Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or looking to expand your investment horizons, this episode provides valuable insights and tips to help you succeed. Join us with our guest, Oliver Fernandez, as he explores the fundamentals of starting a business, equipping you with the mindset for success in business and life.
Key takeaways to listen for
Resources mentioned in this episode
About Oliver Fernandez
Oliver is a construction business owner and real estate investor that lives in Washington, DC. Oliver has completed over $100M of construction projects and accumulated a real estate investment portfolio valued at over $400M in the past 15 years. Oliver’s passion is showing others how they can achieve their goals through construction and real estate investing.
Connect with Oliver
Connect with Us
To learn more about growing your wealth through multifamily investment opportunities, visit Monument Real Estate Capital and schedule a call!
Follow our social media pages!
Facebook: Monument Real Estate Capital
LinkedIn: Monument Real Estate Capital
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or looking to expand your investment horizons, this episode provides valuable insights and tips to help you succeed. Join us with our guest, Oliver Fernandez, as he explores the fundamentals of starting a business, equipping you with the mindset for success in business and life.
Key takeaways to listen for
Resources mentioned in this episode
About Oliver Fernandez
Oliver is a construction business owner and real estate investor that lives in Washington, DC. Oliver has completed over $100M of construction projects and accumulated a real estate investment portfolio valued at over $400M in the past 15 years. Oliver’s passion is showing others how they can achieve their goals through construction and real estate investing.
Connect with Oliver
Connect with Us
To learn more about growing your wealth through multifamily investment opportunities, visit Monument Real Estate Capital and schedule a call!
Follow our social media pages!
Facebook: Monument Real Estate Capital
LinkedIn: Monument Real Estate Capital
[00:00:00] Oliver Fernandez
All of that played into me getting a little bit of confidence. And then once I had started getting confident in what I was saying and what I was doing, then the being scared, it started to dissipate.
[00:00:10] Podcast Intro
You are working professional but struggling to balance the workload of your career, family obligations, and preparing for your financial future. If so, this podcast is for you. You've spent years learning your craft, and now it's time to focus on your financial future. This podcast will teach you what you need to retire wealthy and happy. Let's dive in.
[00:00:32] Ben Waller
Have you ever thought about starting your own business, but worry that you will fail and lose it all? Welcome to the retire wealthy and happy podcast. We created this podcast to provide financial tips and tricks to help you build up your passive income and also provide methods that you can use to protect your wealth. So that you can plan a better future for yourself and your family. We're grateful to have this podcast sponsored by Monument Real Estate Capital, Monument Real Estate Capital, helping you retire 10 years early through real estate investments.
[00:01:05]
On today's episode, we're excited to have Oliver Fernandez with us. A brief background about Oliver. He founded McKenzie Construction in 2008. This is a construction firm based in the Washington D. C. area. He invests in multifamily development and value add properties. He has several hundreds of videos on YouTube teaching people how to grow a business and increase their wealth. He's also the host of the Imperfect Entrepreneur podcast. A brief overview of what we'll cover on today's episode. We're going to talk about starting a business. We're going to talk about how to learn from mentors, and we're also going to talk about how to think about alternative investments.
[00:01:41] Roger Jacobsen
Welcome to the show, Oliver. Appreciate you guys. I'm excited to be here with you. Why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background and what you've done and where you've been.
[00:01:48] Oliver Fernandez
Yeah, I'd love to. So my name is Oliver Fernandez and I live here in Washington, DC. I was just kind of talking with you guys about it with the. First time I ever met, I was at a mastermind event and I was telling him I was going to do. And I was so scared to talk in front of people. And I told him I had finally broken through that because of a story he had told. I had like five people showing up and he's like, Hey man, do you really want this thing to grow? And you really want this thing to be big? And I was like, yes. And then he's like, well, this is what you need to do. And he gave me the scripts and he told me exactly what I needed to do. And next thing you know, I show up to that meetup on that following Thursday, there was 30 people there. And I was like, Oh my God.
[00:02:24]
I've always kind of been a shy, introverted person. I'm like big analyzer, like love to dig into numbers and details, but at the same time, I want to be successful. I wanted to take care of my mom and three sisters. That was like always my goal growing up. We went through so much as a kid through childhood and graduating high school. I was fading, whether I wanted to go to the military or going to go to college. And my mom was like, Oliver, please go to college. So I followed her direction there. And the reason why I did that is I really wanted to understand what I needed to do to be successful in the world. And I went to school and I learned and did study engineering and all that stuff was great.
[00:03:00]
I learned a lot of stuff. I got my first job. I was like making 50 grand a year. And I was like, Oh crap. I have to like get my first paycheck. Oh, I got student loans. I got to live. I don't have any money to send back to mom. And I was like really bummed out about it, figuring out how am I going to make this thing work? How am I going to do this thing? And at the same time, I had enrolled into some classes at Georgia state and those classes, they were like night classes. So the teachers that would come in and teach those classes, they were professionals in the workplace. And then they would come in at nighttime and share some of their knowledge.
