Investor Cheat Code Podcast with Mike Simmons

Join us as we dive into the incredible journey of real estate investor and podcaster Brandon Turner. Discover how he went from buying a deal a year to building a portfolio of over 13,000 units, and learn the strategies and mindset shifts that fueled his remarkable success.

It all started with a realization at Joe Ferrellus' best ever conference in Denver. Surrounded by successful real estate investors, I came face to face with my untapped potential. I was only buying a deal a year, barely scratching the surface of what I could achieve. It hit me that I could build a big business, have a team, and aim for something much bigger.

Surrounding yourself with successful and motivated individuals can have a profound impact on your own success. When I started associating with people who were achieving greater real estate volume, I began to see new possibilities and opportunities for growth. Through engaging with the BiggerPockets podcast and interacting with accomplished investors like Grant Cardone and Chris Clothier, I gained valuable insights into scaling businesses and leveraging resources effectively.

By surrounding myself with ambitious and accomplished individuals, I was able to challenge my own limitations and expand my vision of what was achievable. This environment of success and ambition propelled me to surpass my initial goals and achieve remarkable growth in a relatively short period.

After making the decision to go all in on mobile home park investing, I set a goal to acquire 1,000 units within a year. This ambitious target pushed me to take massive action and think outside the box to achieve rapid growth.

Assembling a dedicated and skilled team was crucial in managing a large number of properties effectively and ensuring seamless operations. By delegating responsibilities and empowering my team, we were able to surpass the 1,000-unit milestone with remarkable efficiency.

Investing in mobile home parks offers unique advantages and opportunities that make it an appealing venture for real estate investors. The following factors highlight the reasons behind the strategic choice of mobile home park investments:

When it comes to real estate investments, avoiding problematic states and markets is crucial for maintaining a streamlined and efficient portfolio. By steering clear of regions with challenging regulations and governmental barriers, investors can mitigate operational hurdles and optimize their investment outcomes.

After my nine-year stint with the BiggerPockets podcast, I made the decision to transition to The Better Life podcast. This shift was driven by my entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to have autonomy over my schedule and endeavors. While BiggerPockets was an invaluable experience, I craved the freedom to chart my own course and explore new opportunities.

As an entrepreneur at heart, I value the ability to own my time, schedule, and business ventures. The decision to leave BiggerPockets stemmed from my desire to have full ownership and control over my podcasting journey, aligning with my personal and professional aspirations.

The inception of The Better Life podcast was inspired by a song created by my friends, Derek and Mark. Their music, coupled with my ambition to expand beyond real estate, fueled the creation of a platform that delves into a diverse range of topics and interviews. This transition allowed me to broaden my scope and connect with a wider audience while still maintaining a strong focus on real estate.

When it comes to podcasting, the dynamics of in-person recording can significantly enhance the overall experience for both hosts and guests. The physical presence creates a heightened sense of importance and accountability, leading to more profound and authentic conversations.

The Lahaina fire had a devastating impact on the town, resulting in the loss of numerous businesses and homes. The aftermath of the fire left a significant void in the community, with many individuals and families grappling with the repercussions of the destructive blaze.

The fire claimed the lives of approximately 100 people, a tragedy that has deeply affected the entire community. While the outcome was better than initially feared, the loss of lives and the destruction of the town's downtown area remains a poignant reminder of the catastrophic event.

As I continue to navigate through the complexities of business and life, my perspective on success has undergone a significant transformation. While ambitious goals and professional achievements have always been integral to my journey, the paramount importance of family and personal happiness has become increasingly evident.

Amidst the pursuit of entrepreneurial endeavors and professional growth, the invaluable role of family has emerged as a cornerstone of my priorities. The joy and fulfillment derived from spending quality time with my wife and children have become non-negotiable aspects of my life, shaping my decisions and actions in profound ways.

Recognizing the perpetual balancing act between work and personal life, I have adopted a deliberate approach to redefining success. Embracing the notion that happiness and contentment are the ultimate measures of achievement, I have embarked on a journey to recalibrate my professional commitments in alignment with my personal values.

Implementing the "Better Life Wheel" for Balanced Goal-Setting

One powerful tool that has significantly impacted my life is the "Better Life Wheel," a comprehensive approach to evaluating and setting goals across various aspects of life. It's a simple yet effective method that provides a holistic perspective on personal growth and fulfillment.

