The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom

With Thanksgiving approaching this week, it's a great time to reflect and think about what you are thankful for. Gratitude and being thankful are important qualities in one's life. I say qualities, but for me I try to make them more of a habit by writing down one simple thing or person I'm thankful for everyday. Doing this, puts everything in perspective in the present. In that moment of gratitude, you're not looking towards the future. You're not focusing on your goals. You are simply looking around you and noticing all the great things in your life. This practice will help ground you and show you that you have so much to be thankful for right now, from material things to people and relationships. Speaking of people and relationships, another thing that's been on my mind recently is how much you can learn from others. Every single person you meet in this life knows something you don't. Keep that in mind as you meet new people, catch up with old friends, or the next time you see that friend, spouse, family member, or coworker. Everyone knows something you don't. You can learn something new just by talking with people. That's really the entire premise of this podcast. From ultra-successful and experienced real estate investors like Brian Burke, Vinney Chopra, Keith Wienhold, Joe Fairless, Ivan Barrat, Andrew Campbell, Reed Goossens,and Rod Kleif (just to name a few), to up and coming young-guns like Christian Montalvo, Lane Kawaoka, Brent Kawakami, and David Pere, each and every one of these people have something they can share and teach almost anyone. It's been a pleasure and great experience getting to bring these people on the podcast, and share their journeys, experiences, and stories with you. I'm sure you've taken away a lot of awesome stuff from each one of these people, as I know I have. But beyond these awesome go-getters, there is something to be learned from everyone. If you simply tried to take away one little nugget of information from every person you speak to,then imagine the wealth of knowledge you'll accumulate over the long term. Here are just a few takeaways and reflections of just a few of the many great guests we've had on the podcast. Smile, be happy, and treat others well. This is the mantra of Vinney "Mr. Smiles" Chopra. Vinney has a true rags to riches story, coming to the U.S. from India as a young man with only $7 in his pocket. He started out selling bibles door to door. Vinney became an engineer, then transitioned into multifamily syndication where he has experienced enormous success, completing over 26 successful syndications over the recent years. Vinney credits much of his success to the people he surrounds himself with. If you've heard either of Vinney's episodes on the podcast, you know that he is a very pleasant and positive person. The scarcity mentality is abundant, and the abundance mentality is scarce. Keith Weinhold, host of  Get Rich Education, practices and preaches the abundance mentality. Keith values his return on time invested, just as much as his return on money. He shows you how you too can achieve financial freedom through real estate investing while building a lifestyle by design. Build it and they will come. This has been Joe Fairless' strategy for building his $400,0000,000 real estate empire in his 30's. Joe has built a brand, which he famously calls The Best Ever, consisting of the longest running daily real estate podcast, a blog, videos, books, events, and masterminds. Joe is a proponent for finding a mentor and learning from them. He has taught and mentored hundreds of real estate investors to do what he does - buy apartments. Joe condenses his experiences into three principals, which he calls his 3 Immutable Laws of Real Estate: Buy for cash flow, not appreciation Secure long term debt Have adequate cash reserves Building a crash-proof portfolio.