[00:03:30]
To the students and I really gravitated to those classes because they started talking about opportunity and started talking about like things aren't always going to be obvious to you. But if you do a little bit of digging and you start scratching the surface, you're going to find some real opportunity ended up getting laid off from my job and that was making 50 grand for and probably was looking back is the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Cause at that time that company had given up on me, but it was like the moment it kind of woke me up. It was like, all right, I got to go all in on myself and start developing myself and getting better myself, sharpening my own skillsets. And it was from that point forward, that's when Kinsey construction was started.
[00:04:09]
And we started off doing like really small, like projects, 2, 000 projects. We just signed a couple of contracts that are like three to 4 million. Our focus is like one to 5 million projects. And then we're also an investor in real estate. We buy multifamily properties, a hundred plus unit properties. We didn't always start there. We started in the duplexes in the single family game, but now we're doing a hundred plus unit properties and we're buying them, doing our value as strategy to them and really doubling down on the things that have worked for us.
[00:04:37] Roger Jacobsen
Very cool. You've mentioned a couple of things. We know you're in Washington DC now, and you said, send money back to mom. Where are you from?
[00:04:44] Oliver Fernandez
I was born in Boston. And my mom was originally from Washington, DC. My dad was from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and he grew up in the projects. My mom, she grew up middle class. She had both her parents there. My dad had like a broken family. And when they got together, they were young entrepreneurs themselves. And my dad started a construction business. He became really successful with it and he's like one of the most successful people in his family. He went from like being dead broke to having millions of dollars, but at the same time, there was some mismanagement of those resources and construction business failure and it broke up the family.
[00:05:19]
So my dad stayed in Boston and me and my mom and three sisters, we moved to Maine and it was just crazy because my mom was a city girl and all of a sudden we're in Maine, like literally there's. Miles between houses, right? It's not like that anymore. There's actually neighbors that are much closer by, but there was like big distances between houses when we first moved there and it was cold winters, lots of snow, like when power would go out, it wouldn't go out for like an hour or a half a day would go out for like. Two or three days. So it was crazy, but all in all of those moments and being in those moments with my mom, right beside her, I developed this like skill set inside me that like, don't be scared of trying new things and like always give a hundred percent effort and just try and see what's at the other end of that other side of the decision. So yeah, I'm grateful for that time. But yes, we grew up in Maine. Once I went to school, I left Maine. I was actually in Atlanta, Georgia. And I wanted to send the money back home to Maine, to my mom.
[00:06:17] Roger Jacobsen
So I come from a construction background too. So it sounds like you were a cheap employee for your dad.
[00:06:23] Oliver Fernandez
I was definitely a labor. He definitely gave me a job, right? Right. And I was making eight bucks an hour and sweeping up the yard at night to try to get some overtime and stuff. So it was a lot of work with all of those little skillsets I even use to this day. And it helps. Separate me from other people that experience, knowing that I'm willing to do whatever it takes is something that's like ingrained inside of me. And it helps me be certain in the moment, especially with construction. There's so much uncertainty. I'm very certain about what we're doing because of all of the things that I've seen along the process, because I did start at the bottom.
[00:06:58] Roger Jacobsen
Absolutely. I feel like I can walk into a construction site and talk the lingo with the guys and build rapport much faster because I've been on a construction site for like 20 years. I know what needs to happen. I look at some things that some people would just have an absolute cow about. And it's like, well, this is just like. Date 38, how it's supposed to look minus this guy's supposed to be here and isn't or whatever. Yes, sir. You mentioned that you're doing one to 5 million projects. Are they in DC and is it all multifamily? Is there other types and things?
[00:07:30] Oliver Fernandez
Yeah. So those projects, one to 5 million, they're DC, but we work from basically Pennsylvania, all the way south to Florida. West is Texas. And then up to Memphis. We've also done projects in Washington state. So we will go anywhere. Primarily these projects are for the feds, like for the Navy, the air force, the GSA, and we always dreamed of doing these bigger projects. I remember when I first was starting out and we were doing these 2, 000 or these 20, 000 jobs or the 300, 000 jobs as a subcontractor and. We were just getting beat up so bad. It wasn't because of like lack of workmanship. I mean, we would put our blood, sweat and tears into these things. We were installing pipe underneath the Florida d o t like highways, right? And we'd do everything we said we were gonna do. We'd install the pipe, we'd hire the team members, get the equipment, do everything we said we were gonna do.
