Investor Cheat Code Podcast with Mike Simmons

This Week’s Episode:

Brad Smotherman joins me on this episode of Just Start Real Estate.  Brad is a wholesaler, rehabber and land developer in the state of Tennessee.  He has been in real estate since the age of 18. In 2010, Brad retired his real estate license and began doing investments full-time.  He is now working toward tract-land development.  

Brad shares a lot of information in this discussion, and I think you’re going to appreciate what he brings.  You’re going to hear him let us peek into his business by sharing details on his tools for lead generation and the results that come from those strategies. He also talks about the team that he has formed around him and his business and the roles that they play.

Tract-land development is not something I know a lot about and Brad explains why this type of opportunity appeals to him.  He explains how the negotiations for these deals work, how to locate land for this type of development, and how to price the land and lots.  Again, Brad shares a lot of insight and good, actionable advice.  

Connect with Mike Cowper:

Website: http://bradsmotherman.brandyourself.com/

You’ll Learn:

 [08:52] - Brad started in real estate at the age of 18.  He talks about his background and what attracted him to real estate at such a young age.  Brad was able to learn the lessons of the market crash through observation.

[12:00] - After retiring his license, Brad decided to be an investor.  It took him nine months to make his first deal, and that was his best.

[13:53] - Brad talks about the tools he uses for lead generation.  He is now doing direct mail and believes he’s the biggest mailer in Nashville.  

[15:10] - Brad shares that with 55,000 mailers, the results are typically 8-14 deals.   

[15:48] - Brad explains his views on wholesaling and why he is getting more into that practice and leaving rehabs.  

[19:35] - Brad shares some details on the team he has built for his business.  

[21:06] - The Dallas-Fort Worth market is very competitive, and Brad is moving into that market.  He explains how this is an opportunity to test things in a competitive area.

[22:11] - Since he has a team working for him, he shares how he splits up the responsibilities and which tasks he takes care of himself.

[24:20] - Brad shares what a Sub2 Wrap is.  

[26:23] - Brad is now working toward tract-land development. He discusses why he is drawn to these opportunities.

[30:00] - Brad explains how to locate land for tract development and how to price these properties.  

[32:10] - With these tract developments, Brad describes when he steps out of the deal.  He also explains how these deals go down and how the lots are sold off.

[34:42] - Brad gives an idea of what these negotiations are like when buying the land. The cost to develop is factored in.  

[36:42] - Knowing what he knows through experience, Brad shares some insight on what he would tell people starting off in real estate now. Brad says, “Start where you are.”

[39:36] - Brad shares the vision for his future.  He hopes to move into 10-12 markets, stay local for land developments, and look into hotels.

If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected]. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality... JUST START!

This Week’s Episode:

Mike Cowper joins me again on the podcast.  We came together to share more about our company.  We’d like to do a “State of the Company” and share with you some things that we are currently doing to facilitate growth with our company.

In our last conversation on the podcast, we talked about some employee turnover that we recently experienced. We shared how we handle hiring with the business.   In this episode we talk more about the massive turnover and talk about how these changes were necessary and have helped us maneuver a culture shift.

The big news, and the main part of our discussion in this episode, is the idea of having an office space for the company.  Yes, there are pros and cons to having a physical location, and we share some of our thoughts on this topic.  We feel that a physical location really can help us with things like building a company culture and hiring.

Connect with Mike Cowper:

Mike Cowper on LinkedIn

You’ll Learn:

[06:51] – We experienced a lot of turnover with our company this year.  We explain why those changes needed to be made.  We share some of the things we could have done better in the initial hiring process. We also talk about how we learned from these mistakes.

[10:42] – We talk about how things have improved with the entire team with some of the changes we’ve recently made.  Mike explains how we are doing a better job of setting expectations and being supportive.

[14:30] – We are currently looking at the idea of having an office space.  We each share our perspectives and explain why we are considering this idea.

[17:38] – Having an office space would help us with trainings.  Group trainings with everyone in one room are helpful. It will also help us develop a culture.

[20:02] – In the past, we’ve done our hiring in a restaurant.  Having an official place to interview potential employees would help us.

[21:49] – Mike talks about how building a culture through an office space can help employees take part in growth.

[23:32] – Pro Tip: You should always be hiring.

[24:07] – There’s not always a single reason you have a lot of turnover.  I explain the various reasons we experienced this turnover.

[25:11] – Even with the two of us working full time, there’s still a large list of things that would like to implement, but don’t have time.

[27:38] – The debate between us is always when and how many people we should hire.

[28:28] – We talk about how large our overhead costs are. We also talk about some of the other problems we face, like HR.

If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected]. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality... JUST START!

This Week’s Episode:

I am joined by Dustin Bowling on this episode of Just Start Real Estate.  Dustin is flipping about 10 houses a year in the Covington, Indiana area. Dustin is an aggressive growing investor that I think will be a superstar in the next few years.

