else or most people weren't willing to do to get results that most people weren't getting and able to live like a life that most people weren't able to live. And so for Me, it was just. It was so rewarding having been an environment like that. And so with that, like, my biggest fear, even getting started, I saw people. I still remember this, like, even day one, going to sales meeting, I guess, or a sales training that they would. They would have. This is at SUU in Cedar City, Utah. And seeing some people there, like, yeah, I've been doing it for seven, eight years. Like, but this is my last year. And then the next year they would say it again, but this is my last year. And then they would say it again, but this is my last year. And ultimately they were in a spot where they, like, wanted to be done, but they could never fully transition out of it. And I just remember thinking, like, hey, I don't know how long I'm gonna do this for, but I want to be in a spot where when I decide I want to transition out, like, I'm. I'm worth more off of the doors or outside of the industry that I am inside of it. And so that just, like, gave me some motivation early on to go and build. For me, it was real estate. And through real estate, just build up my passive income, my net worth outside of just sales. And that's what I became super passionate about. And it gave purpose to the grind of the sales world because it was like everything I was doing was for a reason. Every year I did it, it was for a reason. Every sale that I got, commission, check, like, it all had a purpose tied to it so I could go and invest that. And so that's. That's the. The basis of it, I guess. I've officially been out of the off of payroll for a little over a year now, and it's been awesome. Like, I. Yeah, like I said, I love the. I love the industry. I still. It's like bittersweet not being in it. But I also am so glad that, you know, I made smart decisions early on and I am where I am today because of that.
- [06:08]
B
Yeah, no doubt. Well, yeah, you've got the life that most people are trying to get to knocking on. Do yours. So, yeah, it's no. Been cool to see your journey. And especially a southern Utah kid like myself gives me a hope for coming from middle of nowhere. Can I have Utah? That Utah kids can still have some success. So, yeah, it's been awesome.
- [06:29]
C
You know. You know, Jaren Glazier, I. I know.
- [06:32]
B
A lot of Glazers. I think I met him maybe once.
- [06:35]
C
But his family owns the Glacier Market over there. Right. That everybody knows about the grocery store, but the One the. One of the two grocery stores. But anyhow, he was my. My first manager, so they like, co managed, and so I'm close to him to this day, but it's just. It's just funny. So that's my tie to Cannab there. Growing up, like, it was a good time.
- [06:55]
B
So nice. Yeah. Small world. No, I love it. Yeah. And it's also been like, my wife, she's been following your wife for a while too, and she's always talking about you guys and always, like, bringing up the real estate. Been following the mom stuff for a while. So I always have to ask if. If you can still beat your wife in an arm wrestle and everything. She looks pretty tough, man.
- [07:17]
C
I mean, arm wrestle, maybe not a leg wrestle.
- [07:20]
B
Yeah.
- [07:21]
C
Or a sprint down the street.
- [07:23]
B
Yeah, well, she's. Yeah. My wife said me do somewhere workouts. And I'll tell you about kills me doing them. So. Yeah, they're in there.
- [07:30]
C
But yeah, it's an app for mostly women. But, like, the workouts you. Yeah, it. It'll surprise you.
- [07:37]
B
I know I would always refuse to do them because before, um, I think it was like, mommy fit or something like that. So I'm like, man, there's no way I'm gonna do a mommy fit workout. Be like the lamest workout ever. And then I find me, you've been.
- [07:49]
C
On the train for a while if you. If you know mommy fit.
- [07:53]
B
Yeah, no, she goes way back. She's gotten a lot of value from it. So. We're raving fans of you guys. Trust me. No update.
- [08:00]
C
No, we appreciate. I'll tell her that'll. That'll make her feel good.
- [08:03]
B
Yeah, no, 100%. But what I was going to ask you, Brody, do you ever. Now that you're out of door to door, do you ever get, like, do you ever feel like you'd, like, miss knocking a door? Are you, like, happy to be out of it or what's like, your mental state around that or some. Some summers, do you still get like, oh, I want to go knock some doors. I, like, miss the whole door to door thing here. How do you feel?
- [08:22]
C
Yeah, no, there's a lot of things I. I miss. Absolutely. And there's a lot of things I don't miss. Absolutely. But, but, but, yeah, as far as I think, like, the. The team atmosphere, like, I always love that. Right. You thrive off of that. You're just kind of around, you know, your brothers and. And sisters, I guess. But it just was cool, like, uniting in a common cause where you're like, yeah, let's go. Let's go dominate today. And just the competition that was involved there, too, is always fun to go and compete. I. I was thinking about the other day, too, because, like, right now, there's not a lot of hard things in my life. And. And which is why I think it's important, you know, you go and manufacture those things sometimes and put yourself in uncomfortable situations in order to grow. But the cool thing with knocking doors is you're always in an uncomfortable situation, like doing things you don't want to do. And even just the fact of, like, getting out and knocking, you start to, like, you appreciate Sundays so much more versus if you, you know, you treat every day like a Sunday. I'm not saying I do this by any means, but you treat every day like a Sunday, then the Sunday loses. How special it is. It doesn't mean as much, doesn't feel as good. And so I think because knocking on doors in the heat, like, then the AC feels good, right. If you're always in the ac, then you don't notice as much. And so little things like that where, like, man, I miss, like, just getting owned and, like, doors slamming your face and, like, you know, getting pushed down where you have to, like, mentally climb back up. Like, it's so powerful. The things you don't think you would miss are actually things that you. You really do miss.
- [09:58]
B
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Like, yeah, I mean, I think you did your church mission, too, but it's like, I lived in Colombia for a couple years, and I got back, and I was, like, so shocked. There was carpet everywhere because I lived two years walking on, like, dirt floors and stuff like that.
- [10:15]
C
Yeah.