This morning when I woke up, it was a bit cool in my home here in Houston, TX. Our winters aren't usually very cold but we do occasionally have to turn the heat on. Well being that is was a bit colder than I preferred in my home, I simply went over to my thermostat and turned up the temperature with the click of a button. Then, on to my normal routine as I clicked the button on the coffee pot to brew a fresh hot pot of coffee, and then to my home office to get my day started. Why am I telling you this? Because I realize, as should you, this is an easy life. It's comfortable. Our lives are filled with these luxuries that we take for granted. The problem many people face is they are not challenged in life. This can seem contradictory on the surface. One would think that by building a life void of challenges, struggles, and failures, is the solution, not the problem. But this isn't the case in my perspective. People are meant to be challenged, solve difficult problems, be faced with obstacles, and experience hardships. We're a resilient species who has evolved over many many years to where we are now. We didn't always have central heat and air, coffee at the touch of a button, etc. When we don't challenge ourselves, we become complacent with our luxuries. One small minor mishap and we think it's the end of the world. Think of something minor that has happened to you recently and then how you dealt with it. Maybe your home internet went down, or you got stuck in traffic on your way to an appointment or work, or you had a flat tire, or whatever else. That thing probably seemed like a really big problem at the time, right? Rightfully so, since it likely was your biggest challenge of the day. But in the big picture, these are all relatively benign challenges. Some wouldn't even consider them problems. Good luck getting sympathy for your home wifi from a refugee fleeing their country walking hundreds of miles seeking asylum in a safer place. In order to have a better perspective on your life, it's important to challenge yourself. Do things that are difficult. Do things that you normally wouldn't. Take on bigger challenges and grow into them. You develop resilience when you challenge yourself. You learn and grow from the challenges you take on, not to mention the feelings of success you'll experience. Challenging yourself is similar to setting 10X goals. Even if you don't accomplish that challenge or goal, you've still made more progress than you would have had you not tried. Many of my 10X goals revolve around buying apartments. This feat alone is enough to keep me busy and hustling, trying to reach my goal of $10M of real estate by age 30. A recent challenge I've personally taken on is training the age-old martial art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Not only is it physically challenging, but also mentally challenging. Starting out, I have been completely incompetent and out of my element with it. It's a relatively new endeavor of mine, and I plan on sticking with it for the long haul. I see Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a way to challenge myself mentally and physically, and a way to ground myself with this new challenge. It's very humbling to realize there is something out there that you are completely incapable of in the moment, yet given enough time and work you can accomplish. Focusing on this challenge encourages me to grow and develop. It also puts other things in perspective - like that traffic and flat tire we mentioned earlier. Things like this seem insignificant compared to the challenge of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Everyone can find unique ways to challenge themselves. You just have to make an effort to identify and take on those challenges. Here are just a few challenges I can come up with that may be of interest to you: Run a half or full marathon. This has always seemed like such a big feat for me,

Joseph is a multifamily investments specialist, leading group acquisitions of over $15MM in real estate and providing asset management services to a portfolio of 253 units and growing. Joseph is a former lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and over 17 years of leadership experience in the software industry, 12 of which working for publicly traded companies such as GameStop, Retalix (NCR) and JCPenney which enhanced his business acumen, analytical skills and “big picture” perspective, all skills that he leverages to maximize efficiency in the real estate business. In his last IT role as a Senior Software Development Manager, Joseph led five software engineering teams and was responsible for the on-time and on-budget delivery of a multiple software products that contributed directly to the company’s multi-million dollar bottom line. Joseph is now dedicated 100% to real estate. Joseph has a B.S. in Information Systems Engineering and is also currently enrolled with Texas A&M MBA program (part time program). Joseph began his real estate investing back in 2005, when he purchased with his wife Rita their first investment property in Israel. In 2007 Joseph & Rita relocated to Plano, Texas and in early 2008 started their US real estate investment journey with the purchase of a duplex in Plano. Since then they grew their portfolio and strengthened their equity positions in multiple single family properties. In early 2015 Joseph began his multifamily journey and not long after led the successful acquisition of a 22 unit multifamily property in Celina Texas. In 2017 Joseph led the successful acquisition of a 130 units in two multifamily properties in Lubbock Texas and has been serving as the asset manager for all three communities since. Joseph’s next steps are closing on a 97 apartments community, which is under contract at the moment which will strengthen EBG’s presence in the city and will increase operations efficiency for all properties and to continue to lead the acquisitions of even more multifamily communities in the Texas secondary markets with the goal of acquiring and managing an asset base of 1500 units or more by the end of 2018. Recently multiple family offices have been reaching out to Joseph exploring collaboration opportunities in the markets they operate in. Key Points Assessing secondary and tertiary real estate markets Starting and scaling your real estate portfolio How to find off market multifamily deals Lightning Questions What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? Breaking into the multifamily space. Joseph was able to backdoor the process by getting pre-approved with lenders and having those lenders vouch to brokers. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Joseph doesn't have an off switch Do you have an online resource that you find valuable? Audible for audio books What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki The One Thing by Gary Keller ad Jay Papassan Profit First by Mike Michalowicz The Real Estate College Fund by Joseph Gozlan If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to get started in real estate investing, what would it be? Skip single family properties and go straight to multifamily. Resources Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download! The Real Estate College Fund by Joseph Gozlan www.EBGTX.com

