Authentic Business Adventures Podcast

Kevin Peterson - Peterson Technology

Starting an IT company can be tough.  You need the knowledge, the customer service skills and the clients that want to use you.

Kevin Peterson started Peterson Technology Group years ago and shares his tremendous insight about how he started his business and what he has learned throughout the years.

Listen as Kevin details his entrepreneurial journey and learn a bit about what it takes to start an IT company.

Enjoy!

Visit Kevin at: https://petersontechgroup.com/

Mark and Sonya - Twisted Fitness Gym

When you have a passion for an industry, sometimes you are just drawn to entrepreneurship in that industry.  Mark and Sonya started Twisted Fitness in 2007 in a 500 square foot facility that doubled as an apartment as they worked to build up their enterprise.

Today, they are in a brand new, 18,000 square foot facility that dwarves where they started.

Listen as Mark and Sonya describe how they started their gym, how Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai were their foundation and how now they bring together a collaboration of fitness clientele from the domains of CrossFit, Martial Arts, Strongman, Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting together.

Mark and Sonya clearly have a passion for what they do, and their are successful as a result of this passion.

Enjoy!

Visit Mark and Tanya at: https://twistedfitnessgym.com/

Dr. Eric Johnson  - Functional Wellness Chiropractic Center

Starting any business can be challenging.  Starting a health related business is no different.

Dr. Eric Johnson hit the books and graduated as a doctor of chiropractic medicine.  Then he took the leap and started his own practice.

Listen as Eric explains how he did it and some of the challenges he overcame as he built his chiropractic practice.

Enjoy!

Visit Eric at: fwchiro.com

Tom Johnson - Account Executive for Fearing's Audio/Video/Security

In this episode we take a different approach and interview a seasoned sales professional.

Tom Johnson has worked in a myriad of positions.  One thing remains the same, he is in the sales game.  He has sold everything from kitchen equipment to newspaper ads and almost everything in between.

Listen as Tom explains what it takes to be a great sales person and to keep the revenue pipeline flowing.  Because we all know that in business, nothing happens until a sale is made.

Enjoy!

Visit Tom at Fearings.com

Melissa Smith - ThePVA - Association of Virtual Assistants

Business professionals typically have a million things to do and about eighty hours shy of enough time to get it all done.  But the to-do list isn't filled with frivolous things.  All of the work needs to get done to keep the business machine running and the cash rolling in.

So what is a savvy business pro to do?  Hiring a virtual assistant is a great way to get your to-do list knocked out.  The best part is, you aren't the one spending your time doing all of these tasks.

Melissa Smith started ThePVA to help people find the best virtual assistants for their tasks.

Listen as Melissa details how she started her business and how she has grown it to help so many business professionals get stuff done.

Enjoy!

Visit Melissa at: https://thepva.com/

[00:00:03]

You have found Authentic

Business Adventures the business program

[00:00:06]

that brings you the struggles, stories and triumphant successes of business owners across the country.

[00:00:19]

Today we're welcoming/preparing to learn from Melissa Smith,

the CEO and founder of the Association

[00:00:25]

of Virtual Assistants, as well as the PVA.

So, Melissa, how are you doing today?

[00:00:30]

I'm doing great.

[00:00:31]

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:33]

I am excited to talk with you because this

[00:00:35]

seems like the type of business

that people either.

[00:00:39]

I feel like they should have flocked

[00:00:42]

to now as clients, even as

entrepreneurs themselves.

[00:00:46]

You seem like you're ahead

of the curve by a few years, I guess

[00:00:49]

as far as that goes. I am, I'm fortunate.

[00:00:52]

I started my career in virtual assisting

[00:00:56]

back in 2013 and started

my business in 2014.

[00:01:00]

And back then, it was a lot of education.

[00:01:04]

I mean, certainly there were tons of VA's

in the industry already that had really

[00:01:08]

pioneered it long before

Zoom and things like that.

[00:01:12]

But when I started, there was still so

much education that had to be done.

[00:01:17]

And fortunately, I enjoy that.

[00:01:19]

I enjoy sharing with people how it works

and how virtual assistants can help

[00:01:25]

clients and companies and just

a variety of different ways.

[00:01:29]

And certainly with the pandemic

[00:01:33]

and the world going online,

it really ramped up the industry.

[00:01:38]

And now there's currently a shortage

of qualified VA's in the industry.

[00:01:42]

It will probably take,

I was saying a year and a half six months

[00:01:46]

ago, but I still think it's probably

another year and a half two years

[00:01:50]

for the market to catch up with the demand

because there's a difference between

[00:01:56]

a virtual assistant and a

qualified virtual assistant.

[00:01:59]

But yeah, I feel very fortunate

to have already been in this space.

[00:02:04]

While my personal lifestyle of being

location, independent and nomadic

[00:02:09]

and traveling all the time,

that drastically changed my work lifestyle

[00:02:14]

and how I got to do things and how I

centered myself, fortunately,

[00:02:17]

did not change like many had to and

talking about company culture and how you

[00:02:23]

communicate and strategy and all that some

companies are still figuring through.

[00:02:29]

I didn't have to go through that.

[00:02:31]

I feel very fortunate that I didn't have to go through that part.

[00:02:33]

The company culture thing is interesting.

You talk about that.

[00:02:36]

I was just having a conversation

with my employees about that.

[00:02:39]

Like we have to steer the culture where we

want it to go, because you're going

[00:02:42]

to have a culture of some kind,

whether it's the one that you want or not,

[00:02:45]

if you just let it happen,

it may not be the one that you want.

[00:02:49]

You have to pursue it.

[00:02:52]

Yeah, that's just one more

thing you got to pursue.

[00:02:55]

As far as that goes, let's don't

shift to when you first started.

[00:02:59]

What made you decide to start your own

[00:03:00]

business? Rather than just being

a virtual assistant for somebody else.

[00:03:04]

So I had always said I would

never own my own company.

[00:03:08]

Really?

Oh, yes.

[00:03:09]

I never wanted to own my own company

because I grew up in the restaurant

[00:03:14]

industry and in family members who had

their own construction businesses.

