Episode 214: Better Together

Knowledge is power, but paying it forward can be extremely powerful just the same.

 Scott would have never guessed that his first corporate job at an accounting firm would have somehow introduced him to real estate - but here we are!

 23 years later and Scott has grown to truly appreciate the partnership within the industry and is all for helping those who want to earn passive income. 

Tune in to episode 214 as Scott provides a breakdown of the real estate syndication, explains the importance of transparency with tenants and much more!

 For more information about Onward Equity: 

Facebook: Scott Jacobson

LinkedIn: Scott Jacobson

Website: onward-equity.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

After sitting down with Scott for today's episode, I'm thoroughly convinced he may be one of the best landlords that there is out there. Not only because of his people first approach, but also because of the emphasis on collaboration over competition. Scott has been in real estate for 20 plus years, but more recently started buying multifamily apartment buildings and bringing investors along the way. So with that, he really went from working solo to now bringing investors in and also telling them why their investment will be worth it when it's all said and done. On top of that, Scott will break down what a real estate syndication is and even how you can become part of what he does because he's a firm believer in learning and mentoring and partnering, but also paying it forward.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

So without further ado, enjoy episode 214 Better Together. What's going on, everybody?

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Welcome back to another episode of the Down to Business Podcast here with Tamar Turner. Look, if you ask me just from how fast time is flying, just from how fast everything goes by, the year is practically over. I've been speaking to a lot of people, and I feel like a lot of their mindset, a lot of what they're thinking now, a lot of kind of their planning and goal setting is really for 2025, especially Q1 and just thinking about how we can close out the year, what we can do to make for a better year. But you know, I don't want to rush time, I don't want to move us ahead any faster than what we need to be. But after my birthday, my birthday was back in July. So after my birthday, once summer kind of gets on that tail end, I consider the year to be over. But I say all that to say nonetheless, while time may be moving, while things are flying, while there's a lot happening, a lot going on, the Down to Business podcast, the show must go on, the show must continue. So very excited to be sitting down here with Scott today. Very excited for him to tap into what he has going on, what he's been able to do, just some of the insight that he's here to share with. And I really think, you know, when it's all said and done, he'll be able to make some people here some money, give you some insight, give you some tips and some tricks. Because, you know, we're gonna talk about that that famous industry, that industry that I feel like we've touched on. I honestly feel like this is the industry where we've had the most podcast interviews. I'm gonna confirm that one of these days. I'm gonna kind of go through and just see. But I really think this industry specifically is just that. Now, before we get into all things, before I let Scott kind of just take over and do what he does. Scott, how are you doing today? How's everything on your end?

SPEAKER_02 2:18

I'm doing great, Tamara. I really appreciate the invitation. I'm looking forward to chatting.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Absolutely. Thank you so much for accepting said invitation and thank you for joining us today. So, for everybody out there, look, I know that we're gonna have some people tapping in from the down the business side. I know we're gonna have some people tapping in from your side, and then I know we're gonna have some people along the way who may just be trying to find out a little bit about the both of us, may just really be trying to learn some more things, really delve deeper into this, whether they go kind of the business ownership route, entrepreneurial route, nonprofit route, anything of the sort. So before we get into all things, before we just bring everybody up to speed, can you just do two things for me? Can you one just tell me a little bit about yourself? And then two, tell me what brings you on the Down the Business podcast today.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Absolutely. I can do both of those. Uh so yeah, my name's Scott Jacobson. I am uh the founder and uh kind of operator of Onward Equity. And what we do is real estate, commercial real estate specifically, or specifically uh multifamily apartments. So uh we focus on uh apartment buildings, buying apartment buildings, and then bringing uh investors along for the ride to help us make it all possible. Uh, I've been doing that for about uh that particular um syndication, it's called, for three years now, but I've been in the real estate real estate space for 23 years. Started like a lot of people in uh residential, bought some single family homes actually near the university where I attended here in Indianapolis, Indiana, and it was great. And I got into it and I kind of discovered that uh I liked, I actually enjoyed being a landlord. Um, having having something. I I originally had friends that lived with me. We were young and just out of college, and uh it was great. And I I realized that that's kind of the secret to life, a little bit they call it passive income. It's not passive because there's still a lot of work that goes that goes along with being a landlord, being a homeowner, uh, whether you're living in it or renting it to others. But uh uh real estate's my passion. Uh I love real estate, kind of all things about it. I do have a real job though. I'm uh a CPA and I have uh work as a controller for a medical sales company as well. So real estate's my call it my my full-time side hustle, a full-time hobby. So um yeah, that's that's in a nutshell what I do. We love to travel. My family and I love we love to travel, get out uh domestically, internationally, as much as possible. And uh the reality is that kind of the the real estate uh side hustle is what makes most of that possible, is uh allows us to have the freedom, both time, time freedom and you know, financial freedom to be able to explore the country or even the world.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

