5 Talents Podcast

Brian Eastman has spent about 14 years building self directed retirement plans with checkbook control. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Brian explain how to become your own private fund manager and hold real estate, notes, or a fund inside a retirement account instead of only what Wall Street sells.

In this episode:

• The pitch: become "your own private fund manager," with a firm that acts as "the user's manual" keeping you inside the IRS rules.
• Two lines that carry it: a company match is "a free 100% return on investment," but "you gotta have some gas in the tank first."
• The quiet killer, fee drag: "most company 401ks, you're paying between three quarters and 2% of your total account value per year in fees."
• Abel's scar: he did the 401k "set it and forget it," went through 2008, realized the returns were weak, then rolled it into a self directed IRA to finally hold real estate.
• Abel's leverage doctrine: specialize in one lane and rent everyone else's decades.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Phil Johnson is an executive coach who has spent his career on emotional intelligence, the ability "to feel the fear and anxiety that change creates in us and move through it toward what we're trying to achieve." On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Phil talk about making clear decisions under real pressure.

In this episode:

• The warning that anchors it: "Worrying has no value. Worrying is practicing fear in advance," because "when you're consumed by fear, you're no longer conscious. You're in reactive mode."
• Abel's real stake: a deal at risk with "five, six million bucks" of investor money and a head running every worst case.
• Phil's simple drill: 5 slow breaths, because "when you're focusing on your breathing, it's impossible to feel anxiety."
• The line Abel wrote down: "The person most present in this moment is most influential."
• Why "your network of trusted advisors is the most valuable asset you have."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Clint Coons is the co-founder of Anderson Business Advisors and holds roughly 350 properties. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Clint talk about asset protection, LLC structure, and the leverage that lets an operator actually scale.

In this episode:

• The lesson from his father, who capped out at 20 properties doing every repair himself: "Where's your time better spent? A lot of us get trapped into spending too much of our time on low value activities."
• Abel's triad that broke his own ceiling: other people's money, time, and knowledge. "There's no way you can scale as one individual" without it.
• Clint's mindset test: "whenever an opportunity comes my way, my first question is, what is it gonna do for me? I don't ask, what is it gonna cost?"
• Why preservation asks the cost while growth asks the return.
• Why structure follows strategy, not the other way around.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Ashton Levarek of Valkyrie Group went from 4 doors to more than 260, with 384 more under contract, in about 3 years. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Ashton talk about taking action before you feel ready and building a team of experts around you.

In this episode:

• His engine: "if I think it's a good idea, I'll jump in both feet, and figure out my parachute on the way down."
• The first deal, two duplexes for $209,000, made with no cash in hand, because "taking the action forces you to find the components."
• The lesson that scales: "You don't need to be an expert in it, and chances are you won't be. So align with other people who are experts in the field."
• Forced appreciation in real numbers: $209,000 plus $90,000 of work into a $480,000 appraisal.
• Abel's framing: leverage other people's time, knowledge, and experience, and "learn and earn at the same time," planning backward from the target.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Anthony Vicino is a value add multifamily operator who went from four months living in the back of a van to about $25 million in assets. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Anthony give passive investors a real framework for vetting a deal.

In this episode:

• Rule one: "it's all about the sponsor. You're betting on the jockey, not the horse," because "the difference between a million dollar idea and a million dollars is exactly $1 million worth of execution."
• Why IRR alone is the wrong lens: "you have to look through the risk adjusted return lens."
• How he underwrites honestly: he projects 15% IRR to investors while privately expecting to beat it, and keeps the cash out refinance out of the model.
• Do not be "an echo chamber of one." Know several operators and keep upleveling your education so you can ask better questions.
• Abel's scar: at Rackspace he sold "$50 million, $100 million, $300 million deals" but lost the relationships.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Kenneth Kastner is a CPA in Israel who does nothing but US real estate tax for foreign investors. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Kenneth walk through the cross border traps that stay invisible until they cost you.

