Investor Cheat Code Podcast with Mike Simmons

My guest today is Jason Duncan. Jason works with entrepreneurs who want to BUILD, SCALE, and ENJOY their businesses. He has been named one of the top entrepreneurial companies in the country by Entrepreneur Magazine. He is a multi-award winning entrepreneur and founder of twelve companies. Jason is also a host of the popular podcast The Root of All Success.

Jason first shares his background story and how he became an entrepreneur. Jason spent the first thirteen years of his career in pastoral ministry. He did youth ministry and preaching ministry, traveling all around the United States. During this time he was also working as a health and life insurance salesman, selling to small business owners. But after some time, he decided that he wanted to do more, he wanted to make a real difference. So, he went back to school and got his master’s degree in education. He became a teacher and felt like he truly found his superpower. But then the recession hit, and he lost his job. He knew that he couldn’t get another job as a teacher so he started his own company Energy Lighting Services, which went on to become a multimillion-dollar company.

We then move on to discussing how Jason was able to exit his company without exiting. He shares that after running his company for a few years, he realized that he wasn’t living the life he wanted to. Sure, he was making a lot of money but he was also working his tail off every day. So, he decided to exit his company without selling it. He hired a CEO and his executive leadership team runs day-to-day operations. Now, he comes into the office once a month for a team meeting. Jason shares that there are three ways of exiting a business: (1) totally, which means exiting both physically and financially, (2) exit without exiting, exiting physically but not financially and (3) earn-out, exiting financially but not physically.

Next, we talk about the philosophy behind Jason’s exiting strategy. He explains that as an entrepreneur, you are not building your business just to give yourself a job. You are building your business, so that you can live the life that you want. This means that you cannot be the hero in your business. You start your business as a hero, because you have to build it from the ground up but eventually you have to be able to step down. Jason then goes on to explain some parts of his coaching program, such as Margin Theory which states that your ability to be successful lies in the margin, as well as the Law of Open Cycles which states that stress is not caused by the endurance of stressful situations, but by too many open cycles at once. And part of being prepared to exit is understanding that law and how you manage your stress. Jason believes that even if you get a great team around you but you haven't taught them Margin Theory and Law of Open Cycles, they're also going to operate as the heroes and ultimately that's going to be the downfall of your business.

Jason then explains the 5 Ps to entrepreneurial success. When talking with successful entrepreneurs, Jason noticed that there were 5 key things that always stood out. He labeled these as 5 Ps to entrepreneurial success. The first one is passion, which is defined as willing to endure. The second one is being at the right place at the right time, and the third one is knowing the right people. The fourth P is preparation, and the fifth is having a plan for financial resources.

Lastly, we talk about The Results University. The Results University is an online platform where Jason teaches this entrepreneurial path. The course that is available right now is called The Complete Startup Guide for Entrepreneurs and it has everything you need to know to go from startup to success in six months or less. It consists of 11 lessons, 11 videos and 10 downloadable PDF documents. You can also join Results University as a student and get access to three live trainings per month with Jason and other experts that he brings in.

Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Jason Duncan, and learn how to exit without exiting!

Notable Quotes:

“If you can figure out how to save people money or make them money so that they can go change the world, that's what they're interested in listening to.”

• Jason Duncan

“I learned how to exit without exiting.”

• Jason Duncan

“I asked myself, ‘Is this the ideal life I want to live, working in this business every day?’ And the answer to that was absolutely not.”

• Jason Duncan

“If an employee wants job security, he or she must become indispensable. But as an entrepreneur, your job is to be dispensable.”

• Jason Duncan

“You didn't start that business to give yourself a job. You started the business to live your ideal life and to make an impact in the world.”

• Jason Duncan

”FOCUS = Follow One Course Until Successful.”

• Jason Duncan

Links:

Jason’s Website

Jason on YouTube 

Jason on Facebook 

The Root of All Success

Jason on Instagram 

Jason on LinkedIn 

Results University 

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business Paperback by Gino Wickman

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.

This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 18th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“Go get a deal. Just go get a deal.”