So nice. I love that. I love I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they love being a landlord. So I know we're definitely on here today. And so, really, just to hear about the so y'all, there we go, big surprise. We're talking about real estate today, y'all. And like I said, I feel like you know, I love continuously hitting on this topic because we're always hitting up from a different perspective. We're always the fact that we're sitting across from someone new each time just lets you know that we're not entering it the same way or thinking about things in a in a you know in a one-track mind in a one-track manner. We've heard so many different things here. I've asked so many different questions, I've followed up on so many just different topics that it's just like you know, the the information is endless, but it's at your disposal here for you to take advantage of. So while I love to hear what you're doing when onward equity, and while, you know, I I definitely do hear the beginning stages of everything, of developing everything, of really truly branding and becoming a business and everything that comes into that. But before that, I hear that even with the brand, the business itself, that's just one part. You have 23 years of real estate experience, you know, starting as most, as you said, with residential and going into that. So as you said, and I know you kind of even spoke to it in there, the passion that you've kind of had for real estate. Was that something that was derived from anything specifically? Was it just growing up? Did you kind of just was that as you kind of started to go to school, as you kind of just started to observe, just do different things, get into different hobbies of the sort, did you start to learn that this is really what you loved, or did something propel you into that?

SPEAKER_02 6:24

That's a that's a neat question. I appreciate you asking that. So for me, I think I've always had a little bit of a call it an entrepreneur entrepreneurial spirit. Uh, when I my first job was mowing yards. And uh so I was fortunate. I had a mower that I could use and a truck and a trailer, and I just I advertised, and I think at my highest, I had I don't know, 25 to 30 yards um between a couple different towns uh in northern Illinois where I grew up. And and I loved kind of being my own boss and and uh making my own schedule, but also kind of in charge of uh my future, right? So if I if I didn't want to work, or if I didn't work, I didn't make any money, or if I didn't schedule any, uh, you know, didn't go out and try to earn customers, uh, then I didn't make any money. So I uh I I think I learned, you know, in in high school as my first, I think as my first real job, anyways, um, that I kind of loved that, kind of being in charge and uh have that that inner drive, I guess, to uh uh I can motivate myself. I don't necessarily need to count on other people to motivate me for me, if that makes sense. Um but I guess to go along with that, that my my introduction to real estate was actually through my first um professional job after college. Uh I was working at uh uh at the time, I think big five accounting firm, uh Arthur Anderson, back when there was an Arthur Anderson. And uh the person who was assigned as my mentor, when we got together, we didn't talk about accounting, we talked about real estate because he he was uh and still is big into uh real estate. And he's the first one that kind of opened up my mind to even realize that you could own a house or a building or uh an office, whatever it is that that you don't live in or work in. Like I literally, you know, what was I at 22 years old perhaps at the at the time? And I literally it never crossed my mind that you could own a house and not live in it. You could own it and have someone else live in it. Um so he was the first person to really kind of expand my mindset and say, you know what, this is this is uh it's a business opportunity, right? It's something that I can I can take and uh kind of run with it if I'd like to or not. And uh taking that kind of uh inner drive, I guess, uh, is what I read a book called Rich Dead Poor Dead. Uh, I'll bet a lot of your audience has heard of it and hopefully they've read it as well. If not, they should. Um, but it literally kind of expanded my mind uh even more and it made me just want to go out and buy everything I could, which which wasn't that much. I started slowly, uh certainly, but uh starting slowly is is much better than thinking about and wanting to start, but never starting, right? So um that's I think what I learned. Just kind of learn by doing, surround yourself with good people, and uh, you know, great things can happen over 23 years.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

