Founders In The Lab with Ruben Kanya

GUEST BIO

Ilana Weismark is the owner of Ooh La La Home Staging, LLC, a home staging company based out of Atlanta, Georgia. Ilana however grew up in France, where she studied English and Economics. At the age of 21, she moved to London where she immersed herself in a new culture and also studied for her Master’s Degree in Foreign Language Education.

Ilana is all about change! She doesn’t go very long without changing something in her life and surroundings (excluding husband and children)! You can imagine that this comes very handy in home staging. She is never hesitant to play around with colors, furniture placement, type of furniture, accessories,vignettes etc. This ability to embrace change alongside her inherited Frenchflair for aesthetics make her a Stager Extraordinaire! Discover the reasons why you need a home stager when looking to sell your property as an investor.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

01:40 - Background of the guest

10:10 - Importance of staging a property

19:42 - The process of staging

27:30 - Sourcing materials for the business

32:01 - Home staging design style

KEEPING IT REAL

34:13 - The difference between Interior Designers and Home Stagers

41:40 - The process of working with a Stager

49:40 - The Struggles of doing it the first time

53:20 - Tool to success

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“Alway purchase something with a purpose, not in a vacuum.”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Official Website

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

#ExperimentHomeStaging

GUEST BIO

Mike Begg is an entrepreneur and expert in eCommerce, digital marketing, and operational nearshoring. In 2015, he co-founded AMZ Advisors with his two partners and has grown the business to managing $10M per year in ad spend and $100M per year in Amazon sales. Mike and the AMZ team also operate AMZ courses, educating Amazon sellers on how to maximize sales on the platform. Mike loves sharing advice and help on anything related to Amazon and building efficient businesses.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

03:27 – From working in commercial real estate to co-founding an eCommerce marketing business

06:00 – Discovering opportunities in eCommerce

10:10 – The appeal of experiential shopping

11:36 – How big-box stores operate

KEEPING IT REAL

17:01 – Transitioning to eCommerce marketing

19:26 – Building a brand through Amazon

22:37 – Best practices for starting a business

26:48 – Product sizing factors

28:49 – How AMZ Advisers helps ensure success in establishing an eCommerce business

37:39 – What are brand aggregators?

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“It’s a process. It’s continually testing, it’s figuring out the new things, seeing what works. And it’s going to happen over time.”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Website

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

Youtube

Email: [email protected]

Jim Monk, President of Clozzits has an untapped niche in the world of value-add truly validating that there’s money in closets. Clozzits has disrupted the world of unit upgrades with a first-of-its-kind, low-cost program designed specially for renovation or value add especially in the multifamily real estate sector.

Clozzits’ creation is based on the desire from multifamily owners and management companies to recognize previously unventured revenue growth opportunities. Serving property owners that aim to rethink the ordinary and often forgotten closet spaces within their portfolio to increase overall asset value and ROI.

Tune in to listen to how you can increase your top and bottom line by focusing on a space nearly overlooked and forgotten by most real estate operators -- your closet.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

02:01 - Background of the guest

15:13 - Framework for Opportunities

25:28 – The Process How to Increase Commercial Real Estate Value

28:38 – From Scalability Point of view

KEEPING IT REAL

32:00 – Talking Banks about Multi Family Financing

36:24 – Setting Up a Unit on an Average size closet

40:00 – Talking to the Right bank for investment

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

42:00 - Favorite Book – Podcast: Master of Scale by Reed Hofman, My first millions

Books: Blitz Scaling by Reed Hofman, Traction by Gino Wickman

45:08 - Best Habit – An Everyday Standup meeting and A 10 minute Standup Huddle.

46:53 - Best Tool – Oracle netSuit for the company and a personal Daily planner

54:30 - Future forecast  – Helping to mentore

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“We are conditioned to look at things one way, your not reinventing the wheel but you are re-conditioning the model”

“listen based on experience not opinions, opinions can be dangerous”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Official Website: clozzits.com

Facebook :Clozzits

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jimmonk

GUEST BIO

Founder and CEO of Beach Cities Solar Consulting LLC, an education based solar consulting firm that works with home owners, businesses, & corporations to help them go solar which then adds value to their properties. He specializes in solar consulting and installation for commercial projects and luxury homes. His goal is to reduce the expenses on electricity cost, create more jobs and most especially saving the planet!