“That step of getting an LLC formed keeps people from going out and getting deals and making money.”

“Going into business with a loved one can damage a very important relationship permanently.”

“Partnerships are like marriages - a lot of them fail.”

“Partnerships with family members or friends often fail because people don’t evaluate the partnership the way they would have if it wasn’t with someone they knew.”

“I guess if I keep predicting that the market is going to slow down I will eventually be right.”

“If I could turn back the clock and I was 19 years old and living with my parents, I would turn real estate investing into a full-time gig today.”

“There are deals out there. There are now, there was yesterday, and there will be tomorrow.”

Links:

Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint

Flip Hacking Live

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Today, I have the pleasure to interview Natalie Sisson, the founder of Suitcase Entrepreneurs, host of the UNTAPPED Podcast, bestselling author, sought-after speaker, and business coach listed on 2021 Cashflow Podcasting’s Top 13 Women’s Business Coaches Today. Natalie is also a contributor to Thrive, Forbes, and Lifehack, and she has been featured on many publications and media outlets, including 60 Minutes, Yahoo Finance, Huffington Post, and Daily Mail. Her mission is to help women entrepreneurs leverage their unique set of skills, knowledge, and experience to get paid to be them and get the income and impact they desire simply by being exactly who they are. 

Natalie first shares her career backstory and how she got into entrepreneurship. Her career started in recruitment and marketing before moving to London. She worked with big international companies and got into what she relates as her dream job as the head of preposition development for the British Medical Association. She started a new department aimed at introducing doctors to entrepreneurism to help them build their services. Natalie soon realized that the job was sucking the life out of her creativity, and she was blocked from exercising her full potential. She didn’t want to feel miserable and decided to leave the corporate career to build something on her own.  

We then talk about house hacking, a real estate investing strategy through which investors earn income by renting out primary residences and selling the property for a profit. Natalie explains how she bought a property to live in, rented it out, and later sold out her shares after moving to Canada. Also, five years ago, she bought another property in Belton in New Zealand and followed the same model.

Natalie explains her pursuits after ditching her career and going back to Canada. Her initial plan was to build a consultation platform for health and wellness to help big corporations decrease the number of sick days their employees take by creating happier and healthier employees. Her breakthrough came in a networking event where she met her current business partner. She got hooked up to his business, which assisted sports teams, fundraisers, and political candidates to easily raise and collect money on Facebook. Natalie worked there for about 18 months before moving out to work on her growing women’s blog that she had initiated to feature high-standing women who were doing great things in their business. The blog became popular, and she decided to build it into a business.

We then move into the mindset that hinders people from pursuing their desires and how Natalie helps people align themself with success and pursue what they love. Natalie explains her guiding principles in motivating people to see the big picture of where they want to be in order to take massive action toward their dreams. In her journey, she also realized that not everybody is in a position to quit their job and go for it, and she has been helping such people build their side hustle up to a level where they’re comfortable quitting their job to do what inspires them. 

Lastly, we talk about Natalie’s book, Suck It Up Princess which she devised last year in a situation that she found herself torn and feeling sorry for herself despite great achievements. From her experience, Natalie suggests that sometimes we need self-compassion, and we need to go easy on ourselves and acknowledge that we need rest and to refresh and renew our energy. The book focuses on health, motivation, and inspiration, and it’s filled with personal stories in different areas such as love and relationships, an area she never thought of writing about before. Natalie explains that the book is for women in careers and entrepreneurship who are wondering whether there is something better for them to help them develop the right mindset, habits, and strategies to get rid of their inner critics, impostorism, doubt, and fears to be the best version of themselves and live abundantly.

Don’t miss this informative and power-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Natalie Sisson, and learn how to get over your excuses, do the unexpected, live your life on your own terms, and make money just by being you!

“Do I want to wake up for the rest of my life, do the commute, the hustle, and the grid? No, I want to do something better.”

• Natalie Sisson

“You should never have a backup plan; if you feel that this is something you want to do and change your life, you have to go in wholly and give it your best shot.” 