Wealth and Freedom achievers, welcome back to another Friday Fundamentals. You are well on your way to a wealthy and free life. I know this because you are setting big goals, following up with massive action and engineering the lifestyle you want. This abundance mentality is the premise of the podcast.  Your dreams, actions, and success are only limited by your own imagination. Anything you want, you can have. When you approach life this way, you are thinking big, expanding your options, and looking forward to success both now and in the future. This mindset alone can be difficult to grasp, much less the execution. Having the courage to set big goals, follow up with massive action, and striving for success beyond your wildest dreams is not common. This is because fear of what comes next - the execution, the hard work, and the constant grind. After you've set big goals and mapped out some actions to achieve those goals you realize the daunting challenges ahead. It can be discouraging, to say the least. It's like standing at the base of the mountain, looking upwards towards the summit, but you can't see it beyond the clouds. It's easy to feel defeated before you ever get started. You might feel like you'll never reach the top. All you have to do is get started, and improve each and every day. If you can do this one simple little step, then you are unstoppable. Incremental improvements will take you far. Incremental improvements - by this I mean being just a little bit better than you were yesterday. Make just a little bit more progress than where you were yesterday. Learn something new. Meet someone new. Do something new and challenging. Incremental improvements over a long period of time will produce surprising results. Think if this like compound interest. Every day you deposit just a little bit of action, knowledge, and networking into your account. Over time that all grows into a large sum. Many people follow this same strategy. For instance Warren Buffet, founder of Berkshire Hathaway, built his wealth over a lifetime of investing, and only in his later years did his wealth grow exponentially to result in one of the richest people in the world, and considered one of the most successful investors of all time. How did he do this? It wasn't overnight. Rather, it was incremental improvements over a long period of time. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater, the largest hedge fund in the world, attributes much of his success to constantly learning and applying the Principles he's learned to his business. Over a long period of time, he grew his one man business from his bedroom apartment to one of the most successful and largest hedge funds today. Rome was not built in a day. You shouldn't expect to achieve your goals and engineer the lifestyle you want in a day either. Here are 5 things you can do to make incremental improvements in your life: Set long term goals, then break those down into actions you have to take in a year, month, week, etc. Breaking down big tasks into small achievable steps makes achieving your goals manageable. Track your actions. If you don't know what you did yesterday, or where you were at in achieving your goals, you won't know where you need to be today and tomorrow. Journals and planners are a great way to track your progress. Make corrections along the way. Sometimes it takes doing something differently to achieve the results you want. If your actions aren't producing the results you want, then take a look at those actions and see if you need to make some corrections. Think of this like navigating a sail boat from Point A to Point B Point B, your destination, hasn't changed. But your path there may need to adjust to winds, currents, etc. Don't be afraid to make these corrections in your own journey.

Dmitriy Fomichenko is the founder and president of Sense Financial Services LLC, a boutique financial firm specializing in self-directed retirement accounts with checkbook control.  He began his career in financial planning and real estate investing in 2000. He owns multiple investment properties in various states and is a licensed California Real Estate Broker. Over the years, he has taught hundreds of investment and financial planning seminars and has mentored thousands of investors. Sense Financial Services was inspired by a series of conversations Dmitriy had with his mentors in the real estate investor business.  While many were exceedingly successful in their real estate investments, their retirement accounts were losing money. This conundrum prompted Dmitriy to spend several months consulting with industry experts and researching the powerful concept of employing self-directed retirement accounts for investment purposes. Integrating his knowledge of how to successfully manage self-directed IRAs and 401ks with his expertise as an investor and mentor, Dmitriy began consulting individual investors on how to put more thought and diligence into their retirement and investment planning. Dmitriy founded Sense Financial Services to help his clients maximize their returns on investments while protecting their hard-earned money. He is very passionate about helping families and individuals achieve financial freedom by following proven Biblical principles of financial planning and investing. Dmitriy resides in Southern California with his wife and 10-year old daughter.  In his spare time, he enjoys studying systematic theology, spending time with his family and visiting new places. Key Points Solo 401(k) - what it is & how to use it Solo 401(k) vs. IRA vs. Employer Sponsored 401(k) Roth vs. Traditional - What is right for you? Lightning Questions What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? Dmitriy had no experience nor money. He overcame that by being wise with his personal finances while learning about the world of real estate investing. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Dmitriy prides himself on his determination. When he sets a goal, he is diligent in reaching it. Do you have an online resource you find valuable? BiggerPockets What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to  get started in real estate investing, what would it be? Start early, use leverage wisely and continue to build your wealth. Resources Sense Financial Contact Sense Financial and let Dmitriy & the Sense Financial team you heard about them on The Real Estate Way to Wealth and Freedom podcast for a 10% discount!  Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download! Contact Jacob