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

01:20 - Background of the guest

05:47 - The rise of energy sectors

08:40 - How to see traits for opportunities

15:22 – What’s in it with the consumer

KEEPING IT REAL

17:21 – Investing Vs Financing

22:30 – ROI process on investing in solar system

24:52 – Working on a bigger solar projects

28:52 – The process on building a business

39:34 – How solar energy works

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

44:32 - Favorite Book – The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone.

46:39 - Best Habit – Being intentional.

40:40 - Best Tool – Zoom, PipeDrive.

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“ A product and a business will sell itself when we do the right job of educating the consumer. ”

“In life and in Business we have to go through struggles to harden ourselves and become better, Diamonds form under pressure. ”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Official Website: https://www.beachcitiessolarconsulting.com

Facebook :Beach Cities Solar Consulting

Instagram: Beach Cities Solar Consulting

GUEST BIO

Adam is the CEO and Founder of Strata SFR, a Build-To-Rent and SFR Portfolio Brokerage. He

also co-founded OwnAmerica, a marketplace for single-family rental property portfolios that was

acquired by Renter’s Warehouse in late 2018. He’s a leading expert on the Build-for-Rent

market by providing guidance on go-to market strategies for regional builders and land/lot

developers. He also assists them at expanding their transaction volume and revenue by

servicing the ever-increasing demand for Single Family Rentals (SFR), particularly from

institutional investors that own and operate rental homes in the US.

Adam is also an authority on the acquisition and disposition of SFR portfolios nationwide.

He has helped facilitate SFR transactions totaling hundreds of millions in volume and was

one of the earliest to recognize the portfolios of stabilized Single Family Rentals- a product

that deserved a specialized service composed of network of owners and buyers active in

the space.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

02:06 - Background of the guest

05:49 - The investor-operator institutionalization

08:31 – Is/Are your single-family rental property/properties qualified?

15:40 – Is it more advantageous to sell properties in a portfolio or off of one?

21:48 – Build-for-Rent and how it works

KEEPING IT REAL

25:29 - Bridging the gap between investors and property owners

28:15 - Making SFR and Built-For-Rent deals efficiently with Strata SFR

33:35 - Bringing technology to the table

36:05 - Learn to say no

37:05 - Finding your path

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

40:55 - Favorite Books - Play Bigger by Dave Peterson, Al Ramadan, Christopher

Lochhead, and Kevin Maney | Tribe by Sebastian Junger

43:55 - Best Habit – An hour out of the day to talk to someone about anything substantial |

Coffee!

46:16 – Self manage or outsource?

46:25 – Cash flow vs. Equity

46:56 - Best Tool – Slack | Google Meet

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“The litmus test for really any specialist in any sector whether it’s Single Family Rental or

portfolios or Multi-family or anything, is knowing how and when to say no. Because if you chase

everything that comes along, you’re gonna be wasting a lot of time and it’s almost impossible to

do any real business unless you know exactly what you’re looking for to a very high degree of

specificity.”

“I talk about the 3 Ps, passion, persistence, perseverance. Find something you love to do, do it

always and get better at it. Overcome the roadblocks. They’ll eventually almost never really

stand in your way from getting further. And if you could find that thing that you’re passionate

about, it takes care of the other Ps. And if you could find that one thing that you’re passionate

about, you don’t mind doing it consistently. You’re not gonna mind overcoming the obstacles

because it’ll be intrinsically fun for you because you have passion about it.”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Official Website

LinkedIn

GUEST BIO

Gustavo goes by "Gus", reverse engineered a business opportunity by identifying a key problem for agents in the real estate industry. Gus is a former Microsoft engineer turned Real Estate Agent turned lead generation - Inside Sales guru. Since 2015 he ran one of the largest Inside Sales teams for Real Estate agents in North America, 65 Agents strong making about 50K outbound dials a day. Gustavo's team sets about 100 Appointments with Buyers and Sellers every day, mostly from Facebook leads. He runs a 7-figure a year business and has over 600+ active clients.