- [10:16]
B
And so, yeah, I think it's good to just push yourself to limits and you appreciate those things more. And even in solar, I'm sure you've talked to a lot of solar guys, but sometimes we get lazy. Solar is probably the laziest door knockers. Yeah. Because we can go out for, like, you know, three hours a day and get a couple leads, call it good, be in some appointments and be kind of set where, you know, you guys that were in alarms and pest controllers, Other industries are used to being on doors, like, eight hours a day. So, yeah, it's.
- [10:41]
C
Yeah, it's different now, right? A little bit different. It's in so many ways. It's like. It's all. It's the same mental battles a lot of times, but then at the same time, so. So different.
- [10:52]
B
Yeah, for sure. So, yeah. Something I always tell, like, Solar guys is go out and do like a blitz or something, push the limits, see how hard you can get. Because I'm sure you still, you know, push yourself in other ways. But sometimes we get comfortable and I think we sell ourselves short a lot of times, especially in solar. So I think it's a good reminder for all door to door people, especially solar. But yeah, I want to transition here, Brody. Obviously, like, you're the real estate guy and we haven't had too many guys come on and talk about just mostly real estate. So I want to dig into that more and just really see how we can apply it to solar. We're making all this money, but a lot of guys blow it, make bad investments. So you right now are teaching guys how to invest in real estate. You got your real estate investing school. So tell me, how did you guys transition to that? You did a lot of real estate yourself, but what made you decide to start this real estate school and start teaching others and more specifically door to door reps, would you say?
- [11:50]
C
Yeah, man. So I think just. It's funny, if you meet someone that does a lot of real estate, they love talking about it and like sharing different things that's worked for them. Even if you don't ask for it, they'll probably tell you about it. And so there's just something about like, you just get it, you just get hyped on it and you get excited about it and you want to share it with other people. And so I don't know, that was probably like five years ago. I, I would say, like, just started sharing like different real estate deals that, that we were doing and why we chose this deal and why we didn't choose this deal and what we did and how we funded it and started sharing that mostly on Instagram. And yeah, a lot of people followed along. And then from there a lot of people just started asking like, hey, do you have, like, do you do any coaching? Do you take on any clients? Do you have a program course where we could learn more? And so eventually enough people asked, I'd finally just created kind of like a curriculum around how to go and do it. And at that point I broke like the six figure mark from real estate, like passive real estate per year. And so we created a course that was, you know, centered around like going and creating six figures of passive income and the A to Z steps. And that did really well. A lot of people loved it. And then they're like, hey, like, do you offer any coaching where you can like, walk us through this and show us how this applies to us in our situation. And so it naturally just kind of led to real estate investing school, where I think we have 12 coaches right now. But the whole focus is like, yeah, we just kind of hold you by the hand and help you build passive income, like, tell you everything you need to know and then actually, like, help hold you accountable so that it gets done. And I feel like there wasn't anything that was really offered. Yes, there's a lot of, like, stuff out there, a lot of fluff out there, and then, like, a lot of really good stuff. There's YouTube, there's podcasts. There's so much of it. But a lot of times you just need somebody to be like, hey, this is where you're at. This is where you want to go. Sweet. Here's the next step. Let me help you get. Let me help you get there. And so that's eventually how, like, the school was born. And that's been really fun and super, super rewarding. Plus, I love to just, like, teach and share things, and it's been. It's been a fun journey for sure.
- [14:00]
B
And, yeah, we're talking just before we hit record. You guys did webinar. Is that what you're calling it? Your webinar? I forget what it was called. The event you guys did.
- [14:10]
C
Yeah, the. The Knock Doors to Own Doors summit we call, like, a virtual summit.
- [14:15]
B
Oh, yeah, yeah, Summit. That's right. And yeah, I was on that. Got a ton of value, so appreciate you for putting that on. But it's just cool to hear all the different perspectives and guys that have been in door to door, how they're using their money and, you know, different investments, whether it's Airbnbs cabins. Yeah, there's some wild stuff that I, like, had no idea you could do on there. And that actually inspired us to start, like, looking at homes more, because we're living out in San Diego, and out here, it's like, homes are so expensive. Maybe not as much as Hawaii, where you're at, but, like, super pricey. Right. And so we'd always just been like, we're just gonna rent until maybe we go back to Utah someday. But, you know, we heard guys like Adam Webb on there and other people talking about this whole house hacking. We're like, maybe we could look into that, and maybe it is a possibility. So we started looking into it, and long story short, found a place that we're in escrow right now, hoping to get it finalized there.
- [15:11]
C
But I love it. Like, you took action, like, that's huge. You like, yeah. You didn't just sit there and, hey, things are expensive. We're just gonna wait. Even though we learned all this stuff, but you actually, like, took it and actually applied it, so that's cool.
- [15:28]
B
I know. Yeah, I'm like, if I'm gonna sit through three days of these guys talking about real estate, I better do something about it.
- [15:36]
C
Well, it's crazy, like having. Because there's some cool people on there that are, that are like heavily involved in, you know, the door to door space right now. I don't even know. Do you still call it door to door? I guess. If you, these solar guys are just sitting down and closing deals, is it still door to door? I don't know.
- [15:56]
B
I mean, yeah, I still call it door to door, but some guys are.
- [16:00]
C
Yeah, but, but yeah, like, it's cool seeing everyone crush it in, in pest, in alarms, in solar. Just some of the top guys. And then seeing what they've done with real estate and how passionate they are about it and it's, it's just so cool to see. Like I said, I get, I get passionate about it just because we see so many people blow their money and do things that aren't smart with it. And I just, I never want to be in a position where I have to go do something because it's my only option. And freedom, all freedom is, is having options. And I want to have as many options in my life as possible. Like right now, I know that knocking doors is always an option.
