Blue Collar Yields

Traci Kelly is the founder of Kelly Greene Unique Wealth Solutions, an independent financial services firm focusing on specialized wealth building, tax, and legacy solutions for individuals and businesses. Their client commitment includes simplifying economic information and putting people in control of their own money to create goal-based growth strategies that not only thrive during the good times but also survive the rainy days when things get tough, and life happens. Advocating a proactive financial plan that advises a 3 to 6 months savings in liquid assets has gone a long way in helping to put her clients in a better place during the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic. Traci discusses the unfortunate timing of launching her own business just as the market crashed in 2008, the upside to experiencing adversity, virtual masterclasses to provide opportunities for women in the financial advisory field, the merits of the human touch over the robo-advisor, as well as good questions to ask when interviewing a prospective financial advisor.

Zack Widmann is the founder of ZHW Properties which focuses on representing institutional buyers in the purchase of self storage facilities.  He credits early job experiences and college internships with his choice of self storage as the asset class for his business.  Zack subscribes to the axiom that the least sexy real estate ventures can bring the best returns, and he describes the role of the acquisitions analyst, advancements in automation, cap rates, return metrics, compensation for the general partners, and the pros and cons of off-market deals.  He appreciates the stability of self storage as a needs-based asset class, and stability is definitely a relevant factor during these times of the Covid-19 crisis.  Zack offers observations on the impact of the pandemic in the self storage industry, such as decisions on exercising forbearance on late fees and lien sales and the acceleration of the existing trends toward automation as a way to achieve the required social distancing.

Join us for some timely insights from Mike Parlante on the landlord’s perspective in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. Mike’s diverse resume includes a career in the dental equipment industry as Director of Business Development for MidAtlantic Ortho, the owner of Capsule Products (an online store supplying Invisalign patients with on-the-go products), and he is the inventor of the Capsule Retainer Case. In the realm of real estate investing Mike is a partner at MDM holdings, and he shares the story of his journey: lessons learned, identifying desirable markets, hidden values, passive investing, attracting student tenants creatively using Facebook and Instagram, maximizing technology such as Venmo and PayPal to facilitate rental payments as well as Appfolio and Buildium to document landlord-tenant correspondence. Mike discusses his approach to decisions on seeking forbearance and sees open tenant-landlord communication as key during Covid-19. He is balancing his company’s on-going business commitments with flexibility and compassion to weather the crisis through well-documented lease modifications to meet the needs of struggling tenants.

In the 1990s, well before the Shark Tank phenomenon, Marc Kramer was tuned in to finding opportunities to bring angel investors and entrepreneurs together to facilitate investment in promising startups.  He founded the country's first formally organized angel investor network, which is now called the Private Investors Forum.  Marc is a veteran of successful startup companies and delights in developing his own business ideas as well as using his talents to help other entrepreneurs realize their dreams.   Marc discusses the difference between angel investors and venture capitalists, unicorn companies, the Angel Venture Fair, the ecosystem for entrepreneurship in the Philadelphia area, the economic impact of the Covid-19 virus, as well as thoughts on the economic rebound following the crisis.  Marc’s message is one of optimism, based on the history of our country and the creativity and resilience of our entrepreneurs:  “The smartest people in the world are sitting in this country, and they’re going to figure it out."

If you’re looking for ways to earn passive income, an ATM may be the way to go! Nate Herrick of Epic ATM shares his experience in this entrepreneurial arena, offering an overview of how an ATM machine works, start-up costs, the potential for a pretty sweet rate of return given the right location and demographics, and lots of great advice as well as partnership opportunities for new ATM investors. After the set-up work is done with an ATM venture, Nate describes the monthly administrative commitment as minimal, and he enjoys a ‘nine to five’ position as a Technical Recruiter seeking architects, engineers & construction professionals for SecureTek Solutions. This firm is currently expanding into the NY City area, and they tackle staffing for small projects to skyscrapers and everything in between. Nate also partners with his brothers in NAZ Capital LLC, a real estate investment venture with interests in the multi-family and self-storage sectors.

Steve Seymour regards real estate as a relationship business, where business connections are strongest between people we like, know and trust. His dad was in construction, and Steve caught the real estate bug young, even wielding a nail gun at age four, escaping injury and moving on to pursue sales, flipping houses and buying rentals. His first house flip was nearly a flop, paying high rates, working too hard, and reaping a low return; but he learned a lot, and learned it quickly! Steve is not a fan of the big box brokerage firms where he feels agents are caught on the treadmill of closing deal after deal to the betterment of the firm, with little regard for the agents. Steve created his own brokerage, Vanguard Realty Alliance which supports his values of putting the client first, while providing a collaborative work environment that empowers agents to pursue their own goals and achieve success.

Through some bad life choices in overspending and the untimely loss of a job, Alex Felice quickly learned what it was like to stress over money and face the consequences of living beyond his means.  As a self-described contrarian, Alex was well aware that he wasn’t going to find career contentment and resolve his financial dilemma by being tied to the tyranny of the 9:00-5:00 treadmill in a job he didn’t like, so he immersed himself in finding a path to pay down his debt and earn the freedom to live his life the Alex way.   Success in real estate investment gives Alex the leeway to do the things he likes best, and one of those things is sharing his real estate knowledge and helping others reach their goals through his blog and website, BROKEISACHOICE.COM.   He is candid in sharing the details of all his deals, offering readers the chance to learn from his successes and avoid some rookie mistakes.

For Palak Shah, successfully climbing the corporate ladder came at an unacceptable cost in work-life balance and having time to spend with her kids. After months of turmoil, the decision was made to become a single income family with Palak pursuing her passion in real estate and learning to grow a portfolio under the constraints of their much reduced financial resources. In this jam-packed and informative episode, Palak chronicles her journey into entrepreneurship in value-add investing and building a 4 million dollar portfolio, discussing strategies in project sourcing and funding options, targeting markets, screening tenants, women working in male-dominated industries, the gender wealth gap, and flexing your risk-taking muscles. Palak offers a wealth of information to investors on her website www.openspaceswomen.com, and although she does not downplay the hard work that comes with this choice, she has had no second thoughts on her decision to leave the corporate world and pursue her dreams.

Rod Stanback has come a long way from working two jobs to keep head above water to create his own successful business in investment financing, Flip Funding LLC., but there were some hard knocks along the way. Rod pursued his dreams by getting carpentry training, learning from each work experience, saving his money, and waiting for his chance to purchase a property to flip. That chance came with the market crash in 2008 when he bought two properties at steal-of-a-deal, bargain-basement prices. Only after completing renovations and having a property up for settlement did he learn that his steal-of-a-deal was just that; he had purchased property stolen through deed fraud. Rod shares his experiences in house flipping, the nightmare of deed fraud, the quiet title process, and his take on the misconceptions of hard money lending. Rod's business mission is to offer funding options and the kind of guidance he would have wished for as a new investor.

By Jason Avant’s way of thinking, his professional life has been devoted to the entertainment business in one form or another, beginning with his football career as a wide receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles. Sports and the entertainment industry go hand in hand in that each offers their fans a chance to step out of the realities of the daily routine and simply have some fun. Jason saw just such an opportunity for part two of his career when he opened Launch Trampoline Park in Deptford, NJ, with a focus on entertainment fitness through Ninja Warrior, rock climbing, laser tag, trampoline dodgeball, and basketball, arcade games, birthday parties, and corporate events. Jason discusses his preparations for entrepreneurship, believing in yourself and not listening to the naysayers, sizing up the competition, managing and appreciating his young workforce, reacting to new trends and keeping it fresh, the importance of organization, and much more on his move from football to franchising!