Gus is super passionate about helping business owners become successful through online marketing and lead follow-up, team building, sales scripts, online lead conversion and much more. He is also an embodiment of how experimenting deep into an industry can lead you to the opportunity of solving a problem. Tune in if you want to see the mindset and framework Gus used to solve an existing problem in his industry by turning it into a business so that you can do the same. Let’s experiment, let’s build.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

02:49 - Background of the guest

04:02 - A Dream Job vs. Your Dream Job

15:55 – Struggles on retail real estate

22:00 – The Transition from Microsoft to ISA

KEEPING IT REAL

32:00 – How inbound conversion works

41:37 – Importance of responding to lead instantly

48:28 – Focusing on core values

52:55 - The biggest misconception about ISA

57:17 – Missing peace makes everything easier

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

1:00:00 - Favorite Book – Everything Gary W. Keller

1:01:15 - Best Habit – Working hard, not take anything for granted

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“Clients will always give you the clues, listen to the marketplace”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Official Website

Facebook

GUEST BIO

1. Sell their home 2. Mortgage cash-out refinance 3. Home equity cash out or Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) but there is a fourth way that’s not often talked about and that’s leveraging your equity through home equity contracts.

Matthew is the CEO and Founder of QuantmRE, a company that solves a real problem for homeowners by helping them access a portion of their home equity without taking on more debt. Matthew has a proven track record in real estate innovation through his experiences as Co-Founder of the Secured Real Estate Income Strategies Fund, and as President and Founder of Crowdventure.com, a real estate crowdfunding company. Originally from London, Matthew worked with Richard Branson's corporate finance team and was a director of the Virgin-sponsored London Air Ambulance. A helicopter pilot himself, he is also the host of his own podcast, “Hooked On Startups.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

02:05 - Background of the guest

05:40 - Starting things right

08:19 - Passive vs. Active Investment

12:35 - Equity

16:13 - Contrasting HELOC and Reverse Mortgage

KEEPING IT REAL

23:56 - How win-win works between property owners and investors in home equity agreements

26:37 - Ideal properties for investment

33:00 - How property owners utilize capital

35:12 - Settling an agreement

44:23 - The major misconception about home equity agreements

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

45:42 - Favorite Book -  Never Split the Difference by Christopher Voss & Tahl Raz | Exactly What to Say by Phil M. Jones

48:08 - Best Habit - Taking time to get out of the house to walk and think | Drink lots of coffee!

49:02 - Best Tool - Daily planner

50:42 - Cash Flow or Equity?

52:33 - Technological advice: a good CRM system

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“Start small but get the shovel dirty, make an investment, get involved. If you stay on the sidelines for too long, you won’t get the benefit of that direct experience of being in with your money and that takes it to a completely different place, if you actually make investments.”

“If you find something that you’re good at, just stick at it and become the subject matter expert. Become the best, the biggest in that field.”

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Official Website

Facebook

LinkedIn

GUEST BIO

Emanuele Pani was born and raised in Sardinia Italy and came to America at 15 to fulfill his American dream. He is a real estate expert and entrepreneur with experience in investments, real estate sales and acquisitions, and professional Airbnb hosting and management. He’s the Co-host of STR Secrets a podcast that focuses exclusively on the Short-term rental industry as well as being one of the partners in Domu Private Investments, a rapidly growing investment group that focuses on investing in middle America. In his free time, Emanuele enjoys traveling, reading/learning, cooking, working out and spending time with his wife and pets.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

