Street Smart Success

If you’re in a career you hate, you don’t have to stay stuck. You can do something about it to change your life. From big box retail store manager to multi-family apartments, today’s guest started with no knowledge of real estate back in 2007 and is now managing over 1100 apartment units. Bruce Peterson, the Apartment Guy, is based in Austin Texas and has a completely vertically integrated company that buys, renovates, and manages apartments under one roof.

Sunglasses are really cool, but running a successful sunglasses company is even cooler.  Todays guest started an ecommerce sunglasses company out of his home while still working a full-time job. He is now selling over a million pair of sunglasses per year. Chris Ratterman, founder and CEO of Shady Rays, has created a wildly successful company that is continuing to grow.

Some people like to buy properties that they don’t have to do too much work on. Other people see big opportunity in older properties with much more upside. Today’s guest is buying older, C class apartment buildings in great markets that can be improved in order to increase rents and the value of the buildings. Justin Fraser, an account Apartment Syndicator at 88 Real Estate Capital, shares his story.

The Dallas/Ft Worth market has added 1.2 million people in the last decade and is projected to add another 1.3 over the next decade. As more companies relocate to the area, jobs and people are following. Today’s guest, Michael Becker, is founder and CEO of SPI Advisory and is a real estate syndicator who’s bought over 10,000 apartment units in the Dallas/Ft Worth and Austin markets over the past decade.

Almost every company big or small needs marketing design work. But many companies don’t have the personel in-house to get it done. Today’s guest has created a global, subscription-based design service where you can get great design work at a reasonable monthly price. Russ Perry, Founder and CEO of Design Pickle, has created the #1 flat-rate creative services platform.

Starting out as a Real Estate syndicator is no easy task. Finding your first property and then raising money from investors can be daunting and scary. Today’s guest is a newer syndicator who bought a 76 Unit townhome complex in the Dallas Ft Worth Metroplex and has done well for his investors and himself. Darin Batchelder tells his story from starting in corporate America all the way to syndicating his first apartment deal.

If you have a company with a small marketing budget or you’re just in start-up mode, it may be hard to find a good, outsourced marketing agency. Your choice is generally a small agency with limited resources, or a larger agency that won’t give you much attention. Today’s guest, Erik Huberman, CEO and Founder of Hawk Media, has created a way for smaller companies to get best-in-class marketing services.

Most private equity funds look to acquire companies with over $100 million in revenue and much larger. But there are over a hundred thousand smaller companies in the US with revenues in the 3-to-5-million-dollar range. Today’s guest has a very successful boutique private equity firm that buys well-run smaller companies with great niches and long-term growth strategies. Mason Meyers, CEO and Founder of Greybull Stewardship, has acquired fifteen companies since 2010.

Handwritten notes are a lost art form, and yet they are one of the most effective marketing tools out there as their response rates dwarf regular type written correspondence. Today’s guest, David Wachs, is founder and CEO of Handwrytten. Handwrytten has created robots that write your notes in pen. Handwrytten is changing the way brands and people connect.

The real estate market has been on fire for the last several years. Today, investors seem to be buying just based on the come. But today’s guest only does deals if there’s enough existing cash flow in addition to the projected upside. Tim Bates, founder of Worth Commercial Real Estate, only buys special opportunities that most people don’t know about. Tim’s based in the Dallas-Ft Worth metroplex.