[00:08:22]
And then every time when it came time to getting paid, it was always like, Oh, we need this release or we need this. Do you need guys who need to do this? It was just like so painful running a business because your employees or team members don't want to hear on Friday that like, Hey, we need to get this sort of release and we need to do this and we need to do that. Like they want to get paid, but made it so painful running a business and we never miss payroll or any of that stuff, but it just made it painful for the owner. Trying to like get all that, keep all that stuff straight. That's why at that time I made it a commitment to like, go after these bigger opportunities and working for the owner directly, we wanted to touch the money first and that's where it brought, introduced us to these opportunities with the feds, the USDA, the army and the Navy. And then the air force doing projects for them. They're looking for general contractors who can come in and renovate their buildings. They want to be able to just like sign a contract with you and you take it from A and Z. And then you turn it back over to them with a renovated space. Some of the things that we specifically focus on are like the mechanical renovations. These will be massive mechanical projects.
[00:09:25]
And then at the same time, they still need ceiling tiles. You need to paint the walls, do the floors and clean the space and turn it back over. So that's what those one to four, 5 million projects look like. We've done really well with it. Our first goal was to do 10 million a year. And we hit that goal and then we stayed there. I wasn't clear on what was the next target, but now we are clear on what the next target is. And the next target is to take those 10 years of 10 million a year. And now compress it to do a hundred million dollars in one year.
[00:09:55] Ben Waller
That's great. Thanks for explaining that for our listeners. The show is called Retire, Wealthy and Happy. And because of that. We're talking about things that you can do to build up to your retirement. And one of those things is starting a business. Everybody in the world and the country has the opportunity to start a business. If that's something they choose to do. And Oliver has his show. That's the Imperfect Entrepreneur. So we want to talk about. What it looks like to start a business. And one of the questions I want to start asking is, Oliver, what do you feel is like the most important thing to focus on when somebody's trying to start a business? And obviously that's a general question, but is it the operations? Is it the mental attitude? Like, what is the most important thing you would say?
[00:10:32] Oliver Fernandez
Yeah. So when you first started a business. That's such an interesting question because I literally have to go back to like when I first started, right? But when I first started my business, the thing that really got me going and really started to transform things was working on my mental thought process And the reason why I say that is because it was just me. So I had to do both operations. I had to do sales. I had to do both of those things and juggle both of those. For the finances, you're juggling a bunch of balls in the beginning. And the only way that you're even able to complete that successfully is by having a strong mindset. In the beginning stages of McKinsey, when we were borrowing money to get jobs, and it was just a mess financially, I was listening to this guy, Les Brown. And he was like my mental coach at the time. And he was always talking about, it's not over until I win. And like, he would say, if you can look up, you can get up.
[00:11:22]
And like all of those things I used to repeat to myself. Day in and day out while I was in front of my computer or making the phone calls and fumbling and dumbling through this thing that didn't really have clear roadmap, I was willing to look stupid and I was willing to make mistakes so that I could get my business off the ground. And luckily in the process of making those mistakes, we didn't make a mistake that was fatal to the overall success of the business. Luckily, we got off the ground before anything crazy like that. But yeah, if I was starting off a business, the first thing you got to work on is your mental. And another thing with the mental is like, it's also the ability to take action.
[00:11:56]
A part of taking action is like clearing out that mental space to take action. I wasn't just talking about the things that I wanted to do. I was actually doing it. I was making the phone calls. I was getting out in front of the customers that I wanted to serve. In the process of doing that, that brought opportunities in front of me. In the process of bringing those opportunities in front of me, you have to execute on what's in front of you. And if you execute properly, then you can start to build long term relationships and get repeat business from those customers.
[00:12:25] Ben Waller
I've got some follow-up thoughts to what you just said. Action is obviously huge and you're talking about mindset. So if you're thinking about starting a business, like obviously having an idea. And taking it to the market with that action is extremely important. And regardless of how good you think you are, you're going to mess up. You're going to fail when you first come to the market. And it's having that mindset that you're talking about to overcome those obstacles and to be able to continue moving forward, you just take what you learn. Fix what didn't work and then try again and keep going. And the other thing I want to add is you were talking about when you were starting your business is that you had to borrow money from places. It was challenging, right? And that's another thing to consider is when you're talking about starting a business, making sure that you have enough.
[00:13:08]
What do we want to call it? Dry powder, as far as your cash reserves so that you can get it off the ground because the statistically, it takes at least three, if not five years, successfully start a business. And there's a good chance that during that startup period, you won't be receiving revenue or at least not enough to cover your bills. Right? So you, maybe you're doing it as a side hobby to start or something like that, but making sure you have enough cash, at least accessible to you to make sure you can grow your business. And it sounds like you did, which is an awesome example there. And I want to ask you, what else would you say you felt like was holding you back when you were trying to start your business? We've talked about cash available. Were there other things that was a struggle for you that our audience might benefit from hearing?