02:47 - Short Term Rental background

13:30 - Rental Arbitrage

17:56 - Pros and Cons of doing Rental Arbitrage

24:43 - Best Negotiation Practice

KEEPING IT REAL

29:34 - Co-hosting vs Rental Arbitrage

33:46 - Building Systems - Cleaning people are the backbone of the business

42:10 - Working smarter

48:28 - Growing your portfolio

1:00:49 - Important thing to include in the listing - best 5 pictures

1:09:11 -Setting temperatures inside the house

1:14:42 - Best Habit - Understanding the compound of daily choices

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“The way we do anything  is the way we do everything.” 10:40 - 10:43

“If you have a clear vision as to where you want to go, then that’s how you start playing around with how good of a system you want to put in place.” 39:17 - 39:26

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

STR secret Mastermind

Clubhouse

Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Guesty.com which is a property management software that Ruben and his team use as short term rental Superhosts to manage and streamline all communication with their guests and team to make it a memorable stay for each guest that books their property. Use our private unique link here https://hosts.guesty.com/?r=therealestateexperiment  to let Guesty know we sent you!

GUEST BIO

Scott Meyers is the principal of Kingdom Storage Holdings. He has acquired, sold, developed, converted over 30 facilities totaling over 12,000 units and over 2 million sq.ft of storage. He is also the Founder and President of: SelfStorageInvesting.com (Self-Storage Profits, Inc.), a leading self-storage education company that offers courses, live events, and mentoring/coaching. His company was started in 2006, for the purpose of acquiring, developing, and operating self-storage facilities. It has raised over $40 million in syndicates and private equity partnerships to fuel their growth: https://passivestorageinvesting.com/.

He is Forbes Real Estate Council Member, speaker for ISS (Inside Self Storage) the SSA (National Self Storage Association), as well as the Host to The Self Storage Podcast.

However, his real passion lies with being a husband and father who takes an active part in family activities. He is also very active in his charity and mission work both locally and around the globe together, funding, then building homes and giving them away with his partners at YWAM ( Youth with a mission ) through StorageMissions.com.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

01:42 - Background of the guest

04:38 - Why Self Storage Investing?

08:49 - Commercial Self Storage Facility

12:36 - Bank qualifications for self storage investing

KEEPING IT REAL

16:10 - Increasing Value Add

27:13 - Why are people renting self storage?

30:32 - Bringing more Cash Flow

34:53 - Most fulfilling part of doing self storage business

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

36:59 - Favorite Books - Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

37:50 - Best Habit - Having a morning coffee and have a walk

38:35 - Best Tool - Multiple screens

40:02 - Biggest Misconception about self storage

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“ Self storage is unsexy as it is from a business model stand point is extremely sexy because you can operate this business without a lot of input once it gets up and going and allows you that freedom and the cash flow, to be able you to go out and do whatever it is that you want to do."

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram

GUEST BIO

Tim Stout is the team leader of TSAA out of Newnan, Georgia. Tim Stout and Associates was a #1 Sales Group at Keller Williams Atl Realty last 2016 and 2017  and the overall Top sales team in all of Coweta County last 2017 and 2018. Tim instilled a FIVE STAR service to his team that is rooted from his own work ethic. It all stems from his hard discipline as a professional MMA fighter. With 12 wins under his belt, Tim knows the importance of having the right team in your corner (no pun intended lol). This is no different in real estate. Combined with Tim’s go-getter attitude and competitiveness, it's no question why TSAA had such a knockout performance this past year in 2020.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EPISODE

02:16 - Background of the guest

03:44 - Transitioning to Real Estate

06:17 - Doing the first step

08:16 - Importance of working on your weaknesses

KEEPING IT REAL

15:15 - Mindset the bring the team together

17:38 - Why is coaching important?

19:32 - Mindset as the biggest misconception of people

25:26 - Notable things in the marketplace

31:36 - Types of Asset Class Tim is looking for

RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS

32:29 - Best Habit - Workout

33:24 - Best Tool - Social Media

34:13 - Super power - Cloning

NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS):

“One normal in running the big businesses is, one failure, you’re done.” 

“Culture is created by accident or built on purpose.” 

“It’s the boring stuff that gets you to the finish line.” 

CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST

Facebook | Instagram | TikTok