Many people live similar lives, striving for and achieving the American dream. In pursuit,  people find themselves very similar to a lot of other people. They have similar schedules, incomes, hobbies (or lack thereof), mindsets on money, routines, retirement plans, etc. But why? We're all individuals and have our own unique personalities. How do we end up doing the same thing as everyone else? Well from an early age we're programmed to fit into this "system". Not good, not bad, but nonetheless a system. From an early age, I was taught and raised to go to school, get good grades, go to college, and get a job. This was the most common and proven path to middle class. As a young kid from rural Oklahoma, I thought this path sounded great, if only I could achieve it. From my parents point of view, this was a path to success. So I did what I was taught. I went to school, did well, went on to college, and ended up with a great job. Bingo. Done. This was the end of my road map. To some, this sounds too good to be true. To others, it may sound like a nightmare. For me, I'm still figuring that part out! But getting back to my point. We are programmed to live a life of success as someone else defines it. To many, this success means a good paying job with two weeks of vacation, a nice house, a nice car, and some extra spending money every month. If this is the path you want, then great! But if you're living this path, and it's not what you want, then not so great! There's no reason good enough that you shouldn't be living a life you want. You can do anything in this life you want. Live however you want. You just have to decide what that is and then live intentionally. Living intentionally means you live and do things with a purpose. One that you have decided for yourself.  "If you don't build your dreams,  someone else will hire you to help  build theirs". - Tony Gaskins Jr. If you're not living with your own intention, then you will live with someone else's intention, or worse, none. Think of how easy it is to get wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. You can easily spend an entire day doing things you have to, but don't want to. Some spend their entire lives never truly doing what they want. Don't worry about doing what others around your are doing. They're likely not doing whatever it is they're doing because they want to, but rather probably because they have to. Rather than following someone else's path to their success, define your own success and live intentionally. If you don't know what you want yet, that's ok. But carry that intention with you in figuring that out. Purposefully seek out what you want in live. Then take actionable and intentionally steps to get there. Many people get wrapped up in "Keeping up with the Jones".  They follow the Jones path, without considering if it's a path they want. Don't follow what someone else is doing, for that sole reason. That won't bring you happiness. Chances are, it's not even bringing them happiness. Most importantly, don't just meander through life getting pinballed back and forth, where ever life takes you. Take control of your live. You can do whatever you want. You can live the life of your dreams. You just have to decide what that is, and then intentionally pursue it.

There’s a reason Vinney’s nickname is “Mr. Smiles”, which is evident even through just hearing the demeanor in his voice throughout this show! He has always believed in individuals’ ability to shape the world around them through positive thought and selfless actions, and he has been a passionate motivational speaker and teacher for over three decades. Vinney Chopra came to the United States more than 40 years ago with $7 in his pocket. After earning a Mechanical Engineering degree and an MBA, Vinney decided to leave that world and become a motivational speaker and fundraiser. Vinney earned his real estate broker’s license  and has dedicated his career not only to mastering the field of fundraising and motivation through speaking engagements and the art of building wealth through real estate investing, but more importantly, to sharing that knowledge and expertise – and his passion for doing good – with others. Vinney turned his attention to multifamily investing and syndication a few years after becoming an active commercial real estate broker in California in 2004. He and his team have built his business from the ground up, learning effective techniques, ideas and concepts and putting them into action. He has done 26 syndications – 12 of them in the last 24 months – and now is able to raise $5 million to $10 million for his offerings in only a few days, in many cases. He is a systems guru (in the best sense of that term!), having designed proven systems of underwriting, acquisition, team building, presenting, syndication and management of multifamily investment properties. Vinney’s companies have controlled more than $172 million in multifamily assets. Key Points Lessons learned from 26 successful syndication Invest in yourself first Surround yourself with great people - brokers, attorneys, accountants, property managers, etc.  Do your due diligence Target 5-7 brokerage firms  Raising $6M in two days Resources VinneyChopra.com  SignEasy - eSignatures for your everyday business needs. Sign contracts, invoices, quotes, agreements, and other important documents in minutes, hassle-free. Contact Vinney Vinney@MoneilIG.com

