The Everyday Millionaire Show
The Everyday Millionaire Show
From Event Rentals to Property Ventures - Jett Hennigan (Full Podcast)
Discover how Jet Hennigan transformed Dreamers Event Rentals from a modest family venture into a thriving enterprise. By facing challenges head-on, including skill gaps and differing visions, Jet leveraged financial strategies and robust marketing systems to propel the company forward. This episode unpacks the evolution of the business, from its humble beginnings to a large-scale operation, and the pivotal role of debt in fueling business expansion.
Jet doesn't just stop at tents and tables. He ventures into real estate, bravely tackling analysis paralysis and working through the intricacies of the BRRRR strategy. With mentorship and networking at the core of his story, Jet reveals the power of having the right advisors and the essential leap from theory to real-world experience.
Welcome to the Everyday Millionaire Show with Ryan Greenberg and Nick Kalkas. Alright, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Everyday Millionaire Show. We're here with Jet. Oh, I should have said this before, hennigan right.
Speaker 2:Hennigan yeah.
Speaker 1:I always do it before I'm like is this the right pronunciation of your name? Because we've had some hard people on the show and I've butchered names. But Jet Hennigan, jet with Dreamers Dreamers Event Rentals. We have a lot to talk about today because you own a tent rental company but you also started buying real estate and we have built a relationship through coaching and now running and just business in general, so we wanted to have you on talk about your business, how you built it. That's one of the things we do is talk about different people's businesses and how they've gotten successful and, yeah, and to talk about kind of your journey, your next journey in the real estate world.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So first question is what made you start an event rental or tent rental company to begin with?
Speaker 2:So my brother actually started it, um, like the first founder, and then I became I've worked from day one in it and then became a partner 50, 50, probably two to three years into it. And then my third brother actually joined maybe a year after that. So at one point in time there was three of us and, um, the reason for starting was he had a hamster detailing it was a mobile detailing company and he sold that to get into the rentals and from day one, like I didn't have a plan after high school or kind of a senior year of high school. So that's kind of why I joined, to be honest, not really having a plan of anything I knew I wanted to get into business from day one. Didn't know what it was going to be.
Speaker 1:So is any anything entrepreneurial you were, you were into? Oh yeah, we were talking today about how people are so drawn or pushed to go to college and get that degree and help other people go into business. And you know the teacher, the famous thing you don't want to grow up and be a garbage man or a plumber. And now the plumbers are making 10x what the teachers are making. So the company that you built, what was like the hurdles that you guys faced Because now you guys are successful, you're doing seven figures what were some of the hurdles that you took on when you're starting the business?
Speaker 2:Not knowing what the heck you were doing and learning as you go. To be honest, I'd say some of the big ones was not having an individual skill set like a mastered skill set. Like we kind of just had a product we bought, you know, we bought inventory, started renting it out, gaining some small momentum that way, but then it wasn't until probably 2018 or 2019. It took a couple of years before I mostly took the initiative to teach marketing. So we kind of fired or got rid of the marketing agency that we were working with and I took that over. My brother took over the financing because we really didn't have any systems in place for that. Like everything was kind of just put together. And then my brother unfortunately passed away in 2021. But he left the company in 2018. So then it came back to just Kevin and I and we still didn't really have any systems in place. It was still kind of like two brothers now owning the company and just working for ourselves.
Speaker 2:Essentially, when Kevin left the company through COVID, that's when I started to and like right before COVID, I should say is when I really cranked it up a notch to self-teach, you know, in every avenue and category that I could be, but primarily the financing like we would. I was raised that cash is king and that slowed. I feel that slowed us down a ton because we would wait, have money, buy new stuff, wait, have money, buy new stuff. The minute that I kind of started running things my own way, instantly took out a hundred thousand dollar loan and the next year made we went from 863 to probably 1.2 in one year. So like you spent, you know you finance a hundred thousand, you go up 400,000 in revenue. So kind of leveraging, um, our cashflow and leveraging uh financial leverage is kind of the key to how I you came on the right show because we love debt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we love debt.
Speaker 4:I grew up the same way. My dad always taught me like cash is king, cash is king. And then, as I get older, I start to realize like leveraging debt gets me a lot farther than it would if I'm just using the cash that I have. Basically, and I'm interested to hear a little bit more. When you first started out, you said you basically just started out working with your brother and then a few years later you partnered up. How did that partnership form from uh, you starting out as, I guess, just as an employee working with him into that partnership years later?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it was in the plans from day one. It was just a matter of timing, um, and I definitely think I love my brother to death. But I do think it was kind of like a control thing at first. Like I think he knew, like I don't know like kind of like a right-hand man or a wingman or so, like he knew I would follow with him and go into the business and do whatever. But I think I don't really know what made him decide of being a partner. But we kind of knew it was going to happen eventually and I will say that it's.
Speaker 2:That was another thing. When you talk about like how we grew, we we worked well for a while but then we didn't like it, you could just tell that things were good. But then I'm a huge speaker on vision and our visions were just two different visions and I wanted to continue to grow and I think he was a little bit more on the comfortable side. So it not having the right or the same vision or the right same targets within a company and having two owners like that's that was a challenge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I faced that challenge still to this day with a partner, and Tyler and I've been in business together for a long time now and we still always have to have those tough conversations of like hey, our, our goals aligning, and I think that's a huge piece of business. Everybody gets into different phases in their life and, like you said, some people become more comfortable, some people have people that rely on them, some people don't. You know, if you're single, you have different. We were talking today at our meeting today about, like risk tolerance. Some people have the want for risk. We actually mentioned Nick. Jet was asking like how did Nick do everything so fast? And I'm like well, part of it is you just had giant balls to take on all the things that you did. And it's kind of true, like I was telling about your house that you bought, like I would have never in a million years put a hundred thousand dollar deposit down on a house that I didn't know I was going to be approved to buy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you were like fuck it, let's do it, basically, and and that I think um is something when you do have business partners, that it's important to have those constant open lines of communication about hey, what are we doing? What is the? Where is thes? Are we hitting those goals? Do we want to move them or are we good here? Do we want to just optimize where we're at? So that's a constant struggle in business. Just in general, I feel like, especially having a partner Now, do you find it more difficult or easier that you're by yourself?
Speaker 2:I was actually thinking that, yeah, it's, there's pros and cons to both. To be honest, I think it's a tough one to answer, because I think in some areas it's way more beneficial because you, I guess, when you come from an area, like if he was aggressive and I was conservative, I think it would have been a little bit different, because it's like, you know, I have to keep up. But instead it was the other way around, where I felt like I was constantly, you know, pulling him, like, hey, let's keep going, let's try to do this or grow this. And it's funny because he texted me, I don't know, maybe two years ago, and was just giving me praise you know, I'm really proud of you, et cetera, et cetera. And we he reflected on the fact that probably in 2019, I was asking, telling him, hey, we need to go to a different location, we need to be around. You know a different area.
Speaker 2:And Owings Mills was on the radar. I remember looking at a warehouse. We moved to Reisterstown, owings Mills, in 2021. But this was two years before. You know, before that that I was already kind of saying like I already had the vision in my mind. I knew where we needed to be, I knew where I wanted to be and he, I think I don't know he's brought it up before that he's like shit, you were right, like we should have. And it's just like when you think about a story and a journey, like it could have been so much different. It could have been like if COVID didn't happen, who knows where we would have been, you know, between him and I, between the company, so I guess the stars aligned to you know, put me in a good position to take over, but yeah.