The "Better Life Wheel" encompasses ten fundamental areas, including health and fitness, finances, career, parenting, relationships, environment, spirituality, personal growth, and more. Each of these aspects plays a crucial role in shaping a fulfilling and balanced life.

Recognizing the dynamic nature of personal growth and life circumstances, I regularly revisit the "Better Life Wheel" every quarter. This practice allows me to adapt my goals and focus areas based on evolving priorities and experiences, ensuring continual alignment with my aspirations and values.

Implementing the "Better Life Wheel" has been instrumental in fostering a balanced and purpose-driven approach to goal-setting, enabling me to pursue holistic fulfillment and growth across all aspects of life.

Setting adaptable, goals is crucial for aligning aspirations with current perspectives and motivations. Traditional annual goal-setting may lead to misaligned objectives, as desires and priorities evolve over time. By embracing goals that resonate with present emotions and ambitions, individuals can cultivate a more authentic and purpose-driven pursuit of success.

Leaving a long-standing professional endeavor is a significant decision that requires careful consideration and strategic planning. My departure from BiggerPockets was driven by a culmination of personal and professional realizations, ultimately leading me to embark on a new trajectory in my entrepreneurial journey.

My experience at BiggerPockets, particularly working alongside a dedicated and persistent entrepreneur like Josh Dork, instilled in me the invaluable lesson of persisting through the inevitable challenges and lows that accompany any entrepreneurial venture. Recognizing the "dip" in business and persisting through it has been a transformative mindset shift that continues to guide my approach to navigating obstacles and setbacks.

Understanding the tipping point between personal fulfillment and professional alignment is instrumental in determining the right time to transition from a current role to new opportunities. It's crucial to assess when the scale tips towards individual growth and advancement, signaling readiness for a new chapter.

As a parent, I am passionate about instilling in my children the understanding that traditional societal norms do not define their potential paths in life. I encourage them to think outside the box and explore unconventional avenues for their education and future careers.

I believe in nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset in my children, emphasizing the importance of creativity, problem-solving, and innovative approaches to achieving their goals. By exposing them to diverse opportunities and encouraging their entrepreneurial endeavors, I aim to broaden their perspectives on success and fulfillment.

When my children express entrepreneurial ideas or innovative solutions to challenges, I actively support and provide resources to nurture their ventures. Embracing their creativity and initiative, I seek to cultivate an environment where they feel empowered to explore diverse paths and pursue their passions.

Paul is the co-founder of TwnSqr, a real estate technology startup devoted to breaking down the barriers of the real estate industry by providing homeowners and real estate professionals full control over the connections they make for their next real estate transaction. Paul started TwnSqr as a project to create an algorithm to predict who was going to sell their house next so he could buy more deals. Today, TwnSqr has reimagined how the real estate process works for buyers, sellers, agents, and investors, and it’s the most secure and fastest way to connect with the best person for your next real estate transaction on your own terms.

We begin the episode with Paul sharing the evolution of TwnSqr since its inception right before COVID and how it currently works. Paul details how it has changed from being a real estate tool to a service that is one aspect of a real estate investor’s process. 

Paul detailed a new program that they just launched called TwnSqr Enterprise that caters to investors that have a significant amount of properties to sell to form a direct integration with their Boost service, or their dispositions marketing service. Paul also gives a ton of credit to his partner Mitch that does most of the coding, and who he says is brilliant. Some customizations occur for each individual client, so Paul details this process.

I asked Paul to describe their avatar, or ideal client, and also to describe how the pricing works for their service. It is a monthly subscription service, but Paul goes into detail on how it actually works. He also goes into the integration of AI into their services.

This was a super detailed interview where I asked a lot of nitty-gritty kinds of questions so you want don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Wakim and get valuable information on how to unlock the potential of your dispositions process with TwnSqr!

“All TwnSqr is as of August 7th is a way for you to interface your existing systems and processes, your CRM, with our Boost service. There is no more seller-facing aspect to the platform.”

“We have simplified things quite a bit to just being a plug-in for your CRM with the sole purpose of getting you interest in the properties that you have for sale.”

“Any investor that has at least two properties to sell per month is our target market.”