- [16:37]
B
Right.
- [16:37]
C
I know that selling solar is always an option to go make really good money, but I like having lots of options out there. And so I think the smarter we are with our money and just being disciplined with it and learning about real estate investing or other things too, but like, we open up our minds to other avenues and give ourselves more options. And that equals more freedom later on.
- [16:59]
B
Yeah, 100%. Well, yeah, it's cool, like, hearing all these options because pretty much all I knew before digging more into your stuff and some of the other guys on there is just like, I follow Grant Cardone and he's like, oh, you should never buy. Like, owning is a liability. Only buy. Only get investment property or rental property, whatever, and then just always rent. So I was like, okay, well, I guess I better just do what Grant Cardone says. He's. He's loaded. But then, yeah, I started hearing some of these house hacking and different ways to do it, and that kind of like opened more things up for us and, you know, made us See some different possibilities that we, we didn't think were there before, but yeah. So like for you, if we're talking to door to door reps or people in solar, what would you say are like some of the easiest ways to get into real estate? Because like you said, there's a ton of fluff out there and there's like the Grant Cardones that are just saying only buy rental properties. What do you, what would you say is like the fastest, easiest way or like, simplest way to get in it for some of us people that, you know, aren't as bright with the real estate and just getting started?
- [17:58]
C
Yeah, great, great question, man. And I, I think the first thing is like the mindset piece of it, which, yes, it's not a, or no, that's not a strategy, but like it's where there's a will, there's a way and just understanding. There are so many strategies to use and I'll talk about some of them, but a lot of people think it's like, oh, I don't have two years of tax returns yet, so like I'm out. Or like I live in an expensive area, so I'm out. And so that's the first step is just like having the mentality of, yes, you might have to learn it, but once you learn it, like, you're good to go, you know, and a lot of the fear goes away once you start to understand it. But I tell people this all the time. This is why I don't agree with Grant Cardone in, in the sense I get what he's trying to say and a lot of it is he just wants attention. But I, I get what he's trying to say as far as like, you know, focusing on your business and all these things. But my first home that I bought, it was less than $6,000 is what I had to put down. And that home, those probably eight or nine years ago that I bought that, but that's turned into over $1 million cash for me. Like, like cash from that 6 grand, right? And a lot of that is like, a lot of that's from the cash flow on the property. I still have it. But then I also, you know, did a cash out refi. I pulled money out of it and I bought another property with that and that property cash flows. And I did the same thing with that property and got into another one with no money. And so it's just, it's so powerful when you start to look at it that way. And it's like, okay, wait, Grant Cardone said you should never own your own. Own your own house. You know what I'm saying? And so like, we just sold our, our, our one of our houses in Utah before we moved out here and didn't do much to the house we put a pool in. But like, even you subtract out the $80,000 that was for the pool. And we made, you know, over 200k just from buying a house, living there, and then selling it, you know. And so anyhow, there's, there's different reasons why I disagree with, with what he has to say. But yeah, so house hacking, that's one strategy you talked about that I feel like this gets hit on all the time. But it's funny, I was on the, on a call with Brandon Turner a few hours ago, and he's the one that came up with the term house hacking. And he was telling me, he's like, I was in an Uber the other day and anyhow, the guy was asked me what I did. I said, I'm in real estate. He's like, oh yeah, I've been thinking about trying like the house hacking method. And he's like, oh, yeah, that's cool. Where did you, where did you hear about that? Like, oh, just some people were talking about it and it's just, it's just funny. But house hacking is a great strategy. Basically all that means is you can owner occupy a home. So you get into it for a lower down payment for your loan because you're willing to, to live there or live in part of it. So like, that's how I got into my first house. Put three and a half percent down. I lived in one of the bedrooms. I was single, so I rented out all the other rooms. Eventually I moved and rented out my room. And the basement was also unfinished. So we added in two more bedrooms when we finished that. And so it was even more cash flow. So little things that way you can do that. Like I said, a lot of times you have to live there for at least a year. But even my wife and I got married. We bought a duplex and we lived in the upstairs unit. And the basement had a kitchen and two bedrooms and a living room. And so renting that out, it was able to cover all of the payment. And so we weren't paying anything while we were living there. And then eventually we moved. Everything we rented the upstairs for was now cash flow. Like it went straight to our pocket, which was super awesome.
- [21:31]
B
Nice.
- [21:31]
C
So that's like one of the easiest ways to get started. One of the Easiest strategies, even like live in flips too. Like is another great way where if you're, you want to step up to maybe a little bit nicer of a home instead of just going all out on the house, like, I would suggest buying something where you can put some sweat equity into it and you can slowly get it fixed up. You don't have to personally do it, but like we've made a lot of money over the years by, you know, owner occupying a home and then we'll live in part of it while we're rehabbing the other part and then we'll switch live in the other part, rehab the other one. And so you feel like you're living in a brand new place when it's all done, but you've also built up all this equity and maybe you put 50 grand into it, but that 50 grand has made the value go up. 150 grand.
- [22:18]
B
Yeah, that's cool. Well, and something like in our situation, I guess it's kind of specific to what I'm going through right now. But like in our place as the casita, we're trying to decide whether to do like long term rental it or just Airbnb it. And like, obviously if we Airbnb we have to furnish it and like put some money into it. We've got to like fix up rooms and stuff like that. Where if we long term rental, we don't really have to like put as much into it and can just start renting it out immediately. So I don't know if you've done both, but like, what would you say is like, better? What's like the pros and cons would you say of something like that?