In this episode:

• The whole discipline in one line: go in "with your eyes open, not with your eyes closed. If you go in with your eyes closed, you're gonna trip over something and fall."
• How a domestic tax move can invert across a border. A deferral your home country will not honor can trigger the capital gains tax at the time of the exchange.
• FIRPTA on the closing table: "the buyer has to withhold 15% of the sales price," not the profit, unless you request a withholding certificate before the closing.
• Why LLCs help with risk and asset protection while a corp helps with taxes, true at home and incomplete across a border.
• Abel's approach to experts: "I understand the high level, tell me the best way."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

JeVon McCormick went from an orphanage and juvenile start and a GED to CEO of Scribe Media. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and JeVon talk about leadership built on serving people, not managing them.

In this episode:

• The reframe: "No one works for me, people work with me. I'm no one's boss."
• The org chart rewritten: "We don't have direct reports. If you're in leadership, your role is 100% to support people, so you are direct support."
• His 5 pillars for where time goes: "God, health, family, business, and investing. If it doesn't fall within those five, I don't do it."
• Abel's Rackspace lesson from a former Marine CEO: "leaders eat last, everybody in your organization gets taken care of first."
• What that produced: serving a team turned a 5 person, $5 million group into "a $57 million, 60 person business."

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

DJ McClure runs sales for National Flood Experts, an engineering firm that gets commercial and multifamily buildings reclassified out of FEMA flood zones or their flood insurance re rated. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and DJ find the hidden net operating income sitting under a label nobody re checks.

In this episode:

• Why the label lies. A flood zone is drawn at a macro scale, but engineers work "the really granular level down to the tenth of a foot," building by building, and the maps only update every 10 to 20 years.
• The proof: a Houston owner paying about $18,000 per building got re rated to about $3,000, with the carrier refunding 5 policy cycles back, across 12 buildings.
• Abel ran it live: "$180,000 for the year extra net operating income... at a six cap, that's a $3 million increase."
• The math anyone can use: take the annual savings and divide by your cap rate.
• The mindset shift: stop dismissing a flood zone property on sight, and run the numbers on the building.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

John Manes is invested in about $120 million of commercial real estate, and he built it on one decision most people skip: "you can either buy it or you can go learn it." On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and John talk about getting your education paid for and then compounding it.

In this episode:

• The refusal to buy the education. He took a district manager job at a storage company and "got my education about storage on somebody else's dime," then became a COO who could buy, fix, and underwrite.
• Compounding the compound. Once he had a core business he asked "what other business models pertain to this that I can invest in passively?" and bought stakes in the marketing, insurance, and construction firms that served it.
• The result: "about $130,000 a year of passive income. And I don't have to do anything for it now. It does itself."
• Abel's echo: "knowledge implemented will absolutely change your life. If you don't put it to work, it's more like entertainment."
• The origin: he couldn't split a $160 course with his broke brother, so he went and got paid to learn instead.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate

Ben Kogut raised $27 million of equity in a single year for HJH Investments. On this episode, host Abel Pacheco and Ben break down capital raising as equal parts relentless discipline and detachment.

In this episode:

• The funnel: his team reviews up to 1,500 opportunities a week, makes about 16 offers, and lands 1 under contract, "because we're not afraid to make offers."
• The mindset most raisers miss: "it's on me as a capital raiser to be indifferent. I truly don't care whether you invest or not. I'm here to educate. I'm an educator."
• The patient cadence: "just plant that seed. It's gonna take about seven interactions per person before somebody actually will jump in."
• Deals reverse engineered from the income: buy at a 10 cap so an 8% monthly preferred return is fundable from day one.
• The follow up engine: a 5 email sequence that keeps him "top of mind" while he sleeps.

Abel Pacheco is a San Antonio real estate operator who went from 8 single family houses to a share of roughly 1,500 apartment doors, and now works as a fractional Chief AI Officer helping small and mid sized businesses put the back office on autopilot.

Go deeper and connect:

• Abel Pacheco
• 5 Talents, fractional Chief AI Officer
• The Open Door, the book
• 5 Talents commercial real estate