Speaker 4:So you said your brother left the company in 2018?
Speaker 2:No, my brother. There was three brothers total me and two others. Timmy passed away in 2021, but he left the company in 2018. Kevin is a different brother. He left the company during COVID Because it was we. I'll never, never, ever, like, forget this. Like I have charts with all the data and sales numbers and everything in April of 2020.
Speaker 2:We lit like it's the only month that the line literally just disappears that we made $0 in April of 2020. Like, we had deposits coming in, we were going for another year, another big year, and then COVID happened. So we lost everything in terms of having to give deposits back. We deferred every payment possible, like we, we were in survival mode for probably four to five months and then he left in June. So that was in April, was when it kind of all started to get really bad, and then he left in June of that year, just got a job. He works full time, same company now, so and he's happy that way. We've talked about it Like I don't know. That's why I said like, even if it wasn't for COVID, I don't know if the stars were still aligning between us and the company.
Speaker 4:So once things started to pick back up, like, did you need somebody to replace him or were you fine? Oh, it was hell on your own.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there was a period of time. So I don't know how well your memory is. Everybody has their own COVID story. In the tent world we went from nothing to popping like that and it took one speech from Hogan that said up to 75 people could be outdoors celebrating or whatever. And then people started encouraging going outdoors because they were saying it was safer, you know space, you know not being confined in a building, and that like literally just weak, I couldn't keep up. I remember like I wouldn't even call them happy tears, but like I was so busy that I had no other, I didn't know what to do about it and just be like this is crazy and you're crying like cause, like I can't keep up.
Speaker 2:I looking at it back then, but there wasn't time Like like we literally were getting really busy really fast. My parents helped actually a lot. They started taking phone calls for me and just getting the information, cause the more I got pulled out of the office, the harder it was to catch back up, and you're working 24 hours a day basically. So that was a very, very, very challenging uh thing to overcome, but I didn't really. It's almost like you didn't really know whether to go forward even faster or take a step back and try to plan this thing out. Like you, you didn't even have time to make that decision, so we just got through being seasonal we I got to the fall, and then that was when I had time to reflect, and that's when we moved down to Reister's town and things just changed from there.
Speaker 4:So at that time did you have like a warehouse for all the tents that you would store?
Speaker 2:Yep, it was. So check this out. It was on my parents' property like a little I don't know 42 by 45 size pole barn. It was just a small building and they told me in August yeah, they told me in August of 2020 that they were moving to Delaware and that I had three months. They said they're putting the house up and they're going to sell in October or something. And, um, I had three months to move out and find a new place and everything. So I actually paid rent to the he put it in the contract um, that I was allowed to stay there even after they sold the house. So I had three months and, um, yeah, so that was a the time was ticking Cause I didn't have a space.
Speaker 2:I was looking at Catonsville. I was looking at where we're at now and maybe like two more, but when you look, oh, that's a lie Liberty road. There was a couple in there that I looked at, but we're in 10,000 square feet now and we we moved to this place that we're in now and it was only 5,000, but I got the next unit over. So now we have the two units combined and we cut a hole in the wall, so now we can get the forklift through. But I remember walking into that place, looking at it and saying this is too big, like we. We had to grow into that place. So it's like it's more of like a. This isn't the best thing. But looking back now I couldn't imagine all the other buildings I was looking at to keep costs down. They were like 3000 square foot, 4000 square foot and knowing what I know now about the growth, like we would have outgrown that in a year or two.
Speaker 4:How many tents do you have?
Speaker 2:Um, that's a great question. Probably 50 to 60.
Speaker 4:Like what are the size variations?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 20 by 20 is the smallest, and then they just go up in rectangles from there, so it's 2020, 20, 20, 30, 20, 40. And then it jumps up to a 30, 30, 30, 45, 30, 60, and then 40, 40, 40, 60, 40, 80.
Speaker 4:Do you do any like table rentals also? Yeah, okay, so you do it all Tables chairs, yep.
Speaker 2:Dance floor lighting trash cans. Basically, we call it all the essentials basically Like all the essentials.
Speaker 4:Basically, we don't do a lot of decor and people put a lot of floral stuff. That's not us. It's more or less the canvas. And what is your zone, your work zone? Do you stay in Baltimore? How far out do you travel to deliver this stuff?
Speaker 2:I learned this from someone else in the industry. They said our service area is as far as someone's willing to pay, basically. So I always make that example If someone offered, offered us a hundred grand to go to California, we would, but obviously that's not you know a thing. But we've been to Virginia, we've been to DC a lot. We have a lot of work actually in the DC area, primarily where we're at, and then we try to stay away from the North just because of pricing differentials there's. You could get like if our 2020, if I'm making it up would be 500 bucks, they're going to be, you know, 250, 300. So we, anytime we get jobs in Hanover or Pennsylvania, we try to, we'll do it, but we steer clear of PA.
Speaker 4:And is it I'm asking these questions now because I'm a potential customer for the summer Is it like a package deal, like the tent and the chairs and the tables?
Speaker 2:Yeah, can get it all together. Yeah, that's something we can help you with. Are you about to have?
Speaker 1:a party, you know, baby that's what we do summer, though he does have a good yard for it. Yeah, he has a good yard for it. That's that is true. You got to get a boat first. Are you going to the boat show to get a boat this weekend?
Speaker 4:I'm gonna try to okay good thing yeah, how long?
Speaker 3:uh, how long have you been? Obviously you've been working in the business for a while. How long have you been working outside of the business? Are you still working in the business, like actively, like going and running tents and stuff like that?
Speaker 2:yep, so I basically put out fires pretty much as my job at this point. Um, that's another thing about the growth that we were talking about, like in terms of the financial leverage, and that's really excelled us a lot. It's the same thing in operations. So for one, we're seasonal. So, like right now, I have all the time in the world, and that's where everyone asks us the same question, like when people aren't renting tents, what are you doing in the business? That's my bread and butter.
Speaker 2:I love the off season because it gives you all the time to reflect and improve, and that's what you see each year of getting better and better. We used to have these printed off laminated sheets where we would check off what goes in the truck for a tent. Now everything's digital and you can check it with a picture and a description. So little advancements. Like that is what we do in the off season. So now my role is still finance, marketing, hr, like all the back end stuff, but then it's more or less overseeing.
Speaker 2:I do a lot of data analytics every day, tracking our numbers, making sure we're on pace and hitting our targets and if there's any issues over here and that's why I say like I'm putting out fires, uh, all the time If we're. I don't run a lot of routes. I will if I have to, but like most of the time because I just think about my time and where it's most valuable within the company, um, it's mostly spent on the preparation so that the operation can still follow through, you know. So I just try to help them as much as I can. If they're falling back in any category or any area, I'll fill in there.
Speaker 4:So you talked about when Hogan mentioned that there could be gatherings, you know, around COVID time, and you guys kind of blew up. How did people find you Like, did you do marketing at that time, or did people just already know about you and they were just ready to order tents, or what did that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. Um. Google's definitely where we get majority, if not all you know, it's a lot of it coming from search. Um, cause I've always looked at it like this Like we can have a conversation of our favorite fast food or our favorite you know clothing brands or whatever, but not many people. It's such a niche market Not many people. How many people do you know in a tent company?