[00:13:51] Oliver Fernandez
Man, I was so scared, man. Honestly, I was like petrified. Was really, really scared when I first started my business. Scared of everything. Like I was telling you before I was scared to get in front of people. Like you can't get sales. If you're not afraid to get in front of people. So I remember like when I first was making those phone calls, I would literally have to reset my mind. I'd be shaking before I started making the calls, but after I'd start the momentum and build into those calls, like I was getting better, I was figuring out the things to say, the things not to say. So all of that kind of played into me getting a little bit of confidence. And then once I had that started getting confident and what I was saying and what I was doing, then the being scared, it started to dissipate. It's still there even to this day, you know, like we're going after bigger opportunities.
[00:14:37]
So there's still that little, like little fear factor, like, Oh man, can you really do it? But as you continue to just take action and move things forward, it starts to dissipate. And then it's also like it's, it's chunking it down. So I didn't initially have the goal of having do a hundred million dollars a year. The goal initially was to do $10 million and that was really overwhelming when we were at zero, right? Like that was like the big picture goal. That was when I was 60. I was gonna finally get to a $10 million a year company and then I was like 26 or seven or whatever, and we were there and I was like, oh my God, what do I do next? And honestly, I was the saddest. When it was my entire life, because it was like, you have this big goal and you get to it. And you're like, what's next or what else? My biggest problem in that moment was that I didn't reset the goal. Right? So really what this thing is all, what I'm really saying here is the first target.
[00:15:27]
If you're really starting out, you get to a hundred thousand because you can't be a million dollar business. If you've never done a hundred thousand dollars a year. And then you can't be a 10 million business if you've never done a million dollars a year. So the next target after 100, 000 is to get to a million. And then once you get to a million, the next target after that, set it at 10 million. And when you're at 10 million, the next target after that is 100 million. So that's what we've said. There's always going to be things that scare you along that way. I think about the person that I've become. To get to a point of doing 10 million a year. And then it's like to get to a hundred million dollars a year. Like there's no possible way that I'm going to be able to do that on myself. So now I think about the team and like what the team has to become to get to a hundred million dollars a year. And that's what we're really done with now is like the leaders in the organization, being able to bring those team members on, train them on like what McKinsey does is there's a lot of construction companies out there that do commercial, they do residential.
[00:16:18]
They do a lot of things, but not everybody does government work. So I have to take those people and find people that have like really strong skill sets and then train them on the government process. And we've done that time and time again, on the operations side, on the estimating side, on the finance side, we're growing an awesome team. That's really hungry, really ready to go. And also has the skill set, but also the humbleness. To be willing to grow and to learn from different people because at the same time I need to learn. I'm constantly taking in new information to learn so that we can all get this business to the next level together.
[00:16:54] Ben Waller
A lot of great points in there and just trying to pull a couple out of what you said. Goal setting is obviously extremely important and obviously setting a goal that's a stretch but still obtainable for yourself. And then once you hit it then Resetting and going for a larger goal. You're also talking quite a bit about building your team. And I wanted to ask you specifically, do you have thoughts for our listeners about what you can do to be a good leader, because obviously to run a successful team or company, you have to be a leader.
[00:17:20] Oliver Fernandez
So leadership is something that. People always looked at me as a leader, but I never like internally bodied being a leader. It was something that definitely held me back now that I know, like, what real leadership looks like. I'm like, man, that would be so much bigger, so much faster if I had this stuff. Like, don't beat yourself up. I'm not beating myself too bad. But so one thing with leadership is like, it's not about you. I heard one of my mentors say, It's like when you're, when you're a bunch of puppies, right? And you have the big dog, like it's letting the puppies eat first. And then you think about yourself, right? That's really what leadership is. It's cultivating an environment for people to grow. So it's like me understanding what success looks like, but then making everybody else success easier so that they can basically compress 10 years into one year.
[00:18:07]
And that's what we've done. I mean, like, for example, like we have an estimator that came on McKinsey. And she's been here for two years now. She's done everything I've asked her to do from a standpoint of like learning how to find government opportunities to respond to government opportunities. And like, when I say respond, like you got to write these, all these narratives and like, it's crazy, but she's totally absorbed all of this stuff and she knows how to execute on it now, but then she also knows how to put together pricing. Right. She understands how to go talk to subcontractors and get electrical pricing, mechanical pricing, and not just like, Hey, I need to run like 10 feet of ductwork. But these are like a hundred ton chillers and like air handling units and all this stuff. It's like taking What she had already known, because she definitely, she grew up in the, her dad was a contractor.
[00:18:55]
She knew stuff about construction. She was a journeyman electrician. She had estimated for a company that was like more of a masonry company, but then she came into McKinsey. It was a general contractor and she's absorbed so much of the knowledge that I've learned over the last 10 years. And now she's farther ahead of the meat. And one year. Cause she's been able to absorb all that information. So to be a really good leader, it's not about you. It's making everybody's success easier. And the easier that you can make your team members success, the faster they can get results. And then the faster they can get results for the business, which then translates into results for themselves.