• Natalie Sisson

“Sometimes you need self-compassion and grace; go easy on yourself and acknowledge that you need some rest or some time out.”

• Natalie Sisson 

“Going after what you want is the biggest thing in life.”

• Mike Simons

“There are different horrors in the entrepreneurship journey, but the first one is getting off your butt and getting started.”

• Mike Simmons

Natalie on Facebook 

Natalie on Instagram 

Natalie on LinkedIn

Natalie on Twitter

Natalie on YouTube

Natalie’s Website

The Freedom Plan

Suck It Up Princess

Suitcase Entrepreneur

Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint

Flip Hacking Live

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.

This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 11th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“When looking at a possible property to buy as an investment, you want to make sure you can add value to it.”

“A couple of the biggest things that take away from the profitability of a landlord are turnover and vacancies.”

“Another way to maximize profits on a rental is to really renovate it when you buy it.”

“You can only get top-of-the-market rent if you have a top-of-the-market product.”

“The best way to maximize profits is to buy right.”

“One of the mistakes people make is they put a house on the market, they get a decent offer and they just take it. You should do at least a week, if not two, of showings before you accept any offers.”

“Pay yourself a reasonable salary and leave the rest in the company.”

“I learned how to build a business and then pumped most of my profits into marketing. My business skyrocketed.”

“The people I know that are successful are hard on themselves.”

“Making mistakes is part of the process.”

“Failing is learning.”

Links:

Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint

Flip Hacking Live

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Today’s guest is Anthony Eisenman, who works in enterprise sales for Fortune 100 companies. Eisenman grew up in a single-parent family and felt that more traditional career paths were closed off to him but was attracted to the idea of working in sales because of the possibility of being paid for his performance via commission. Through hard work and diligence, he leveraged himself into a position of owning stock options in major corporations and has built up his own brand to teach others his methods. 

Mike and Anthony begin by discussing how to increase your income. Eisenman’s first piece of advice, particularly for those who currently only work for one organization and who may have a fixed income, is to negotiate with your employer to be paid based on performance. Although this brings an element of risk, Eisenman underlines that this will give you the opportunity to prove your value to the organization. Once your value has been demonstrated through excellent performance, you are then in a better position to negotiate for greater rewards, including equity. 

Anthony then outlines his checklist of systems to put in place before creating multiple streams of income or pursuing a passion project. Firstly, it is important to ensure that you are excelling in your primary source of income, meaning that you have maximized your earning capacity in this role. Secondly, this role should operate like a well-oiled machine with a firm system and defined processes in place, giving you the capacity to open yourself up to investing time and energy into other sources of income.

When launching a secondary revenue stream, Anthony highlights the possibility of receiving pushback from your company or entourage. When he began to work for himself, colleagues questioned his commitment to his job and his time management capacity. However, Anthony ensured that he continued to achieve highly so that his performance and production would speak for itself. 

Anthony then deep dives into his personal motivation to achieve. Whilst he used to be motivated by his ego and the idea of proving people wrong, today he is more inspired by the idea of creating a legacy for his family to give his children the comforts he never had. The memories of his former financial struggles have stayed with him and continue to push him forward. Mike also affirms how the fear of failure can be a strong push factor towards achieving financial success, since a push away from financial hardship can be just as strong a motivator as the pull factor of the desire to earn wealth for your family.

Mike then questions Anthony about the steps that he took to build his brand, and Anthony explains that the first step that he took was to invest in coaching to learn about real estate and to create a personal brand. Initially his goals for his side businesses were low as he wasn’t under pressure to achieve immediately, and this allowed him to develop and grow gradually. Anthony chose to add a short-term real estate business to his portfolio as a way to involve his family in his business, as his wife could take over the furnishing and property management aspect of the business and in the long term, his children may also become involved with property management too. 

Lastly, the conversation turns to Anthony’s personal brand, which aims to help people improve their sales strategies to earn the income they deserve. He has numerous books and coaching products covering topics from cold calls to the art of persuasion to the blueprint to wealth creation. These resources represent a philosophy of lifelong learning in order to improve yourself and your position in life. No matter what stage you’re at, there is always room to grow and learn and those who don’t take that opportunity will stagnate. 