- [22:53]
C
Yeah, so I've, I've done both. I do both right now. There's, there are pros and cons, especially if you can. It's nice having options too. Like, I love getting a property that makes the MO user. You're going to cash flow a lot more if you Airbnb it. The shorter term you rent it out, the more money you you can make because people are willing to pay more for a day versus an entire month. Right. And so anytime you can do that, great. And a lot of times now places are cracking down, so you have to do your research and what allows you to do that. But I like having a backup option where the numbers still work. In case I didn't Airbnb it or it got outlawed, I could still have it as a long term rental and it's still going to pencil really well in Cash flow for me. But yeah, there's more maintenance because you have guests that are coming in and out all the time. So you also have to maintain five star reviews and different things like that. But your property is also being cleaned every couple of days. So a lot of times we'll actually stay in better shape because cleaners are always going in there. If something breaks, you find out about it quick. So you always have to keep it, keep it up to date. But the long term stuff is, is way more hands off. You don't have to provide toilet paper, silverware, like everything. I just bought an Airbnb a couple months ago and where I bought it, you have to use their management company. Yeah. Which I'd rather just self manage or have, you know, have my property manager handle it because they don't take as much of a percentage. But it's crazy the, the amount of stuff like it's, it's taken like months, it's still not even live yet because they're so strict in, in what they require before they'll put it on and actually list it and rent it out.
- [24:34]
B
Color one.
- [24:35]
C
Yes, yes, the one desert color. It is a nightmare. I'm like, can we just rent this out already? Like, what's going on? So it's just, is, yeah, they want like, I swear, like three sets of silverware for the maximum amount of guests. You're like, no one's ever going to use, you know, 60 things of silverware like this house. And just like the shelves weren't. I had like, just like a, I don't know, normal shelf, like what you buy in the owner's closet just to stack up the, like the pillowcases and extra towels and whatever. And it wasn't like built in. So like, like, well, we can have our guys custom build it in and then we can. It's just like little silly things. You're like, are you serious? But anyhow, so there's more hoops to jump through to get things ready, which can also be a good thing.
- [25:21]
B
Yeah, well, yeah, we actually went in on a property so we have a place of desert color too.
- [25:25]
C
All right.
- [25:26]
B
On. Oh, I know what you're going through with all that stuff.
- [25:28]
C
Yeah. Uses nightly rental as well.
- [25:31]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [25:33]
C
Cool, man.
- [25:33]
B
So, yeah, we're going through all that. But, but well, yeah, and we, we went in on it with like six other people. So it was. I don't know if it's the most ideal thing because we haven't really profited yet unfortunately. But yeah, I don't know, hopefully it's. I guess if you did it, then it must be a good thing, right? Even though they do take a lot, it's like 35%, I think, to manage it, right?
- [25:55]
C
Yeah, yeah, they take a chunk. Yep.
- [25:57]
B
Yeah. So it's a lot, but yeah, one, like, for guys that maybe they're not buying a house, but just want to start getting more in, like, investments. Like, if you could go back when you first got your, um. Cause you sounds like you started with the whole house hack thing, is that how you would have started? Or let's say if you had, like, way more cash, do you think you would have just started buying, like, a rental property? Or what do you think you would do if you could, like, go back with a bunch of money and start different?
- [26:22]
C
Yeah, this is a, this is a good question because, like, I've made a lot of mistakes over the years. I. I think going back, yeah, that's what I would do. But to answer your question, if I had a lot of cash, like my second house that I bought, I put the most random. It was like I could have put a lot less down on it and leverage my money a lot better, but instead I was like, oh, I have this in the bank and this seems like a good number. And so I just like, put a chunk down. Right. Not very smart in terms of, of leverage and getting the highest cash on cash return. And so what I would do is do, do both, like house, hack the property, put the least amount that you can down, and then go buy an investment property where you put 20% down. Let's say someone has, you know, 25% for a, for a down payment. Instead of just putting that down and living in the house, I'm like, get two properties, like, leverage it the best that you can. And even then you can, you can go get a vacation home loan for a vacation home with 10% down, and you can Airbnb that out. So there's like, a lot of other ways to, to get into real estate without your typical 20, 25% down payment.
- [27:32]
B
Right. And what's your thoughts on. Because like I was telling you, for the desert color house, like, I went on it with like six different people, which I don't know if looking back, maybe that wasn't the best idea, but have you done stuff deals like that where you do with a bunch of people? Is that worse than just maybe getting like a cheaper property and doing it all yourself? Or what's. What's your thoughts on that?
- [27:51]
C
Yeah, it's another good question. So, I mean, for me, I don't. I don't have anything that is more than one partner that I have on any. Any property. But the. It's. It's all rel. Right? And I. I like to say it's like a. It's like a puzzle. If I only have one piece of the puzzle, I have no idea what the picture looks like, right? So like, even, like desert color. It's like, oh, you know, Brody bought desert color, I bought desert color. Like, must be a good thing, right? Like, it's. It's only one. It's not comparing apples to apples or there's so many equations to the story, right? Like, so many different reasons. Like, the house that I got has a casita in the back, right? And so, like, that worked out. Out worked out. Well, that's another way I can rent those out separately, right? There's all these different reasons. Like, when I bought my house, by the time I. I put on a contract and closed on it, it went up 250 grand in value with the next house sold for the same model, right? So like, little things like that where it's like, depending on the background of the. The deal, like, it. The numbers don't lie, and it always comes down to the numbers. And so one thing I say with partnerships, because partnerships are a great way to get into real estate, but you got to leverage them. The. And oftentimes, what you realize is, even in business, if you have a business partner that thinks just like you, that has the exact same skill sets as you, the same weaknesses as you as well. Like, usually the. The partnership doesn't work out as well, right? Because you guys are missing, like, the. The same weakness is the same for you, so you gotta find somebody else to kind of fill that void, right? So same thing in real estate. If it's like, hey, that there's this property, we're gonna split it six ways. We're all gonna put one six of the down payment in. The outcome is essentially, you know, a numbers or return standpoint. If you were to buy it by yourself and keep all of it, right? If it's a good deal at 1/6 of it, putting 1/6 of the down payment in, it's probably a good deal if you're buying it by yourself. If it's not a good deal, buying it by yourself, it's not a good deal splitting up into six people, right? So what I mean by that, the reason I say all that is what you want to then go and do is find partners where their strengths or your weaknesses. Your weakness is their strength. So the best way to get a high return on something like that or to take a normal deal is to go put it together, go structure it. And somebody else's strength might be money. You know, yours might be the time and the creativity of actually finding the deal and getting everything done. And then theirs might be, hey, I don't have any time to go and do that or find the deals. But, like, here's all the money now. What happened to your return? If you're putting in, you know, 1/6 of the money, but you're keeping 50% of the returns, your return just went through the roof. Right. So little things like that I'm a. I'm a huge fan of. I talk a lot about this tiny home resort that.