[00:19:29] Ben Waller
That was very well-spoken, Oliver. And I think it's a great segue into our next topic.
[00:19:34] Roger Jacobsen
Yeah, that's really awesome. And if a whole real estate thing doesn't work out for me, I'm gonna go back to construction and get a job with you. I hear a lot of things through what you've said, and it sounds like mindset is huge. When you talk about Les Brown being kind of a mentor, it helped you get through this time when you were shy to talk on the phone and everything else. And I think mindset's what pushes us through those difficult times. It's like, I know I'm better. I know I can do this. I don't know exactly how. But I believe it can be done. Who's been your mentors in time and how do you go about mentoring like your kids and everything else? Yeah,
[00:20:14] Oliver Fernandez
I've had so many mentors. I mean, I haven't made my parents have been a great mentors to me. My in laws have been great mentors to me. Honestly, I'm a person that just absorbs. I didn't have my dad growing up with us full time, so I was always a person, and I see it in my kids even now to this day. They're always kind of like, they sit back a little bit and they kind of are taking things in. I've always been that type of person that like, takes things in, so like, I've taken a little bit from so many different people. It's just a testament of like, I'm just a student want to grow. I want to learn like there's no ego in it for me. Like if you've got a better way, I'm willing to totally throw away my way and take your way. It's little things like even for, I heard one of my friends talk to their daughter one time, she said something or she did something and he's like, Hey honey, you don't want to do it that way. And I just loved how he put that in front of that.
[00:21:04]
Hey honey, that would have been never something that I would have said. I never would have said it that way. But like, I was like, when I have a kid, I'm going to take that. I say that stuff to my daughter now, then it just like, it almost like smoothens, like whatever, like all of it would be. I learned from so many people, but some of the bigger mentors in my life have been like the Les Browns. Like he totally got me working my mindset in the business side of things. When I was down and out. When I had lost 30, 000 on my first job, and I thought my life was over and I ruined everything. Listening to him, like, gave me so much confidence to keep moving forward and to learn from the lesson. Because those exact lessons that I learned on that box culvert job and the way the general contractor talked to me as the subcontractor and how he positioned everything.
[00:21:53]
Are the exact same things that we've done over the last 10 years and we've generated now over 100, 000, 000 doing that, you know what I mean? So, like, could have just walked away in that moment when I lost that 30, 000, but I stayed after it. I've taken those learnings, like, it's one thing to get your butt beat, but then to take the learnings to then go apply that into the marketplace. So Les Brown has been a huge factor in my life. Grant Cardone has been a big factor in my life just with his thought process. You know, like once I started getting a little bit of success, my thought process was like, Oh, Oliver, now that you've got success, like I can go back and hang out with my old friends, maybe using the success to like go party with those guys and caught me just at the right time.
[00:22:34]
And he's like. Dude, you're not even that successful, get going. And I was like, and I didn't even meet him. Like I was just listening to his books and like watching his little YouTube videos. And I was like, holy cow. And that's what like really pushed me to that 10 million level. And then once I got there, I was telling you before, I was like the saddest I've ever been in my entire life. I thought like I had reached like the pinnacle. I didn't really. Think about anything after 10 million and I went to Rod Kleef's event and that's where I met Adam Adams and he helped me think through like resetting the goals and resetting the targets to help me get into multifamily real estate prior to that I was only doing like the single families and the duplexes Rod started talking about cash flow from day one.
[00:23:19]
You still could get the fix my Oh Construction bug me by doing your value add renovations. Rod's been a great mentor in my life. And then another mentor in my life has been Brandon Dawson. He's the one that's really taught me the leadership game and like how to really grow teams and build teams, which is going to help 10X the business. There's been so many mentors in life. And those are like the big ones, but there's always been a bunch of little small ones. And even just simple things. If I see someone doing something that. That I really can appreciate it, or I think would add value in my life. I'll take that and I will definitely apply it.
[00:23:53] Roger Jacobsen
That's awesome. I definitely have a similar story. And what I did was a different, uh, mentor that was in the wholesaling space. They gave me books to listen and I listened on Audible. So I was on a construction site up in Park City area doing carpentry contracting outside. But I was able to do my work and then have my headphones in my second book. Well, as Grant Cardone, The 10X Rule, when I finished my third book, I told that contractor that was the GC. I'm like, I'm off to better things. Like I know in my mind that I can't be sitting here covered in sawdust and living my best life. Have you ever had any mentors that steered you wrong and had to reset and pivot?
[00:24:38] Oliver Fernandez
Yeah, we always have. I'm actually kind of a person that's really skeptical when I actually, when I first started McKinsey, I started with my dad and. My dad, I seen the heights of his success, but I also like heard a lot of like stories. He didn't have the, all the same opportunities everybody else had, or he didn't get the same type of financing everybody else had. And like those stories led me to believe that like, maybe I can. Do something big with them, right? We started off the business together and we were getting projects and then things were going okay. And then we just got into the hole and it got messy quickly. I was like basically mortgage in my entire future because everything was in my name.