Don’t miss this enlightening episode of Just Start Real Estate, and stay tuned to the end to find out how to get free learning resources from Anthony Eisenman so that you can learn his secrets to success!

Notable Quotes:

“If you can prove yourself by being paid based on your performance, you’re going to earn a higher income and have a higher ceiling, and you can prove yourself to be valuable.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“Don’t ever be afraid to lose what you have now in order to gain even more.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“I did get pushback internally from my organization and it just made me press the gas that much harder.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“Everybody deserves to do some things they’re passionate about on the side. You don’t have to dedicate 110% to your organization. You can have some time to do some things on your own.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“If you get lazy, then your goals aren’t big enough.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“Part of my motivation, aside from my family, is fear of failure.”

• Mike Simmons

“Once I make a decision to do something, I take action right away.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“The people that get over the hump and don’t quit are the people that make it.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“I don’t need the plan, I just need the next actionable step. The plan will unfold as you take action.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“The short-term rental game is great because you can get into it in so many different ways.”

• Anthony Eisenman

“If you’re not consuming information to try to better yourself, I hope you love exactly where you are right now because that’s where you will be in 20 years.”

• Mike Simmons

Links:

Anthony on Facebook

Anthony on LinkedIn

Anthony on Instagram

Master Cold Calling In Five Easy Steps

The Science of Persuasion

My Sales Mentality

Anthony Eisenman Coaching Program

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.

This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on August 4th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“My guess is you can’t sell your flip because you bought too high, your renovation went over budget, and now what you need to sell it for is more than the market can bear.”

“Flip Hacking Live is quite unique in that it is three days of non-stop on-stage presenters who are giving you actual step-by-step processes and breaking down their businesses in a way that is usable and actionable.”

“The presenters at Flip Hacking Live just give and give and give away all their secrets.”

“Going to Flip Hacking Live is the smartest thing you can do this year.”

“NOW is the right time.”

“If I was a full-time house flipper, I would have several realtors looking for houses for me all of the time.”

“It is very hard to find good investment properties on the MLS right now.”

“I am pretty careful to do a phone interview first when hiring. If I don’t like the person on the phone, I doubt I will like them in person.”

“How hot the lead is determines the follow-up strategy.”

“The more you do to a house to stage it, the harder you are making it for the potential buyers to see their stuff in there.”

“I believe in my heart if everyone read Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and applied the philosophies, mindset, and attitude he outlines, our world would be exponentially better.”

Links:

Real Estate Find & Fund Blueprint

Flip Hacking Live

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

My guest today is Adam Zach.  Adam has a magnificent obsession with learning and with real estate. He works 10 hours per week as a professional engineer but dedicates most of his time to family, learning, and building up his real estate businesses. The business that allowed him to semi-retire is his niche in rent-to-own investments and creative financing by buying homes for people who can’t qualify for a traditional bank loan. He currently holds 26 properties in 5 different states.

Adam first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After college, Adam worked a high-paying job as an engineer. He was living the American dream. But pretty soon, he started getting the itch, he started to wonder about financial independence. During this time, he looked into many different things but eventually, he decided that real estate is the way to go. However, he didn't completely cut ties with his 9-5, he still works 10 hours a week as a professional engineer. 

We then move on to discussing the first property Adam bought. He shares that the very first property that he bought was kind of an accidental purchase. He bought a house with his college roommates so that they could have a place to live in and party. But once he learned about property appreciation three years later, he decided to turn it into a rental as opposed to just selling it. He then started to educate himself more and together with his wife decided to invest more into real estate. 

Next, we talk about what exactly Adam is doing in this industry that is different. He refers to his business model as “Set Your Rent”. At first, he would tell college students to pick a home off the MLS that they wanted to live in, and he would buy it for them as long as they paid the 1% rule. This was a way of him getting a property that was turnkey as opposed to buying a property that needed to be fixed up. He then noticed that after a year or two, college students would leave and the market rents would be a bit lower. So, he then decided to find people instead of finding properties. Most of the time it's entrepreneurs or people with no credit or poor credit and he uses the same concept. He either does rent-to-own or a contract for deed and this is what really helped explode the growth of his business and accelerated the path forward. 