- [30:36]
B
That.
- [30:36]
C
That I'm building right now. It should be done here pretty soon. But, like, that one's awesome. I love it because I put it together. I got it zoned. I got it, you know, the plans approved and everything worked up with the city. I got the lot under contract. And then I went and found someone else to bring in all the money because the return was there from all the work that I did. And so that's just such a cool one to me because I have a little bit of money into it, like maybe 40, 50 grand, but it's going to cash flow over $10,000 a month. That goes to me and then another 10,000, plus that goes to my partner that put in majority of the money.
- [31:11]
B
Nice.
- [31:12]
C
So it's just about, like, getting. Getting creative. And like I said, I. I love the puzzle piece analogy because it's like, you need. You need to understand all the pieces of the puzzle. You know, a lot of people will say, hey, like, I. I paid, you know, whatever, $2 million for this house, and everyone's like, oh, you got ripped off. You got ripped off. And it's like. Like, no, you can actually overpay for a house and get a crazy good deal on it. You can underpay for a house and get a horrible deal on it. Right. It's just. You have to understand all the pieces to it to really decide, oh, no, that is a good deal. Or, no, that's not a good deal.
- [31:44]
B
Yeah, I like that. Well, yeah. And like, for me, I'm. I've heard you talk about the tiny home resort place, and, yeah, that's. That's super cool. I'm like, wow, how does he think of something like that? But, like, that's what crosses my mind is like, man, like, how am I going to be that creative? Like, Brody? Like, I would never think of, like, just looking at a piece of land and be like, oh, I'm gonna put a tiny home place right there. And then also with, like, finding partners. So how do you. I'm sure, like, joining, you know, groups like you have is one way, but how would you suggest, like, finding partners and, like, how did you develop this creativity to be like, oh, I'm gonna put a tiny home place here and, like, get all creative with it? Because for me, that's like. That's like. Like, I guess I have these thoughts of, like, oh, I don't. I don't see how I could ever be that creativity. Feel like Brody has a superpower that I don't have. So what do you say to people like that? And how did you get so creative with those deals and find partners and do stuff like that?
- [32:36]
C
Yeah, so. So I guess two. Two questions. So the one. The finding the partner one. This is interesting because, like, everybody has this question, and it's actually an. An easy one. It's not hard to find money. It really isn't. A lot of people think it is, but if it's hard to find money, it's because you don't have a good deal. As soon as you have a good deal and you figure out how to. How to structure that, then the money is, like, really, really, really easy. There's so many people with lots of money and not enough places to put it, especially in. In this space, right? How many people go make a couple hundred grand in a summer and they come back and they, like, don't know what to do with it, right? There's lots of people. So that's the easy one. How do you go and be creative and go do that? I mean, it's almost like, you know, shadowing somebody on the doors for the first time and being like, hey, they have the gift. Like, I'm never gonna. I'm never gonna get there. I'm never gonna be able to sell, like, them. And it's just diving into it and learning. Like, I have so many hours under my belt of just, like, podcast after podcast, book after book, like, listening to things, talking about it, thinking it, thinking it through, like, actually working on my properties. And that's another reason I believe so much in real estate investing school is because it just saves you time and it bridges the gap. Like, instead of having to go through all of the stuff it's in one. One place. You have one person hold you accountable. You have a community you have motivation, all these things. So we try and make it very easy to where as soon as someone enrolls in the program, like, it's, it's downhill from there. Obviously, there's a lot of work that's involved, but, like, if you just follow the steps, you're going to be successful. So I think just. Yeah, the answer to that question is you just have to. You have to learn, you have to figure it out, you have to dive into it. And then the more, you know, it's almost, it's almost like, you know, the more tools end up in your tool belt and the more versatile you become to handle any project or anything that goes on in the house that were to break. I'm not talking about real estate house. I'm just using an analogy, right. If you only have a hammer, it's really hard to, to fix like a, a pipe that's leaking. But like, if your tool belt is full of different tools and then a pipe leaks, like, you're probably going to find something that's. That works and is able to fix it. And so real estate's the same thing. The more you learn about it, the more you dive in, then you start to, like, see the same deal that other people might pass on, but you look at it through a different lens and all of a sudden you, you turn that, you create a deal. You don't find a good deal, you go and create the good deal.
- [35:12]
B
Okay. Yeah, I love that. Well, I guess it's just like anything, right? I mean, like that solar guys, we bring on new people all their time. Like, oh, my gosh, how'd you take that person? Not interested. And now they're checking it out and like, to us it just feels normal. But like, to new guys, yeah, it seems like a superpower. So I guess probably the same thing with real estate. Maybe you're just like, oh, I don't know, it's just a regular deal I found. But to us, that all looks like, incredible. Like, oh, how do you think of that? So I like that analogy. But yeah, and then like you, something that I've respected a ton is you just being on the same page with your wife and you guys share a lot on Instagram, just all the goals you do together and finding houses. So as we start kind of wrapping up here, just to transition, I wanted to ask you, like, what's been something or how do you get your wife involved in all this and what are some, what's some advice you have around that? Because as you know, being door to door It's a lot of times super time demanding with kids. It's like sometimes we're neglecting our spouses, our kids and all that. So what are some tips you have around? Just like working with your spouse and having good relationships and doing the goals and all those things you talk about on Instagram and everything.