Goals are probably the most discussed subject on the podcast. As a goal oriented person, I value setting and pursuing goals very highly, and rightfully so. They're the road map to your success. Now, I'm not some goal guru, but I do have some opinions from my own experience. Not that we'll dive into those here, as I'm sure we have in a previous episode. Goals are both simple and complex. By setting a goal, you're essentially defining what you want your life to be. You're visualizing your future. Seems simple enough, right? But then come all the distractions. What do you focus on? What should your goals be? How do you you keep focus? We're going to dig into the focus part. People set goals mostly around health, wealth, and happiness or some combination of those. For instance, you might set a goal around your health. From there, there are many things you could focus on - diet, exercise, fasting, bio-hacking, etc. Pick one of those things, say diet, and you can go even deeper - keto, paleo, carnivore, Atkins, etc. Pick one of those an you can go even deeper. You can begin to see how there are many things you can focus on, just looking at your health. Imagine trying to focus on all of these aspects. It's unfathomable to be able to do all of these things, much less do them well. Mix in the other areas, like wealth and happiness, and you're drowning in things you need to do. But you only have so much time in the day, and so much mental bandwidth to devote to these things. You'll find this dilemma to be true in many areas of your life. Let's look at real estate investing for example. Say you want to invest in real estate. You can buy rent and hold properties, flip properties, develop new properties, buy tax liens, raw land, lend private money, syndicate large apartment deals, wholesale deals, sell real estate as a licensed agent, invest passively, buy turnkey properties, etc. There are so many ways you can be involved in real estate. It would be silly to try to do them all. The solution is simple. Pick one and stick with it. In your journey to achieving a goal, you often have to go small, so you can go big. Yes, go small, so you can go big. Let's break this down with an analogy. In order to see something with more clarity, you have to narrow your focus. Imagine you are looking through binoculars. At first when you look in the binoculars they field of view is wide and you can see almost a 180 degree view. However, what you can see isn't very clear. In order to see something far off in the distance with any clarity, you have to narrow your focus, zooming in on the object. This however, prevents you from seeing everything else, both good and bad. This is going small, so you can go big. The same principle applies when setting and pursuing your goals. Drill down to a very finite detail. Get specific with your goal and your path forward. To simply say, you want to retire early by investing in real estate isn't enough. For one, it isn't specific. What age do you want to retire at? How much net worth or passive income will you need? Most importantly, how? If you don't set especially this last parameter, you'll find yourself looking at raw land deals in South Texas, flips in New Jersey, development deals in California, and everything in between, and almost assuredly never achieving your goal to retire early. So rather, drill down on that goal and narrow your focus.  Here are 5 tips to narrowing your focus.  Write your goals down every day. Doing so will keep that goal in the forefront of your mind.  Audit what distracts you. When you find yourself getting distracted from your long term vision, ask yourself, "Does this help me achieve my goal?".  Only change course intentionally. You may have to change paths from time to time. That's okay, as long as you are doing so intentionally. 

Omar Khan - Chartered Financial Analyst, Investor, & Wealth Manager Omar is the founder and President of Boardwalk Wealth, a private equity firm located in Dallas, Texas. Omar and his team at Boardwalk Wealth  help international investors with US-based multifamily real estate opportunities. Their unique focus is helping Canadians identify ideal commercial real estate in the Southern United States. Omar is responsible for capital raising, strategic planning and investor relations. He has over 10 years of global investment experience.He has participated in capital financing and M&A transactions valued at $3.7 billion. He is a CFA Charterholder and graduated with honors from the University of Toronto with a B.Com in Finance. Omar moved from Canada and lives in Texas with his wife and newborn son. Key Points Investing internationally - following markets that meet your investment criteria Buying vs. renting - what is right for you? How the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affect single family vs. multifamily investing So you're going to rent and invest in multifamily. Now what? Lightning Questions What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? Building a network, and creating relationships organically. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Omar is very organized and lives by his calendar. Do you have an online resource you find valuable? Omar is an avid reader, and also listens to podcasts What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? Investing in Real Estate Private Equity by Sean Cook If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to  get started in real estate investing, what would it be? Continue building more and more relationships. Resources Boardwalk Wealth  Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download! Contact Jacob

