
Raising the Flipping Bar with Derek Marlin
Raising The Flipping Bar is the masterclass for real estate investors of all levels looking to make more money with property redevelopment (aka Fix & Flips), and real estate investing overall. Join Derek Marlin, expert real estate investor, as he brings actionable advice to help you make more money, avoid expensive mistakes, and scale your business with a growth mindset. We’ll talk about the good, the bad, and everything in between as it relates to Fix & Flips and real estate investing overall.
On Raising The Flipping Bar, you can expect to hear Derek Marlin share the in-depth strategies his team has used to Fix & Flip 80+ homes in Denver, CO along with 115 door apartment complexes in Cincinnati Ohio. Season one includes interviews with key team members and other successful investors that will reveal the secrets you’ve been looking for to get started in flipping or take your investment business to the next level.
If you’ve been looking for education, collaboration, and community in the Fix & Flip space, Raising The Flipping Bar with Derek Marlin is the podcast for you!
Raising the Flipping Bar with Derek Marlin
Why New Year's Resolutions are Bullshit! A Better Way to Crush 2025
Today’s episode is all about breaking free from the New Year’s resolution trap and setting yourself up for real, lasting success in 2025. Spoiler alert: I think New Year’s resolutions are total BS, and here’s why.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why 91% of people fail to stick to their resolutions: The common mistakes and how to avoid them.
- The power of identifying your "why": How connecting to a deeper purpose fuels consistent progress.
- How big, audacious goals can keep you motivated: Even if you don’t hit them, the progress is worth it.
- Why saying no more often matters: Free up time and energy for what truly aligns with your goals.
- How a single word or phrase can guide your year: Focus on what matters in every area of your life.
This episode is packed with actionable insights you can apply to your fitness, business, and personal life. My word for 2025 is intentional, and I’ll share exactly how I’m putting it into practice to grow my business and improve my life.
What’s your word or phrase for 2025? Share it with me on social media or connect with us directly—I’d love to hear how you’re kicking off the year!
Connect with Derek Marlin and ELEVATION!
Derek on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/derekmarlin
ELEVATION’s website: https://elevationinvest.com/
ELEVATION on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevationinvestmentproperties
ELEVATION on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevationinvest/
ELEVATION on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elevationinvestmentproperties
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#NewYearsGoals #ProductivityTips #EntrepreneurMindset #GoalSetting2025 #NoResolutionsNeeded #BusinessGrowth #RealEstateSuccess #MindsetShift #FocusAndWin #CrushYourGoals #DerekMarlin #2025
Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of raising the flipping bar. I'm your host, Derek Marlin, and I'm excited for today's episode because it's going to be a blend of personal development and business strategy. when we first created this podcast, we were leaning into 75 to 80 percent real estate investment related content, but just because of my background and my passion. And I think it really helps people build their businesses is we want personal development and we want business strategies. So let's jump right in. Welcome to Raising the Flipping Bar, the go to podcast for aspiring and seasoned real estate investors. I'm your host, Derek Marlin, and I'm the CEO of Elevation. We're a real estate investment company based right here in Denver, Colorado. We'll dive into smart investment strategies, market insights, and essential tips for scaling your real estate ventures. Whether you're making your first investment or your hundredth investment, this podcast is your blueprint for success in the ever evolving world of real estate investing. Get ready to elevate your real estate game and begin your journey with me. so it's January. It's 2025. Happy New Year's to everybody. we all talk about New Year's resolutions. But today's episode actually is that I think New Year's resolutions are complete bullshit. So as we go today, I wanted to kick off today's episode with a story. And the other thing that people always do, which I think is actually a really good thing, obviously is working on your health and fitness. you can't, perform at a high level. if you're always feeling run down, if you're always tired, if you're out of shape, if you're not eating well, you're not getting sleep, you're not, doing fun things for your mental health. So I think all those are really, really important, but it kind of got me a little, a little ticked off and I shouldn't be, but I work out at lifetime fitness. And, one of the cool things that they did that at first I was a little annoyed, but I actually think it's cool is they sound on an email probably three Three months ago and literally said, we are taking no new members. And I was blown away at first. I'm like, what business stops, taking new revenue. But if you think about it from a gym perspective, I really appreciate that because it doesn't oversaturate your experience because it's not cheap there. And they've got a lot of really nice stuff. And so I thought that was cool. But working out in early January, you obviously have the people that are doing their new year's resolutions. And I've categorized them into three very distinct buckets. And so you have the workout bras, those are dudes that are back from college that are, doing their weight training. And so if you want to do flat bench, good luck in January, you're not going to get on a