The W-2 Safety Myth Just Cost Him Everything with Brian Armstrong

He watched a high-level career disappear overnight—and realized his entire plan had no backup.

That moment changed how he thought about income, risk, and what it actually means to be “secure.” What started as accidental live-in flips turned into a bigger realization: trading time for money—even at a high level—comes with a ceiling and a risk most people ignore until it’s too late.

This conversation breaks down the shift from hands-on real estate to scalable multifamily—and why most people get stuck before they ever get momentum.

If you’re still relying on a single income stream, this episode will force you to rethink the plan.

🔗 Join the Tribe of Titans

If you’re ready to stop sitting on the sidelines and start building real deal experience, the Tribe of Titans is where that happens.

Inside, you’ll work through real multifamily deals with other serious investors, get direct feedback, and build the skills that actually move the needle.

👉 https://thetribeoftitans.com

What You’ll Learn

•  Why profitable strategies can still be the wrong long-term move 
•  The belief about raising capital that quietly kills deals 
•  What makes high-income professionals hesitate to invest 
•  The hidden risk behind relying on a “stable” career 
•  How market selection changes when you stop investing locally 
•  Why multifamily creates leverage that single-family can’t

About the Guest:

Brian Armstrong

Brian Armstrong is the Founder and Managing Partner of Progress Capital Group, LLC, a real estate investment firm focused on delivering passive income opportunities for busy professionals.

Since 2012, Brian has been actively investing in real estate, with experience spanning multifamily acquisitions and the renovation and resale of single-family homes. His investment approach is rooted in disciplined underwriting and long-term value creation.

In addition to his real estate career, Brian brings over 20 years of experience as a licensed structural engineer. He has led and contributed to projects across the United States and internationally, including new construction, building renovations, seismic upgrades, and complex design-build developments. He also has extensive expertise in the design of data centers, having worked on projects nationwide and abroad.

Brian resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children, where he enjoys spending time with his family and attending youth sporting events on the weekends.

Learn more about him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianarmstrongse/, or https://progresscapitalgroup.com/7reasons/

About the Host:

Brian Briscoe is an apartment operator and founder of Streamline Capital, focused on acquiring and operating multifamily properties in the greater Salt Lake City metro. He hosts the Diary of an Apartment Investor podcast, where he shares real-world operator insights and decision frameworks for aspiring multifamily investors.

If this conversation resonated, there’s more happening inside the Tribe of Titans. It’s where serious investors move beyond surface-level content and into real discussions that drive action. Visit https://www.thetribeoftitans.com/ to learn more.

Transcript

Welcome And Podcast Purpose

Brian Briscoe 0:06

Welcome to the Diary of an Apartment Investor Podcast, the show where we cut through the noise and talk about what it actually takes to build a real multifamily investing business. I'm Brian Briscoe, apartment investor, operator, and founder of Streamline Capital, and this podcast is built for the aspiring apartment investor who wants more than just theory. We talk about raising capital, closing deals, managing assets, and making the decisions that separate dabbling from building something that lasts. Now, if you're serious about taking the next step, this conversation continues inside of the Tribe of Titans multifamily investing community where investors work through real deals together with live discussions and direct support. So let's get into today's episode. Welcome to the Diary of an Apartment Investor Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Briscoe with Streamline Capital. Excited for today's show. I've got uh, you know, one of my friends and partners, Brian Armstrong, with us today. So, Brian, welcome to the show.

Brian Armstrong 1:01

Thanks, Brian. Happy to be here.

Engineering Career And First Real Estate Steps

Brian Briscoe 1:03

Yeah. Hey, Brian. Thanks, Brian. Yeah, it's Brian's for some reason just kind of flashbacks of what is it, spies like us? Doctor, doctor, doctor. Yeah, right. But uh, all right. So let's do this. Let's talk about you for a little bit. So tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into real estate, first of all, and then you know how you ended up uh in multifamily.