In Episode 148 we discussed success and the dichotomies that come along with it. Success is something many people strive for but don't have defined. In order to achieve success, however you define it, you must know what it is you're pursuing. Along the journey to your success, you'll experience many dichotomies, and must be prepared to handle those. These are lessons extrapolated and inspired by Jocko Willink, former U.S. Navy Marine and combat veteran. This episode will focus on goal setting, but with a twist. This is another lesson inspired by Jocko Willink and Leif Babbin in their book, The Dichotomy of Leadership.  See, success and goal setting go together hand in hand. Rarely does one achieve success with out setting goals. And rarely does one set goals without defining success. Staring with the end in mind, it's important to think about what you want your life to be like. Here are some questions that will help you determine that. Who is most important to you and how do you want to spend your time with them? What core values are important to you? I.e. - money, security, health, happiness, How do you want to spend your time, right down to the very day? Do you want to work and build an empire, retire early with a modest lifestyle? These are all things to consider when building your lifestyle by design. By defining these things you can start to picture what success looks like to you, and how to get there. Now that you know what success looks like for you, you can begin setting goals to achieve that success. There are 5 specific qualities your goal must have. Without these 5 qualities, a goal is just a dream and nothing more. Your goal must embody the acronym SMART. S - Specific M - Measurable A - Accountable R - Realistic T - Time If your goal isn't specific, then you can get side tracking in your journey. If you goal is to simply "be rich" or "retire early", those are not specific. What does rich mean? Is it a net worth of one million dollars, ten million dollars, one hundred million dollars? Does retire early mean at 62 and live off social security? Or retire at 40 and surf in San Diego for half the year? Your goal must be measurable. If you can't measure it, you can't track your progress. It must be concrete. You must be held accountable to your goal. You can do this by telling others about your goal, and even having an accountability partner or mentor to keep you on track. If you are held accountable by reporting progress of your goal to someone else, you're much more likely to achieve it. Your goal should be realistic. This is one that trips many people up. People often over estimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in a decade. Just look at new years resolutions for example. While your goal should be attainable, it should also push your limits and force you to level up in order to achieve it. lastly, your goal must me bound by time. You must achieve your goal within a certain time frame. Otherwise, it will just be a "some day" goal, which isn't a goal, but rather a dream. A SMART goal must be specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, and time bound. If setting goals sounds like a waste of time to you, and you're just going to go full steam ahead barreling towards success (that you likely don't have defined) then you may want to rethink that strategy. Jocko Willink talks about a lesson he learned on the battlefield and how it relates to the real world. You see, Jocko was in command of a task unit, comprised of two platoons. He was leading his troops on high stakes mission in Ramadi, Iraq just like he had for hundreds of missions prior. He and his team were clearing a building, and they came across a scenario, which required direction from Jocko.

Matt Manero - Entrepreneur, Author, & Investor Matt launched his first company, Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc. (CFF), in 1995 with a phone, a folding table and the unyielding confidence of a single client, a trucker. Fast forward 23 years and CFF, has funded over $1 billion in transportation equipment with annual business of $150,000,000+. CFF has served more than 10,000 clients and has become one of the largest independently owned transportation equipment finance companies in America. CFF is a 3-time winner of The SMU Cox School of Business 100 Fastest Growing Companies. His companies have been recognized in publications such as Inc. Magazine, Dallas Business Journal, Overdrive Magazine, Fleet Owner, Transport Topics, Commercial Carrier Journal, and Dealer Solutions Magazine. Audiences resonate with his tough-minded and business battle tested philosophies on “company culture”, skilling up and scaling up” and “finding your GRIT”. He is willing and eager to share his positive and negative experiences within both the personal and business world with others. Matt is a sought after speaker within the entrepreneurial and association communities, and has a highly popular podcast aptly named, YOU NEED MORE MONEY. Matt’s first book, THE GRIT, was published in 2015. His latest book, YOU NEED MORE MONEY, launched in March of 2018 and was published by Penguin/Random House. He is happily married to his beloved wife of 19 years, Rokki, and they have 3 amazing boys, John (16), Jack (13), and Julian (12). They live in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. Key Points Who is your ideal customer? Who money is a taboo topic too and why Three stages of wealth: broke, accumulation, and rich Lifestyle by design Stacking and racking cash in accumulation mode False positive - when you think you're doing better than you are Time blocking to maintain your lifestyle by design Lightning Questions What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? Matt was his own worst enemy. With social esteem issues, Matt didn't think he was worthy of connecting with mentors and influencers. He waited too long to find an accountability group. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Matt is a gritty guy. When he says he's going to do something, he does it. After weighing his options, and making a decision, he's all Do you have an online resource you find valuable? Business Finishing School What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to  get started in real estate investing, what would it be? From 20-25, Matt would say worry about things less. Don't worry about how things are going to play out. Resources Matt Manero.com YOU NEED MORE MONEY by Matt Manero The Grit by Matt Manero  Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download!