The power of like-minded individuals, man, it's amazing just what what you can do, and like you said, just with that acquired knowledge, but not only acquiring the knowledge, but applying the knowledge because I feel like that's a that's a big thing too. We can we can talk and speak about how many notes we've so important, how many things we've we've gone through and this and that. But what are we, you know, and have all the notes, have the highlighted the stickies here, things written all over the board, but what are we really doing application-wise? Are we really just learning this? Are we memorizing this? Are we just doing this to say that when somebody brings up Rishdat Port that I have something to talk about or have something to say, or am I really living out those things that I learned? And am I really living out why that changed my perspective and had me thinking differently? Am I really living out why I wanted to recommend this even to someone else? So to hear that with you and to hear the development of it all throughout, because you know, I could understand that with certain things, you also have to continuously remain a student, even I'm sure with your 23 years of experience, there are still things that you're learning. There's still things. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

We're in a world now where if you would have asked us in 2019 what was going on, nobody would have predicted a pandemic, nobody would have predicted essential workers, nobody would have predicted, you know, all this remote and hybrid work, nobody would have predicted AI to be really where it is, or maybe some people might have, but maybe not at the the the pace at which it is. So the fact that you know, even with you in here 23 years ago, the real estate industry didn't look like what it is today. You weren't we we're not even kind of talking about some of the same things, or we're kind of adding, or there may even be some things that 23 years ago it would if it would have blown your mind back then, but to now see it as a reality, it's like wow, this is really something that's happening. So let's fast forward now a little bit with having all of this experience under your belt, with now knowing, you know, with buying some properties yourself, with having that knowledge, with being able to even have mentors, have business partners, have people kind of around you that you've been working with, been able to learn from, even make money from. At what point did you really realize, okay, I feel like I have enough foundation, I feel like I have enough just understanding or comfortability onward equity is now born. How did that, how did that really come into play? Were you always, you know, because as a I would say, even something that I I think I'm I'm starting to even realize too is that sometimes we don't realize that we're we're technically a brand or like we're business owners or like we're entrepreneurs, or you know, sometimes I I was so under the mindset of I need the LLC, I need the EIN number, I need to have everything on paper. But little did I know I was still making content, I was still releasing episodes, I still had an email marketing list, I was still putting things out there, I'm scheduling. So I'm doing all the things and everything that would tell me that I'm a business or tell me that I'm a brand, I'm moving professionally, but just because I don't have a few things or a few documents, I'm not really realizing myself as professional. And that was something that I, you know, I talked to some people and they were really telling me, hey, you're Tamar Turner, yes, but you're also the host of the Down the Business Podcast. So for you, Scott, just thinking about all the knowledge that you had, all the successes, all the trials and the tribulations and everything that you were able to get into, at what point did you really realize, hey, it's time to brand myself? Here's onward equity.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