“You are using the existing client’s buyers list in addition to going out and getting more people to opt into TwnSqr to maximize who is seeing the properties - more eyeballs.”

“Tell me why I would want to utilize your done-for-you service when I already have a fully operational, successful, talented dispositions team and/or person and/or process. Like why would I hand over the reins to something that is working really well?”

“We found out not only was that sales pitch incorrect but also the execution was incorrect.”

“It is worth combining your existing systems and processes with our boosting system because it is a supplement - it is like a turbocharger for an engine.”

“Once the integration is built, we are off to the races together.”

“Simplicity is where the actual value is.”

“Simple is scalable.”

“TwnSqr today is as bad as it is ever going to get. It is only going to get better.”

Mike’s Email

TwnSqr

Paul Email 

Paul on LinkedIn

Paul on Instagram

Paul on Twitter 

Paul on Youtube

In this episode, I interview fellow real estate investor and return guest, Erin Helle. Erin begins by giving us her background and what brought her to real estate investing. She began her career in the military, first attending West Point Academy and then serving on active duty. Because her husband was also in the service, they knew that both of them being on active duty would be short-lived as they planned to start a family. She resigned her commission after about eight years of active duty and she began to explore real estate as a way to earn an income and be present for her family.

We go back over Erin’s story because it is so inspirational! Her business has just exploded since we last talked on the podcast in 2020. We discuss all of the different types of investing she is involved in and the various markets, as well. She related that she has invested in short-term rentals, but doesn’t like it as an investment model because it isn’t passive at all. 

We then talk about the event that Erin is hosting called Financial Freedom Summit. It is being held at the Wynn Las Vegas on September 2nd & 3rd, 2023. It is an exclusive event to inspire personal, professional, and financial development. Military veteran leaders in the real estate investing industry will guide the participants to build their blueprint for total financial freedom. But Erin wanted me to understand that it was the community of veterans that gave her the courage to get started in real estate investing, which is why she decided to give back to veterans through her summit. Erin went over the different topics, speakers, and breakout sessions that will happen throughout the weekend. Erin also detailed how some of the sponsors backing the event are providing scholarships to the event for service members that may not otherwise be able to afford to attend.

Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Erin Helle and learn about everything she has been up to since the last time she was on the show!

“This is a great industry and there is a lot of opportunity, but it isn’t necessarily for everyone.”

“I hate the short-term rental game. I hate everything about it.”

“We use any cash we can come up with to build our portfolio.”

“I am a very left-brain, logical decision-maker.”

“I don’t really have the personality to talk to STR guests.”

“It was the network of other West Point grads, and other veterans, in the space that helped me get my start and help me take that first step and then scale.”

“There is a lot of value in networking events.”

“I have been amazed at the generosity of the people speaking and putting on this event.”

“The value of being in a room with these investors is like an education on steroids.”

Previous Episode with Erin

Financial Freedom Summit

Erin’s Website

Erin on Facebook

Erin on Instagram

Erin on YouTube

I am excited to have my friend and fellow investor, Chris, on the show today! He is a super smart investor that is passionate about teaching people how to invest outside of their home market.

We start the interview as we always do by getting some of Chris’ background and how he got started in real estate investing. He was introduced to real estate (like so many others) by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad and then signed up for an investing course with his wife, Heather. They began their business by wholesaling properties and Chris said during that time they tried fix and flipping, but that strategy did not appeal to them. They built their wholesaling business into a 7 figure business and wanted to focus on the one thing that they were really good at.

We then discuss wholesaling in markets other than where one lives, which is what Chris primarily does. He said when he is picking a new market, he looks at the population and median home prices. I asked him what specifically he is looking at regarding the population and he said they look for a population between 250,000 and 500,000 people because you know that many houses will be bought and sold and also that it is an area that people want to be in. Chris also recommends using the power of local Facebook groups to build your buyers list and network.

Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Chris Logan to learn the ins and outs of virtual wholesaling!

“You are just going to drop value, I know it.”

“Rich Dad Poor Dad is like the gateway drug for real estate investing.”

“Flipping is more of a construction business and wholesaling is a sales and marketing business.”

“I am not the biggest fan of flipping, either. I get burned out with the contractor situation.”

“It is not like you take a wholesaling course and then money starts falling from the sky.”