Speaker 4:One out of one.
Speaker 2:It's like I speak a foreign language when I talk about what we do, but then you don't realize you might never need us, but then that one time you're having it it's like you just see a picture or whatever. We're definitely trying to shift towards more social. I've tried paid social before. We've paid to have a company run paid social before. We just haven't gotten the return, as we do on Google. But what's interesting about the Google budget and I think also relates to the growth is I don't know exactly, but I want to say we were spending maybe $28,000 to $40,000 a year on ads and we cranked it up and literally doubled it, like through the growth of the year. So like then we started spending 70 and then 80. And so we're right around about $100,000 in marketing, but we're seeing the return on it. That's what I think is contributing to the growth.
Speaker 4:And what months I know, like obviously the busiest are like spring and summer, but like, is it like a certain temperature outside to where it just drops off like completely?
Speaker 2:so, yeah, we just had tents in the snow this past week. Like, yeah, like it. A better way to look at it is like we have tents whenever someone wants and we have heaters, so like you can get a heater and it's a heated tent. Um, that's very, very popular at this time of year, but um, and does it have like plastic that comes down, that? Yeah, those are called sidewalls, so you can get clear, solid windowed. You can get.
Speaker 4:We have a bunch of different options do you ever do like um, like bouncy houses or like water slides and stuff we used to?
Speaker 2:yeah, we used to have four inflatables but we got rid of them. They're a pain and especially because 90 of the time, if not all the time, they're on the weekend. So when we set our tents up, we usually deliver on a Wednesday, thursday and a Friday to get it done, unless you needed it for a surprise party or if you're at a venue. A lot of times there's restrictions of when you can get in. So then you're working all week long and see back in the day like we were doing all the installations and doing all the cleaning, like there was no, there was helpers, but we were the team. Now we literally have operations manager, crew leaders, assistants, people that can actually we can delegate the work a lot better and, in terms of availability, like you're not so spread paper thin in terms of doing everything yourself. So it's a lot easier for us. Now, if you wanted your tent installed on a Saturday, we have somebody within the line that's going to pick that up for extra hours or whatever.
Speaker 2:Back in the day with the inflatables, we were doing all the tents and then we got into inflatables and then you're working on Saturday and Sunday too Like just just a tough grind, honestly. And they're all same day service, because you can't leave the inflatable. It kills the grass. You can't some companies do. But like that's not what we did with the inflatables, We'll leave a tent up from Wednesday to Tuesday, depending on the location and etc. But the inflatable you'll drop it off in the morning and pick it up when their party's over. And it was miserable, especially the water slide. We used to have a water slide and that thing it it gets so dirty.
Speaker 3:I I worked with a like a pop-up bounce company when I was like 14 or 15 and they get so dirty and they're not fun to roll. They're heavy oh, it's so heavy oh my goodness, you just had one of your last. Yeah, waterside, or something.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's fast forward to about a year and a half or a year or so ago. You called me based on a referral for real estate coaching or just to get into real estate, and then you've been a victim of analysis paralysis in the real estate world for several years.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like all of us. Not like Nicky boy over here. I'm not speaking for Nick. He jumped right in.
Speaker 1:So what and why triggered you to contact me back then? That's a great question you to contact me back then? That's a great question. Um so cause we? Just just for everybody's reference, we just started working together two, two or three months ago now.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's the frame of reference. It was a year or so last summer, maybe yours.
Speaker 2:Uh, it was when I got the trust built out, which was, um, probably March timeline. Yeah, so we're probably rolling up on a year. Yeah, I got your information. I remember we had that phone call and I thought you, like I thought I just talked to Bill Gates on the phone Like I was so hyped after talking with you and I'm like this guy can really help me, like he sounds like the real deal off the one phone call and I was super excited. But then we got busy and I texted him and was like hey, like you asked about my role, like when it's it sucks, because like when it's peak season, it's peaks, it's just there's a lot going, it's a lot. It's like all the work is all at the same time, like week after week after week. There's a very little break from, you know, in between there, and so we just got extremely busy and I had to put it on hold. So then I reached out to him in the fall and we had lunch and picked it back up. The timing of it, though that's the interesting part.
Speaker 2:I've wanted to get into real estate probably for six, seven years now and never moved an inch. You know, I watched all the courses, read all the books and self-taught myself everything, and you know, you think about marketing. Like I can run an ad I mean, there's always going to be somebody better than you but like I can put an ad campaign together, I can create a video. It might not be the best, but I can create one. You self teach yourself. You teach yourself these things. But I don't know why I got so paralyzed on real estate. Um, because I just wouldn't, I guess. I guess the stakes were higher and, um, meeting you has changed all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I always say to people real estate is a gift and a curse, because there's a lot of zeros in every transaction. Mistakes have more zeros on the back end of them than other businesses. If you fail making a pizza, it costs you $10. If you fail at a house, it could cost you $100,000. So that, I think, is one reason why a lot of people get that analysis paralysis. I'd love to hear from Nick, because I feel like you don't have that at all and you never really had that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean, I never really had that the way I looked at it when I first started investing. I started investing in 2018. And I just looked at the life cycle and I didn't want to fall into that same trap of like getting up, going to work and coming home and doing the same thing until you're able to retire and maybe you don't have the money that. Maybe you have the money at that time, but then you're at an age to where you can't really have fun with it as you could at a younger age and I'm like, what do I need to do? I'm like I need to. I thought about a couple of different things and I kind of like fell on real estate and I just put the word out there, like I want to buy a rental property. I just told myself I just wanted to buy one, had a buddy reach out, I ended up buying it.
Speaker 4:Figuring you know, fumbling through each step of the process Primarily did the Burr method on most of my properties and each step along the way I was just, you know, figuring it out. I wasn't focused on two or three steps ahead, I was just focusing on what was right in front of me, so I never really thought about anything negative that would happen. I would, just because I was only at one step. If I thought about all the negatives that could happen on every single step of the birth process, then I'd probably talk myself out of it. It was like find the property, buy it, then find somebody who can renovate it, then find someone who can help me rent it out, or or you know, find someone to rent it out and then find you know a mortgage company to refinance it and then just repeat that process. And that's what I did.
Speaker 1:I never focused multiple steps ahead, it was just basically what was right there in front of me and Jet and I had a conversation today about this of, like, if you talk to a bunch of people that have been in the game or not even I don't want to say in the game, but like have owned a rental property, you're going to hear a lot of people with like terrible stories, like headaches. And I think the question you asked for, like statistically, what is it going to be?
Speaker 1:of a headache and I'm like look, you're going to have issues. There's going to be issues in every business, or any business that's worth anything but the wins or will outweigh the losses in the long term. I feel like in real estate, just in general. Um, but I think that next step, like what nick was saying and we've talked about this on some of our at some of our sessions like the mins, like the most, what's the most important next step? That was something that brandon turner mentioned, that, that acronym that he said that and I was like I was thinking that but I never put like a name to it. But like what's the most important next step? Like Chase and I are building out this acquisitions wholesaling company, like what is the next step in the sequence? Is it finding another acquisitions guy? Is it finding more cold callers? Is it? And just focusing on that next step, that really makes you hyper-focus and forget about all the possible issues that you can have.