[00:25:19]
Right. And. He would always say like, Oh, you got the rest of your life to make this money back. And it was like, dude, like I don't want to spend the rest of my life paying back for your mistakes. I'll pay for my mistakes, but I'm going to pay for your mistakes as well. So that was one mentor that got me in trouble in that moment, right? We had done some projects and then some of them went well, some of them didn't. And I was in the hole a half a million dollars. I'd never even made six figures to that point, you know? And talking about a half million dollar being in the hole, it was like, so scary. One of the mistakes that I made there was, all of the stories that I heard about his successes, those were like in the past, right? They weren't like in current times. Yes, he knew how to get results, but like, you have to be able to get results in current times, not 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
[00:26:04] Ben Waller
The phone book is still a big thing, right?
[00:26:07] Oliver Fernandez
Yeah, right. Exactly. It's just online, right? Yellowpages. com or something, right? Or Google. You know, that was a mention that, honestly, at the same time, I don't want to look at it negatively because it was, that pressure is what inspired me to make those phone calls. Like I was so scared, but I knew that I had a fire behind me. And if I didn't make this money, I was going to be in big trouble. As bad as it was, it was like catalyst to like, really launch me to the next level. That was a mentor that should have gone better, but it didn't. But we talked now and I'm just glad that I made it through it.
[00:26:42] Ben Waller
And I didn't break going back to the mindset. Right.
[00:26:44] Roger Jacobsen
You mentioned a mastermind, I think it was before we started the recording. What else have you done in the mastermind space that has helped you in your career?
[00:26:54] Oliver Fernandez
Yeah, I've been a part of a bunch of masterminds and I was just talking with a buddy of mine last, earlier this week. And I was talking about all the things that I've been a part of, but I also told him that like right now I'm just in full implementation mode. Like sometimes. You can be a part of so many different things that like it almost becomes a distraction. So like right now I'm just focused on implying the information that I've gotten, applying the frameworks that I've gotten from these masterminds so that I can get my business to a hundred million dollars. I don't want to be this one of those people that just talk about it. I want to be one that does it and actually puts this stuff into application. And that's one of the big things that I've been working on over the last one to two years of just applying all of this stuff and staying focused, you know, not trying to go to like the different masterminds and go to the different exotic trips, which are fun.
[00:27:41]
They're great. I love them. Like, can you meet such great people? And I still have so many good relationships. I still feed into those relationships, but I'm also trying to stay. Focus to make sure that I hit those targets because those same mentors that I'm learning from the story is going to be way better when I start telling, like, when I, when I'm telling the story that I went from 10 million to 100 million, and the only way I'm going to get there is by applying.
[00:28:05] Roger Jacobsen
For sure, I think what you're talking about is focusing on the down and dirty of figuring out the process, figuring out how to implement it. Whether it's a who or a what or whatever and just really working on that and avoiding the shiny object syndrome that is just a constant battle where you get texts and calls and Friends that are like, hey, do you want to do this mastermind in tennessee or? And it's like, Oh, that sounds like fun. But actually I really need to stay here and get this part done because I also know there's going to be something else is down the road. That's going to be the same type of thing and better timing.
[00:28:43] Oliver Fernandez
Yes, sir. Especially now that I have kids, there's already so much time that goes and gets invested into them. So now the time that I do have, like it's. I got to be super focused with it. I love masterminds. I've got so much information and great guidance and the strategies that I'm implementing in my business right now are from masterminds. So I'm not saying not to join them by any means, because like, I wouldn't be where I'm at if I didn't join those masterminds. What I am saying is that it was almost becoming for me, it was like a fascination or it was like mental fantasy. You know what I mean? It was like an addiction almost. And it was like, I needed to just sit back and just apply and apply and apply so that now it's, I can create this next level of success.
[00:29:28] Ben Waller
Awesome. Just as a reminder for our listeners today, we're talking about a couple of topics. The first is starting a business. We've talked about how to learn from mentors, and now we're going to switch gears a little bit and talk about how to think about alternative investments. Oliver, I know you've done real estate investing as well. I'm not sure if you're involved in other alternative investments, but one of the questions I want to ask, and maybe it's too broad, but I want to ask it this way. I'm trying to compare active investing versus passive investing. And the question is, what role would you say experience plays when being an active investor, whether you're talking about real estate or starting a business or any other alternative investment? How important is experience in your mind?
[00:30:08] Oliver Fernandez
Experience is the thing that will get you to the next level. When I was transitioning from being a subcontractor to being a general contractor, I knew nothing about being a general contractor. I had never done a project for the government as a prime contractor. Nothing. I literally knew nothing about it. I did meet a guy that had done a lot of this type of work and it was through an introduction with my dad and he'd been a prime contractor for the government. And we sat down, we met at the airport. He flew down to JFK and I was actually out in New Jersey. I had just gotten a foot surgery done on my left foot.