[00:03:19]

And it was very much you

were married to that work.

[00:03:24]

I can't tell you the number of holidays

that actually spent at the restaurant

[00:03:29]

working, and that's where

my family was as well.

[00:03:33]

And I thought, this is awful.

[00:03:35]

I don't want to do this.

[00:03:37]

I'd rather be an employee.

[00:03:39]

I'd rather get paid to be off.

[00:03:41]

I'd rather close and do all those things.

[00:03:44]

And it just seemed like just not fun.

[00:03:48]

And I didn't want any part of it.

[00:03:51]

Well, I didn't always

want to be an assistant.

[00:03:54]

So my mom was an assistant.

[00:03:55]

I grew up knowing that I was

going to be an assistant.

[00:03:57]

I went to Secretary school back

when that's what we were called.

[00:04:00]

I was an executive assistant

for over 15 years.

[00:04:02]

Very happy.

[00:04:04]

Loved it.

[00:04:05]

And then in 2012,

my husband committed suicide.

[00:04:09]

I was three days into a brand new job.

[00:04:11]

Wow.

[00:04:12]

So as you can imagine,

life changed drastically.

[00:04:17]

Yeah.

And I was in Georgia at the time.

[00:04:20]

I'm originally from California.

[00:04:22]

I stayed another year in Georgia and then

decided with the help of my family that it

[00:04:28]

was probably best that I

moved back to California.

[00:04:30]

So I moved back to my hometown

and moved back to where my sister was.

[00:04:32]

My son was in college at the time.

[00:04:34]

I had a daughter who was going

into her junior year in high school.

[00:04:37]

She had friends and even relatives

that went to the high school.

[00:04:40]

So we were there for a year.

[00:04:42]

I had a job that I loved.

[00:04:44]

I never wanted to leave.

[00:04:46]

I thought I would be there forever.

[00:04:48]

Most of the employees that were

there had been there over 20 years.

[00:04:51]

So I really did see myself

being there forever.

[00:04:54]

And then my daughter

came to me after a year.

[00:04:58]

And actually, it was

a little less than a year.

[00:05:00]

And she said, I want to move back home.

This is not my home.

[00:05:03]

I don't want to graduate from school here.

I want to go.

[00:05:05]

I want to be back with my friends.

[00:05:07]

And during that time, I had felt

like I had become myself again.

[00:05:12]

And she had not.

[00:05:14]

So I knew I needed to give that to her.

[00:05:18]

So without hesitation,

[00:05:20]

I moved her back to Georgia so

she could start the school year.

[00:05:24]

I went in to my boss.

[00:05:26]

I went to get my two weeks notice,

and he said, we don't want to lose you.

[00:05:30]

How can we keep you?

[00:05:31]

All right. You would work

there for two weeks?

[00:05:35]

No.

I went to get my two weeks notice.

[00:05:37]

I had sorry.

[00:05:38]

So this is a year and two weeks in.

[00:05:40]

Yes, it was ten months.

Ten months.

[00:05:44]

Okay.

Still relatively new.

[00:05:46]

All right.

And he said, we don't want to lose you.

[00:05:49]

How can we keep you?

[00:05:50]

And I said, I could do most

of what I do virtually.

[00:05:52]

I don't have to be here in the office.

[00:05:55]

And he said, okay, let's do that.

Wow.

[00:05:58]

So I became their first

remote employee ever,

[00:06:04]

and it really does speak to

providing value.

[00:06:09]

And I was providing value to that company,

and they knew it, and they realized it.

[00:06:16]

And I was smart enough also to only work

[00:06:19]

for a company who would value me back,

which is a key factor.

[00:06:25]

I was never a person to take

a job because I needed money.

[00:06:30]

My philosophy is that there's always

work to be done in a recession.

[00:06:33]

I had three jobs when people were

[00:06:35]

complaining there was

no jobs in a recession.

[00:06:36]

I had three jobs, so it was never

a fear of loss type of reality to me.

[00:06:42]

I've never had a job that I didn't love

because I always valued my work too much.

[00:06:46]

And so when I would go into interview,

[00:06:49]

yes, they were interviewing me,

but I was 100% interviewing them as well.

[00:06:56]

You were advanced there, right?

[00:07:00]

I was because my mom, who I wanted

to be like, she was an assistant.

[00:07:05]

So I wanted to be like her.

[00:07:07]

I didn't know that she didn't love her

[00:07:09]

work all the time because

my mom is like a Saint.

[00:07:12]

So she never once complained about

a boss about a situation about a person.

[00:07:17]

Nothing.

[00:07:18]

I was probably three or four

years into my business.

[00:07:21]

Now, when I found out that there were jobs

that she had that she didn't like, wow.

[00:07:29]

She never says anything bad

about anyone or anything.

[00:07:34]

Now, on the other side, there was my dad.

[00:07:36]

He was a single dad raising three kids.

[00:07:39]

He had one full time job and then two part

[00:07:41]

time jobs, and he hated

his work, hated it.

[00:07:46]

And he didn't see a way out.

[00:07:48]

He just head down, paying the bills,

had to take care of three kids,

[00:07:52]

...

Melissa Kwan - eWebinar

We've all the experience of attending webinars, and many of us have created countless webinars.  We, as business owners in a small, connected world, need to be able to educate, pitch and market our wares to our target audience at any time.  But giving presentation after presentation of the same information can be time consuming and can really take away from the goal of freedom that most business owners strive for.

This is the problem that Melissa Kwan has targeted, and solved, with her company, eWebinar.

Listen as Mellisa explains how she came up with the solution to webinar creation fatigue and built the platform to help business owners get more work done by multiplying their results.

Melissa also shares some well thought out advice for all entrepreneurs towards the end of the program.

Enjoy!

Visit Melissa at: https://ewebinar.com/

[00:00:03]

You have found Authentic Business

Adventures,

[00:00:05]

the business program that brings you

[00:00:11]

the struggles, stories

and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

[00:00:12]

We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:13]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:15]

author, speaker and helpful coach to small

business owners across the country.

[00:00:19]

And today we are welcoming/preparing to learn from Melissa Kwan, the co-founder and CEO of eWebinar.