- [36:29]
C
Yeah. Thanks, man. This, this one's an important one. Just because it's life, right. If you're, if you're not happy inside the home, it's really hard to be happy outside the home. Home doesn't matter how good business is and, and how great things get and how much money you're making. And so yeah, it all starts with Dan. But I, I would say like a few things that we do that help out. Like, one is just communication. That's probably like number one. Most of, like any argument or fights or anything, like, it just comes down to lack of communication.
- [37:02]
B
Right.
- [37:02]
C
We don't understand that this was important to you and I didn't think it was important or this was important to me and you don't understand what's important to me or you had this scheduled and I didn't know about. Right. Like, it's usually like the root of, of most things. And so one thing that helps us, like, we're big on planning, we're big on goal setting. So every year we do a, like a couple's goal setting retreat where we find a place and we go stay there. It's outside of our home, outside of the normal, normal routine, and it's just us. We get a babysitter and we just get to dive into like these deep questions like, hey, what does success look like for you? And, and basically set goals, but like, around business and life and just get on the same page with understanding what's important to each other and what we want. And like, the reason I live in Maui right now is because, like, that was on our goal sheet from last year. We didn't know it was gonna be Maui. We just knew we wanted to live on an island somewhere. And so it was a mutual goal that my wife and I both had. And we just figured out a way to, you know, make it happen. But. But on the shorter term side of things, we do weekly planning every single week. We have a weekly planning session where I'll do a personal one, she'll do a personal one where we'll dive into everything we have planned and everything we need to get done and things we're excited about. And then the key part that I think a lot of people Miss is once you do that, then you go through that with each other in order to get on the same page and say, hey, these are the important things I have scheduled this week. What do you have that I need to get on my calendar? When's our date night gonna be? Right? Like, let's. Let's get that scheduled. I think that it's so easy just to live life. Live life not just by default, but, like, going through the motions. You know, it's like the analogy of throwing. Throwing a twig in the river, and it just, like, floats down. If the current goes this way, it goes this way. And a lot of times we just live life that way. Like, it's. We're not thinking about it. We're just going through the motions. And instead, like, I want to live it more. More like a trout. Right. Versus the. The twig where I can swim upstream if I want to swim upstream. If I want to go this direction, I'll go this direction. Like, I'm in control, not somebody else. I'm in control. And so it just helps to be in control of what's happening and going on. And so I'm really big on systems, and how do I, you know, if we're talking about having a date night, then, like, there's a system in place and there's, you know, it's scheduled. Like, we have a babysitter set up. Like, we have reservations, and to where. Where it's in the calendar. Everybody knows about it. It's a lot harder to not have that date night than it is just to have it right because of the systems that are put in place. So probably a long. A long way of answering your question, but those are just a few of the things that. That have helped us a ton.
- [39:49]
B
Yeah, no doubt. Yeah. I went and I heard your guys go podcast that you did and went and checked out that goal sheet, and it's pretty in depth. I was like, holy. This is like. Like, yeah, super in depth. All the, you know, questions you go into and everything.
- [40:02]
C
Time to do that with your wife.
- [40:03]
B
Yeah, I know, because I was thinking it was just like, go do it in an hour. But then I heard you guys talking on the podcast. You're like, oh, no. You reserve, like, a whole weekend. Go travel somewhere and do this. I'm like, wow, this is next level. This is like a. This is like, extreme manifestation right here.
- [40:20]
C
So, yeah, yeah, you got to, man, It's. You can't rush it. You just got to go through it and then talk about it and. And feel Like a lot of the power comes from actually talking about it once you set the goals and why you set em, and it becomes important that way too.
- [40:34]
B
Yeah. So, yeah, we haven't done the whole thing yet, but we didn't plan good enough to do the whole weekend and all our family's in Utah and so a little bit tough for us to plan like the whole weekend getaway, but we're like, okay, well, I'm sure it's, you know, second best thing is maybe just doing it in chunks or, you know, a little bit here and there. So we're starting with that. But no, I, Yeah, I love what you guys are doing and it's no wonder you're having all the success because you guys manifest. It seems like you're on the same page with pretty much everything you do. But is there any time when you guys aren't on the same page or where you're like, hey, I'm. You're like, hey, honey, I'm doing this investment where she's like, you've had to sell her on stuff or do you feel like you guys are pretty much always on the same page and she's like, oh, no, let's just do any investment or did she ever try and talk you out of stuff?
- [41:22]
C
Stuff, yeah, with. With investments, specifically. It's interesting because she used to be more, more involved in like the real estate investing side of things than she is now just because she has her own business and she gets busy with that. But it's, it's usually like we're pretty in sync with, hey, this came up. Like, we'll talk about it, pros and cons of it. And then it's like, I feel good about it, you feel good about it, about it. Sweet. You know, and that's usually how our conversations go a lot of the times. And, and sometimes, like, I'll put something under contract you're not tied to, you can always back out. Right. And then we'll dive into it deeper and have the conversation on it. Once we know it's like something that, you know, could happen or the offer's been accepted. But yeah, there's been some times there's been, you know, like one time specifically I can think of, usually we're like all on the same page one time specifically. I'm like, I really feel like we need to buy this house. And she's like, ah, it's a, this is a stretch. Like, you know, it's going to put us in a tight spot for a little bit. I'm Like, I don't know why. I just feel like we really, really need to. Need to do this. And she's like, all right, well, if you feel like it, let's do it. And anyhow, it was just a house that we. We flipped and it was cool. We made like 80 grand on it pretty quick. And. And. But other than that, everything we've done is pretty much been. And we're on the same page or we just don't do it.