Brian Armstrong 1:25

Sure. Yeah. So graduated college in 2000 uh with a degree in civil engineering, focused on structural engineering, kind of followed the traditional path, went and got a job. Yeah, started earning the W-2 income. And you know, that was trucking along fine. And uh then, you know, came across everyone's favorite book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you know, sort of life-changing for many people.

Brian Briscoe 1:49

And when you said everyone's favorite book, I knew exactly what you were gonna say next. So yeah, I guess you hit the nail on the head.

Short Sale Purchase And Live-In Flip Lessons

Brian Armstrong 1:56

Heard the story before, right? Yeah, exactly. It got the wheels turning, didn't really know what to do next, but kind of started hunting around at different ideas. My dad and I went to a real estate conference, I don't remember when that was, a long time ago, kind of exploring multifamily as an option. It never quite resonated and took off back at that time. Uh, you know, fast forward a little bit after that conference, and uh my wife and I were looking to buy a house. So living in San Francisco Bay Area stuff's very expensive. Um, we ended up finding a place that was a fixer uh on a short sale because you know this was after the 2008 financial crisis when real estate prices took a hit. A lot of things coming off a short sale in the 2011-2012 time frame. So picked up one of those after a very lengthy process of purchasing.

Brian Briscoe 2:47

I picked up a short sale in San Diego, you know, same time frame. And oh my gosh, yeah, it was like an eight-month process.

Brian Armstrong 2:55

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Wow, we put the offer in like November or early December, and then didn't even close on it until like May of the following year or something like that.

Brian Briscoe 3:04

Yeah, similar for us, just different months. Yeah, we were renting a house at a time, and I told my, you know, the landlord, it's like, you know what, we're gonna figure out when we close, I'm gonna give you about a one-week notice on us moving out. Yeah, fortunately, they were they were good with that, but yeah, yeah.

Why Flipping Added Equity Worked

Brian Armstrong 3:19

So since it was a short sale and the folks didn't really care about it a ton anymore, and it was a little old, ended up inheriting a uh fixer that hadn't really necessarily wanted that to be the strategy, but it it is what turned out. My wife enjoys rehabs and renovations and such. So we ended up turning that one into a live-in fix-up, which was an interesting challenge. Never easy to live in them while you're fixing them. No, no. It turned out to be a lot farther away from life than we expected it. So it actually turned into a live-in flip with no expectation of doing that when we moved into it. So trained out of that one after we fixed it up, turned a little bit of a profit. Thought, hey, that was pretty cool. Uh, maybe we can do that again. Fast forward to the next one. And this time bought a place in San Francisco itself, and it was close to work and all that kind of business. And another live-in flip on that one. Did I actually do a condo conversion of a two-unit building into two separate condos, so that was a a learning process there. So you know, just kind of you know, dabbled in the real estate in a different aspect in that regard. And then um sold that one, another live-in flip we sold, and then moved to a community a little bit closer to um my wife's parents as we were having kids at the time. So, you know, kind of did some progressions through the live-in flips, and then kind of realized when the kids came around that holy smokes, these live-in flips are a lot harder. You know, not only is it construction dust and all sorts of stuff everywhere, or you had to move out and take the kids with you, legitimate challenges with that. So then it was like, look, uh, we can't keep doing this forever. This isn't a sustainable idea. So let's do something different. Poked around for a minute at doing long distance flipping, and that just didn't make sense. It was just too busy, too much demand on the time, didn't have the bandwidth with the family. So came back full circle to multifamily. It just made sense. You can partner with people who are, you know, elsewhere in the country. Everybody's got their aspect that they like to do. You know, you can find people where you get complimentary likes and complimentary skills. So it just made so much sense. So that's how I got back into it, and that's where I am now.

Brian Briscoe 5:32

Now, now the whole time, I assume you had a full-time job. You said you got your degree in engineering, you're a structural engineer. So full-time job the whole time. So this is all in addition to the full-time job, right? You got that right. Awesome. Okay. So, you know, you did the first one unintentionally, you said, but you know, what was your reasoning for continuing down that path and doing one more flip like that?