bench. Then there are the Lulu ladies. Unfortunately, I think my daughters might fall into that bucket, but, it's people that obviously have like insanely expensive workout gear. And a lot of them do work out hard, but a lot of them just have nice workout gear and they probably won't be there in February. and then there are what I call the focused view and there are the people that we see them, we nod to each other, at five or 6 AM, you're still seeing them every Tuesday, it's the people that have been doing stuff all year anyways, and shout out to you, men and women and folks out there that are doing that. The one beef that I have is please don't film yourself. Like just get out of my way, like it, it bothers me. There was two people just completely filming themselves. Like, okay, I get it if we're in Beverly Hills or Miami or something, but this is Denver, this is even worse. This is suburban Centennial, Colorado, lifetime fitness, get over yourself. But I wanted to kick off today's episode in kind of unique fashion in that working on health and fitness is really important. It's important to me. and I've had a crazy health journey. Some of you guys might not know this, but I've had a lot of back surgeries and it's been really tough because I went from being a pretty decent athlete, even in middle age, and running Spartan races and running Tough Mudder races and really training with some elite level guys. some of NFL players. there was one guy who did personal security for a very, very high level, Hollywood star and, dudes that are in the special forces. So like I'm at the bottom of that barrel, let's just say that, and I'm trying to keep up with them. But in trying to figure out all these back problems, I came across a guy and his name is Dr. Nick Stunholm. So shout out to Dr. Nick. and he has an amazing practice and it's chiropractic by nature, but what, It really does is it's all about functional fitness. And so he's helped me a ton and he has an email list and he sent this out and it just, it caught my eye as like the perfect kickoff to today's episode again, about why New Year's resolutions, I think are bullshit. And so these stats are from Dr. Nick and I think they lean a little more into the health and fitness industry, but I think they're translatable across. personal finance, personal development, family goals, business goals, wealth goals, all that stuff that people really resonate with this time of the year. And so he said 38. 5% of adults actually set a New Year's resolution. And I actually thought that was kind of low. of those 23 percent quit after one week and then 35 percent quit after one month. And again, I don't know exactly where he's getting his data from. So again, little asterisk in our show notes. But he said only 9 percent of people stick to their New Year's resolutions. And so that kind of stuck with me. I'm like, why is that the case? and so to put context and frame to it again, we'll wrap this all into real estate investing, but I think this is timely for this part of the year, what are the top five areas that people are sitting in these resolutions? And it was the same. I use chat to, to search a ton of different options and ton of different data, and it all came up the same from all different sources. It was exercise more. It was eat healthy. It was lose weight and then it was save more and spend less. So those two things were bookended together. And then it was also quit smoking and drink less. with the five areas and the five key places that people are focusing on. Okay, let's get back to brass tacks of again, why do I think yours resolutions, they're bullshit. and to me again, this might be an aggressive episode for people. And I'm right there with you. Like I want to accomplish a lot in 2025. and I think Dr. Nick's facts, they're just a perfect example of why people actually don't succeed. So I want to dive into a little bit about, I think what trips people up. in setting New Year's resolutions. And then what we do, and again, what we're doing is not like life changing or earth shattering. A lot of people are doing it, but I do think it's applicable. So to me, the number one reason why people fall off that New Year's resolution wagon so fast is it's not tied to their why it's a very specific number. go back to my speeches and thoughts about Simon Sinek. It's not what you do or how you do it. It's why You do what you do. And so it was actually cool. I work with a nutritionist because I want to get in a better shape. and I want to keep improving. And so I knew that nutrition is a huge piece of the puzzle. And so it was cool. He said, rather than, well, how much weight do you want to lose or give me a number? He really grilled me for the why. And part of my why was that I want to live to a hundred. And this is like this ridiculous thing that I have. My kids always laugh at me, but for whatever reason, I just have this number in my mind. And I want to live. Well, 200, like, I don't want to be, limping to the finish line, if you will. So nutrition is super, super important. So that was the number one thing. And then he kept digging and it's a little bit vain, but I want to look good on this podcast. I want to look decent speaking on stage. Like, I don't want to be this dude that's out of shape because a lot of people, I think the way you do something means the way that you do everything. So. Those were some of my whys and obviously being tied into my family, I want to just be as vibrant as I can for my wife and for my kids. and we got a lot going on. And so I'd also sadly have had a couple of people in our sphere pass away and they just didn't know that they had health ailments. And so for me, those are some of those whys that you really need to like anchor to rather than just like, Oh, I want to lose X number of pounds, right? I want to do X number of wholesale