[00:00:26]

So, Melissa, how are you doing today?

[00:00:29]

I'm fantastic.

[00:00:31]

Thanks for having me.

[00:00:32]

I am excited to learn about this

eWebinar thing for a couple of reasons.

[00:00:36]

One, I know the audience

wants to learn about it.

[00:00:39]

And two, I'm kind of selfish in this

[00:00:41]

regard because I have employees

and you got to train employees.

[00:00:46]

And I'm going to say clunky,

cumbersome, annoying.

[00:00:51]

And I feel like you've solved

the problem that many employers have.

[00:00:55]

Arguably all of them have.

[00:00:57]

So how about you just tell us

[00:00:59]

the thousand foot view,

so to speak, what is eWebinar?

[00:01:03]

Well, I think everybody after

2020 knows what a webinar is.

[00:01:07]

If you don't know what a webinar is right

now, you've been living under a rock,

[00:01:12]

and webinars are great.

[00:01:14]

That's why companies like Zoom exist.

[00:01:17]

Right?

[00:01:18]

There's just one massive problem.

[00:01:20]

Someone needs to be there to run them.

[00:01:24]

And as a business,

[00:01:25]

particularly a small business where

you have such limited people.

[00:01:29]

And I've been running a small

business myself for ten years.

[00:01:32]

Nice.

You don't always have people running

[00:01:35]

these, like weekly or monthly

or whatever it might be.

[00:01:40]

Right.

So what eWebinar does is it takes a video

[00:01:44]

and it delivers it like a webinar,

so you can run 100 webinars without ever

[00:01:52]

needing to be there

to actually host it live.

[00:01:55]

It's genius.

[00:01:56]

So it's not like watching a YouTube video

[00:01:58]

because people don't, especially for,

like, demos, training onboarding.

[00:02:01]

They don't go to YouTube.

[00:02:03]

They want to join the webinars because

webinars have a two way engagement,

[00:02:07]

a two way communication with you

and the host that makes it so valuable.

[00:02:12]

And that's why we created a webinar

[00:02:15]

to help people automate that process so

they can scale everything that's

[00:02:20]

repetitive and repurpose their time for

something that's unique and meaningful.

[00:02:27]

All right.

[00:02:28]

So when whoever is creating these Webinars

or eWebinar things are they

[00:02:35]

essentially acting or pretending like

they're talking to a live audience,

[00:02:38]

that it seems to the audience that's

watching them, that it is live.

[00:02:41]

So that's a great question.

[00:02:43]

And I think traditionally, before us,

[00:02:46]

a lot of these automated webinar

solutions and they do exist.

[00:02:49]

They just never existed

for us in an elegant way.

[00:02:52]

They are always created for these Internet

[00:02:55]

cash marketers or multilevel

marketing marketers.

[00:02:59]

Not to say that those are bad.

[00:03:02]

I don't think people are always ill

intended, but a lot of these software

[00:03:07]

before us were created

specifically to deceive consumers.

[00:03:11]

All right.

[00:03:12]

And that's why it never sat well with me,

because when I lived that problem of not

[00:03:17]

being able to run all

my webinars on my own.

[00:03:19]

I had a tech company before this as well.

[00:03:21]

I had a team of five people,

so I was everything except for products.

[00:03:25]

So you can imagine, like, sales,

accounting, janitor, customer success.

[00:03:29]

I was that person, and I personally could

[00:03:32]

not keep up with all of those training

webinars to make sure that my own

[00:03:37]

customers and my users

were getting on boarded.

[00:03:39]

The thing is, if they don't know your

software and you just sold it to them

[00:03:42]

and they're not using it,

that's your fault, right.

[00:03:44]

That's never their fault.

Right.

[00:03:47]

So back then, I was looking for a solution

that would help me do this.

[00:03:51]

But everything that I found was like,

I mean, it was like, deceptive, right?

[00:03:56]

A lot of these companies would teach

[00:03:58]

people to pretend that it's live,

but it's not about that, right?

[00:04:02]

Like, we wanted to create an experience

[00:04:04]

that is so much more elevated than

a live webinar that it doesn't matter if

[00:04:12]

somebody knows that it's recorded.

[00:04:14]

In fact, a lot of our customers would

tell people this video is recorded.

[00:04:18]

This webinar is recorded,

[00:04:19]

but I'm managing the chat because we do

have an asynchronous chat solution so

[00:04:24]

that as people are watching the ewebinar,

they can text you with a question you can

[00:04:29]

hop into, respond live if you

feel like it, if you're there.

[00:04:32]

But if you're not there,

if you're sleeping.

[00:04:34]

A lot of times, people join webinars when

[00:04:36]

you're sleeping, that's

the whole point of this.

[00:04:38]

And you respond to them later,

they will get your message through email.

[00:04:42]

So there's, like, asynchronous chat

that people are already used to.

[00:04:46]

It's no different than going to a website.

[00:04:48]

And there's a chat bubble that's like,

hey, James, how can I help you today?

[00:04:52]

Even if somebody don't get back to you

[00:04:53]

right away, you know, you're going

to hear back from them through email.

[00:04:56]

So that's the communication

you hope you do anyways.

[00:05:01]

Yeah.

So that's the goal.

[00:05:03]

And that's the communication

mechanism that we've built in.

[00:05:07]

All right.

[00:05:07]

I don't encourage people to ever lie,

because in this day and age, people know

[00:05:12]

they know so quickly, and

it only takes seconds.

[00:05:18]

Your reputation, it takes years to build,

but it takes, like, seconds to destroy.

[00:05:23]

Right.

[00:05:23]

And the quickest way to do that,

you could still lie to your customers.

[00:05:27]

So definitely never do that.

[00:05:29]

We did not build a solution for that.

[00:05:31]

And we even go out of our way to not build

features that help people trick consumers.

[00:05:39]

All right.

So if you look at other solutions,

[00:05:41]

they've got, like, a fake chat like,

you can load in like, a fake conversation,

[00:05:45]

fake sales notifications,

like, kind of fake urgency.

[00:05:48]

Interesting.