That's a really neat, neat question as well. Um, so for me, even after 23 years of you know, colour real estate investing, I still at times suffer from imposter syndrome of like, do I really know enough? Or, you know, in my mind, there's always, well, there is always someone, probably lots, there are lots of someone who know more than I do, right? So I'm I'm always trying to learn from them, which is you you touched on that before, of not just acquiring knowledge for the sake of knowledge, but then uh applying it. And it was probably it was my first 19 years of doing real estate. Everything that that I did was just for myself. It was um, I didn't have any partners. Well, uh, I take that back. I had partnered up with uh the mentor that I that I referenced uh at the top, my old, my first mentor at my my first job, professional job. Uh he and I had purchased some houses together. But beyond that, hadn't really partnered up uh with anybody that um that I didn't know, certainly. Uh, but then I was introduced to the idea of being uh the the idea of a real estate syndication, which I I I knew about that in theory, but I really had no idea how how it worked in practice and in real life. So um I decided that I really would like to pursue the option of uh real estate syndication. A lot of your audience probably knows, but for those who don't, it's essentially there's a team called the general partners that do all of the work. They go out and find a property, they they hire a property manager, they secure uh funding from a bank or a lender for it, but then they also work with investors to help uh come up with a portion of the capital that's needed to purchase the property. You get a bank loan for part of the property or part of the uh the cost, and then you raise money from investors for the other. So um when I realized that I would like to pursue being on the gender partnership side of that, uh, that's when I really knew that I needed to kind of take my mentorship and my partnership up to another level. Uh so honestly, what what I did is I joined a group that's that kind of brought me together with hundreds, if not thousands, of like-minded people uh from coast to coast. And uh that was one of the best decisions that I've ever made because it just introduced me to so many people, so many amazing people that were very knowledgeable, very willing to share their knowledge with others. And uh it has opened up doors for me the last three, three plus years that uh, you know, on my own, I I could have never opened them up myself, or it would have taken, you know, 23 years instead of three years uh to open them or to even figure out where the door is. So uh I would say that is one thing I've definitely learned is the the power and the value and in mentorship and in partnership, you know, teaming up with people that uh compliment you, that have strengths where you have weaknesses, you know, and together you're you're a lot stronger than either one of you were uh as individuals, you know, and and that can be a partnership of two or partnership of you know four or five, um whatever, whatever works for the individual. But uh that that's probably the biggest lesson that I've learned here these last few years from onward equity is is the the power of of bringing others along for the ride and learning from them, but also now I feel like I'm in a position to to teach as well. So I I I've had the opportunity and and have found out that I really enjoy the opportunity to teach some others as well, and not from a position of, oh, look how great I am, let me teach you all that you need to know. It's hey, I maybe even if I'm six months ahead of someone else, or someone else is six months ahead of me, I can learn from them. Maybe someone else can learn from me as well. So um honestly, one thing I I think that I've I've figured out, or kind of an epiphany is in the it's called the real world or the corporate world, I feel like most people don't root for their colleagues. They might not say it out loud, but I I think at least under the service, they're not necessarily rooting for their colleague or their coworker to succeed. Because in the corporate world, uh I think the culture is much more of a hey, if you win, that means I have to lose. So whether I say it out loud or not, I want you to lose because that gives me a better shot of winning. And and I feel like in the from my experience in the real estate world, it's much more the opposite. Like, like, hey, why don't we just both win? Isn't that isn't that a better option? Uh so I feel like uh so many people are are much more willing to to to go out and share their knowledge uh with others uh who are eager to learn. If someone's eager to learn, then uh I think it's easy to find someone who's just as eager to you know help teach or to partner up or whatever. Like let's win together.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Collaboration over competition, that's really what I got from all of that. But I am so why I why I love that response is well, not because it was just a great response, but more so just because of the action behind it, just the same. You know, anyone can we can have mentors, we can have people who we look to emulate, who we who we want to be there, who we use them as motivation, as inspiration, as everything like that. But I also feel like you know, we can take a lot from different things, whether it be from learning, from spending time, from really putting in those man hours, from going behind the scenes, from really just doing your due diligence, from reading, from real life experiences, community service, anything of the sort. It's a different aspect and it's a different animal when you then decide to pay it forward and to give back, as you said to. You know, it's not about you coming from