Brian Armstrong 5:56

Yeah, so ultimately, a couple of things, I suppose. One, we like the idea of being able to put some money into something and add equity to it greater than the amount that you put into it. So, you know, if you're buying something that's already fixed up, retail, you're basically buying it at the top of the market for that market at that top, right? Your your only equity really comes from the whole market appreciating. If you're fixing up something, you can put some money into it and you can boost the value more than just the market appreciation. So that had an appeal to me because of I think you know, the wheel turning and being interested in real estate to start with, and that equity. The other thing was, you know, my wife kind of likes things the way she likes things. And you know, with a as maybe as silly as it sounds, but when you do your own rehabs, you can kind of make it the way you want it versus inheriting something the way someone else made it they the way they wanted it. So it's kind of a dual benefit, I suppose.

Brian Briscoe 6:52

There's also a paradox there because you know, if you're doing the live-in flips, you know, supposedly as soon as you're done getting it like you like it, you're gonna sell the house and move out.

Brian Armstrong 7:02

It true. I wouldn't say that they've all been intentional flips. That's part of the trick, right? So you move into it and you think, oh, this will work. This place is good, and then like life circumstances change, and you're like, okay, well, I guess we're moving out of this one into the next. You learn a little bit each time, you learn a little bit more about what you like and what you don't like each time. Kind of take those lessons into the next one. Some of them have been purely intentional live-in flips, they've all been sort of accidental live-in and then oh, we're moving out. So yeah.

Why Multifamily Wins On Value Control

Brian Briscoe 7:33

The short sale that we bought in San Diego, uh, we did kind of exactly what I mentioned, that little paradox, you know, where you you fix it up. But uh when we were about to move out, because I was getting transferred across the country, we put new flooring into it, you know, and we put new flooring into it because it would rent better. But, you know, we were my wife and I were both scratching our heads thinking we should have done this when we moved in, you know, so we could enjoy the new floors. But yeah, in that particular unit, we had a single tenant for eight years. A woman and her daughter took immaculate care. And when we uh took the keys back to sell that property, the floor still looked like new. So anyway, yeah, that little paradox right there, you know, fix it up, you don't get to enjoy it, but the next person does. Anyway, let's talk about you know what's drawn you to multifamily. You've done a couple live-in flips, done pretty well with that. You know, why multifamily?

Brian Armstrong 8:26

It's really the benefit of just working with a team. I I love the idea of working with a team of people who are also equally interested in real estate and specifically multifamily. And then I get to work in markets that are not necessarily local to where I live. That's huge. You know, the Bay Area rents are high, but cost of ownership is high. And so unless you can really find some, you know, some sweet deals, which are not very common and there are a lot of people chasing them. Yeah, it's hard to get a great return in the Bay Area. It makes sense for me to be chasing down deals in other markets that I like and that make a ton of sense and are growing and have a lot of upside to them, but I'm not local to those places because I can't travel to get to these places all the time if I were to do a single family situation, right? You're not really teaming up with people as much in a single family flipping or single family rental environment. So the multifamily thing makes a ton of sense, I think. And then also I love the fact that you know the value of multifamilies based on the income that you can generate. And if you can find ways to generate more income out of the property, you can boost the value not to infinity, but yeah, but you have more control over it than you do on a on a single family, where that would be valued against the comparable properties in the neighborhood. So you kind of you hit a ceiling at some point, more so with single family than you do with multifamily. So I like the added control. It really opens up a lot of possibilities if you are working with the right people and everybody knows what they're doing.

How He Helps Deals Remotely

Brian Briscoe 9:58

Yeah. And I mean, speaking of that, I'm working with a lender right now to refinance a property. You know, that was the call immediately before this. They're looking at the income lines. You know, they're they're not looking at the property, they're looking at the income lines. And if I can figure out how to turn, you know, move that income up, guess what? You know, property values go up. Yeah, that's something that we both I think we both agree on and we both really, really love about it. Now, you say you partner with other people in in different markets, and you mentioned specifically you're not flying out there. So I'm gonna assume that your role is not the you know lead sponsor manager type, but uh what role do you typically see yourself in the apartment groups that uh are the the uh the general partnerships that you're in?