Speaker 4:Yeah, because we're all going to fail and it's like you know you want to fail fast and get it out of the way and just keep moving on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what's some of the stuff that like has changed, because you went from six years of analysis analysis to coming on board. Um, now you have your first rental property. Like what kind of broke those barriers for you?
Speaker 2:One I would say would just be the trust factor, like I guess having you in my corner, so to speak, like to bounce things off of. Like I guess when you're doing things on your own which is abstract to what you know Nick did or unless you did you have anybody like kind of holding your hand or you know someone you could bounce ideas off of, or whatever. You just kind of went in.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I just went in by myself, um, and I was just figuring it out along the way yeah, I mean, I reached out to a couple, like a few people who were already in real estate to kind of ask them, like hey, do you have a contractor? And this was, like I said, in 2018, when I needed to find my first contractor hard money lender um, I reached out to another person on that and I didn't even know what the term hard money was. I didn't know what hard money was and that's what it was and finally got somebody who would lend to me and I just kept kept the ball moving.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I feel like there's two sides to the coin, like there's always that thing that everybody says, like find somebody, if you have, if you want something, find somebody that has what you want and figure out you know what they did and learn from them, you know. So it's like at first I guess I took and my wife and I have talked about this before like why was I so stuck? Because if it's a different arena and if it's a different field that I'm playing on, such as rentals or tent rentals or whatever, like I'm not going to say I'm not scared, like I think we're all scared at some point, but I had no problem taking out a hundred thousand. Like that didn't even. I didn't even flinch, like it was nothing to me because I knew I was confident in my decision-making to get a return on that, I knew exactly what to buy and I just feel like I was able to navigate those decisions a lot more confidently.
Speaker 2:But then, when it came to the real estate thing, it's like I just I guess you just have to get over that first step, which I just couldn't and total mental blockage I kept, and it's almost like the more you don't take action, like I just kept getting more pissed off that I wasn't taking action because, for somebody that owns a business, read the books, took the courses, did like there's no reason, like you just jumped right in and made it happen. I had every reason to do it and just didn't. So it's like that's when I started to realize that I knew this was kind of quote unquote bigger than myself, didn't. So it's like that's when I started to realize that I knew this was kind of quote unquote bigger than myself. Um, so meeting up with you, I guess for one gave me the confidence and the trust that like okay, like even not that if I fall or fail or whatever.
Speaker 2:But at least this idiot can do it, then anybody can do it, but that's what he really just having that trust, um, and confidence like that, when, when I have a question, I'll text you and the very first it wasn't even Streeper, it was another deal, or I don't even know if it was a deal. I was just making up numbers, like looking at random properties and trying to analyze them, and one of our first calls you taught me something, and I forget what it was specifically, but just how the refinance side of the BRRRR strategy works to get it back and put it into, and I'm like that was game changing. I don't know if you remember that, but like I didn't understand the math, I'm like, hold on, can you just one more time, like how the hell are you getting this number? And then it clicked and like just that, one thing alone that day and then the next one. So like the value and the way you jumped right in.
Speaker 3:I already feel like I've, you know, climbed a mountain in terms of where I was and where I'm at knowledge wise, like understanding the game more I feel like, when you have somebody like that in your corners, part of why, like in january of this year, I, kind of me and ryan partnered up and last year it was last year, now it's 2025.
Speaker 3:But I mean, I I kind of did the same thing right like I was in my first flip, didn't really know too much, stumbled through that and you find a contractor that knows what they're doing and knows what they're talking about. It's really hard to to miss those things now when you're looking at the flip and somebody that's you know has 30 rental properties and has done like 100 plus rehabs in a year, like they know what, what to look for and what to find, and that can really accelerate your growth. Last year I did one flip. This year we're already on. I mean, we just bought our first flip of this year.
Speaker 3:So, um, you know, I, I think, did a couple more last year yeah, we did, did a couple more last year, so it just accelerates that growth. Do you think, nick, in your opinion, you would have accelerated even further along if you had like?
Speaker 4:someone like that on your, on your side. Yeah, I think 100. I mean mentorship and coaching is very important to somebody's just getting started like why would you want to go through the trouble like I did? I don't recommend doing that, right, you want, you don't want to go through that trouble, you want to find somebody it's time consuming.
Speaker 4:It's hard very it's very time consuming. Somebody can literally eliminate all of that just by explaining to you their history of what they did and what failures they had, in order for you to prevent going through that process Not only that, the network right, Like that's super important, because now I don't have to go look on Facebook, Now I don't have to go talk to anybody.
Speaker 3:I just text Ryan, hey, who's your trash guy? Hey, who's this guy, who's that guy? Right, and he already has them. He's already, he's already priced them, he's already gotten three different quotes from each plumber and each electrician guy and you know he's bid those guys you know right. So that way he's built the relationships. Now just text him like hey, who's this guy? Like, where do I find someone to do this work? Right, and that network is game changing because now you don't have to go do all that time consuming task and the knowledge too. It's a big part.
Speaker 1:So I think the one kind of block and obviously Jets not in this situation, but it is hard for some people to get over like the financial part of hiring a coach where, jet, you have a successful company, you make plenty of money to hire me company, you make plenty of money to hire me Um, but that's one of the reasons that we're trying to build out this community for people. Um, that can, that could be affordable place to bring people together for this network. Um, but not everybody can afford to hire the coach or pay for um that course or whatever. So I think being um just getting involved in in networks is is important in itself, um, but do you see, like the value in what you're doing with me every week, like how we are building out your portfolio and all that stuff?
Speaker 2:oh, a hundred percent, yeah. And and look at my story as a whole, like, let's just look at the opportunity cost, like not not saying that if we would have met and we'll just say six years, it was six, seven it's been a long time I've had real estate on my mind, um, but I think back then I was, I knew I had to build the business and then, you know, transfer over and I didn't really know the timing of when that moment was going to happen, but like it's almost like I was trying to make it happen all the time as soon as I possibly could, but then it got to a point where, okay, like there's no other excuse on the table that you can make to not get into real estate. So I think that you know, I always say that priority creates time and it was a priority to me now more than it ever was in the past. And if you look at that as a example, what's the opportunity cost of waiting six years? What if, just hypothetically, if we would have met six years ago and let's just hypothetically say I have 20 properties, I wasted all that time not betting on myself and not betting on taking that risk which, who knows, it could have been better, it could have been worse. I mean, now you're getting into the conversation of does everything happen for a reason, or how much control do you have? But I look at the acceleration.
Speaker 2:Like Chase was saying, like I think I've and this is a bold statement but I've learned more from you in two months than I've learned in six years on my own, like from all the content that I've consumed of real estate. That's not a joke. Like you've taught me a ton. We walked the property or we walked, you know, a house. The one time we did the four in a in one day or whatever, and just between those four you took me from a completely shelled out one to a fully finished and it's like just walking and seeing that process.
Speaker 2:That was one of the smartest things I think that you could have done. I'm not going to lie. If I'm being honest, I was like why the hell am I look like this isn't something that I can get into. I don't even know. Like that, like you were showing me multifamily, you're showing me the fully blown out and that was something that we weren't even on the radar for. So at first I didn't understand it, but literally I drove home that night or that day and was just like damn. I just saw so much and learned more by seeing than you know.