[00:05:49]

So we purposely made a decision to never

build those things in because I do not

[00:05:54]

want anybody joining a new webinar

and feel like the last time they were

[00:06:00]

in this experience,

they were tricked to buy something.

[00:06:04]

So we made a decision to do that,

[00:06:05]

and we knew that we would

lose some customers that way.

[00:06:08]

But for me, that's totally fine.

[00:06:11]

If those are the features that you need

[00:06:12]

to make a sale, we're just not

the solution for you, right.

[00:06:17]

It's interesting.

I was looking at your website.

[00:06:19]

This reminded me.

[00:06:21]

I guess I perceive it as a training tool

[00:06:24]

where the new employees

know it's not live.

[00:06:27]

But I guess you remind me of some

of the things that I want to say that I've

[00:06:30]

fallen for where you go to the webinar

and you can see the chat and they get you

[00:06:34]

all fired up and you throw

a couple of Bucks there.

[00:06:39]

And now I'm thinking, wait a second.

Was that live?

[00:06:42]

Maybe I got suckered.

[00:06:43]

Well, the thing is, a lot of times,

if you are joining us at midnight

[00:06:48]

for 09:00, p.m. 500, people are not

on this webinar right now, right.

[00:06:56]

But the feeling you get when you're like,

[00:06:58]

okay, well, this is

just a fake experience.

[00:06:59]

And now I feel tricked.

[00:07:03]

As a business, you don't

really recover from that.

[00:07:05]

And I think there was a time for this

maybe like, 510 years ago, but not today.

[00:07:11]

But today people are all about

transparency and authenticity and honesty.

[00:07:18]

Right.

But the thing is, if you think about

[00:07:24]

consuming content video.

Right.

[00:07:26]

Let's say, like, lifestyle content.

[00:07:28]

So when I want to watch a movie, I go

to Netflix or like, Apple TV or whatnot?

...

Mark Podolsky - The Land Geek

We have all heard of the different ways to invest in real estate to build wealth, often with little time investment.

The problem with a lot of real estate is that it can have problems, typically with the buildings on the property.  Tenants, termites, broken pipes, non-paying renters and the like have all plagued more than a few people going down the real estate investing game.

But what if you invested in distressed properties that were only made of dirt?

Listen as Mark Podolsky, the Land Geek, shares his step by step process to invest in land, with the goal of working very little (time-wise) and earning an incredible amount.  He clarifies each step and shows you the way to bring freedom back to your life.

Enjoy!

Visit Mark at TheLandGeek.com

[00:00:03]

You have found

[00:00:03]

Authentic Business Adventures, the business

program that brings you the

[00:00:11]

the struggles, stories, and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

[00:00:13]

We are coming to you locally and underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:14]

If you're listening to this on the web

[00:00:16]

out, if you could do this, a huge solid,

give a thumbs up subscribe, and of course,

[00:00:20]

share it with all your

entrepreneurial friends.

[00:00:22]

My name is James Kademan,

and Authentic Business Adventures is

[00:00:25]

brought to you by Calls on Call,

Draw in Customers Business Coaching.

[00:00:29]

Well, as the The Bold Business Book.

[00:00:31]

Now I'm excited because this is all about

[00:00:34]

real estate investing, which is

something that I've dabbled in

[00:00:38]

we'll call it on the commercial end,

but I love talking to experts about it

[00:00:42]

because in the end, it's freedom,

and it's kind of fun.

[00:00:45]

So we have Mark Podolsky,

the Land Geek, with us.

[00:00:49]

So, Mark, how are you doing today?

[00:00:51]

James Kademan. Pulse is normal.

[00:00:53]

Respiration is fine.

[00:00:54]

Thanks so much for having me.

[00:00:56]

Hey, man, that's all good.

[00:00:57]

So tell me the land geek.

[00:01:00]

Tell us what is the land geek?

[00:01:02]

So basically, what I do is

I personally buy and sell raw land.

[00:01:10]

And then the Land Geek teaches

people how to buy and sell raw land.

[00:01:14]

But we do it for a specific purpose.

[00:01:18]

And my mission in life is to help people

[00:01:20]

get out of what I call solo economic

dependency, which means if you're not

[00:01:25]

personally working,

you're not making any money.

[00:01:27]

Think if you have a W-2 job.

Sure.

[00:01:29]

If you're a freelancer,

if you're a solopreneur,

[00:01:32]

if you're a high income,

or a doctor, a lawyer, a dentist.

[00:01:36]

Right.

Think of.

[00:01:37]

Let's just pick on the dentist.

[00:01:38]

Their hands aren't someone's mouth.

[00:01:40]

They're not generating any income.

[00:01:42]

They have solo economic dependency,

and you don't scale.

[00:01:46]

All right, so your trading time for money.

[00:01:48]

You're trading time for money.

[00:01:50]

Right.

[00:01:51]

So essentially,

what I want people to do is learn from how

[00:01:57]

I've gotten free so I can work when I want

where I want and with whom I want and have

[00:02:03]

your passive income exceed

your fixed expenses.

[00:02:06]

So you're working because you want to,

not because you have to.

[00:02:09]

And, James, when you're ready,

I can actually walk you step by,

[00:02:12]

step through the model so

you can do it yourself.

[00:02:15]

That sounds great.

[00:02:16]

So tell me, before we go down that road,

I want to ask you why land.

[00:02:21]

I've heard people getting apartments.

[00:02:23]

I've heard of commercial real estate

[00:02:24]

property, I've heard of flipping houses

and all this kind of stuff.

[00:02:28]

Land, I got to say,

you were the first person that I've ever

[00:02:31]

talked to that has ever

been so focused on land.

[00:02:35]

And at first I'm like,

oh, it seems so boring.

[00:02:38]

But just tell us why you

chose to go with land.

[00:02:41]

Well, you're right.

It is boring.

[00:02:43]

You're not going to go see

me on HGTV or the DIY.

[00:02:46]

network for flip this land.

[00:02:47]

Look at this dirt!

[00:02:49]

Yeah, picture just raw land.

[00:02:50]

You're absolutely right.