Adam then explains the difference between rent-to-own and a contract for deed and which one he prefers. As a landlord, Adam first checks if there is a city inspection required and if it is, he then uses the contract for deed route, because then he is not obligated to meet all the requirements. But from the standpoint of taxes, and every other purpose, a rent-to-own is a better option because a contract for deed gets charged as an interest income whereas a lease option is still a rental, so you get the depreciation and you're acting more like a landlord in that situation. On the other hand, when he’s trying to buy a piece of property, he prefers a rent-to-own option because it’s much more flexible 

Eventually, we dive into discussing some of the cracks that Adam noticed in his model so far. He shares that their biggest obstacle so far was Covid. The pandemic caused financial issues to some of their tenants but luckily they were able to come up with different payment plans to avoid eviction and foreclosure. To avoid these situations, Adam’s company screens potential tenants as a landlord but also as a bank using a third party. They also make sure that their payment is not more than one-third of their income. 

Lastly, Adam shares some of the concerns he had when he was first starting out. His main priority was to make sure that they were not taking advantage of people. This is why he always makes sure to ask his clients if they tried to get a bank loan first. He also advises his clients to try different banks as well as credit unions and mortgage brokers. He knows that this option is probably the most expensive for his clients, but it comes with many different benefits that his clients are seeing as a higher value. 

Make sure you don’t miss this amazing episode of Just Start Real Estate with Adam Zach and learn how to find deals in a new way that is not being talked about!

Notable Quotes:

“I think sometimes it's good, even for us real estate investors, to realize we're business people at the end of the day, so I think bringing outside industries and talking about how they do things can be valuable.”

• Mike Simmons 

“You start getting the itch and looking out the window a little bit longer each day. You kind of start thinking - what does financial independence look like?”

• Adam Zach

“I think it all started by just getting really curious and having a large enough unhappiness meter to be like - you know what, I'm going to do something about it.”

• Adam Zach

“You will get punched in the mouth from time to time in business and if you don't want it bad enough, you will not get back into the ring.”

• Mike Simmons 

“I feel like real estate is almost the ultimate game where if it’s heads, I win and if it’s tails, I break even. And that is a fantastic gig.”

• Adam Zach

“Every minute you spend overanalyzing, somebody else has already gotten the deal anyway.”

• Mike Simmons

“Our goal is to never turn someone down, but just give them terms that make them want to improve themselves.”

• Adam Zach

“If you're an entrepreneur listening to this, just because you were told “no” by one bank, it doesn't mean a different bank will say “no.” Talk to a big bank, talk to a local credit union, and talk to a mortgage broker.”

• Adam Zach

“Let's just try to educate the world so that maybe they can find themselves, get some freedom, or get into this so that they can then go and help other people.”

• Adam Zach

“Most successful people I've met in this industry are some of the most generous, honest people who sincerely want to help.”

• Mike Simmons 

“I have given people advice for free and I've given people advice they had to pay a lot for. And the people who pay for the advice tend to listen and act and execute at a higher level because they value it.”

• Mike Simmons

Links:

Set Your Rent

Set Your Rent on Instagram 

Set Your Rent on Facebook

Set Your Rent on Youtube 

Set Your Rent on LinkedIn

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.

This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 28th and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“Most peoples’ limiting belief is that they need to be more of an expert to get started.”

“You can get started with little knowledge and build on that… you should always be learning.”

“Another limiting belief is that it is the wrong market to get started.”

“I spent five years making excuses, educating myself, being afraid of failing, being afraid of making mistakes, and I probably lost $3M because I didn’t get started.”

“The number one way to raise private money is to talk about what you are doing in your business.”

“If you ask for money, you will get advice. If you ask for advice and talk about your business, you will likely get money.”