a hierarchy or coming from a dominating perspective or an approach. It's more so just about, hey, I learned this, I was in your shoes at one point, just three months ago, just three, six months ago, I was where you were. And if we can fast forward, if if we can still give you all the tools, the tips, the tricks, the resources, and everything in the in a in a shorter amount of time and we both still win from it, then I would be remiss if I didn't grant you with this opportunity or didn't impart the knowledge on you that I know. You know, a lot of times I feel like gatekeeping comes with that just that that that corporate syndrome or that knowing that, hey, if I start to climb up a little bit, then that means as a result, somebody's climbing, somebody's getting demoted per se, or somebody's sliding down a little bit. And in a sense, we start to kind of hide things when you're not really realizing that person could be the reason why you propel. That person could be the reason why your business goes from a six-figure business to a seven-figure business. You never really know what could really happen from that. Because by by you sharing that knowledge, by you now imparting that on them, it also gives a different perspective now in the mix. Now, you know, I always say that two sets of eyes are better than one, even if it's nothing more than to just proofread, to just double check, to just fine-tune some things. That would be much better than if you were just doing it on your own, or it may take longer, or it may just, as you said, it may sound good to you, but from somebody else, oh, if we just make that one little adjustment or that one little tweak, it could by mouth change kind of what's going on. So the fact that you know you knew what you kind of had going on, you knew what was being told to you, you knew kind of the circles that you were in and who you were surrounding yourselves around, and then the fact that you chose to continue to push that outward, but make sure that that community, because that's what I'm hearing, the power of community, the power of people who are all hungry, who are all driven, who are all motivated, and want to make sure that hey, if I win, I'm bringing Scott with me. If I win, I'm bringing onward equity with me. And I and I love to hear that because I and I also love the homage that you pay towards others because the owner, the journey of business ownership, the journey of an entrepreneur is not an easy one. It's not a walk in the park. You know, there are rainy days, there are sunny days, there are gloomy days, there are all of that, you know, and the fact that some people still wake up time and time and time again and continue to do this. Some people may call them insane, you know. But when when that passion is there, when you just love what you do and that drive, it's it's unmatched. So when speaking about community, two names for me come to mind, and these names may even be uh more prevalent to you, really, than me. So when I when I was kind of going through and seeing what you guys are are doing and kind of what you guys have been able to put together, I see Jason and Rod. And I think about you know, I think about all of your experience within onward equity. I think all about uh your experience even beforehand, even before I built this brand, I built this business. I was 23 years in this. So to now build this foundation, to now have onward equity, and then to now have Jason and Rod with you as advisors and everything, what has that experience been like? And I'll even kind of double back a little bit to say, why did you feel like you know, with uh one of my biggest goals, and I'll I'll guess I'll explain why I'm asking the question where I am. One of my biggest goals with down the business is to eventually have a team one day. I would love to for a couple of reasons. One, just because I'm tired of just doing certain things that I don't want to delegate or move around or save time or whatever, but two, it's also to what you spoke to the power of community, the power of me saying that, hey, I don't know everything when it comes to video editing, audio editing, marketing, emails, reaching out, word of mouth, everything like that. I know what I do, I know what I bring to the table, but I would love to have those perspectives, those ideas, that feedback. And I would love to grow down the business to ultimately be a great platform to do so. But I also know that with business ownership, with being an entrepreneur, there is a certain type of passion that you just hold for your brand and your business that everybody may not have, that everybody may not. Share that you know a lot of people talk a great game and a lot of people say a lot of good things and it it'll look good on paper, but when it's really time to enact and put your money where your mouth is, it may not always translate that way. So I'll say sometimes while I'm a little apprehensive about building the team is just because you know, I I sometimes think too hard, and I sometimes am too big of a critic, and I just you know, I I think that sometimes people won't necessarily carry the vision the way that I would like it to be or represent it the way that I would like it to. But I also know, you know, with because with bringing in those people, I recognize that you are who you are as a person, you are who you are outside of this. But while you're here, while your name is on this, you represent Down the Business Podcast LLC. And I want to just make sure that that's the best representation possible. So for you, when thinking about how your brand is being represented and how you guys are offering what you do professionally and to everyone else out there, why were Jason and Rod two people who you felt like you could really entrust with that responsibility?