[00:02:52]

And if you go to a REIA meeting,

[00:02:53]

a real estate investment Association

meeting, 100 people in that room.

[00:02:56]

James, you and I were the only land guys there.

[00:02:58]

99 of them would be flippers,

landlords, and wholesalers.

[00:03:04]

So you're absolutely right.

[00:03:05]

And the reason that no one talks about raw

land in my model is that it's not sexy.

[00:03:15]

All right.

[00:03:18]

So what I like about raw land is that

[00:03:22]

I'm the kind of person that when something

goes out in my house, I call the handyman.

[00:03:26]

So I have no interest in meeting

contractors or subcontractors at a house

[00:03:32]

to fix it, because I don't know how

much is something to be or not, right?

[00:03:38]

It also doesn't scale,

so I can't do deals.

[00:03:42]

I live in Phoenix.

[00:03:43]

I can't start flipping houses or

doing fix and flips or landlording.

[00:03:48]

I wouldn't feel comfortable

with it in other states.

[00:03:50]

I'd only have to be my general area,

and I'd be stuck.

[00:03:56]

So land scales.

[00:03:58]

I buy land all throughout the country,

and I don't have to see it.

[00:04:03]

I buy it site unseen.

[00:04:04]

I'll walk you through how I do that.

[00:04:06]

And then what's great about land is that

it's the only thing that lasts forever.

[00:04:11]

Ted Turner has a great quote by land.

[00:04:13]

It's the only thing that lasts forever.

[00:04:15]

Styrofoam is a close second.

[00:04:16]

It lasts a long time.

[00:04:19]

But land is the only

thing that lasts forever.

[00:04:20]

So you're talking about

this generational asset.

[00:04:23]

Nothing to maintain, nothing to protect.

[00:04:26]

You can't destroy it.

You can burn it.

[00:04:28]

But eventually it will grow back.

[00:04:31]

No one called me at 3:00 in the morning

saying, Mark, my land is leaking.

[00:04:35]

Come fix me.

Come help me.

[00:04:38]

So that's the other reason.

[00:04:40]

And then the challenges,

and I'll walk you through it is

[00:04:43]

well, if land is still great, well,

[00:04:46]

you talk to financial experts say,

don't buy the land.

[00:04:48]

It's negative cash flow.

[00:04:50]

You hold it, you pay taxes,

and maybe it depreciates in value.

[00:04:54]

Maybe it doesn't.

It's a terrible business model.

[00:04:56]

They're 100%.

Right.

[00:04:58]

But the way I do it, it's a one time sale.

[00:05:01]

You get recurring passive income every

[00:05:03]

single month without any renters,

rehabs, renovations or roads.

[00:05:10]

I like it.

[00:05:12]

So tell me, how did you stumble upon this?

[00:05:15]

Was it something that you saw?

[00:05:16]

Somebody had this idea,

or is this just an.

[00:05:20]

Rewind the tape to 2000,

and I was a miserable micromanaged

[00:05:25]

45 minute

commute to working back investment banker

[00:05:28]

specializing in mergers and acquisitions

with private equity groups.

[00:05:32]

All right.

It got so bad for me, James,

[00:05:37]

so I wouldn't get the Sunday Blues.

[00:05:39]

All right, anticipating

Monday coming around.

[00:05:41]

I'd get the Friday Blues,

[00:05:43]

anticipating the weekend going by really

fast and be back at work on Monday.

[00:05:48]

All right.

So my firm hires this guy.

[00:05:50]

He's telling me that as a side hustle,

he's buying raw land,

[00:05:54]

he's flipping it online, and he's

making a 300% return on his investment.

[00:05:59]

But, James, I'm looking

at companies all day long.

[00:06:01]

And a great company.

Great.

[00:06:03]

Has 15% EBITA margins for free cash flow.

Right.

[00:06:07]

Average company is 10%, and I'm looking

at companies all day long, less than 10%.

[00:06:12]

So of course, I don't believe in.

[00:06:13]

I've got three grand

saved up for car repairs.

[00:06:16]

I go to New Mexico with them.

[00:06:17]

I buy up ten half acre parcels,

an average price of $300.

[00:06:21]

I flip them online and they sell

for an average price of $200, 300%.

[00:06:27]

It worked.

Wow.

[00:06:28]

Yeah, I know.

So I took all that money,

[00:06:30]

went to another auction,

which is where I live in Arizona.

[00:06:34]

And there's no one in the room.

It's 2000.

[00:06:36]

I buy up lots of acreage for nothing.

[00:06:38]

And over the next six months, I sold all

that land, and I made over $90,000 cash.

[00:06:44]

I go to my wife.

[00:06:46]

I say, Honey, I'm going to quit my job

[00:06:49]

and become a full time land investor,

and she's pregnant.

[00:06:52]

And she's like, Absolutely not.

[00:06:54]

So I said, okay, that's awesome.

[00:06:56]

So it took 18 months to land investing

[00:06:59]

income to exceed

the investment banking income.

[00:07:01]

And then I quit.

[00:07:02]

And I've been doing it full

time ever since I've done.

[00:07:04]

As of today, over 6000 transactions,

6000 transactions, 6000.

[00:07:11]

How many of those were you

in person to actually see

[00:07:15]

handful of them?

[00:07:17]

Wow.

That's crazy.

[00:07:19]

That's amazing.

Yes.

[00:07:23]

I tell you, it's kind of funny because I

[00:07:24]

just closed on this property that I'm

in now commercial FlexPACE,

[00:07:29]

...

Dustin Heiner - Master Passive Income

Trading time for money has always been what the true entrepreneur is working to avoid.  Time is a limited resource, and you want to keep as much time available for your freedom as possible, right?

One of the ways to get to the true point of freedom is to have passive income.  That is money coming in that you really don't have to work much for.  Sounds sweet, doesn't it?

Investing in rental real estate is a great way to earn that passive income stream, gain some tax advantages and build a financial legacy for your next generations, or whomever you choose.

Listen as Dustin Heiner, the founder of Master Passive Income explains how he learned to invest in real estate and now shares, quite freely, how you can do the same.

Enjoy!