Brian Armstrong 10:39

Yeah, good question. So I I'm currently not lead sponsor, uh lead partner. I think that you know is an aspiration at some point, but not there yet. My role is primarily to help do a small portion of the operations of the deal, bring in some capital from interested investors in my network, you know, and just help out in contributing way, however, I can from a remote location. Yeah. Which there's always, you know, so many aspects to putting something like this together and operating it that there's opportunities certainly for folks who are local, and there's plenty of opportunities for folks who are not right there in the in the immediate vicinity. So yeah.

Brian Briscoe 11:15

It works. Yeah. Now you you mentioned other markets outside of San Francisco. And before I ask you the question, uh I just reminded myself, I got a friend that was in the same coaching program I was in many years ago, and he was also from the Bay Area, I think we're closer to San Jose, but uh uh that's still called Bay Area, right? Yeah, yeah. San Jose is definitely San Jose still Bay Area, okay. But uh, you know, he was talking with his mentor, and you know, he's like, Yeah, I want to be the lead operator, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to do the other. And I remember his mentor told him, he's like, Look, we're you live in a money state. You don't live in a deal state. You know, if you can figure out how to raise money, and he did, you know, he's he's raised kind of multiple eight millions worth of dollars now. But uh I think you're well located for that, you know, for that role. Because there's a lot of people who bought real estate, you know, a single family home to live in, and they're sitting on a gold mine now.

Brian Armstrong 12:12

But uh the California retirement plan. Buying a house, sell it when you're ready to retire and move somewhere cheaper.

Market Selection Based On Growth

Brian Briscoe 12:20

Oh my goodness. I I've got a buddy, um, he's a Navy veteran. I knew him after he got out of the Navy, but he you know he calls me about once a year, and it's almost the exact same conversation every year. It's Brian, this is how much my house is worth. Should I sell it and move to Utah or Idaho where you know I can buy a house cash and still have a million dollars free and clear? You know, that's that's kind of the story in California. But uh, so the question I was gonna ask, you mentioned other markets. You know, what do you look for in other markets when choosing where to invest?

Brian Armstrong 12:59

The two keys that are related, I would say, are population growth and job growth. Those are the two things that fuel demand for rentals in any market. And if you could find a market where there is population growth that has been proven over time and is projected to sustain. Yeah. And the job growth that goes with it, it brings more people to the area. That's a market worth considering. Yeah. If you can also match that up with a market that has a lack of supply in rental units available, then you've got a winner. Because that increased demand is going to outpace the supply in that case. And then you'll have a sustained demand for rentals for you know a long time to come.

Favorite Markets Salt Lake And More

Brian Briscoe 13:40

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You'll have higher than average, you know, year over year rent increases, higher than average, year over year price increases. And I know you know this. Speaking more to the listeners right now, you know, over time, you know, properties appreciate at roughly the rate of inflation. I mean, go figure. Same with rents. You know, nationwide, it's just slightly higher than the rate of inflation. So so when you when you look at these areas that have, you know, more demand, less supply, you're gonna see higher than the average growth as opposed to some other markets. But uh so how about this one? And I might have ulterior motives for asking this question, but what markets do you like right now?

Brian Armstrong 14:22

No, good question. I thought you might have I have a few. And um uh one of my key markets that I'm focused on, ironically, is uh Salt Lake City.

Brian Briscoe 14:32

Ding ding ding.