SPEAKER_02 22:52

That's such a such a good question, a powerful question. I I think the the main thing that came to mind as you were as you were asking that is uh kind of a term or whatever that that has been told to me, which is kind of when choosing a partner, you should date before you get married. Because, and I don't mean uh a partner for life, I mean a business partner. Also, uh it's partnerships are easy to get out of and difficult to get, I'm sorry, easy to get in, difficult, can be very difficult to get out of. Um, and I do feel that you really need to you need to know somebody, and and you don't necessarily get to know somebody just by meeting them at a conference or seeing them on a you know Zoom call, whatever it might be. Um, so I think that's where the get to get to know them a little bit and and the the date part comes in. And uh maybe, maybe some of our from the other partners that I've had, uh I think you know, we start small, start, start with at least let's go, let's go and underwrite a bunch of properties together, or let's go uh maybe walk, mock some properties, uh walk around and you know, do some tours, inspections at properties together, and just kind of get a feel for um not just what they're looking at and and kind of how they do the the the hard skills, but I also like to to let you can learn a lot from someone just by going out to dinner with them and learning about what they're listening to what they're saying. And um for instance, like if someone's if the topic comes up about how do we treat tenants, and and my my thought process is that tenants are kind of the the lifeblood of of a rental property without without tenants, you don't have anything, right? So if if someone says um if their kind of MO, so to speak, is to go out and and and to just it doesn't matter how nice or how ugly the property is, as long as you got someone who's willing to give you money, then that's then they can then we won't take care of the property essentially. If they're gonna say, I don't care if uh if there's rats running around, it doesn't matter because they're still paying rent, and then you know that's not really this the type of person and the type of philosophy that I want to partner up with. Because uh my thought is I want this to be as nice as possible for everybody, for the tenants, for for us as owners, as landlords, and certainly for the investors as well. Because in the end, I think to uh to bring it back to before, like like let's all win together. If if only one person is winning, then ultimately none of us are gonna be winning because it's it's not gonna end well. So um uh and one other thing I guess I've thought of uh as you were asking the question is the idea of um from an entrepreneurship standpoint, from a partnership standpoint, and so many people uh I don't think it's necessarily specific to real estate, but just in general, so many people say, Oh, I I wish I could do that, or I would love to do that. I'm like, A, you can, and B, you should. Uh, but most people don't go too much further than, oh, I would love to do that. So I think finding someone who's gonna not just talk the game or talk a good game, but that you'd be willing to actually uh put their foot out there and to start doing something, you know, to add value to a team, to a potential team. It's not just hey, Rod or Jason or Joe Smith, hey, I'd like to join your team and um can you give me a big salary to do it? No, it's hey, I'll work for free. Uh I can, I've been working on this project over here. Um, it helped it helps with underwriting. Take it for free and look at it, see if it helps you. And by the way, I'd love to, you know, just listen in on your next the next call you have with your management team just to hear how things go and kind of what the things that you're thinking about. Um I think that takes a big uh some somewhat uh a burden off of someone else's plate if they're if you can say, hey, uh I've done a little bit of the work, use it, use it for free, or can I can I volunteer with you, or can I, you know, just kind of follow along uh and not take any payment. I don't expect anything besides I want to learn from you. So I think that's a good way to go in and and uh potentially you know make yourself uh appear or to be a good partner uh as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