Speaker 1:Something you could see in a video online yeah, I think there's a huge difference in doing it and or watching it right, like I learned more by we talked about this. I I had a big loss last year on a bit on a flip that we did. I learned more on that flip, um, just about how to analyze deals, how to listen to chase when he tells me it's probably not a good deal, and I was, like you know, at that time feeling myself we probably made, uh, you know, multiple six figures that the last couple months flipping houses I was like I can't lose, like I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that humbled the shit out of me and still to this day it kind of like ruined me a little bit in the way where I'm like, oh, I'm like a little bit apprehensive, but in a good way, where I'm like I've been doing this professionally now full time for a long time and I'm still making mistakes and hopefully those mistakes, by coaching, by talking to you, can teach other people to not make those same mistakes, to analyze the deal really really well, know where the heck you're buying and what it's going to be worth at the end. So I think you know anybody that is looking to get into the game the cost of getting into a community or getting into a coaching situation will weigh out way like the benefits will weigh out way the costs, in my opinion. So, and that that I guess I'm a little biased because I'm your coach, but but we are trying to, and that's part of the reason that we wanted to to have you on is almost like you know, just to be fully transparent, like a testimonial of like what we're doing.
Speaker 1:We I, I built out um a bunch of notes and you and I have talked about the coaching business and like I'm like, hey, what can I do better, what can I like, what can I do to help and add value, um, more value, in your life, and that has been a huge help.
Speaker 1:Just your feedback on the stuff that we're building out, one day nickel by a computer and help put some of this content together for, for our course. But um, um, the the time that we get to spend together not only helps you, but it helps me learn how to help more people, so that that time I think is is invaluable for both of us, where I can actually see there and sit and watch your success and then say, oh, we could have um accelerated this or we could have done this or we could have done this better. We could have, you know, maybe bought two, maybe bought three, maybe bought a multifamily. Um, and I think that that's huge for me too, just like being able to see from the outside in of like your excitement, like you got a house.
Speaker 3:Now we're going to be basically finishing up in the next couple of weeks and then renting it out and getting the next one, so that, um, how long did it take you guys before I mean cause I kind of know an idea, but like when you started coaching to the first deal, how long was that process?
Speaker 2:Well, whatever day, we went to, lunch was the first time we talked, and then I closed on December 13th. Um, and what's crazy is we had a video call one time and he said that his goal for me would be to have the first deal in 30 days. And I'm like on camp, like on the video call, I'm like, oh, okay, cool, yeah, yeah, I hung up texting my wife. Same shit. I'm like dude Ryan wants to have a house in 30 days.
Speaker 2:Like I, if, if this is real, if I guess it's like and that's it's like seeing is believing Like when you go six years, like look, it took me six years of wanting and not getting and achieving, and then you're telling me 30 days from right, now I'm going to potentially be closing, like it just, it just did. I couldn't wrap my head around it. And that's again another reason of why it's like when you're not alone and when you have a real player in your on your team, to play on your team, like you, you need to build a strong team, and chase was talking about networking. Like meeting you, then met him and now meeting him, like you just start to grow and expand in that area, which there is no price tag. You can't. It's like an infinite amount that you can put on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it was. It was. My goal was, within 30 days of starting to to do five years of of work that you've been putting in is basically just finding you that the right deal that made sense and this deal wouldn't have made sense for some other people.
Speaker 3:The way that I structured it, like you know, yeah, it was super creative because I mean we do, we were, we were going back and forth brainstorming and that's a part of the network, dude, that that Ryan has, that Nick has, that we've kind of all built here, is like we all like. When we have a deal, we're like, oh, who is this fit for Right? Like which one of our investors do we want it, do we want you know, is this better fit for a jet or is this a better fit for our New York investors? It's better fit for our overseas investor. Like, who does this property in this deal fit for? Or how can we get really creative and make it work for somebody that is just trying to get their first one and get something under their belt?
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about the breakdown of this and how this kind of played out. So we're going to say it's going to rhyme a little bit, but Brett and Jet, this is a fun time writing the contracts, brett and Jet. But so Brett is a friend of mine who now is a friend who I literally quoted a kitchen remodel for and then saw that he had an Ironman sticker on his bike and I was like, oh, you do Ironmans, iron mans. He's like, yeah, I've done like four or five iron mans and I'm like, and he lives in my neighborhood and I'm like, oh, dude, like I'm training for one right now. Like we started talking now I'm about to remodel his kitchen, starting on monday. But he, um was like, yeah, I do a couple, uh, real estate deals a year. Like I have this many rentals I'm trying to get rid of one, I'm trying to to buy he's actually bidding on I don't know if he won or not, but a nine unit building right now.
Speaker 1:And he was like, can you sell this one property for me? And he told me the number he was looking for and I was like, hmm, that's not going to make sense for somebody with hard money because of just the fees and the stuff that goes along with it. I'm like what's your note at? And he told me the note. It wasn't very much because he had paid a bunch of it down and he had put a big down payment down and he had some appreciation and I was like, okay, so would you be okay, seller, financing part of this transaction so my investor can come in and put a down payment down and pay off the bank? And then he became the bank. So now Brett never intended to be a lender, but now he's your lender and you are basically taking a loan out from him that didn't actually come out of his pocket.
Speaker 1:So we got super creative with the fact that I turned somebody that's a medical device salesman into a lender, sold his property, wholesaled it to you and now you have your first property, which wouldn't have made sense for somebody that had to go the hard money route, had to pay the fees, the points, the 10, 12% interest. On top of it, all that stuff. You're able to buy the house. We're going to refinance it in there's 90 days, so it'll be, uh, february, march, march. We're going to get all the money back and then be able to do it again. And then brett gets paid back in full and he was able to make a little bit more than what he originally anticipated, because you're paying him a fair interest rate on top of what, but it's still less than what hard money was. So that was. And no agent fees too. And no agent fees well, I, there was a five thousand dollar assignment fee, but yeah, but besides that, you know, beats a listing agent and a buyers agent.
Speaker 3:So right.
Speaker 1:So that um, but that's how you make deals in this game. I feel like, is you have to think, especially now, like you were asking me today about um. You know partially how nick grew and how we grew uh, so fast, but, like dude, back in 2017, 2018, it was hard to miss, like it, any deal that we bought then is worth more now, like there's not a single house that I think we either of us own that we bought in 2018. That's not worth more now.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, definitely, I mean around COVID time. That's when it really went off, took off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, lower interest rates.
Speaker 4:People didn't, people weren't sure of what was going on, so they were scared to do anything.
Speaker 1:And now it's a little different. Yeah, do anything. And now it's a little different, yeah. So now you got to get, we got to get creative. And I was telling you today I was like you know, you don't want to, you don't want to miss now because it's the, the missus. You know like, uh, like we were talking about flipping, like flipping is a is a dangerous game to play and we do it. I mean we just closed one before the last podcast, a couple hours ago.
Speaker 1:Um, and and even chase and I, we walked this house for the first time yesterday, right Yesterday, and we signed to close today. We saw it for the first time. The pictures that we saw, we couldn't get into the house. The pictures that we saw didn't do justice to what the work we have to do. There was a whole building, probably a 70 by 20 building, full of stuff that we have to what we have to do. There was a whole building, probably a 70 by 20 building, full of stuff that we have to haul away. That's probably going to cost us not probably it's going to cost us thousands of dollars more than we expected. Luckily, with this deal, I think we still have some margin.