“We don’t start investing in a market because we want to be there - we follow the money.”

“I like starting in an area where I have a runway to scale.”

“I think you should build your buyers list before you market for sellers, especially if you are a brand new investor.”

“Massive and perfect action is what you want to focus on.”

“Our mentality is ‘keep it small, keep it all.’”

“Let’s do deals together!”

“Massive action is the cure for most things.”

Rich Dad Poor Dad

The ONE Thing

Mailchimp

Aweber

PropStream

Chris on Facebook

Virtual Wholesaling Made Simple

Mike on Facebook

One of the world's foremost Airbnb experts and the co-author of Airbnb for Dummies, James has helped over 1,000 students all over the globe leverage the power of short-term rentals as a vehicle for cash flow and wealth. James is the industry's go-to expert when it comes to mastering performance and streamlining operations. He consults with more than 600 property management companies around the world.

Riley is a Canadian real estate investor and mentor who specializes in multi-family residential investing through BRRRR and joint venture strategies. Throughout the journey of buying his first income property in the Southwestern Ontario area, he realized that there is a real need in the market to help people go through this process more easily. Today, he owns a real estate portfolio worth over $8 million and has helped new investors buy their first properties without wasting time and money on trial and error.

This is a continuation of the show we posted a couple of weeks ago, discussing the ins and outs of short-term rental investing. We talk about financing, management, software, the science behind listings, and so much more! Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with James Svetec and Riley Oickle and learn more about how to build a wildly successful short-term rental company!

“Typically, management costs 20% of your revenue.”

“We find that if you have a short-term rental property 1-2 hours outside of a major urban area, it is a great opportunity for people to staycation.”

“I would love to have the company motto: I don’t do anything personally, but my company handles everything in-house.”

“Almost all issues will come from one-night stays.”

“The check-in process is really important because it is your guest’s first impression of your property, so you want it to be very easy.”

“I am the baby boomer of the group.”

“We recommend that people price their STRs manually at the beginning.”

Minut Noise Monitoring

NoiseAware

Nest

August Lock

Hostaway

Hostfully

PriceLabs

AirDNA

AllTheRooms

Mashvisor

Motel Makeovers

BNB Inner Circle

James on Instagram

Riley on Instagram

One of the world's foremost Airbnb experts and the co-author of Airbnb for Dummies, James has helped over 1,000 students all over the globe leverage the power of short-term rentals as a vehicle for cash flow and wealth. James is the industry's go-to expert when it comes to mastering performance and streamlining operations. He consults with more than 600 property management companies around the world.

Riley is a Canadian real estate investor and mentor who specializes in multi-family residential investing through BRRRR and joint venture strategies. Throughout the journey of buying his first income property in the Southwestern Ontario area, he realized that there is a real need in the market to help people go through this process more easily. Today, he owns a real estate portfolio worth over $8 million and has helped new investors buy their first properties without wasting time and money on trial and error.

We start, as we always do, with my guests providing us with a bit of their background and how they got into real estate investing. Riley originally went the multi-family investing route and James was managing short-term rentals for other owners. They met through a mutual contractor, realized they had complementary skills, and decided to begin investing in short-term rentals together. Additionally, they do short-term rental coaching.

I observed that the short-term rental industry existed before COVID but that it had exploded because of peoples’ need for a safer environment than a hotel when traveling. I asked the guys several questions pertaining to this so that we could dig into the state of the short-term rental industry in 2023. James pointed out another factor to this was that more people were staycation-ing because they didn’t want to get on airplanes to travel. Many of the STRs in rural areas within easy driving distance of large cities experienced a boom as well. He said overall the industry is still trending up from pre-COVID numbers, but it has slowed down somewhat as the pandemic fears have decreased.

We talk about market and property evaluation, market area regulations, resources for aggregating data, common mistakes, various portfolio-building ideas, and so much more! Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with James Svetec and Riley Oickle and learn how to build a wildly successful short-term rental company!

“So they were like dog years basically.”

“Complete immersion in investing is different than dabbling on and off as a hobby for 10 years.”

“I was totally immersed in the short-term rental and Airbnb space, but I had never bought and owned my own property.”

“We each had those complementary skill sets.”

“There is the bird’s eye view which is market analysis and then the more micro level which is property analysis. If someone has investing experience, they would be familiar with both.”