- [42:45]
B
Nice. That's good. Yeah. Less. Less fights, I'm sure. So that's the way to do it. And then last question that I can think of that I had for you, Brody, before we wrap up here is for us, I think another thing that took all the complexity out of it or made it a little less complex for us is before we were just, like, looking all over the place on Zillow and just trying to, like, think of, oh, how we can. How can we be creative, like all these people on Instagram and keep up. But I think when it helped with us, or what helped with us is finding, like a real estate agent and like, talking to lenders and they, like, kind of broke it down, made it way more simple for us and actually finding a place. So how important would you say that is? Like, finding a good real estate agent, finding, like, lenders? Do you feel like that's something that's pretty crucial for guys to start getting into it, or can you just go off and start finding your own deals or what? How important of a role do you think that plays in getting started and all this?
- [43:48]
C
Yeah, no, I think that's important. The. The cool thing about putting your team together, and we talk a lot about this inside the school as well, is, is it doesn't cost you any money. There's so many people who have bend over backwards for you. They get paid when the deal. When the deal goes through. And it's money that usually the seller pays for anyways. Like, like, you don't pay a real estate agent, right? They get paid out of the sellers. You know, the seller's equity that's coming from the home most of the time, right. So, like, little things where you feel like it might hurt you, well, it's not going to hurt you at all. Doesn't cost you anything to have a good lender. Like, they get paid from closing costs when the loan goes through. Like, so there's so many people that you can set up to where they're on your team. You can call them anytime you want to. They understand it. And that's like, even with real estate by school, we have our experts for that specific reason. Like, like we have a financing expert, we have a buy and sell expert, we have an expert that's over title, right? A tax expert. So like anytime you have, and obviously it doesn't have, you don't have to be part of real estate investing school to have those people like that, but you can go get those people and create them anywhere. And that way when you do have questions or you have them working for you, like that's the best is, is, hey, I'm looking for this type of a deal and you can have multiple real estate agents, you know, that work for you. If an agent brings me a deal, like and it's a good deal and it, and it pencils like I'm gonna buy the deal with them and they're gonna get commission for it. Right. So letting people know that is huge. And it's also just a balance of right now you have an opportunity to go make a lot of money doing solar. And if that's what you're best at and that's your highest dollar per hour task ask, then yeah, it's probably what you should be doing. Like you shouldn't go get your real estate license, you know what I'm saying? Like focus on, on your money maker and find people that are experts that have the dedicated time to go do the other stuff is, is huge, I would say. But if you, if you do think you want to, I think there's a balance, you know, because you want to understand real estate. But if like long term you want to get into it and the investing side of things, then you for sure should, should learn about it.
- [45:56]
B
Yeah, no doubt.
- [45:58]
C
Yeah.
- [45:58]
B
I just know that was something that's super helpful for us. Talking to people that know, you know more than we do and not like stressing non stop over looking at Zillow for two hours every night. Yeah, you can just go get guys, that's their job and they'll do it for free and they can come find you stuff. So yeah, I think it's helpful for sure. And then what, what's your take on like, you know, the interest rates are going crazy right now and it's affecting us in solar too because you know, rates for solar loans are going up. So what's your thoughts on that? Is that like made you slow down on doing deals or anything? Or do you think guys should like consider that at all when they're looking for deals right now? Or what do you have to say about that.
- [46:35]
C
Yeah. Once again, like it's, it's just a puzzle piece, right? So it fits in, fits into the puzzle. Like I, I could say like, hey, like I got a, a 20 interest rate on this, on this house that I just bought. Is that good or bad? And everyone's going to say, oh, that's horrible, that's bad. Well, it's like, well, I didn't tell you the other puzzle pieces. You know, I also got this for $300,000 under asking price and I didn't have to put any of my own money down. And it's seller financed and whatever. Right. Like, so point being, like you have to understand all the pieces to it. And just because interest rates are high right now, it doesn't mean that like there's no good deals out there. If, if anything. Right? Like, because interest rates are high, high market slows down a little bit. Because the market slows down a little bit, sellers look at things, they're open to more options when they get desperate and need to sell a home. But like there's so many people that right now are offering seller financing for better terms like on their house because they want the same sales price out of it, but people can't qualify for the loan on it or something like that. So just a matter of like finding those ways to use it to your advantage. I don't know how that works out in the, in the solar space necessarily, but in real estate, like it's great because you can, you can really negotiate and in a lot of ways it actually like it's, it's not forever either. Like that's the cool thing with the rate is like you can always refi out of it. You know, things aren't going to stay high forever most likely. But that's my take.
- [48:07]
B
Yeah. Okay, that's interesting. And so seller for like newbies like me, seller financing, that's just where the seller is just like you're just like loaning it from the seller not through like a bank or a lender or whatever and then just paying them back over time.
- [48:21]
C
Yeah, they just pretty much act as the bank. And there's a lot of reasons why a seller would do this, a lot of reasons where it's, it ends up being like a win win scenario. Like I said, one of them is if they want top dollar out of the their, out of their home. Right. But like there's a lot of taxes. If they were to just say they own this home outright and they all of a sudden get a, you know, $400,000 check for it. Like, there's a lot of money that goes straight to taxes with that, versus they can write off a lot more if they're seller financing it. Some of them love the idea of they don't want a big lump sum of money, but they like the passive income that came from the rental property, but they just don't want to manage it. They don't want to deal with if something happens or it breaks, but they just want to collect their monthly check. Like, I've done multiple deals like that and it works out so well. It's like, hey, I don't need a bunch of money down. I just want to keep collecting the money I've been collecting. And I'm like, sweet. Because rents are way low, so I know I can keep paying you that and I can go in and I can almost double the rent and I can take everything on top without getting a bank, without having to use my credit without all these things.