Speaker 1:But even now, we've been going chasing, I've been going back and forth like we were talking all these crazy negative things. Yesterday I was like we got to stop talking about like this, like we're literally like talking about losing money before we even own the house, like we got to just but. But flipping is a um is a dangerous, scary game compared to the, the rental game, where it's just like. I feel like I feel so confident in rental properties that that's why I I like advise you not to flip, at least in the beginning, because I don't want to be the reason that you lose money, cause I feel like with rentals like, you won't really lose, you'll just get money stuck in the deal. You'll own the asset it's. You know, it is what it is. You can definitely lose for and this isn't financial advice for everybody listening but the you could definitely lose in the rental game, but it's much harder to lose.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I know, I agree with that and you know, because you have a successful business what's the point of having like an overage amount or surplus amount of cash just sitting around not doing anything. What are you going to do with that? But in the stock market, you can definitely make more money over time by owning rental properties. Right, maybe if you were looking for like a different job or, or, um, just something else to do, if you didn't have your business, maybe flipping would be the better option to get that lump sum of cash every so often. But if you're, you know, if you don't need that lump sum of cash, stick it away in a rental property. You'll get the debt pay down, appreciation tax benefits and then, obviously, the cash flow each month.
Speaker 1:That's one thing we were talking about, uh, is just the tax drags that come with rentals, the depreciation. That's something I don't think you saw in the beginning. You didn't see the understand the value but, like your other businesses, take loss. Like you are taking losses on the real estate which support the tax benefits from your other businesses. It's not just like one for one, it's like the dreamers can be a lender for your rental company and your rental properties can take a tax loss each year for depreciation and from whatever else, and it's all the tax code. I don't know the tax code, obviously, perfectly, but you talk to any accountant and that's another thing that you recently came to me about getting the right accountant. A lot of accountants are not good for real estate investors because they're scared or they're not really fluent in real estate investing and what the tax benefits could be.
Speaker 1:We had a really boring podcast I hate to say it one day with this guy who was like a tax guy. Who remember that guy, the bald guy, I forget his name, but it was actually an interesting show because he what he did was he said the tax code is like this big. You know, the book is like thousands of pages long. It's impossible for one accountant to know the whole book. So what he's done is created a conglomerate of people and he's of tax consultants or accountants, and he said, okay, like, for example, jet, you take chapters one through three, I'll take chapters two through four, nick, you take chapters five through eight, and then that you just digest that little bit and you become an expert on it and then you come back to the mastermind of all of them. So then the clients get a piece of all of those accountants and their expertise exactly where and it was a really interesting um business model.
Speaker 1:It was a boring podcast. I remember I was like fucking falling asleep doing it, but because tax taxes are typically boring, but yeah, that um in itself like opened my eyes to like make sure anybody that I talk to or is getting into real estate make sure their accountant is in with them, because yours was questioning, yeah, the second that that happens. I'm like that's a red flag for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mentioned it to ryan. My accountant is great, uh, on the business side, and you know we've been using him five, six years maybe, um, and he's fantastic anytime I have advice. There's been letters I've gotten from the irs and, um, you know whether it's a fee or whatever we owe or whatever he's like oh no, that I can fix that. Like it was some amended return two years ago or something and he got it wiped out. It's not that it was wrong or whatever. It's not like it was fraud or anything. It was. Just they said we owed this amount but we didn't and we had to send a proof of some document to prove it or whatever, and he did and wiped it out.
Speaker 2:He's very good at knowing what we have to do, but I've brought up real estate to him two to three times in the past couple of years and brought up real estate to him two to three times in the past couple of years and I was telling Ryan every time we bring those two words up, he's just, he hits the brakes. He's like you know you can, but it's risky. And this it's the same speech you hear often from the outside world, Like and that's another benefit to coaching, and getting in that space is like you're going to hear the right advice. You know you're going to be talking to the right people that have a completely different narrative. You know, and it's encouraging.
Speaker 2:You know, being in my position where it's like you're just terrified of what that looks like because you come from a small town, you just can't believe it. You know, when you said 30 days first property, you just can't believe it. You can't wrap your head around. You know that being a reality. Same thing goes with just doing the game in general is like you just don't think it because you're surrounded by an environment that thinks otherwise. You know, and that's another way to stay stuck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think you, you talk to the people that had a bad experience and it's typically, uh, due to either poor operations like the. The person, the typical person that complains about the real estate game is the one that has one rental property. That was probably the house they lived in and they outgrew and they moved out and they had a bad tenant because they didn't screen them properly. We were talking about this today, like screening the tenants, knowing who you're moving into your house, not just accepting the first person looking at their bank statements, looking at their credit report, into your house, not just accepting the first person looking at their bank statements, looking at their credit report. Those people that have a bad experience typically were poor operators and they just don't realize it.
Speaker 1:So I think part of what we want to do in coaching and what Chase is doing with the brokerage team and all that stuff, is just educating people on all the things that we did right and the things that we did right and the things that we did wrong.
Speaker 1:Like I am happy to tell people about how I lost $85,000 on a flip last year and I'm eight, nine years into investing in real estate like eight years in that to me. I'm I'm happy to tell people that, because I feel like that's going to shorten the learning curve or, you know, tighten the learning curve for people, Um, and I don't want to see other people lose money. So anybody that's like out there that's listening, like whether it's us or somebody else, like find somebody that has done it and is willing to admit that they've fucked things up. Because I feel like there's a lot of people on Instagram, TikTok, whatever that just all they talk about is the wins. Right, they talk about how much money they've made and great, yeah, you've made a bunch of money. But, like, if you tell me you're a player in the real estate game and you haven't lost, then I don't believe you. Like, if you haven't made some mistake or some misstep that has costed you some sort of money, I don't really believe you.
Speaker 3:Or you're just not doing volume. You've done one deal a year and you've gotten really lucky yeah yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:So if you're doing anything of significance, you've taken some L's Like it's impossible not to. But learning from other people to shorten or lessen those L's is invaluable. So for me I mean mean chase on that deal like he told me he couldn't find the comps to to prove it I was like, oh fuck it, let's just buy it. You know, not thinking like what's the worst case scenario. And the worst case was losing 85 000, which it it's funny like now, but like that could have buried somebody. Like if that was your first, would have buried me like 100.
Speaker 1:Your first flip went really well, but if it didn't make you 40, 50 grand and it lost you 85 000, you wouldn't probably be in that chair.
Speaker 3:it's like going yeah, it's like going to the casino and throwing you know all your money on black and it doesn't hit, you know, like that just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. So, yeah, yeah, it really does. But like learning from people's losses. I personally personally like growing up my dad was a drinker, my mom was a smoker Like I always learned from them, first before I learned from myself, and then obviously you mess up along the way as well, and then you're like, oh, I should have did that, but I think learning from other people was you. Just you learn a lot faster. At least I do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's talking about parents. Parents are difficult too, too, and I don't know what your experience was.