In Episode 148 we discussed success and the dichotomies that come along with it. Success is something many people strive for but don't have defined. In order to achieve success, however you define it, you must know what it is you're pursuing. Along the journey to your success, you'll experience many dichotomies, and must be prepared to handle those. These are lessons extrapolated and inspired by Jocko Willink, former U.S. Navy Marine and combat veteran. This episode will focus on goal setting, but with a twist. This is another lesson inspired by Jocko Willink and Leif Babbin in their book, The Dichotomy of Leadership.  See, success and goal setting go together hand in hand. Rarely does one achieve success with out setting goals. And rarely does one set goals without defining success. Staring with the end in mind, it's important to think about what you want your life to be like. Here are some questions that will help you determine that. Who is most important to you and how do you want to spend your time with them? What core values are important to you? I.e. - money, security, health, happiness, How do you want to spend your time, right down to the very day? Do you want to work and build an empire, retire early with a modest lifestyle? These are all things to consider when building your lifestyle by design. By defining these things you can start to picture what success looks like to you, and how to get there. Now that you know what success looks like for you, you can begin setting goals to achieve that success. There are 5 specific qualities your goal must have. Without these 5 qualities, a goal is just a dream and nothing more. Your goal must embody the acronym SMART. S - Specific M - Measurable A - Accountable R - Realistic T - Time If your goal isn't specific, then you can get side tracking in your journey. If you goal is to simply "be rich" or "retire early", those are not specific. What does rich mean? Is it a net worth of one million dollars, ten million dollars, one hundred million dollars? Does retire early mean at 62 and live off social security? Or retire at 40 and surf in San Diego for half the year? Your goal must be measurable. If you can't measure it, you can't track your progress. It must be concrete. You must be held accountable to your goal. You can do this by telling others about your goal, and even having an accountability partner or mentor to keep you on track. If you are held accountable by reporting progress of your goal to someone else, you're much more likely to achieve it. Your goal should be realistic. This is one that trips many people up. People often over estimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in a decade. Just look at new years resolutions for example. While your goal should be attainable, it should also push your limits and force you to level up in order to achieve it. lastly, your goal must me bound by time. You must achieve your goal within a certain time frame. Otherwise, it will just be a "some day" goal, which isn't a goal, but rather a dream. A SMART goal must be specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, and time bound. If setting goals sounds like a waste of time to you, and you're just going to go full steam ahead barreling towards success (that you likely don't have defined) then you may want to rethink that strategy. Jocko Willink talks about a lesson he learned on the battlefield and how it relates to the real world. You see, Jocko was in command of a task unit, comprised of two platoons. He was leading his troops on high stakes mission in Ramadi, Iraq just like he had for hundreds of missions prior. He and his team were clearing a building, and they came across a scenario, which required direction from Jocko.

Karen Briscoe - Investor, Author, & Realtor Karen Briscoe is principal owner of the Huckaby Briscoe Conroy Group (HBC) with Keller Williams. The HBC Group has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the 250 Top Realtor® teams in the United States. Further the team has ranked in the top 100 teams with Keller Williams International every year since 2009, the year the group joined KW. The team consists of Karen, her business partner Lizzy Conroy, a managing director, staff of four and seven associate agents. Karen began her real estate career developing residential lots with the Trammel Crow Company in Dallas, Texas. In Northern Virginia she worked in commercial real estate with The Staubach Company prior to entering residential sales. Karen earned a Master's degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and received her BA from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri--her hometown. Karen recently completed the John Maxwell Team Certification Program for Coaching, Speaking and Training. Karen is a contributor to Inman and Real Trends. Key Points Becoming an accidental landlord Defining your investing principals and sticking to them Identifying qualitative vs. quantitative parameters for your investments Not trying to buy home runs, rather slow and steady Buying in the path of progress Success in 5 Minutes a Day Lightning Questions What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? Karen experienced the savings and loan crisis, and that fear held her back. By pursuing opportunities, Karen took action and overcame that fear. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Karen practices a morning routing, inspired by Hal Elrod's  Miracle Morning. Audible Podcasts What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes per Day by Karen Briscoe If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to  get started in real estate investing, what would it be? Start now. Take action. Buy by the fundamentals and have a good strong hold strategy. Resources 5MinuteSuccess.com  Real Estate Success in 5 Minutes per Day by Karen Briscoe  Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download!