Visit Dustin at: masterpassiveincome.com/freecourse

Text RENTAL to 33777 for a FREE Real Estate Investing course from Dustin.

[00:00:03]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:06]

the business program that brings you the struggle stories and triumphant successes of

[00:00:06]

business owners across the land. We are locally underwritten by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:06]

Past episodes can be found morning, noon, and night at the podcast link found at: drawincustomers.com My name is James Kademan - entrepreneur

[00:00:22]

author, speaker and helpful coach to

[00:00:23]

small business owners across the country.

[00:00:25]

And today we're welcoming/preparing to learn from

[00:00:28]

from Dustin Heiner,

the founder of Master Passive Income,

[00:00:32]

which has got to be one of the coolest

phrases ever in the entrepreneurial world.

[00:00:37]

Dustin, how are you doing today?

I'm blessed James.

[00:00:40]

Thank you so much.

[00:00:41]

Thank you so much

for having me on the show.

[00:00:42]

I really appreciate it.

I love just talking to people about how I

[00:00:45]

was able to literally change

my life and not work a dead end.

[00:00:49]

J.

I call it J-O-B.

[00:00:50]

Your job is you're living just over broke.

[00:00:52]

So, yeah, I really

appreciate you having me on.

[00:00:54]

Yeah, the J-O-B.

It's interesting.

[00:00:57]

You say that because a lot of times we'll

talk with people that have the typical

[00:01:02]

job, whatever they punch in,

they're signing the back of the check

[00:01:05]

essentially.

[00:01:06]

But a lot of times I also run

[00:01:08]

into entrepreneurs

that own a job rather than a business.

[00:01:12]

Which is kind of I imagine what you're

[00:01:14]

trying to help people with.

That's totally what I love to do.

[00:01:18]

I love having a business

that actually runs itself.

[00:01:22]

And so I invest in real estate.

[00:01:23]

So it literally runs itself.

[00:01:25]

And that's one thing that I also do

[00:01:27]

from now on. I quit my job when I was 37

years old, and once I quit my job, yeah.

[00:01:32]

I was really blessed to have so much more

[00:01:34]

time because all my expenses were

paid for because of my real estate.

[00:01:37]

From there, I'm now able

to build many other businesses.

[00:01:41]

I have four or five other businesses now,

but I focus on passive income streams.

[00:01:45]

So I have a river of income,

which is real estate.

[00:01:48]

And then I have other streams coming

[00:01:50]

in from other businesses that I create

that are all, hopefully passive income.

[00:01:53]

All right.

Very cool.

[00:01:54]

So how did you end up getting started?

[00:01:55]

What was the light switch moment?

Yeah.

[00:01:58]

So I've always been entrepreneurial

in general, somebody who likes business.

[00:02:03]

And so even from a very young age, when

I was 13 years old, I had a paper route.

[00:02:07]

I'd ride a bike with newspapers and throw

[00:02:10]

the papers and bang on garage

doors at five in the morning.

[00:02:13]

So I had a paper route

[00:02:15]

when I was really, really young. I had

a graphic and website design company.

[00:02:18]

I had a skateboard manufacturing business,

owned a convenience store and a pizzeria.

[00:02:22]

I have all these other businesses,

but they were all just basically ways

[00:02:26]

that I would work 1 hour

and then get paid for 1 hour.

[00:02:28]

But they all weren't that successful.

[00:02:30]

Then I bought one rental

property, and as I bought one rental

[00:02:33]

property that made me a minimum

of $250 a month in passive income.

[00:02:37]

From there, I realized, man,

I need to get more of these.

[00:02:40]

But I didn't really pursue that.

[00:02:41]

I was still working a nine to five job.

[00:02:43]

So I got to tell you a quick

story about this, James.

[00:02:46]

So I was working a nine to five job.

[00:02:48]

So in California,

[00:02:49]

I was working at one of the counties there

doing IT or technology work in one

[00:02:53]

of the counties there and working

just like everybody. We're taught:

[00:02:57]

you go to school, you go to college.

[00:02:59]

I did that, went to college.

[00:03:01]

Then you go and get a career.

[00:03:02]

You start a career,

you start working there.

[00:03:04]

Which I did.

[00:03:05]

I started working for the county

regular desk job, nine to five, J-O-B.

[00:03:09]

And I'm working there year after year.

[00:03:11]

After about 10, 12, 13 years of working

there, my wife and I started having kids.

[00:03:16]

And this quick story that really shows

[00:03:19]

the catalyst that really turned the switch

in my mind that I need to do this.

[00:03:22]

So if you're watching this, you could see

the four kids in the video of my family.

[00:03:27]

And so my wife, as I'm working my regular

[00:03:30]

job, she has our fourth kid

and our fourth child was born.

[00:03:33]

And I went on paternity leave.

[00:03:35]

Now, paternity leave is where the dad

stays home with the mom to change diapers

[00:03:40]

and bond with the baby

and all that sort of stuff.

[00:03:43]

And as soon as that's done,

I go back to work.

[00:03:45]

I'm back to work for about a week.

[00:03:47]

And on a Friday at about 3:30

in the afternoon,

[00:03:51]

I get a call from my boss's, boss's,

boss's Secretary, like the top dog.

[00:03:56]

This Secretary gives me a call and says,

[00:03:57]

Dustin, would you please

come to the boss's office?

[00:03:59]

And I said, sure, and hung up the phone.

[00:04:02]

And as I'm sitting there on my desk,

[00:04:04]

I'm thinking, Why would they

be calling me the office?

[00:04:06]

I haven't been back long enough

to do anything bad or good.

[00:04:09]

What's going on?

This isn't normal.

[00:04:11]

And as I'm sitting there,

[00:04:12]

I'm thinking back to, well,

a month or two before I went on paternity leave,

[00:04:17]

there was some rumors or some rumblings

that there could potentially be layoffs

[00:04:22]

because the county was

running low on funds.

[00:04:24]

And no, I immediately shook that off.

[00:04:26]

There's no way I have great seniority.

[00:04:28]

My bosses tell me I do a great job.

[00:04:30]

I get reviews, they're great reviews,

[00:04:32]

increases and raises

and all that sort of stuff.