“We not only look at what the regulations are in a particular area but where we suspect they might go in the future.”

“Those properties are very expensive because the area is very prestigious.”

“I wouldn’t say that an area having no regulations is a red flag, but it is a yellow flag, for sure.”

“It is boring, but you need to read the actual regulation, not an article in the local paper outlining what they think the regulations are.”

“The AirDNA data is really solid if you know how to use it.”

“I call it paper napkin math.”

“Beginning investors often evaluate properties based on emotion and that just doesn’t work. You need to be very analytical.”

“There is no way around it - if you want to do something right the first time and save money and time, you get a coach, you find a mentor, a mastermind.”

“I am just geeking out on all of the stuff you talked about.”

AirDNA

AllTheRooms

Mashvisor

Motel Makeovers

BNB Inner Circle

James on Instagram

Riley on Instagram

I am excited to have my friend Tyler on the show today! We are also fellow 7 Figure Flippers and he is just the kind of guest I love to have on - someone who is an expert in his field and willing to let me pick his brain!

We start the interview like we often do with Tyler sharing his real estate background. He began flipping houses in 2008 as a way to help pay for his college education. He was taking classes and working full-time, so real estate was a side hustle at that point. For years, while working another job, he continued to flip houses because he knew it was an excellent vehicle for building long-term wealth. Tyler talks about how he honestly thought his career was going to be in corporate America but realized he could be successful with flipping when he was able to pay his tuition with the proceeds from his third deal. Joining the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind was a turning point for Tyler and his business because he was surrounded by very successful investors that encouraged him and helped him scale.

Tyler explains his struggles with the lifestyle of being a corporate executive and how he was really trading time for money. He wanted to find a way to have both financial freedom and freedom of time so that he could be a good and present husband and father. After talking to his wife (and he tells us how this conversation went), he decided to pursue his dream of being a full-time investor. He went to Flip Hacking Live, joined the mastermind and his business exploded, doubling the deals performed several years in a row. We also dig into the process he created called the 7 Day Flip, in addition to Tyler’s thoughts on the current housing market.

Make sure you don’t miss another amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Tyler Jensen and learn how you can succeed in finding both time and financial freedom through real estate investing!

“I knew that real estate was a great way to make income, so I started early.”

“On our first flip, we did everything wrong, so it was a great education in real estate.”

“When I started flipping houses, it was a side hustle with the goal of helping to pay for college.”

“The year 2008 was actually a great time to get into real estate.”

“In my corporate job, I was trading time for money and I realized it was really hurting me because I could never unplug.”

“We have amazing women behind us that have our backs.”

“The biggest thing in any flip is that you have to control the time, the budget, and the quality of work you are putting out.”

“That system and process is critical to getting things done fast.”

Tyler’s Website

7 Day Flip

7 Figure Flipping

I am excited to have my friend Erin on the show today! She is a fellow 7 Figure Flipper and shares her recent real estate investing journey with us with the hopes that it will encourage other investors who may be struggling.

Erin begins by sharing a bit of her background with us. She began investing about four years ago while still working full-time. She has a wholesaling company in the Milwaukee area and decided to put in her notice last June to focus on investing. With the manner in which the market changed last year though, she began to have some struggles. She said they had never had to give a lot of attention to their buyer’s list or their disposition process before, but then their buyers started dropping out. Erin was trying to build a company and hire employees, but thought if she couldn’t make it work for herself, how could she possibly empower others?

Because we are both part of the 7 Figure Flipping Mastermind, when Erin expressed that she was having some difficulties, we were able to get connected and talk it out. She said she was thinking of their company as a marketing and sales company and was reminded through our conversation that her greatest asset was their buyers. Erin said that she had not marketed to grow their buyer’s list at all and so she set a goal of adding 40 people to their list every week. Very quickly she saw that her efforts were making a difference and it confirmed how important it was for her to focus on their buyer’s list.

I asked Erin what her plan is for 2023 and she talked about how much she loves wholesaling, but because of the strength of her team, she is looking at exit strategies. She would like to take herself out of the day-to-day operations so that she can focus on building long-term wealth.

What a transparent and honest interview with Erin Maney who is battling through some investing struggles and thriving! Don’t miss the latest episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

“I was able to give her some advice to turn that ship around.”