“For most people, starting with single-family homes, either renting or flipping, is a good way to get started.”

“If you want to be held accountable, tell your goals to the person who will call you out on your BS.”

Links:

Find & Fund Blueprint

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

My guest today is Paul Moore.  After a stint at Ford Motor Company, Paul co-founded a staffing firm where he was a finalist for Michigan Entrepreneur of the Year two years in a row. After selling the staffing firm to a publicly traded company, he began investing in real estate, founded multiple investment and development companies, appeared on HGTV, and eventually completed 85+ real estate investments and exits, including a large multifamily development. Paul is the author of The Perfect Investment – Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing and Storing Up Profits – Capitalize on America’s Obsession with Stuff by Investing in Self-Storage. He is also the Founder and Managing Partner of Wellings Capital, a real estate private equity firm, and he has contributed to Fox Business and is a regular contributor to Bigger Pockets.

Paul first shares his background story and how he got into real estate. After getting his engineering degree and his MBA at Ohio State University, Paul worked at Ford Motor Company. Soon, he decided to start his own staffing company that was doing really well for the next few years. Eventually, he decided to sell it to a publicly traded firm. Paul found himself at 34 years old, with a couple of million dollars and absolutely no sense of investing. He moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, started a nonprofit organization, and started flipping houses and waterfront lots as well as ground-up construction. In 2010, he got involved in commercial real estate that led him to write a book on multifamily investing, and then later expanding into doing a number of commercial real estate funds for people who want to invest in commercial real estate but don't have the bandwidth to do it full time.

We then move on to discussing some of the struggles that Paul faced in 2007 that led to him being 2.5 million dollars in debt. In 1997, Paul had a million and a half in the bank. Exactly a decade later to the month, he had two and a half million in debt. He explains that they were able to give their way out of debt. Following the premise of one of his heroes, George Müller, who was a 19th-century Christian evangelist with radical views on generosity, Paul and his family started to donate their money pretty radically on January 1st, 2008 while they were facing bankruptcy. Four weeks later, Paul found a loophole in the law that allowed him to split one of his waterfront lots and sell the parts individually. He sold four in the fall of 2008, and the fifth eight months later. After that, he was debt-free.  

Next, we talk about how Paul got into multifamily and the benefits of apartment buildings with 80+ units. Paul shares that he first got into multifamily with a four-unit building and a couple of duplexes. He then hired a business mentor who convinced him to only do apartment buildings with 80+ units. Paul explains that it is much easier to own an apartment building with 100 units than owning 100 different houses. With a 100 unit building you only need one property manager, you have one location, you have more control over your tenants, you can get a 3%, Fannie or Freddie loan, and you can get an FHA loan with a 35-year term.

Paul then shares his opinion on real estate investing at the moment. He explains that currently 93% of multifamily above 50 units are owned and operated by corporations who have typically run the value out. The problem is that if the value has already been run out, then you're going to be running on a thin margin, hoping and praying for inflation. And if inflation doesn't come or if there is a bump in the economy, that thin margin is going to go to zero. Paul's advice is to invest in assets that have a mom-and-pop ownership base, like self-storage and mobile home parks. Paul also goes on to say that if he could invest in only one thing today, it would definitely be mobile home parks.

We then talk about Paul’s books: The Perfect Investment: Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing and Storing Up Profits: Capitalize on America's Obsession with STUFF by Investing in Self-Storage. Paul explains that he wrote his first book five years ago after he went through his mentoring program for multifamily housing. He discovered that there were actual mechanics of how it all works and that there was a value formula, and he wanted to share that with the world. He wrote his second book in 2020, based on his experience with self-storage and the number of benefits it offers. 

Eventually, we dive into discussing Paul’s thoughts on inflation. Any of us who grew up in the 60s, 70s, 80s, remember the horrors of inflation. Paul explains that inflation paired with high-interest rates was disastrous, and can create stagflation. But he also believes that inflation in the face of low interest rates can be a goldmine for real estate investors. If you have inflation and you can create a fixed cost in your company or your property, then that margin increases a lot over the years and your largest cost is fixed even though utilities and maintenance might go up with inflation. So, if you can lock it for a long time, whether it's in your private residence or in an apartment building, or a bunch of single-family homes, you can make a ton of money.