In this conversation, you will hear about the incredible things that Dustin is accomplishing in his area.  What’s fascinating is that he’s doing these things without systems.  Just imagine what he’ll be able to do when he implements systems.

Dustin has a background in law enforcement and is now doing real estate full time.  Being in a small-town, he shares how real estate in these types of communities varies from real estate in more populated areas.  He explains the value of character and integrity in areas like this.

You’ll Learn:

[08:14] - Dustin shares his background. He’s always been an entrepreneur.  Even from an early age, he had an interest in real estate.

[11:36] - Dustin explains why he moved into flipping houses. He also talks about doing these projects in a small town.

[14:26] - Dustin has been doing this for about 10 years. For a long time he did his own work and now he’s built up a crew. He has 7 employees

[18:30] - Dustin currently has 8 projects going and does not feel like he’s got good systems in place. I give Dustin some advice on this situation. I explain why it’s difficult to scale without these systems.

[26:58] - I talk with Dustin about hiring a project manager vs. hiring a GC.

[28:10] - Dustin describes how his business is structured.

[30:00] - Dustin lists his current projects, which includes a church.

[31:46] - Dustin talks about challenges he’s faced. He explains how character and integrity are important in real estate, especially in a small town.

Resources

Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business - Gino Wickman

If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected].  We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it a reality...JUST START!

 

 

This Week’s Episode:

This week, I’m joined by my business partner, Mike Cowper. These episodes with Mike are great because we share what’s going on with our business and we provide you with actionable items for your business.

In this conversation, you will hear Mike and I talk about a recent incident. We had one of our employees leave and we needed to rebound and recover from this situation. While we weren’t completely satisfied with this person, we weren’t exactly ready for them to leave.  This person leaving put us in a bit of a bind and we explain how we dealt with that situation.

This leads us into a discussion on goals.  Because we have goals and track our company’s numbers, we were able to identify that this individual was not producing up to our expectations.  We talk about our goals and Mike briefly touches on 30-60-90 goals. We also explain why education is important in accomplishing goals.

If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected].  We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it reality...JUST START!

Connect with Mike Cowper:

Mike Cowper on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cowper-762398a

You’ll Learn:

[05:36] - Mike talks about a recent situation where we had one of our employees leave and the crunch that it put us in.

[07:29] - Handling a situation like this is tougher for smaller businesses. I explain what our knee-jerk reaction was to this person leaving. Through the day, we worked our way through the situation and came up with some short-term solutions.

[08:30] - The biggest issue for our business was that we have a big marketing push coming up and we were concerned about our ability to handle incoming leads.

[09:57] - We share what our game-plan is for working through this situation and why we believe this situation will work out.

[13:13] - I share why it’s important to track numbers with your team.

[14:26] - This leads to a discussion on our goals. We share our growth from 2015 to 2016 and how our goals kept us on track to achieve the success we anticipated.

[16:35] - We recently worked on putting together our 2017 goals, which we share.

[17:42] - Regardless of the size of your company is, you should trying to build a business. I explain how I define “a business”. We share our thoughts on why you should strive for this.

[23:53] - If you haven’t set your goals, now is the time.

[24:52] - Mike talks about setting 30-60-90 goals.

[28:05] - It’s important to have a system. We just finished reading Traction.  This is a great book to read if you’d like to set your business up for success.

[28:43] - Education is vital for success. We talk about the importance and the benefits of coaching. Goals are the roadmap to where you want to be, but the coach can be your guide to get you to those goals faster.

 

This Week’s Episode:

This week, I’m joined Danny Pitcher. Danny started his real estate company on a bike. He sent out his first marketing piece in 2015 and got his first deal four or five months later. He then left his job and invested everything into his company.

In this conversation, you will hear Danny share interesting details about his business. He explains why he decided to get into real estate. He actually started by listening to podcasts, including this one! Danny describes how his business is set up and he shares a lot of details about his marketing. He says, “With mailings, it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as it’s different.” He also says “Finding the deal is the foundation of your business” and he shares how he does that.

Connect with Danny Pitcher:

Daniel Pitcher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pitcher-9b8a5429

You’ll Learn:

[07:19] - Out of college, Danny was a bike taxi driver. He describes this experience.

[09:04] - Danny began listening to podcasts, even this one! That helped him nurture his entrepreneurial spirit.

[11:06] - Danny explains how he started his career in real estate, which began with wholesaling.

[13:38] - While Danny started with wholesaling, he is working on his first flip. He explains how is business is currently set up.

[15:05] - Danny describes his marketing strategy when it comes to mailings.

[16:30] - Danny talks numbers and shares the number of deals he has completed.

[18:47] - Danny details what type of mailings he is doing. He also describes what he does to help his mailings stand out.