- [49:29]
B
Right, okay. And when you set that up, do you tell, like, your agent or something, hey, find people that are willing to do this, or do you have to kind of like get into deals first and then ask them if they're willing to do something like that or how to even start that process?
- [49:43]
C
Yeah, there's a lot of different ways to do it. And a lot of times, usually those deals, well, they can be, but a lot of times they're not. They're not like, listed through the MLS with an agent. Sometimes they are. And this is another good way to find them is just search like seller financing. It'll pull up anything in the comments that says owner financing or seller financing, if they're open to it or not. Right. Sometimes they'll sell or finance part of it and you'll get a loan for the other part. But yeah, there's. There's certain forms that you'll fill out that, yeah, your agent can help you with. The other thing is, if you're not using an agent and. And it's for sale by owner or something like that, the title company that you use, they can also help you with it as well. Or they'll structure everything to where it's. Yeah, the eyes are dotted and the T's are crossed, like it's legit. It's just like buying it from the bank in a lot of ways. And it's secure for the seller because if you stop paying, you know, they can take back their house.
- [50:39]
B
Right? Huh. That's awesome. Well, that's super interesting. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Don't want to get insanely deep because I know we'll start going over people's heads probably. But yeah, speaking of going deep though, for guys that do want to get really deep and you know, work with your mortgage more. Brody, what's the best way to then get involved with the real estate investing school or connect with you more?
- [51:02]
C
Yeah, thanks for asking. They can go to realestateinvestingschool.com you can book a free strategy call, see if, see if it's a good fit. Or Instagram as well is just at Real estate investing school or at. Brody Fawcett is my, my Instagram handle. But yeah, we just try and add as much value as we can. Even if you don't end up joining the school, we just, just. Yeah, I love the idea of helping people become more financially free. So.
- [51:27]
B
Yeah, definitely. And yeah, I mean, full disclaimer. I haven't joined the school yet. I have plans to, but didn't join it yet. But I did hop on a call with one of your guys and even just that call, there was a ton of value added and you know, they answered all my questions. And so even guys that are just curious about it or just have questions about real estate in general. Yeah, I would highly recommend it because know you guys are always there to add value and help, so, so appreciate what you're doing.
- [51:53]
C
Absolutely, man.
- [51:54]
B
Yeah. And so just to wrap up here, is there any final advice or any, I don't know, any, anything else you've noticed in the solar industry in specific that you, you would leave with our solarpreneur listeners before we say goodbye? Bruni.
- [52:07]
C
Dude, the only thing that's like, that I would say that's kind of on my mind is and this, maybe this goes against like, I don't know, obviously I spent eight years right. In the industry and I wouldn't trade any of that. That and I don't think I would even get out sooner. Right. Like I, I'm proud of that and where you guys are at, it's like, yeah, go dominate, like make it worth it, take advantage of it. But don't get stuck in the mindset of thinking that, that like it's the end all, be all. Does that make sense? And this, this, I'll give this advice to like anybody in, in any industry. It's not that you can't make it a lifelong career. Like I 100% believe you can do that. You know, even with the summers, if someone wanted to, like, you could do that. Everyone's like, it's so hard with Kids and moving around. No, like you could, you can do that. It's fine. Right? But I think what happens is we, it's almost like this, this bubble, right? Like we look around and we're like, okay, this is considered good. Or like if I make this much money, like I'm killing it. And I think in a lot of ways like we sell ourselves short because of that, that and we compare ourselves to people around us and it might seem really good but just also be open to like realizing there, there's always another level. Like I love the, this concept of dreaming bigger, faster and just like there's, there's big things out there. You know, there's so, so much potential and especially when you understand sales and know how to do it. And we all know like there's somewhat of a shelf life life for solar, right? We don't know all the details or what that's going to look like or whatnot. But just like be prepared and be open to opportunities and like legit opportunities to go 10x what you're doing now, you know, and just don't stop thinking and dreaming big of like what's possible, what do I have potential to go out and do. I think the moment we stop doing that and think like we've, you know, quote unquote made it because we, we, we did well in solar as compared to our friends and it's like it's just a spiral downward from there.
- [54:11]
B
So yeah, love that. Well, Brody, it's been awesome having you on and for our listeners. Go give Brody a follow shoot him a message. I know you got a, a million followers. Well, you'll be there someday but I know you got a ton of followers so he may or may not respond. But go shoot him a message and let him know you appreciate him coming on today. And yeah, go check out real estate investing school and hope to do more real estate investing and more into it. But appreciate you coming on broding. Hope to have you on again someday for a follow up episode. But thanks again.
- [54:42]
C
Thanks dude. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
- [54:44]
B
All right, peace. Hey solopreneurs.
- [54:48]
A
Are you sick and tired of spinning.
- [54:49]
B
Your wheels every month and not seeing your sales increase?
- [54:53]
A
Well, so was I and the truth is I was never able to improve it until I figured out what was going wrong. So that's why I'm excited to announce for a limited time we are doing a free sales diagnostic. We'll break down your sales process, figure out the holes in your business and see how we can help you improve. So act now, we have six bucks for this month, so book a call. Now, don't miss out.
- [55:18]
B
What you're going to do is send.
- [55:19]
A
An email to Taylor SolarPreneurs.com. that's Taylor SolarPreneurs with an S dot com. I'll send you out a calendar link.
- [55:28]
B
And we will figure out a time that works best.
- [55:31]
A
So shoot that email and let's increase your sales.