deals, right? I want to earn seven figures or whatever. I think number one is you got to start with your Y number two, as I think that some people, they create two finite of goals. And so with that, again, not that you shouldn't do that, but to me, it goes back to like your business planning. You should have goals and what you're doing. We run everything through the traction or entrepreneurial operating system. EOS for short. And so there's tons of very, very specific, key metrics you're trying to hit. But if that's the only thing that you do, I think people get off track. The other thing is that people have a really hard time like getting back in the saddle. And so it's just this thing from, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there that watch Yellowstone, like when people get bucked off their horse, they don't just like. Go next to the horse and walk the rest of the way you get back in the saddle. Like you have to just keep going. and I've been guilty of it myself too. And so from a nutrition standpoint, I try to have one used to be one cheat weekend in my twenties and I could still be in good shape. And then in my thirties, it was one cheat day. And now sadly I'm in my forties and it's one cheat meal a week. Yeah. but if you go to a party and you fall off track and you have a couple of cocktails and you have some pizza or whatever, okay, maybe not the best thing, but don't let that derail your entire week. Or maybe you have a really bad sales call with a seller and they tell you to F off. Like you don't stop calling. You just keep going. So I think that people just, they don't get back in the saddle and they don't persevere. So I think that's another big thing that kind of trips people up. sometimes they also think that I thought about was, People don't have big enough goals and Jim Collins, from good to great, his book is, he has what he calls BHAG and it stands for big, hairy, audacious goals. and you have to think big because a lot of times if you're working towards those big, nasty goals, um, or some people would call them resolutions. And you don't hit it, but you come super, super far. You've made obviously amazing progress, but if it's just slightly improving, I don't know. I just don't think that does a lot for people. So we're going to take a quick break and tell you about the next elevation academy. If you're looking to dive deep into real estate investing, this is definitely the event for you. Our academy features over a hundred step process to help you navigate every single thing from market analysis all the way down to every aspect of project management. So this is tailored for both beginners and seasoned investors. And our one day intensive training will equip you with the strategies and insights needed to elevate your real estate investing game spots are definitely limited. So click on the link below in the show notes to sign up and transform your approach to real estate investment. Okay. Let's get back to the episode. Transcribed another thing that I think derails people in attaining their New Year's resolutions is you're not identifying what you're willing to give up. And this is something that really became poignant to me in working through a lot of Alex Hormozy's content. and for those of you that are out there, it'll be in the show notes, look at Alex Hormozy's stuff. He's got an amazing social media and just general content presence. But a big thing that he hammers home is like, everybody wants the thing, but they're not willing to identify, let alone follow through with what they're willing to give up. So to me, like a simple, simple example is like, okay, great. You want to get in better shape, but are you willing to stop eating sugar? Or refined sugar or junk food or whatever else, like you want to do a certain number of real estate deals, but are you willing to give up on, wasting the first two hours every day, just replying and check an email versus making cold calls the first part of our day. So it's all about, what are you willing to give up? maybe from a personal wealth perspective, you want that car. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That, that you're trying to afford, but like you're still going out to dinner five nights a week again, it's all about what are you willing to give up nine times out of 10, you can get there, but you got to give something up and he also really hits home. You have to do it for an extended period of time. Just doing something again, let's go back to the nutrition thing. And because it's such an easy thing and it's pointed for right now is you're not going to get a six pack. If you have one good week of nutrition and eating. If you have hopefully one good month and then one good year, yeah, you're going to be in really, really good shape. So it's all about what are you giving up and how long are you willing to commit to that goal? The other thing for me is a lot of people are worried about what other folks will think. And this is a really big one. We're going through a weird transition with unfortunately some friends that they're hitting their mid forties to early fifties and they're settling into kind of whatever their life might be. And they're not willing to take that next step. And so there, I get the feeling that they're just dragging you down with them. So, you're worried about saying like, Oh, well, this is my resolution is to have seven figures or it's to do a certain number of real estate transactions, or it's to get in phenomenal shape, or it's to, hike 10 14ers or whatever. Don't be worried about what other people are going to say about you. And if they're thinking that, then it's probably not people that you need to associate with yourself anyways. So again, that's a hard thing when you've got friends from 20, 30 years. But to me, like it just, it is what it is. and again, it's also about comparing