“You can survive in any market.”

“I am a big fan of Mike Simmons.”

“While initially, I felt like the wind was at my back, with the market change I felt like I was running into the wind, and I hadn’t experienced that before.”

“I had so much fear as to what was to come.”

“You really reminded me of the fundamentals of underwriting that I really needed to get back to.”

“A wholesaling company’s value is completely linked to the strength of their buyer’s list.”

“You probably saved me from going back to federal government employment!”

“Our most savvy, long-term buyers are not going to be our best buyers as far as profit.”

“Execution is the key.”

Ted Bradshaw served as an executive with Xerox and IBM, then left the Fortune 500 world to explore the thrills of entrepreneurship. What he found was a long string of success that looked great on the surface. But underneath it all, he felt anxious, exhausted, and stressed, chasing money wherever it led and wondering why he never felt fulfilled. Along his journey, Ted gained valuable insight into how a person can achieve fulfillment in all aspects of life and he shares those insights with his best-selling book, Stop Chasing Squirrels.

We begin the interview with Ted giving us a bit of his background, which is diverse and super interesting. From a dabble in real estate investing to video games, to online classrooms, and diagnosing cancer through nuclear medicine, it seems as though Ted has truly done it all. Today, Ted lives his passion in helping others find theirs. A leading proponent of the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, Ted is a speaker, author, an Expert EOS Implementer™, and the Community Leader for EOS Worldwide. Ted then breaks down the framework of the system for our listeners.

I then asked Ted to talk about his latest project, his book, Stop Chasing Squirrels. He relates that he wrote the book as therapy because he got caught up in setting goals and never really felt successful, even though all of the external markers reflected exactly that. He confesses that this issue was affecting him in very serious ways, including marital discord and panic attacks. He saw it with other entrepreneurs, as well. As soon as they were able to get their businesses under control by implementing EOS, they were left with the reality that they were not personally happy. It was almost as though having business chaos was a distraction from having to work on themselves. 

Ted had mentioned that he had at one point followed a real estate squirrel, so I asked him to share that with us. Ted talked about how his father was in real estate and taught him that it was all about building value over time. He started investing in single-family homes, like many of us, and that led to multi-family units and then new construction. He saw that even when particular units were experiencing issues, real estate was still a successful endeavor for him. He decided to go all in on a larger project and unfortunately ended up working with a high-end construction company that went out of business and he spent the better part of two years cleaning up the resulting mess. Ted said that he learned so much from this experience, even with as difficult as it was.

Don’t miss the latest episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Ted Bradshaw who openly and honestly shares his entrepreneurial journey with us! Go check out his upcoming webinar and course at TedBradshaw.com!

“I have started six companies - four of them are success stories and two of them were learning opportunities.”

“It was a ‘go big or go home’ kind of idea and we ended up going home on that one.”

“You don’t just wake up one day and accidentally find yourself in that field.”

“I am a big believer in serendipity - things happen for a reason.”

“Please tell me you didn’t find yourself in the Middle East on some black market run.”

“In three hours we were working through things that previously it has taken us three years to get to.”

“I don’t pretend that everyone here hears all of my episodes and does everything I say, but I have been preaching the book Traction and the EOS system for years.”

“If your listeners look into EOS, they will find that it is a simple system, but it is also timeless.”

“EOS is systemized - it is the ‘how to.’”

“The picture can’t see the frame.”

“It does help companies move forward when people know they are going to be held accountable.”

“So how dialed in is your BS meter?”

“It is amazing how many people tie their identities to their business and stay in it longer than they should because of it.”

“It starts, fundamentally, with purpose.”

“We need some guardrails to keep us on track.”

“Go past Terry Bradshaw - that is not me!”

Ted’s Website

Ted Bradshaw LinkedIn

Ted Bradshaw Twitter

Ted Bradshaw Instagram

Traction

EOS Worldwide

What the Heck is EOS?

Stop Chasing Squirrels

This Naked Mind

I am excited to welcome Candy to the show today because she has such an impressive and diverse resume! Candy started her first business at 19 years old with no degree, no corporate background, no money, and no internet. She successfully started, scaled, and successfully sold businesses in service, retail, e-commerce, and product manufacturing in addition to creating a vast real estate portfolio as a flipper and investor. 