[00:30:42]
And I was at my in laws house. And I literally remember telling them like, Hey, I'm going to go beat this guy in New York city. And I'm like, how are you going to get there? I was like, I'm going to take the train. So I literally. Hopped in with like crutches to the airport. We met at like this restaurant inside of the airport. And he told me, Hey kid, I got a bunch of contacts. I'm not giving you any of them, but if you go find contacts and you find the opportunities, I'll help you execute on them. And like, that's all I needed to hear. You know what I mean? Like, so he was my. Experience. You asked about experience. Like he was my experience.
[00:31:15]
I remember just like cracking the door, open the door, sitting down, saying, hi, my name is Oliver. I'm the owner of McKinsey Construction and then shutting up and just letting him go. And he would talk about his experience and all of that stuff. And I was like, great, this is awesome. 100% have to be with experience, even from the multifamily side. That was one of the great things that I got from being involved in the broad cleaves community is now all of a sudden I met other real estate investors that were already buying a hundred plus unit properties. So here I was a kid that had done a duplex here and a single family there, and now I'm looking to get in 100 plus unit properties like understood it, but I didn't understand it.
[00:31:54]
Right? I understood 100 units is like, if I divide it by 100, I would get 1 and that's what I had. But like, now, all of a sudden it was like multiplied by 100. So I was able to partner with these people in the multifamily space and be able to buy big apartments and be able to apply my construction knowledge that I learned on the single family in the duplex game. For example, we had a property here right down the street from me here. Where I'm at right now in DC, it was a duplex that we renovated. So the basement first floor was one unit and then the second floor, third floor addition that we had was another unit and tenant moves into the basement. First floor on a Thursday, Friday afternoon at like. It's 4 45. I get a call. Hey, all we got water in our basement. I was like, Oh my God. So I go over there and I'm like, what do we do? We called like all of the places that handle water in your basement. And I like, uh, call us back on Monday. Well, I was like, how do I call you back on Monday? There's water in his basement.
[00:32:54]
He just moved in. There's mud actually coming in. So we had to basically re waterproof this entire basement unit. And it was such a painful experience. We had just got done doing all the construction and then it was fully done, renovated, tenant moves in and boom, we got hit with this, like, basically tear everything out and do it all over again. Those learnings that I took... From that property, the exact same learnings that we applied to 152 unit property in Atlanta, Georgia that had 20 down units that had water infiltration. We literally did the exact same waterproofing strategies in those units. And this is a property that had been under contract 3 other times. So three groups said I had it under contract, did the due diligence and backed out on this thing because it was too overwhelming for them. But it wasn't overwhelming for me because I had the experience at the time. I didn't have the experience of buying 100 plus unit properties. I had the experience of this construction. So I partnered with people that had the experience of buying 100 plus unit properties. We came together and made an 80 and we were able to go in there and renovate that property. And sell it in two years and made an awesome return.
[00:34:00] Ben Waller
Oliver, both of those stories were perfect in answering what I was hoping to pull out of that question in that if you don't have experience, that is not an excuse not to take action. Right? There's other people that have experience that if you approach them correctly, they're willing to work with you. Teach you, and obviously you're going to have to share in some of the benefits there, sharing some of the rewards, but in the long run, that cost will be much smaller than if you just tried to do it on your own and failed miserably, blah, blah, blah, et cetera. So you're demonstrating very well that you're willing to take action. You're willing to find other people that have that experience. I'm assuming played a huge role in the success you've been able to create in your companies, right?
[00:34:41] Oliver Fernandez
100%. I love the mindset. I'd rather not have a hundred percent of a great. And I'd rather have 20% of a watermelon or 50% of a watermelon.
[00:34:51] Ben Waller
I love it. So the next question, Oliver, and we're running out of time, so I'll probably end with this one. In regards to real estate, since you've got a lot of experience there, in your opinion, are small properties or larger properties riskier?
[00:35:04] Oliver Fernandez
Are small properties or larger properties riskier? Small properties are riskier. And the reason why they're riskier, and I know this from my own experience. I had this single family property in Maine, where I grew up. And you know, Maine, it's crazy. It gets all these snowstorms and it freezes and all this stuff. So you got to be careful of the pipes freezing. I had a tenant that was living there. And she was like one of those people that was like, I'm this and I'm so great. I pay my rent on time and I have a great job and I'm the best person in the world. And then like two months later, I get a call like, Hey, I'm breaking the lease.