[00:04:34]

So I get up, I get up and I walk down

the hallway to my boss's office.

[00:04:39]

Now, this hallway isn't necessarily long.

[00:04:41]

It's actually a fairly short hallway,

but every single step that I take,

[00:04:45]

it feels like the hallway gets longer

and longer, and it feels like my feet

[00:04:50]

become lead bricks as I'm walking down

the hallway because the weight

[00:04:54]

of everything, I could potentially get

laid off, is starting to rest on me.

[00:04:59]

So I make it through the hallway.

[00:05:00]

I turn the corner and I see my boss's

door, his doors closed,

[00:05:04]

and I see a Secretary looking at me

and she says, she officially she grins

[00:05:08]

and says, Dustin, would

you please have a seat?

[00:05:10]

So I walk over and I have a seat

and she's a super nice lady.

[00:05:15]

And she's consoling me with her eyes

[00:05:16]

because she knows everything

about what's going on.

[00:05:19]

I know nothing about what's going on.

[00:05:21]

And as I'm sitting there,

I'm in that chair,

[00:05:24]

just sitting there waiting,

and things start going through my head.

[00:05:28]

Well, all these years, 1314 years building

this career here, was that all waste?

[00:05:34]

Because now if I get laid off

like that's literally all gone.

[00:05:37]

Then I started thinking, oh, my goodness.

I have four kids.

[00:05:40]

I just have my fourth child.

[00:05:41]

My wife did.

[00:05:42]

How am I going to feed them?

[00:05:44]

How am I going to put

a roof over their head?

[00:05:45]

And what does that make me as a father?

[00:05:47]

Does that make me a failure as a father?

[00:05:50]

Does that make me a failure as a husband,

[00:05:52]

as a man that's trying

to provide for his family?

[00:05:55]

Well, as I'm sitting there,

my hands get all clammy.

[00:05:58]

My forehead gets all sweaty and opens

[00:06:02]

the door to my boss's office and outlook

the lady, a co worker of mine with a piece

[00:06:07]

of paper in her hand,

and she's noticeably distraught.

[00:06:11]

She's noticeably upset,

but not at the same time.

[00:06:13]

She's not crying.

[00:06:15]

But you can tell James,

her world is 100% rocked.

[00:06:18]

And as she's walking past me,

[00:06:21]

my boss says, Dustin, would you

please come into the office?

[00:06:24]

I get up and I walk into the

office and I get laid off.

[00:06:29]

And remember, this is the government.

[00:06:31]

...

Nathan Amaral - Fearless Millionaire

How to invest in real estate is a popular topic these days.  Real estate is typically a great investment, but where do you start?

Nathan Amaral has taken his real estate investing into another level, by investing in properties he never sees.  Properties that are often in other countries!

Listen as Nathan shares some of his secrets to investing in real estate and how you can get into investing in real estate.

Enjoy!

Visit Nathan at: fearless-millionaire.com

[00:00:03]

You have found Authentic Business Adventures, the business

program that brings you the struggles, stories,

[00:00:10]

and triumphant successes of business owners across the land.

[00:00:11]

Past episodes can be found morning,

[00:00:12]

noon, and night at the podcast link

found at drawincustomers.com.

[00:00:17]

We are locally underwritten

by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:19]

My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:21]

author, speaker and helpful coach to small

business owners across the country.

[00:00:25]

And today we're welcoming/preparing

[00:00:27]

to learn from Nathan Amaral,

the international real estate investor.

[00:00:31]

And I love this.

The Fearless Millionaire.

[00:00:33]

Nathan, how are you doing today?

[00:00:36]

So good.

Great to be here.

[00:00:38]

Thanks so much for having me on your show.

I appreciate it.

[00:00:40]

Yeah.

Thanks for being on here.

[00:00:42]

Tell me when you said international

real estate investor.

[00:00:46]

I was like, oh, this gets cooler.

[00:00:48]

So how can we break that down?

Sure.

[00:00:51]

Yeah.

[00:00:51]

Well, it didn't always start as

international,

[00:00:54]

but it first started off starting real

estate investing about 15 years ago

[00:00:59]

and started investing in my local

backyard, just my local area,

[00:01:02]

which is Massachusetts

and Rhode Island at the time.

[00:01:05]

I did that for about five years,

and then I relocated a few times.

[00:01:11]

And when I settled in North Carolina,

[00:01:13]

I had a buddy of mine who was doing about

50 properties a year,

[00:01:18]

and he was doing them all remotely like he

never physically went to go look at one

[00:01:22]

of his properties that he was either

buying or flipping or rehabbing.

[00:01:26]

And that was really inspiring.

[00:01:28]

It was really inspiring.

[00:01:29]

He hired me as a consultant

to his business

[00:01:33]

for an aspect of his business.

[00:01:35]

And then when I started seeing what was

[00:01:37]

going on, I said, Well,

I know real estate.

[00:01:39]

I thought this.

I said I would love to try this.

[00:01:42]

I'm going to try this strategy.

[00:01:44]

So I ended up buying my first property 3

hours away from where I was living

[00:01:48]

in North Carolina without personally

ever walking through the property.

[00:01:54]

We don't have enough time to go

into details of how to do that here.

[00:01:56]

But there's a process to that.

[00:01:58]

And I followed that process.

[00:02:00]

And then I continue to do that.

[00:02:01]

I started doing, like, 3 hours away,

[00:02:03]

then 6 hours away, a state away,

three States, five States away.

[00:02:07]

And eventually, I don't know if you

can tell, but it's dark outside.

[00:02:12]

And in 2013, I decided

to move to Uganda, Africa.

[00:02:17]

And that's actually where I am right now.

[00:02:18]

I'm in Uganda.

[00:02:19]

Oh, that's cool.

Yeah.

[00:02:22]

And so I moved out here,

[00:02:24]

and I was still doing the business

from here, still doing my real estate

[00:02:29]

business in the United States

for a while living here.

[00:02:33]

And that had a few challenges along the way,

but I figured that out.

[00:02:38]

And then I expanded it there

to Portugal, some Portuguese.

[00:02:41]

So I ended up doing some

deals over in Portugal.