At 26, Candy founded a non-profit charity. Through her business success, she bought and donated a building to the organization. Since then they have saved thousands of lives and Candy has been actively involved, personally raising millions for the charity. 

During her two and half decades as an entrepreneur, she has been named to Top Business Leaders 40 Under 40, Top 50 Women In Business, 10 People Making a Difference, Top 10 Business Consultants by Yahoo Finance, and was the youngest female to receive the Governor’s Award in Entrepreneurship in Pennsylvania.

Candy was recently selected by Success Magazine as one of just 6 ‘Women of Influence’ and additionally listed to ‘Leaders Who Get Results’ with names like Will Smith, Gary Vee, and Brene Brown.

Candy starts the show by sharing some of her background. What makes her accomplishments even more impressive is that she basically came from nothing. Both of her parents had blue-collar jobs and gave birth to her in their teens. She thought initially she would be the first person in her family to earn a college degree, but was amazed that her professors were teaching her about running a business when they didn’t have one of their own! This launched her into her entrepreneurial journey.

Candy has a lot of diverse projects, but I wanted to see what her real estate journey has been like and if she was still investing. She said absolutely she is still investing and part of what she loves about it is its flexibility. Candy talked about how much she loves the design process and managing contractors, so she has continued to hold some of her properties after rehabbing them, but she really loves the flipping process. She shares that it has been important for her to remain somewhat conservative with her investing because the only person she has to rely on for money is herself. Now she is able to flip in the millions and her last project was a $4.5M total gut property. We also talk a bit about how she was positioned in 2008 to avoid the housing market crash.

Because Candy is involved in so many different businesses, I asked her what life hacks she uses for productivity and staying focused. She talks about how much she really loves being an entrepreneur and continually being pulled in different directions. She emphasizes how important staying disciplined and focused on your goals is and not following the next shiny object. Candy states that most people are not willing to put their heads down, focus, and play the long game, and so therefore, their businesses really suffer or never get off the ground. She says she has a productivity grid that she focuses on every day to perform the top three, absolutely necessary tasks for each project or business that she has to get done in order to move it forward. She also keeps her phone face-down and on silent all of the time until she is ready to handle the incoming texts and emails.

We then spend some time discussing Candy’s book, Wealth Habits: Six Ordinary Steps to Achieve Extraordinary Financial Freedom. She calls it a no-BS guidebook because she wanted to be honest and clear with people about how to build financial freedom that isn’t couched in flowery language. She stresses if anyone just does these things and does them consistently, they can find success as she has. 

What a refreshingly honest interview with Candy Valentino who was a ton of fun for me to interview! Don’t miss the latest episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with this very special and incredibly successful guest!

“I just couldn’t reconcile in my 18-year-old brain how my college professor was teaching me about business when he didn’t have one himself.”

“We can tell you the best strategies for building wealth, but if you hate your life, you are not going to be able to sustain it for very long.”

“I don’t necessarily know how to repair cars, but I do tend to know more about cars than most of the guys in my circle.”

“The minute self-employed people stop working, they stop making money. That isn’t a business, that is a job.”

“I didn’t want to continually trade time for money.”

“When people know, like, and trust you, they want recommendations of what to buy.”

“I am not educated, I don’t have an MBA or some fancy letters. This is really just self-education by reading books in my office.”

“We learn from mentors or by making mistakes, and the latter is a lot more expensive and timely.”

“You didn’t have any pre-built doubt. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can have is ignorance.”

“When the expectation is low, you don’t have to do much to impress people.”

“I know people who basically committed business suicide in 2008 because they were so over-leveraged.”

“When we look at the data from any type of market, winter always comes.”

“I just stick with what I know.”

“If you haven’t been doing this for 20 or 25 years, you absolutely should be playing in this below-median house range.”

“I love entrepreneurship, I love investing, I love being pulled in a million directions.”

“Before my feet hit the floor, I find five things I am grateful for.”

“That would be my book - ‘The So-NOT Miracle Morning’!”

“To do anything new, you just have to have a little more courage than fear.”

“If you want to just make a bunch of money, you will miss the entire point of building wealth. Building wealth is so that you can have freedom.”

Wealth Habits: Six Ordinary Steps to Achieve Extraordinary Financial Freedom

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