Speaker 1:But, like my parents and we talked about this a little bit today were like very conservative with their money. They always just said, like you got to go to college, you got to save all your money. Like don't like, investing is dangerous. Like you don't want to. If you don't have the cash, like don't buy it. And the the day I remember I won't ever forget, the day that I told my mom that I was going to quit my job, that she was like she was not happy. She was like you're throwing your life away, you're doing this. You're like I'm like you just don't like.
Speaker 1:And hearing that from like your own parents, it's like it's really really hard for you to be like'm so excited I'm quitting my job, I'm doing this, I'm going all in, and they're like that's a bad idea. And you sit there and you think about it. It's like really hard to go against. Mommy, you know like it's really, really hard. But when you, when you look at it, like do I want the same thing that they had or do I want more? And I said, no, I'm quitting my job, like this is going to be a good decision. I refuse to fail. Like I, it's just it's not too big to fail. It's just that I refuse to fail. Like I will not fail and if I do, I will figure it the fuck out. I can replace this income that I'm making as a teacher with a job at Starbucks, or I like I could become an Uber driver at night, like I didn't give a shit, I was like going all in.
Speaker 1:But having those people in in your corner like me, who I'm like, cheering you on and being like pushing you to the edge and making you jump off, like even with just running, you know, coming and joining, doing our runs with us before that half marathon pushed you over the edge. Where our runs with us before that half marathon pushed you over the edge, where, in my experience, my parents tried to pull me back and that was. You know, if I had listened to them, I would not be in the situation that I'm in now. I would not be helping other people make money, I would not be making as much as we're making Like we would. I would still be teaching and still be working for somebody else. Um, so, really, just surrounding yourself around the right people and like parents can be great and they can be helpful, but they can also be a huge deterrent, like they told me not to do what I'm doing yeah, my mom did too on my first live.
Speaker 3:She's like I think you're in over your head. I think you should probably not do that. And I was like mom, you've never flipped a house. Like of course you're going to say that that, like that's what anybody who hasn't flipped the house is gonna say.
Speaker 2:right, like yeah, having three kids, I think, and I learned this being a parent. And then you know, obviously we all have parents uh, is it's protective advice? Like it's it's not that they don't believe in you or they don't want you to do it, it's literally like a trigger, like think about it like you're a parent. Your job is to protect and guide your kids. So when it's something that you're not educated on and you don't, you know, mom, you never flipped a house. Why would she be like go ahead, chase. You know, go fail. You know like it's scary, that's not normal, that's like a knee jerk, like it's a.
Speaker 2:It's a trigger as a parent. So it's like you know, if my child fell over, and what am I? I'm going to react by jumping in and trying to help them. Are you okay? What's going on? So, as a parent, you try to protect your kids. So then that's ultimately just carries on into adulthood. And it's not that they're wrong, it's just that they're being protective and it's tough, it's, it's, it's deceiving because everyone takes it as real advice. When it's not like you, you just have to fact check that a little bit. Even and the hardest part is is is because it's tied right to the blood of your parents. And like you said, mommy, like it's true, like you don't want to disappoint your parents uh, but whatever movie it is with mark walberg, like you just got to be a peacock and fly, or whatever sometimes like it's true, um, yeah that that's what I said when I told her.
Speaker 1:I was like mom, like it's not. Like I'm working on wall street and making hundreds of thousands of dollars here year. I'm a goddamn gym teacher. For God's sakes, if all fails, I'll go back to doing that, at the very worst If I owe somebody money or if I fork. I didn't even think about any of that.
Speaker 1:I was just like the month that I quit, we saw a big check, we closed on a flip, we were doing a bunch of business and I was like there's no way I can go back to work, like if I because as a teacher, we have off in the summertime, that's when we're busiest and the real estate game is summer uh, spring, summer and I was off and all I was thinking about was like shit, I only have a month or two months to go to. Like basically go back to work or decide to not go to work. And I was like there's no way I can go to work. And and when I started telling people that there were several people, not just my parents who were like that's a risky move, man, like I don't know if I would do that, I'm like, that almost gave me more like spiteful motivation to be like now.
Speaker 3:I'm definitely quitting my job now.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely done I mean chase you. You quit a cushy job with the government.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I mean being in the military, like I. When I first got recruited I told the recruiter I was like don't send me any job other than a cyber job, because I wanted to have that like good career, like something stable. When I got out and so, like the best thing ever happened to me, I got stationed at Fort Meade and got a polygraph, I got my security clearance. Like that just gives you 100k salary. Just off of those two things alone, forget your experience. Forget, like how good you are as a, as an interviewee, um.
Speaker 3:So then I knew like all my co-workers were getting out. They're making 150 160 a year. A lot of people like that's good money. And where I come from southwest virginia, like that's double or triple the average salary. So like to like my mom, I'm telling her that she's like oh geez, like that's, that's good money. Are you sure you want to do this real estate thing? And you know, by the time you show them proof of concept and we've talked about this like once you show them that you like it's, it's capable and you're able to do it, then they become your biggest supporters, man. And then everybody just sings your prayer Like, not everybody right, like, but you, you know your parents believe in you and they, they see that you know you're not, you're not going to get, you're not gonna get harmed, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's funny when, through that whole process in that year that I did quit, tyler and I both quit at the same time and our business doubled that year and not as like a spiteful thing, but I was sending my mom like our profit and losses I was like, look, this is what this is. To relax, like things are more than okay, like we're good, like this is my proof to you that, like you need to like relax and not worry about me. Like I want to be able to take care of you now, like I want to be able to give back to the family and like I make a point to do Christmas big, like they did for me, you know, the holidays, or whatever I can to. To give back because that now they are like my, you know biggest fans and my mom reps my hoodie all the time and one of my first property management clients actually came from my parents, was a client of my mom's and she was getting into real estate. She was up in New York and they linked us up and that was like the snowball effect of concept. I feel like that's, that's the biggest hurdle to to just for yourself and for others too, like, hey, look, I bought it.
Speaker 1:Like nick, one of the reasons we started the podcast like had a cool story started out, fucking buying a land, a lawnmower and five years, six years later you own 100 houses. Like that's a cool story. That's I was a gym teacher and driving boats in the summertime like for extra money and now I run a damn near eight figure company. So like that, um, I think to to kind of summarize what we, what we talked about today, is like we're all like sitting here and we and I know you want to eventually also help get into the coaching thing and business coaching and stuff like that um, we want to talk to people and educate people and motivate people, um, especially the younger generation that has the decision now do I go to college, do I go to the military? Do I like chase went to the military that paid off dividends for him? My college did not for me. Like yeah, I built some connections, but like that piece of paper that's somewhere in my house that says I'm a certified fucking gym teacher, like didn't really, it's not really going to help me for the rest of my life, like so so I think you know, um, having somebody that went to school for criminal justice now doesn't do anything with criminal justice, like, luckily, with Chase's military career. Like it will help you for the rest of your life. So I feel like that's one thing that we should be.
Speaker 1:You know, talking more about um, the, the comparison of like do is college for everybody? I don't think it is and I'm a true believer in like. You need to figure out what you're going to get a degree in like. If you're going to be a doctor, if you're going to be a lawyer, sure you need to go to college. But you went to what? One semester of community college, yep, and now you run a seven-figure business like. That, to me, is proof enough where young people now should be really hesitant on taking out hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans to um you know, to go to school to get a psychology degree, to make 50 grand a year when you can make 50 grand a month cleaning windows right like literally the game has changed well I'll say this too.