Brian Armstrong 14:33

Yeah. So I think Salt Lake has a lot of growth trajectory still to go. It's been growing for a long time. It's got a lot still coming, really. You know, the Silicon Slopes is still going strong, a lot of companies opening up offices in the area. The Olympics are coming back, which I know that's not a reason to buy awesome, rental property, but it's something, it just shows there's some growth happening, and yeah, there's a lot of land in Utah, but Salt Lake is a tiny piece of the whole state, and so it's a little bit constrained area. You got the mountains on the east, you got the lake on the west, you know. So it's not like you got acres and acres of land to just develop into forever. So it's a constraint. Anytime a market has a constraint, is a market worth considering. So Salt Lake's good. I'm also a big fan of uh a couple of the big cities in North Carolina. I think there's a lot of growth out there, a lot of tech companies, biotech moving out to North Carolina. Let's see. Still a fan of uh pockets in Dallas. I think you gotta work with the right people in Dallas. It's a tough market, a lot of institutional money there.

Brian Briscoe 15:40

It's a big market, too. I mean, uh it's it's like the opposite of what you said about Salt Lake, where you're can you're geographically restrained. You know, Dallas can just keep on sprawling for miles, but it's oh like eight million, you know. I I think I think Dallas has like three times as many people in the entire state of Utah.

Brian Armstrong 15:58

So it's like the second or third biggest MSA now. It passed Chicago, I think it was recently. So yeah, I mean it the population keeps going, even though the sprawl continues. So you got to be careful where you pick, because if you pick the new edge, then in five more years, you're not really the new edge anymore. You may lose a doubt to the people that are the new edge and the newer stuff. So yeah, it's still a growing market, no doubt.

Brian Briscoe 16:23

The new new edge, you know.

Brian Armstrong 16:24

Right, yeah.

Brian Briscoe 16:25

We're the old new edge, they're the new new edge. Yeah, yeah. I know I know exactly what you're talking about. I mean, we were we were looking at a couple of developments in, you know, kind of like on the fringes, and yeah, those are no longer the fringes, you know. So there's still deals to be had. I think you're you made a really good point. You you have to watch what areas you're in, you know. I think that that's true for everything. North Carolina, I like North Carolina.

Brian Armstrong 16:49

We used to do a lot in South Carolina, didn't you?

Brian Briscoe 16:51

I used to do a lot in South Carolina. We made a lot of offers on properties in North Carolina, but you know, never never hit pay dirt. I am part of a general partnership on one deal in Charlotte, you know, and so that's uh that's good. And it's it's been performing extremely well. So yeah, I I do I do love the Carolinas, you know, but ever since I moved away from the East Coast, that it just hasn't just wasn't feasible anymore.

Brian Armstrong 17:15

Yeah, makes sense.

Brian Briscoe 17:16

I I'm an operator, you know, and that that's what I love to do, and so that's that's the difference, you know.

Brian Armstrong 17:21

So to do the operations from across the country is a level of challenge that probably isn't worth it if you got a market closer that you like.

Capital Raising Challenges And Trust

Brian Briscoe 17:28

Yeah, and I I mean I'm born and raised in Salt Lake City, and I'm a stone's throw away from it right now, and makes a lot of sense for me to invest in my backyard. So talk about some of the challenges you face. I mean, you've been in a couple of deals right now, and I I guess specifically raising capital. What were some of the challenges you had, you know, raising capital when you first started out? And you know, how did you overcome those challenges?

Brian Armstrong 17:51

Yeah, so challenges is really that I some people probably have heard that idea that you know you find a good deal and the money will come. Yeah, I don't think that's true at all. I yeah, maybe for some people, but for the most part, that's not really the case. You really have to kind of plant the seeds with folks who are in your network, you know, friends, family, uh, colleagues, maybe if you're comfortable asking people at work, and really plant that seed that you know you're working on something and you know there's a lot of upside, and you've done a lot of research and a little bit sort of convince some of those people who are friends and family that yeah, maybe I've been a structural engineer for the last 20-something years, but you know, that doesn't mean I can't do this at the same time. Like I do know what I'm talking about over here, also, you know, kind of breaking that stigma a little bit. Really, it's just kind of growing the the network is is one of the challenging things. It's just getting the word out, connecting with people who are interested, connecting with people who believe in the idea of real estate and not just relying on a 401k. Yep. That's kind of the biggest challenge. I think once people buy into the idea that it is possible, uh it is possible for people to do it passively and let the operations team run the show and that it works, then I think it's you know, people are usually pretty interested by that time. But getting folks there who, especially folks who've never heard about the idea of investing passively in apartments is can be a very big hurdle because people are like, What is this? That doesn't sound like it makes any sense. Yeah, you're like, No, it makes total sense, really.