[20:52] - Danny describes how he handles leads when they come in via the phone.

[22:05] - When it comes to locking down the contract, Danny explains his personal strategy.

[23:34] - Danny explains how he uses a closing attorney and works with buyers.

[28:10] - Danny does not attend closings and he shares his reasoning behind that.

[29:23] - Danny shares his goals for his company in 2017.

[32:24] - We all know hindsight is 20/20. Danny talks about what he would differently if he was able to start from scratch again.

If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected]. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it reality...JUST START!

 

This Week’s Episode:

This week, I’m joined by my business partner, Mike Cowper. These episodes with Mike are great because we share what’s going on with our business and we provide you with actionable items for your business.

In this conversation, you will hear Mike and I talk about a recent incident. We had one of our employees leave and we needed to rebound and recover from this situation. While we weren’t completely satisfied with this person, we weren’t exactly ready for them to leave. This person leaving put us in a bit of a bind and we explain how we dealt with that situation.

This leads us into a discussion on goals. Because we have goals and track our company’s numbers, we were able to identify that this individual was not producing up to our expectations. We talk about our goals and Mike briefly touches on 30-60-90 goals. We also explain why education is important in accomplishing goals.

If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected]. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it reality...JUST START!

Connect with Mike Cowper:

Mike Cowper on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cowper-762398a

You’ll Learn:

[05:36] - Mike talks about a recent situation where we had one of our employees leave and the crunch that it put us in.

[07:29] - Handling a situation like this is tougher for smaller businesses. I explain what our knee-jerk reaction was to this person leaving. Through the day, we worked our way through the situation and came up with some short-term solutions.

[08:30] - The biggest issue for our business was that we have a big marketing push coming up and we were concerned about our ability to handle incoming leads.

[09:57] - We share what our game-plan is for working through this situation and why we believe this situation will work out.

[13:13] - I share why it’s important to track numbers with your team.

[14:26] - This leads to a discussion on our goals. We share our growth from 2015 to 2016 and how our goals kept us on track to achieve the success we anticipated.

[16:35] - We recently worked on putting together our 2017 goals, which we share.

[17:42] - Regardless of the size of your company is, you should trying to build a business. I explain how I define “a business”. We share our thoughts on why you should strive for this.

[23:53] - If you haven’t set your goals, now is the time.

[24:52] - Mike talks about setting 30-60-90 goals.

[28:05] - It’s important to have a system. We just finished reading Traction. This is a great book to read if you’d like to set your business up for success.

[28:43] - Education is vital for success. We talk about the importance and the benefits of coaching. Goals are the roadmap to where you want to be, but the coach can be your guide to get you to those goals faster.

 

This Week’s Episode:

This week, I’m joined by my business partner, Mike Cowper. I have known Mike for two years and I’ve had a lot of fun working with Mike on growing our business. Mike and I are doing a lot of coaching now and we’ve noticed that a lot of the same questions are coming up in these coaching sessions.

In this discussion, we talk about flipping and wholesaling. We describe what the structure of each of these models looks like, and explore how they are different. One myth is that it doesn’t take any money to be a wholesaler, but you need money to be a flipper. In this conversation, you’ll hear why that’s not the case.

Mike and I will be doing these types of episodes a few times a month. If you’re interested in learning more about our coaching, email me - [email protected]. We’d love to help you meet your goals in 2017.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it reality...JUST START!

Connect with Mike Cowper:

Mike Cowper on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-cowper-762398a

You’ll Learn:

[06:13] - Mike and I talk about the confusion that people have about flipping and wholesaling businesses in real estate. It is difficult to run a business as a flipper and a wholesaler.

[08:14] - We share the advice we would give someone that wants to start a flipping business, specifically someone with a small budget. This includes how to generate leads, how many leads you should strive for, and what your team should look like.

[16:36] - We talk about the wholesaling model and what it takes to build this type of business. We explain what the structure of a wholesaling business looks like.

[20:30] - I talk about how profits vary between flipping and wholesaling and the factors that play into those profits.

[21:55] - Leads cost money and we talk about a few strategies to taking care of those leads.

[23:18] - I explain why it’s important to know how your clients view your product.

[25:19] - Mike talks about the different skills that flippers and wholesalers need to possess.

[26:14] - I dispel the myth that it doesn’t take any money to be a wholesaler, but you need money to be a flipper. I talk about some of the revenue streams that are available for flippers.

[28:37] - I explain why sources for free leads are less effective and less predictable. We use metrics to determine what it costs us to close a deal and that allows us to determine how many leads we need.

[30:54] - We help you decide if you’re better suited and situated for flipping or wholesaling.

[32:55] - Mike believes that if you want to build a successful business, you can’t do both flipping and wholesaling.