Hi, loyal Wealth and Freedom listeners. I have a question for you. What have you been learning lately? This could be from podcasts, books, networking, documentaries, or conversations with people who know something you don't (note: that is everyone on this planet!)? One of my favorite forms of education is reading books. Alternatively, listening to both podcasts and audio books are also great sources I find valuable. Lately, I've read: Wheelbarrow Profits by Jake and Gino Total Control Financial Guide to the QRP by Damion Lupo Raising Private Capital by Matt Faircloth Best Ever Apartment Syndication Book by Joe Fairless and Theo Hicks The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin (audio book) 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson(audio book) Success - it's a common term, and with not so common definitions. Success is something we strive for, talk about, dream about, and even live for. But what we sometimes don't know is what that success is for each of us. Some don't have success nailed down to exact metrics, much less ideas. Rather, they might define success as being happy, health, wealthy, etc. Much less, some don't even have a path to this undefined success. So I encourage you to take some time over the next week and really think about what success looks like to you. Envision your ideal life. Where will you live? Who will be in your life? What will you fill your time doing? What sense of fulfillment will you have? Ultimately, what are your goals in life? Once you have the answers to these, you can start to define success, and map a path to get there. Without doing this, you'll be a pinball to life, going about with no intention and purpose. Looking at success as a final destination isn't necessarily the best approach. Because what is your life in the meantime? Unsuccessful? Well that hardly seems right. After reading The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, I've realized there are dichotomies to just about everything, including success, and it's important to understand and embrace these dichotomies. This may seem obvious on the surface, but let's dig into what these are. Dichotomy is a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different. Success takes hard work. Yes - we've all heard this time and time again. However, for whatever reasons, it doesn't always seem to sink in or we forget about this, and try to shortcut our path to success. We want the easiest path to success. The quickest way to retiring early and spending our days on the beach. But deep down, we know that success doesn't work like that. Success takes hard work - dichotomy number one. You might define success as living a comfortable life filled with luxuries, security, and plenty of wealth. But on the contrary the path to success can be quite uncomfortable, insecure, and certainly not luxurious. So you must embrace this discomfort and sacrifices that success will require from you. You might define success and living an adventurous lifestyle with your friends and family, bringing them along for the ride. But your path to success may require you to outgrow some of those friends, and put aside they're agendas, goals (or lack thereof), etc. You may have to set out on your pursuit to success alone. The biggest dichotomy I see people face is one of scarcity now vs. abundance later. Some people define success as being able to retire early. They save and save and save, deferring income, experiences, and life for a later time. They hope that one day they will have success, but for now they continue to work and hope that one day comes. We've come to call this a 401(k) in modern day terminology! This is a dichotomy that a lot of people have out of balance. See, you don't have to live a scarce life now,

Ryan Wright - Entrepreneur, Real Estate Investor & Hard Money Lender Ryan G Wright is the CEO of DoHardMoney.com. Almost 10 years ago, Ryan started investing in fix and flip properties. He soon saw that it was difficult to get funding quickly on these properties, much less from reputable and reliable sources. He saw a need and filled it: he founded Do Hard Money.com. Coming from a background of real estate investing, he understood the needs investors have. He wanted to provide a way for others to grow their real estate investing business by offering short term loans with no money down and no monthly payments. The solution was Do Hard Money, a private hard money company that offers short-term funding for real estate investors. He began his career in real estate at 21, working in the mortgage industry. The Salt Lake Board of Realtors named him the “Real Estate Rookie of the Year” his first year in the industry. His previous real estate company won “Best of State” for the state of Utah. He was also awarded the State of Utah Young Entrepreneur award in 1996. Having completed hundreds of short sales in his career, he has first-hand experience in closing successful short sales and going through the process from a lender’s perspective. Key Points The life cycle of a real estate investor Your first deal likely won't be a home run, but do it anyways! Renting slightly under market to avoid vacancy Building out separate business ventures from your original niche Hard money - what it is, when and who should use it Lightning Questions What was your biggest hurdle getting started in real estate investing, and how did you overcome it? Fear as a big hurdle. With the support and confidence from his wife, Ryan was able to get started. Do you have a personal habit that contributes to your success? Early to bed, early to rise. No TV, and always learning. Do you have an online resource that you find valuable? Sleep Cycle App What book would you recommend to the listeners and why? High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod Shoe Dog by Phil Knight If you were to give advice to your 20 year old self to  get started in real estate investing, what would it be? Start sooner! Find someone who will help you along your journey. Lear from their mistakes and successes. Stand on the shoulder of giants. Resources DoHardMoney.com Click here for a free digital download of How to Get All The Money You Could Ever Handle: A Real Estate Investor’s Guide To Funding Deals by Ryan Wright  Visit Audible for a free trail and free audio book download! Sponsor Details Check out Commercial Loan Success , using this link for special pricing