[00:02:43]

And

[00:02:45]

that's, like, the short version of,

like, twelve years.

[00:02:49]

Wow.

[00:02:52]

That's where the international

stuff comes from.

[00:02:54]

All right.

Let's talk about when you first started,

[00:02:57]

were you flipping or was it buying

to build up a rental portfolio?

[00:03:02]

Actually, when I first started,

I was working two jobs.

[00:03:07]

I didn't really have a lot

of capital at the time.

[00:03:09]

So what I ended up doing was I I learned,

[00:03:11]

hired a coach to help me learn how

to start my real estate business.

[00:03:14]

Okay.

And that coach, what he did is he flew out

[00:03:18]

to Rhode Island, and he showed

me the ropes in that area.

[00:03:21]

And what I basically ended up doing was I

[00:03:25]

built a list of buyers that were

interested in properties,

[00:03:28]

and then I found the properties

that they were looking for.

[00:03:31]

And once I brought them the property,

[00:03:33]

they just pay me a fee in between

for that type of investment property.

[00:03:37]

And these properties were typically run

[00:03:39]

down abandoned houses, like they

couldn't even find the owner, right?

[00:03:43]

You have to search for them.

[00:03:45]

So a lot of these properties,

these investors would buy them,

[00:03:49]

fix them up and turn around and sell them,

and they would rehab them.

[00:03:52]

So I did that for a few years.

[00:03:55]

And then I got into some small complex,

duplexes and quads and stuff like that.

[00:04:00]

I started doing a few rentals

when I moved to North Carolina.

[00:04:05]

That's probably when I would say I started

doing a little bit more strategic real

[00:04:09]

estate,

such as, like,

[00:04:11]

creative financing on properties I

would own or finance lease to own.

[00:04:16]

I started doing those remote purchases

[00:04:19]

and whatnot virtual is

a better way to put it.

[00:04:22]

And then that started expanding

into more commercial apartments.

[00:04:27]

Land.

[00:04:29]

I'm trying to think of all the different

types of deals I've done,

[00:04:32]

but I would say the majority of them

have been in residential housing.

[00:04:38]

I had a big connection to veterans.

[00:04:42]

I knew there was veterans

that affordable housing.

[00:04:45]

There was a lot of people who were

struggling with getting affordable housing

[00:04:50]

and veterans who are maybe

active or inactive military.

[00:04:55]

And I would provide housing for those

people around the North Carolina market.

[00:04:59]

So that's really how I got started.

[00:05:03]

I was in my early twenties.

[00:05:05]

I did that for about five years

[00:05:07]

in the Massachusetts,

Rhode Island in North Carolina markets.

[00:05:10]

Wow.

That's cool.

[00:05:12]

That's super cool.

[00:05:13]

So when you're talking about rehabbing

[00:05:15]

stuff, were you the one putting on the

tool belt swinging the hammer title?

[00:05:18]

I wasn't.

No, I wasn't.

[00:05:21]

I did a few rehabs, but I did those,

like, later on in my life.

[00:05:26]

And I did not do any rehabs.

[00:05:28]

I'm not good at that kind of stuff.

[00:05:29]

So what I would do is I would basically

[00:05:32]

buy the property,

and if it needed a little bit of work,

[00:05:35]

I would sell it with it,

needed a little bit of work.

[00:05:38]

So I would sell it to an owner,

[00:05:40]

but an added condition,

and they can fix it up if it needed, like,

[00:05:44]

basic small things,

paint and carpet and stuff like that.

[00:05:47]

That's not really a big deal.

[00:05:49]

We've done a few of those.

But most of the time,

[00:05:51]

I was buying properties,

either flipping them over to someone

[00:05:56]

who would rehab it or I would buy it

and then do an owner finance transaction.

[00:06:02]

All right. So at the time,

were you the owner or you're owner

[00:06:06]

financing from the owner

you're buying for?

[00:06:09]

Would I be the owner?

[00:06:10]

So I would buy and purchase.

[00:06:12]

I buy and purchase the property,

[00:06:14]

and then I turn around and owner

finance it to the new buyer.

[00:06:18]

Wow.

Yeah.

[00:06:20]

I'd buy it as an all cash transaction.

[00:06:22]

And then I would turn around

and create a mortgage for them.

[00:06:28]

Sticking your neck out there, right?

Yeah.

[00:06:31]

Basically what I was doing,

[00:06:34]

basically, it's just a long term hold.

[00:06:39]

In a summary, right.

[00:06:40]

Is you're being the bank.

[00:06:42]

There's a lot of money in banking.

[00:06:45]

I've heard jokes from buddies

of mine in the industry.

[00:06:47]

All we're in the wrong business.

[00:06:48]

We should be in the banking industry,

the banking business.

[00:06:51]

But the reality is when you're holding

[00:06:53]

the property and you're creating

a mortgage for someone,

[00:06:55]

you are the bank for the property

because the property is the asset.

[00:06:59]

So yeah, it's a long term play.

[00:07:02]

But let me tell you,

[00:07:04]

I think anybody who owns a mortgage,

you know that after the time you pay your

[00:07:07]

mortgage off in 30 years

that you have paid two or three times

[00:07:11]

the house, you could have

bought two or three houses.

[00:07:14]

So that's basically the return that you're

[00:07:16]

kind of looking at when

you hold long term.

[00:07:18]

And that kind of works for my lifestyle,

[00:07:20]

because I like to have this more travel,

more international lifestyle.

[00:07:25]

So I'm not going to be, like, on the site,

[00:07:27]

like rehabbing property

and stuff like that got you.

[00:07:30]

I guess the concern that I guess the red

...

Tom Bailey - Succeed Through Speaking

Did you know that some entrepreneurs are introverts?  I had a tough time believing that, but Tom Bailey has helped me understand that you can be an introvert and still get out and be the pro you are to help you accomplish your goals.  With his business, succeed through Speaking Tom Bailey helps those introverts geared towards success to get in front of the crowds you need to as the professional, so the crowd takes notice.

Listen as Tom gives some great advice for speakers and all parts of the introvert and extrovert scale.

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