This Week’s Episode:

Mark Dennis joins me on this episode of Just Start Real Estate. A former NFL player, Mark has taken that natural tenacity from the gridiron and put it toward real estate. As Mark says, “Entrepreneurialism is like a weed. It’s tough to kill it and make it go away.”

In this conversation, you will hear Mark explain how his career as a professional football player helped shape his mentality and make him a natural in real estate. Individuals that play organized sports have a unique skill-set and strong traits.

Mark is a coaching client and a case-study in accepting guidance and expecting results. He explains the transition from football to real estate and he describes the decisions he’s made and strategies he’s implemented with his business.

If investing and real estate is your dream, there is only one way you can make it reality...JUST START!

Connect with Mark Dennis:

Website: http://agaperealestate.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfdennis

You’ll Learn:

[06:52] - Mark talks about his life before real estate. Football was always the means to an end for Mark. He shares how football helped shape his mentality.

[10:55] - With a plan for football to set himself up for a career after his years in the NFL ended, Mark talks about how that transition happened. Mark describes how he had all of the puzzle pieces and this process led to him being able to put all of those pieces together.

[15:30] - With his background in football, Mark understands the value of coaching. This is why he pursued coaching in his real estate career.

[20:47] - Mark talks about the process of starting to work with a coach and implementing a plan. This leads to a discussion on coaching philosophy.

[25:14] - Mark shares some of the changes and breakthroughs he’s experienced since he started receiving coaching.

[27:12] - I explain what an acquisitions person and a dispositions person is and the roles they play in the deal.

[28:12] - Mark talks about his short-term plans, which includes adding a dispositions person and putting his team in place.

[30:30] - Mark shares his lead generation strategies.

[32:52] - Mark explains why he hired someone to handle the phones. He also shares why he hired someone to handle acquisitions. Finding the right people to hire is vital. He describes why the acquisitions person is such a good fit.

[38:37] - Mark also hired a bookkeeper. This will be an invaluable move for him as he scales his business. I agree with Mark on this move. My favorite hire is our bookkeeper.

[41:29] - Mark talks about setting 74 goals and being strategic about his growth, including sustainability.

Resources:

Hack Flipping Live

7 Figure Flipping

House Flipping Formula

I'm excited to have Justin Williams on the show again. He's a great house flipper, an inspirational person, and  a good friend of mine in the business. He has some exciting things set up for this year. Justin has been investing in real estate full-time for about nine years, and he currently flips about 100 houses a year.

In handling this enormous number of flips, Justin emphasizes the importance of systems. He only works on his business a few hours a week, but he has the right systems in place and the business keeps running without him. To get to this point, he eventually hired people to work for him. Obviously a beginner can't hire a bunch of people right away, but knowing when and what to delegate is crucial.

A lot of investors resist the idea of hiring someone to do work they could be doing themselves. But that's the only way to scale your business. When you hire people, it frees you up to grow your business. Justin puts it in a great way: you have to decide if you are just an investor or a business owner. If you are a business owner, you have to act like one.

2014 was a successful year for Justin; I highly recommend that you listen to the full episode for his recap. He's definitely building for the future of his business, and learned a lot about the importance of setting the right goals.

A few years ago, Justin started a great program called House Flipping Formula. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you've definitely heard me talk about it and it's been a great success. In today's episode, Justin unveils the latest update - House Flipping Formula 4.0. This is a dramatic improvement with an unbelievable amount of additional content, and instruction.

Listen to the full episode to hear Justin explain the only three things you need to be successful as a house flipper or wholesaler:

Lead Generation

Lead Conversion

Maximize Profit

The program is for those of you looking to build a legitimate business. We don't want anyone who's not serious about the business in the program. We expect you to collaborate, share your success, and give back to the community. I'm proud to be a part of this program and I'm proud to be talking about it on the show.

I'm really excited to announce my new business partner, Mike Cowper! Who I also had the privilege of interviewing, which I will share with you today.

Mike's background in sales is, basically, my worst nightmare... A lot of cold-calling! But he climbed the ranks and ended up very successful, but itching to start something new.

So.... Why real estate? In September of 2014, Mike had a push from a friend to look into it more. He quickly joined groups, networked, absorbed all the information- then, just 2 short months later, he put his money where his mouth was and bought his first property!

A lot of people can hit a plateau, but Mike broke this mold by setting up meetings by asking successful people how they did what they did- and he even called me! This is where we found out we have a lot of skills that compliment each other.

Both of us knew we weren't going to be in the employee/employer relationship forever. So we cut to the chase and became business partners. 

Remember that "SALES ROCKSTAR" title I boasted at the beginning? Here it is! Listen closely to how Mike EASILY closes deals and helps his clients.

If you're looking for more information, great returns, pointers, sales techniques, etc. Email him directly at [email protected].

www.webuyroi.com