Brian Briscoe 19:22

Yeah, and a lot of people want the product, but they don't know how to get it. You know, I I remember, you know, me and a couple of my buddies, you know, early 20s college students, you know, sitting uh on the steps of one of the apartments we lived in and just like, man, we got to figure out how to buy one of these because I bet you I bet you those guys are just rolling in cash, you know. But uh so I I think at some point, you know, a lot of people realize they want it, you know, and it is a different way of doing things, you know, syndications. That's that's not something people, you know, usually hear about in day-to-day life. Crime syndicates, maybe, but uh true.

Brian Armstrong 20:04

Yeah, um not quite the same thing as what we do. Yeah, yeah. I had a friend or a an acquaintance or colleague, I guess I can call him a who kind of said one of those things once we drove past an apartment building and he's said he just mentioned out of the blue, you know, man, I got a slug of money just sitting in an account waiting to buy one of these things someday. And it, you know, it filed it in the back of my brain, and then all of a sudden, you know, there was an opportunity I had available. Yeah, reached out to him, and he's like, Ah, no, I'm not I'm not ready at this time. And I'm like, Did you really have that money ready to go? Or you just thought you were maybe, but you weren't really ready.

Brian Briscoe 20:38

Maybe that slug of money went somewhere else, you know. Maybe, maybe, yeah.

Brian Armstrong 20:42

It it takes the a good mix of people who are interested and have the money and and have the right timing to mix those two together.

The Real Why Behind Extra Income

Brian Briscoe 20:50

Yeah, yeah. I mean, timing with investors is really important. We were talking with somebody who is interested in investing, you know, about a quarter million into one of our properties, and you know, he's he's decided to, you know, do a charitable mission for for a church, which is going to take him out. He's like, Well, you know, with this coming up, I really need, you know, so so timing is important because a lot of people they may be sitting on that cash, but things change, you know, and that's yeah, yeah. One thing I've realized, you know, over and over again is you know, you you can have an investor that you know wants the product and understands it, but if your timing's a little bit off, you you may never connect. But is what it is, is what it is. So, well, awesome. A couple of questions to to finish this up here. You know, I never really asked you know, motivations behind this. So before I hit my my last three questions, going back to what we said earlier, you're you're still working a full time job, you're raising capital and helping with operations on multifamily on the side. What's your goal with that? You know, why are you doing that?

Brian Armstrong 21:51

Good question. Because everybody kind of has to have their why as well, well, why bother kind of thing, right? Yeah. For me, it's it's really kind of a lesson that. Came from my dad's experience. He has a PhD in biochemistry of all things. After getting his degree, he got out, got a job, started working in the field, slowly over the course of his career, transitioned to more of a marketing role with a technical background, ultimately made it to a vice president level and then uh uh got laid off in the 2008 financial crisis.

Brian Briscoe 22:24

Oh, yeah.

Brian Armstrong 22:25

And at that point, he was in his, I don't know, late 50s, early 60s, despite all those qualifications, could not get another job. I think it was just straight up ageism. You know, of course, no one would admit it, but other people got the jobs he was applying for who were younger than he was. So, you know, put two and two together. It does happen. Yeah, it does happen. So it happened a lot, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So for me, it was that lesson of like, holy smokes, if I'm relying on one income, or my wife and I are relying on one income each, you know, there's no safety in that. And for me, that that's where this comes from. It's that look, there's I I have a great job, still work as a structural engineer, work for a great firm, great people there. Even still, you know, what if the clients pull the plug tomorrow and half of our work? Yeah, you know, then what? You know, what if the company gets acquired and you know my role isn't needed anymore? There's no backup plan in that. And so for me, it's all about building additional sources of income to supplement the W-2 income. Yeah. And you know, maybe someday it it replaces. Who knows? That that's not necessarily the goal at this point. It's really to supplement and then you know, maybe at some point my wife can quit her job. I know you we have the commonality of both of our daughters do gymnastics. My daughter's gymnastics schedule sort of takes her all over the place. And so having my wife not have to work would be a wonderful advantage for the family. Maybe we can get to a point where at some point she either cuts back to limited part-time or none at all. You know, so there's a couple different motivations in there, I suppose. But all of those things become possible with multifamily as an additional source to the the regular W-2 job.