Lastly, we talk about the importance of finding your WHY. Paul shares that he woke up on October 7th, 1997 in Troy, Michigan realizing that he’s got a couple of million dollars in his bank account, but he doesn't feel that much different than he did yesterday or last week. He felt like there has to be more to life. So now, he encourages people to start doing something now, no matter where they are in life.

Don’t miss this incredibly fun and knowledge-packed episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast with Paul Moore, who is all about giving back and helping others! 

Notable Quotes:

“If you don't know how to tighten the doorknob on your own house, you probably shouldn't build a house.”

• Paul Moore

“I thought I was a full-time investor, but I was a full-time speculator.”

• Paul Moore

“If you play double or nothing long enough, you're going to end up on nothing at some point. And then what will you have left to double?”

• Paul Moore

“Good investing is a little bit more predictable, a little bit more boring.”

• Mike Simmons

“The perfect Investment is not perfect if you can't buy it at a good price.”

• Paul Moore

“That's the best question anyone has asked me on a podcast in a long time.”

• Paul Moore

“It's the only asset class I've ever seen in my life that has a shrinking supply, but an increasing demand every year.”

• Paul Moore

“Those closest to the money are the ones who benefit most from inflation. And those closest to the money are the Federal Reserve and Big Government.”

• Paul Moore

“You can get wealthy if you think like they do. And that is: getting low-rate debt, locking it in for a long time, and letting inflation do its work.”

• Paul Moore

“I like to encourage people to start doing something now, wherever you are - at age 20 or 50 or whatever - that you want to do, to leave a mark on the world for the rest of your life.”

• Paul Moore

Links:

Paul on Facebook

Paul on LinkedIn

Paul on Instagram

Paul on Twitter 

The Perfect Investment: Create Enduring Wealth from the Historic Shift to Multifamily Housing  by Paul Moore

Storing Up Profits: Capitalize on America's Obsession with STUFF by Investing in Self-Storage Paperback by Paul Moore

Exodus Cry 

Wellings Capital Free Resources 

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months

Welcome to this version of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast! I am excited to bring you another replay of my Facebook Live Question and Answer sessions. I just started doing these live forums in April and they are going so well and I am getting such great feedback and questions, I thought I would share them here on the podcast. Especially for those people that are unable to join us live, this will provide an opportunity to hear the awesome questions I am fielding about business, taking risks, real estate, and so much more! Some of the questions have been very real estate specific, but others have been general business questions, like asking about overcoming fear in order to get started and how to successfully scale. I have also received more personal questions like how I decided real estate investing was right for me and the steps I took to get my business off the ground.

This presentation is the live Q&A that I did on July 21st and each week on Thursday we will offer you another chance to take advantage of listening to the answers to our guests’ fabulous and compelling questions! Don’t miss this new episode of the Just Start Real Estate Podcast!

Notable Quotes:

“When investors are analyzing a deal for rental, they don’t always think of putting aside money every month for maintenance.”

“Another thing that landlords forget to consider are vacancies. Assume you will have to turnover your property at least once every year or two.”

“The great thing about private money lenders is that all of the terms are very negotiable.”

“I can’t stress it enough how much crap a property management company will take off your plate if you have a rental portfolio.”

“Getting together with your team at least once a quarter to do goal setting and strategy sessions is essential.”

“I want to hire somebody with the right values and then train skills.”

“Passive income is not passive if you are managing your properties and dealing with the maintenance issues.”

“I think in business, everything is about testing what works.”

Links:

Business Fast Track Blueprint

7 Figure Flipping

Return on Investments

Just Start Real Estate

JSRE on Facebook

Mike on Facebook

Mike on Instagram

Mike on LinkedIn

Mike on Twitter

Level Jumping: How I Grew My Business to Over $1 Million in Profits in 12 Months