[00:35:36]
And they're like, like what? You're breaking the lease? Like, middle of winter, I'm in New York City at the time, and like, she's in Maine, and I have to like, figure out how all that's gonna work, and next thing you know, like, she breaks the lease, the place is vacant, no rental income coming in, and I'm having to pay all the bills, I'm having to worry and stress about the pipes freezing, and making sure it's snow plowed, and all of the… Craziness that I didn't really want to deal with at the time. Whereas you buy these a hundred plus unit properties. Even if you lose 10 tenants, you're still 90% occupied. You're still getting 90% of your money that you should be getting. And when I started looking at it from that standpoint, from a risk standpoint, it's like. I'd rather have, uh, 90% of something than lose one tenant and be 100% vacant.
[00:36:22] Ben Waller
You're doing a great job answering my questions. It's beautiful. Oliver, in respect to your time, and we're getting close to our limit here, we're probably going to end and ask your final questions. Before we get to that, though, is there anything else about starting a business, learning from mentors, or alternative investments you feel our audience should hear from you?
[00:36:41] Oliver Fernandez
It just reinforces all the things that I have said. I remember when I was in, uh, like grade school and high school and a little bit of college, like I used to know everybody's stats. And what I mean by that is like, I used to know what Shaquille's stats were. I used to know Kobe stats, Michael Jordan stats. And one person's stats that I didn't know was my own stats. I didn't have any stats because I was so focused on everybody else's stats. And it wasn't until I just started focusing on myself and getting better and developing my game, and stopped worrying about everybody else's game, I actually got rid of all the anxiety in my life and started actually developing my own stats. It's about focus and being successful in anything. Anybody can do it. You just need to focus on it and put all of your attention and effort on it. And remove the distractions. And once the distractions are quieted, you can actually be the person that you want to become.
[00:37:34] Ben Waller
It's very well-spoken. I'm not even going to comment on it. It's beautiful.
[00:37:38] Roger Jacobsen
That's awesome. And we have a standing joke for the last few days right now that we're building our team and we're not just growing our team, we're building the 1994 Chicago bulls. So I'm Michael Jordan. Ben is Scotty Pippin and our third partner is Dennis Rodman. And we're having a little bit of fun with that right now. Love it. Well, we really appreciate you being on the show today. Our last thing is the final four. We ask the same questions to everybody. Try and get the same information and some different value in that same space. We asked four questions and we'll just let you go with those first question. What is your favorite business book?
[00:38:16] Oliver Fernandez
So. Rich Dad Poor Dad just got me in the mindset of being on the investor side, being on the business owner side of things versus being on the employee side or the self employed side. From a mindset standpoint and getting me sold on that whole thought process, Rich Dad Poor Dad.
[00:38:32] Roger Jacobsen
We probably need to get an affiliate code from Robert Kiyosaki because that book is so instrumental. In so many people's lives that we've interviewed. It's crazy. Number two, what brings you happiness?
[00:38:44] Oliver Fernandez
Showing up, being active, being present for the people that are in my life. I get extreme happiness from that. Awesome.
[00:38:54] Roger Jacobsen
Tell us what your future retirement looks like.
[00:38:57] Oliver Fernandez
I think I'm always going to have a little bit of work in me. I love being in the game. I mean, I literally view it as a game. And so it's like, if I view it as a game, I look at business as like my baby. It's like. Why would I want to get away from that? Would I be as involved as I am now? Probably not, but I would have a team and I'm still building something. I like building something versus just sitting on a couch doing nothing. I think that would be the death of me just doing nothing.
[00:39:22] Roger Jacobsen
Agreed. I think I have like 20, 40 years, whatever, but if I'm sitting on a couch, it's like. I got to be doing stuff. I got to have something. What's your favorite way to give back?
[00:39:33] Oliver Fernandez
So we've been doing a charity here in DC where we give back to the local kids. And the reason why it's so important to me is because I remember my mom bringing me to the library as a kid and getting my school work out and making sure. I just had that thought process of like, Hey, get what's done in front of you complete. We love giving back to kids in the inner cities and making sure that they have the resources to have that same reinforcement. Hey, we're going to focus on the gardens today. Once we're done focusing on the gardens, we're going to pick the fruits that we create and we're going to go to a farmer's market and we're going to sell it. So it's like we support kid power and it's an organization that basically provides afterschool activities. And that's one of the things that they do at those afterschool activities.
[00:40:17] Ben Waller
Very cool. Oliver, where can our listeners find you online?
[00:40:19] Oliver Fernandez
So you can find me on Instagram or Facebook at Oliver Fernandez underscore three.
[00:40:24] Ben Waller
We'll have those links in our show notes as well for everybody. Oliver, thanks for being on here. Just a quick summary for our listeners. Today, we were talking about starting a business, how to learn from our mentors, and how to think about alternative investments. I would say that we all learned a lot from Oliver today. And having that mindset is extremely important in our success in business and in life and giving back to people in our community or to our families is a great way to bring happiness into our lives. Thanks, everybody, for joining us on the Retire Wealthy and Happy Podcast. We hope to see you next time. Thanks, Oliver. Thanks, Oliver. Awesome.
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