yourself to other people on social media. So to me, this is a slippery slope because you want to emulate And you want to follow what successful people are doing. Like they've created that roadmap. If you think back to Napoleon Hills, think and grow rich. it's having that mentor or being a part of a mastermind of like being with people that are already doing the thing. they've already got the goals that you're trying to achieve. But sometimes almost don't shoot so high or just don't let yourself get sucked in, which is either easier said than done of, the person who's 20 years younger than you and is driving a Lamborghini and flying all over the place, wherever else we all know that's just great content, but that might not be the way things actually are. So just try not to get sucked down by the social media machine, and letting you get derailed. So where I want to transition with this is okay. Great. Dr. Nick gave us this good example of like why people have resolutions. We just outlined how they get derailed. But to me, it's what do we do instead? So instead of having resolutions, and this is something that I've started to do, I don't know, like probably over the past three or four years is picking a word or a phrase. And focusing on that, because to me, you can apply that to everything that you do. And then if you have these different goals, especially as it relates to business, again, we go back to our vision traction organizer document. It's this two page document that's hyper, hyper focused, even 10 years out. And then it gets more granular three years out and then it gets super granular year one or the current year and even that quarter. So it's really about what phrase can I use to apply to all those different areas? So for 2025 with myself and our team at Elevation, it's about being intentional. And so I then now need to take my own medicine. So what am I willing to give up? And so I'll give you some tactical things that I'm doing, and then you guys can all hold me accountable, when we interact and see one another, but something that I'm willing to give up, which sounds a little counterproductive, because sometimes people say like, Oh, you have to grind and you have to work 24 seven. Where I went back and triaged over the last couple of weeks during the holidays is if I work super late, it totally tanks. no matter how hard I try and you can get away with one or two decent days, but like it takes my productivity in the future. So for me, I actually set an alarm on my iPhone for 9. And so when that goes off, like I have to get ready to wind down. I have to get ready for bed. I know it's going to take me about a half an hour to make sure that the kids are dialed, even though I've got teenagers in there. self contained and stuff, but, to really get ready so that I can hopefully get in bed at nine 30 and hopefully be asleep between nine 30 and 10, because what I realized is that what that does is if not, I'm trying to do, my wife, Ann and I have office hours, which is fine. Once in a while at night, cause you want to work, then you want to spend time with the family. We try to have family dinners together. cause I actually love to cook and. And then sadly we end up doing work from like eight to 10 and sometimes 11 PM. And yeah, there are days when you're crunched and you have to do that. But for the most part, if I then stay up to 11 o'clock, then it's really hard for me to get good sleep. I then don't get a good workout in the morning. And then if I don't work out, then I'm probably crankier than I should be. and then I don't eat as well. And then I don't feel well, like it, you can see things just cascade. And so to me, what I'm not. Some of my non negotiables and what I'm willing to give up is. doing that last quote unquote, one to two hours of work, because 95 percent of the time, I don't think it's going to matter the next day, but it's going to screw me for the rest of the week. So that's something that I'm really going to, again, being intentional about setting that alarm for 9 PM every night and sticking with it. so the other thing is, I'm not going to give any resources and I'm going to stay away from people that are Debbie Downers. I talked about a little bit earlier, but to me, that just doesn't make any sense. I don't want people dragging me down. So I'm sadly going to give up some relationships of people that just were important to me. But if you can't bring value and be reciprocal, Then I'm just going to, I'm going to cut off that relationship. it's not worth it. and we're going to do the same thing for business. we've got some folks that we've worked with in the past and we just realize all we're doing is giving and everything's being taken from us. It's not reciprocal. So I'm going to cut those people and those things out. The other thing is, and this is a hard one for me. I've got, my business consultant, Doug Slabaugh with the CPA coach shout out Doug. we've worked together and I've paid him some nice chunk of change to help me get rid of shiny object. syndrome or theory, which is you've got a great idea. It's shiny. You want to be drawn to it, but it's not always the right time to execute that. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to either postpone a couple of good ideas or good business opportunities, either indefinitely Or at least into the future. And so something that we're leaning into is being really, really intentional. That's again, my phrase. And so we're going to do this cool thing called more, better, new. And it's something I talked about in a prior podcast, but we're going to do more of the thing. Then let's make it easy. Let's talk about cold calls. So we're going to make more cold calls to talk to motivated sellers and to talk to other investors. Then we're going to get better at that. And then maybe I'll do something new. But if I said, Hey, Elevation has been thinking about launching a, handyman service and, an inspection division for other investors, inspecting properties as investments. Cool idea, pretty vertically aligned, but it's something we're not going to think about until 2026. So I'm going to have to postpone some good ideas. and with that kind of dovetails to, sounds weird, but, one of my, again, things is being intentional about saying no more often in 2025. I went back and looked at my calendar. I reassessed where I spent my time. And I just said yes to too many things that weren't of the core mission of the company or didn't match my personal why. And it just got me off track. and then somehow just sucked up a lot of time as well. So for me, it's all about saying no to certain things. And then I can pour into, the people that I want to pour into, and that give me energy and joy. And so to me, the last thing that I'm going to look back and do is just expect greatness from other people. and I know that seems pretty aggressive to some folks, but I'm doing it with my own family. I've got, some kids that might want to play sports in college. It's what are you going to give up? And what do you have to commit to maybe doing that? business associates. working with different people. Like to me, I'm going to expect greatness because I know I'm pouring in as much as I can and nobody's perfect. We're all going to make mistakes and not everything's going to go well all the time. But if we have that intentionality, again, for me, it's be intentional, something that, to me, that's super, super important. as we wrap up today's episode, I want to hit on two or three more things. And so to me, it's also about using your measurement tools, looking back. I think a lot of times it's important. People set a new year's resolution and it's all about forward progress. Don't get me wrong. that's important. But normally if you look back, you realize how far you've actually come. So really don't forget to look back in your measurement tool. I think that's super important. Something I'm going to try that I've never done before. We're actually doing it right now with my family is we're going to do a vision board. And so we're physically putting on poster board some of those things that we want to attain. And then I have to then back it up by doing the intentional things every day that can hopefully get me closer to those specific goals. And things that we want to accomplish, whether it's family vacations or for us, a unique one is we've sent our son, our first kiddo off to college. And I've seen what an amazing experience he just had in his first semester. And he's out of state in Washington. And so I want to be able to give my kids the opportunity to all go out of state. So I probably gonna save a couple more bucks, even though we started saving for college when they were two, we got to do a couple more deals. Cause I want to give them flexibility to come out of school without debt, to, to do it in a smart manner. and so it's just all about putting those things on a vision board for us. So we can check in later and see how that goes. And again, just I'm practicing it myself. Always get back on the horse. just dust yourself off and just continue on. If you think about looking at it through your lens of what's your why first, I think you can accomplish so much in 2025. so what I would do is to give you guys some homework and some action steps is I would love to know what is your phrase or what is your word or what, ethos you're going to live in 2025 that can check all those boxes again, not to say you shouldn't have a certain fitness level you want to hit or a certain number of deals you want to do, or amount of money you want to save, or hopefully about, amount of money you want to give to charity or number of volunteer hours or whatever else. But, I think it's all about being intentional. And so, hopefully this gives you some good motivation and some good ideas and thought generations to, to reach out to us and share what's your word or what's your phrase in 2025. So hopefully everybody's had some time to reflect over the holidays. I think that's the perfect time to do this. And again, I know it seemed a little aggressive. it's my inner Jersey coming out of why I think New Year's resolutions are total bullshit, but I think phrases and theories and philosophies are super, super important. So thanks for tuning into today's a quick cast. If you will, really appreciate you guys. Please connect with us and engage with us again. This doesn't work. If we don't have two way communication, I really appreciate you guys. Happy New Year's and we'll catch you guys on the flip side. Thanks for tuning into this week's episode of raising the flipping bar. If you found value in our insights and stories, let's keep the conversation going, connect with me on social media, and be sure to share this episode with friends or colleagues who might benefit your feedback and reviews, help us grow and reach more listeners like you. So please, if you enjoyed this episode, leave us a review. Thanks again to the elevation Academy for sponsoring today's show. If you're interested in learning more, click the link in the show notes below and remember every property tells a story. Every deal brings a lesson. Keep reaching for those goals and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey everybody. Thank you so much for listening and watching, raising a flipping bar. Just a basic overall disclaimer is that a, This is not legal advice. B, this is not tax advice. C, this is not financial advice. I hope you get the gist, but I'm obviously not a lawyer, not a CPA hell. I'm not even a real estate agent actually, but in general, we hope you get a ton of value out of this, but there is a bit of a disclaimer. Please consult a professional if you have any questions whatsoever.