Speaker 3:You know like we I'm harping on the community thing, but we literally talk about it all the time and I say this to all of my friends is like yo, your your net, your network is your net worth, and I will sing that to the mountain praises dude, like, because the, the whole part of it is like you're 5% of the people you're around.
Speaker 3:And we just had a conversation with I'm not going to say names, but one of the people in our network about how, when they were hanging out with us, he's like dude, the people y'all are hanging out with are nowhere near the people I'm used to hanging out with. I'm used to hanging out with people that go out and party on the weekends and get so drunked up they don't even recognize themselves in the mirror. But like you guys are like playing cards on New Year's Eve, right, like we're. We're a little, a little more like hey, we're locked in and we're ready to do. You know what we're doing in business. So I think it's one of those things. It's like those people you surround yourself with are massively important. Forget the, the courses alone. Like, without the, the knowledge base of the course, just those people you can surround yourself with is massively important.
Speaker 2:Well, good, no, I was gonna say taking that to physical, like I've been running for months. I ran for years but not consistently to where I say I'm a runner, not at all. But like until this year did the first half marathon in December, I've been running by myself and I would work my way up. This started in the summertime and, you know, first time getting out there a mile and I would work my way up. This started in the summertime and you know, first time getting out there a mile and I would just run a mile, you know, every day, and then the next week I would do a mile four days and then two miles next week. Three miles, four miles, five miles, and I got all the way up to seven miles and I think maybe a little bit. After that I stopped for a while cause we got busy again, like that was in the summertime, which we're still busy, but not overly busy. The fall time is insane, so I had to take a little break again, shifting the focus to work. But anyways, I'm running by myself all the time and I got all the way up to seven miles.
Speaker 2:Well, probably two weeks before Ryan invited me to run down with the group, I ran 10.6. I was over 10 minutes a mile and I texted him. He's like, yeah, you should come down and run with us. And I'm like I'm not going to lie, like I'm intimidated, not that I'm scared of doing it, it's just I'm going to hold you back and you know I'm going to be back here and you guys are going to be up there and I'm not going to be able to catch up. It hurt, it was hard, but I realized it got in the car and just realized the again. Another prime example of the group. Um, whether it's coaching in real estate or running with a group, you've got four or five people in front of you and you are fighting to keep up when you're running by yourself. And you said something that day uh self, what's it called that thing? You said self-governing, yeah.
Speaker 2:So like when I'm running by myself, you start to feel it you get tired a little bit, you know you're naturally gonna just chill. But when you've got that accountability right in front of you, like I was trying, like I was trying very hard and like you know your body might not be there but I'm here like and I'm trying and you it's gonna take time and you get better. And then you look back you said, like less than a year ago or a year ago, you could barely do it was a year ago.
Speaker 1:January 1st is when I like got on the wagon of like I'm gonna get my ass in shape, I'm gonna do a triathlon. My friends challenged me to a triathlon in march, so a year ago, basically at december 31st of 2000, of 2023, of 2023 right, because I was a year yeah right yeah.
Speaker 1:so december 31st I was 215 pounds, probably like 35 body fat, 40 body fat, and I couldn't run a mile. And when I did run a mile it was 12 minute, 13 minute mile, like it was so hard. And then I got into it. I did my first triathlon. I lost a bunch of weight, I was feeling good. Then I hired a coach and I think that's kind of around the time where I roped Chase and a bunch of other people and just started doing these races with me. I hired a coach and we did a track workout and he's like okay, what's your pace? I'm like I'm probably like nine, 10 minute miles. And we did like this one track where he's like I'm going to have you running seven minute miles and I was like no, you're not like I've never run a seven minute mile.
Speaker 1:I played college sports, like you know. There's no way you're going to have me Like I know what my limit is and sure shit, now I'm running low sevens and single miles in the sixes and below because he told me that my potential was wrong, like I had this, and he's the one that told me the self-governor thing. It's like you're telling your body that this is your limit, so that's what your limit is, and I think that that's true in running and Dude, biking, the first time you took me biking you, I'd never been road biking, ever like.
Speaker 3:I mean, I've rid a bike, but road biking is much different. You're riding at a. We were riding at like 18 miles an hour consistently, for I don't know. I think we did 18 miles that day, the first day I've never been on a bike. So we jump on and I'm falling. I'm like this is fast. I'm like damn, he's still going at this pace. I'm like, dude, if I don't keep up, I don't know saverna park. Like if I don't keep up, I'm gonna get lost and he's just gonna keep going because he can't see me. He's in the front and I'm in the back. So I'm just sitting here thinking like if I don't stay right here, I'm gonna have a really tough time finding my way back home and it's cold.
Speaker 1:So yeah, no, no, that's the group, the group mentality, all that stuff. So that's part of the reason that we wanted to have you on. We are starting a community, a program that will hopefully help people like you and other people that are trying to get into not just real estate but just business in general and just help kind of shorten that learning curve. So we appreciate you coming on today. I know if we we go any longer I'm gonna get in trouble because my wife is cooking dinner for sure. Yeah, I hear her up there cooking, cooking something up um, and that that rarely happens.
Speaker 4:Usually I'm the one that has to cook, so anything else to to add just, I guess, just for the audience out there you know, when you're taking advice from somebody, don't only just take advice from somebody that you see is in a position that you want to get to, but also try to verify that too, because, like you mentioned earlier, there's a lot of people on Instagram who are flashing all this fancy stuff and they may or may not be in that position that you think they're in or where you want to go. So make sure you have some sort of verification to understand where they're at and that's where you want to be understand where they're at and that's where you want to be.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's literally businesses of fake private jet sets where people can go and rent photos. I've seen that photo.
Speaker 1:So like, if that's I? I just told this to somebody the other day. We were talking and there I was like dude, like there's so many fake people, there's literally businesses out there that allow you to go take fake pictures of you in front of cars. Like you can go rent a lamborghini not to drive but to take a picture in front of, and you can go take rent a space that looks like a private jet that literally is just there for influencers to take pictures and for people to think. So, if that exists, make sure you're verifying who you're getting your information for from on tiktok or instagram or any of that stuff. So that that's definitely good, solid advice.
Speaker 1:But, jet, thank you for coming on, man yeah, I look forward to a long-term uh, long-term business relationship and getting your portfolio up to maybe one day where nick is hey, when's the uh event Next event?
Speaker 1:I don't know if this will be out by then, but it is this coming Thursday, january 16th of 2025. But we are having quarterly events, so follow us on Facebook. On Instagram, we'll be announcing those events. We have four a year, one every quarter. Great way to come. Network add value. We have a couple hundred people that come. We nick and I, um, give away a bunch of stuff. We do a bunch of like uh giveaways. We buy the food and drinks and all that stuff. It's a great time, um, and yeah, that's uh will you be there?
Speaker 2:yeah, see you there, I'm in, he's there towson cvps.
Speaker 1:We've been uh doing that for a couple couple, couple events now so yeah, more than yeah, more than a couple now.
Speaker 4:So it's a pretty good space up there yep, all right, guys.
Speaker 1:Well, until next time. Thank you, jet, thank you guys thank you.