Brian Briscoe 24:12

Yeah. We recently put my wife into the workforce. So, you know, 20 25 years of marriage, you know, she may have worked, you know, one to two years outside the home. And granted, we got five kids, there's a lot of work inside the home. But uh, yeah, I mean, she's gonna she's working as a school teacher because that's what she wants to do, but that's the key. That's what she wants to do.

Brian Armstrong 24:34

That's what she wants to do. That's cool.

Next Steps Beginner Advice And Contact

Brian Briscoe 24:35

All right. Now we're gonna start on our end series of questions here. So, first one is what's next for you?

Brian Armstrong 24:42

Yeah, so for me, it's uh focus on growth. I heard the thing last year about finding a theme word of the year for your goals. And so this year I chose the word build as my theme. So it's all about building for me in in in many aspects of life, but for multi-family specifically, it's build up the uh the ability to raise capital, build up the network of operating partners to work with, build up the network of in passive investors who want to invest. So yeah, just build it bigger.

Brian Briscoe 25:11

I think this is a great year to build as well. I mean, a lot of people who were in this industry two, three, four years ago are doing other things now, you know. And so it's a time where properties are gonna be trading hands, wealth is gonna be transferring, and you know, we're in that part of the cycle where man, I'm just really excited for what's coming up, you know. So build. I love that. All right, how about this one? If you had to give advice to somebody who's just starting out, what would that advice be?

Brian Armstrong 25:39

So I think on that it would be you gotta be willing to put yourself out there with pretty much everybody and be willing to accept people not being interested or telling you no and just moving on to the next, and not holding a grudge by any stretch, but just listen, this isn't for everybody, and that's okay. Yeah, you gotta talk to a lot of people to find the people who are interested. And just if somebody's not, just you know, yeah, cool. Thanks for listening and and move on, cross them off your list. Oh, we can still be friends in real estate, exactly. We can still be friends, we still hang out, no problem at all.

Brian Briscoe 26:14

You're still getting a Christmas card this year, yeah. So exactly, yeah. Yeah, we actually haven't sent Christmas cards out in several years, so that's that's a lie right there. Nobody's getting Christmas cards, but all right, Brian, last question for you, and that's how can listeners learn more about you?

Brian Armstrong 26:31

Uh, yeah. So um LinkedIn is a great way to stay in touch with me. I'm on LinkedIn a lot. Yep. My LinkedIn profile is Brian Armstrong S E for a structural engineer. Uh, I am technically licensed, so I throw those letters back there. Got it, got it. And then my website is uh progresscapitalgroup.com. Awesome.

Brian Briscoe 26:51

So we'll put links to both of those in the show notes for anybody. So if you want to reach out to Brian, you know, LinkedIn and progresscapitalgroup.com and you know let him know you heard him here. So all right. Well, hey, thanks a lot for coming on the show. Very much appreciate your time today.

Brian Armstrong 27:07

Thanks so much, Brian. Appreciate it. It was fun.

Brian Briscoe 27:11

Hey, I hope you got a lot from today's conversation. Uh, if you did, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. We're on all major podcast platforms and YouTube as well. Now, if you're ready to move from listening to actually doing, check out the Tribe of Titans multifamily investing community. That's where investors go deeper with live discussions, real time QA, and practical support around capital raising, finding deals, asset management, all of it. All right, you'll find everything you need at thetribe of titans.com. That link's in the show notes, tap it, and we'll see you there.