What you just said was a bigger gem than what people realize because I think they're listening to it and they're hearing it from your perspective in real estate. But what you just said should apply to life and should apply to anything, whether I think you're a business owner, an entrepreneur, a creative, whether you work that corporate nine to five or anything like that. I think initiative and I think just passion behind things are what's important. You know, I I think you should treat almost like a almost like an unpaid internship in a sense. Or, you know, I feel like a lot of times now people would scoff at things like that or just not really, it would, it wouldn't strike their fancy or pique their interest. But a lot of times you have to do that groundwork. That's literally the nature of my field, and that's something that I was told all in grad school that you know, a lot of these reporters and and news writers and a lot of these commentators and producers that we look at, they all started very much at the bottom of the totem pole. And while for and basically, you know, for you to think of yourself any differently, you shouldn't. Well, I I kind of had some mixed emotions about that because you know, obviously, I'm going to never sell myself short. I'm always going to recognize what I bring to the table, my worth, everything of the sort. But and and too, am I also I'm not the person who loves to follow the norm per se. You know, if I could not even necessarily expedite or shortcut something, but if I don't have to do every single thing that somebody else did or that you got people think is required to get somewhere, then then let's not do that. You know, I'm I'm much rather the work smart, work smart, not hard type of person. But then no, no, no mistake about it, I will work as hard as I need to be. And I think sometimes that's where things just get a little disconnected and misconstrued that you still have to work hard. That granted, you can have the talent, you can have the resources, you can have the energy, the passion, the consistency, and everything, you still have to put in the work though, because all the talent in the world, if if if it's no hard work behind it, if it's no effort, if it's no consistency, then that talent will slowly but surely diminish. You know, you can have the most talented athlete in the world from our sports gurus out there. But if he's not working out, if he's not paying attention to the diet, if he's not developing a consistent regimen, if he's not doing what he has to do from an academic perspective, or we're talking student athletes, if he's not doing what he has to do from a personal perspective, if we're talking life and professional athletes, then surely but surely his his value, his worth or her value or her worth will will sink to the ground. So I also feel like you know, for as much as we are comfortable in ourselves and our villa in our abilities, excuse me, in our nature, you also have to still just have that that that grind, just that where it has to, and it has to be ingrained in you. It's not something like, yes, you can teach someone how to work, you can teach someone, you know, the job itself and kind of what goes into it, but you can't teach initiative. I can't teach you that, you know, if something needs to get done to just do it without having to be told per se or without it being a task. So I love really what you said because it it goes to also show you the due diligence that you do when it comes to just your business and what you put your best foot forward on and something that you put your name on. Because I think that that's something too. It whoever you choose to bring on, whoever you choose to work with, spend time with, bring on projects, anything of the sort, come even converse with. That's a representation of you. That's a representation of onward equity. And a lot of times with business owners, with entrepreneurs, we we kind of are on that double-edged sword because people do not differentiate the brand from the brand owner. A lot of times y'all are clumped all into one. If onward equity did something that I didn't like or I didn't have the best experience with them, then you know what? Scott's the CEO. I could not have met, I could have probably not met Scott a day in my life, not even had a conversation with him. I may have not even dealt with him on behalf of Onward Equity. But because I know that this is his company, oh, well, you know, they're all going down, they're all in the ground. I have something negative to say about all of them. And vice versa, you know, somebody could have a very much positive experience or speak highly to your company or speak highly to who you are without necessarily knowing you or anything like that. But because of the customer service, because of something that Rod did, or because of maybe a seed that Jason planted or anything of the sort, it could make onward equity shine in such a great light. So I love that you also too are diligent about who you're bringing in, who represents who, and how you continue that mission. Because I could imagine with 23 years of experience, you know, you've had some situations and some instances where you would not go back to that, you would not work with said person again, you wouldn't kind of put yourself in that position. So I I love to hear that. And I also something else that you kind of spoke to that made me smile a little bit was you were saying your approach when it comes to tenants. And as I was saying, the at the very beginning of this interview, you said something that I don't think I've ever heard, and that was that you enjoyed the being a landlord. And I think I probably heard that was when somebody they said it because of the money per se, and because he's making money and because the people were paying the rental time and everything like that. But and I've been on the East Coast, I've been in the Midwest, I've been now down south, west coast, I've never heard that. So I I love to hear that though. But it also begs the question now, begs the interest for the process with onward equity. Now, you know, with hearing that, with hearing your approach to things, with hearing the due diligence that you take and that you exhibit within your business, I also know that with having the opportunity to work with you or with having the opportunity to learn from you, even to interview today, there's a process with that. And it differentiates you from a lot of the other people out there within your niche and within your industry. So, in going through your website, I see the process. I see acquisition, I see reposition, I see refinance, I see cash flow, I see disposition. Now, for me, I could read these, I could definitely go through them some more, probably look them up, probably Google, open up another tab, do whatever I need to do. But from tomorrow, from down to business to Scott and to onward equity, do you feel like in the process, in your approach to everything, in how you guys handle and conduct your business, do one of these steps along the road outweigh another? Is are one of these kind of like crucial to the like you can't pretty much go through our process without cash flow, or you can't go through our process without anything like that? Or do you feel like every step is where it is by reason, by design, because you have to kind of work each way? Or have you found that not everybody needs every step of the process that some people may just come for certain specific things, or is it something that's just fluid always throughout?

unknown 33:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

So most of our process, uh, our mindset or business plan is to perhaps purchase an asset or a you know a property that that needs a little love, I guess is one way to put it. So in kind of the the industry, it's called the value add proposition. So just like if you have a home uh or a house that you want to rent and it hasn't been updated since 1974, you might be able to rent it for one number. But if you renovate that house and you make it look like it, you know, 2024, you're probably gonna be able to rent it for quite a bit more than uh than the 50-year-old house, or at least the the house that still looks like it hasn't been um fixed up or renovated since the the 70s. So uh same process here. We generally look for properties that either have uh have not been physically updated in a while that we can go in, spend some dollars to make them look a lot a little bit nicer or a lot nicer uh and then command a higher rent premium as a result. Or sometimes, honestly, I I've done this for myself uh as a landlord and uh large, even institutional landlords do it as well with big apartment buildings. And sometimes they just landlords just kind of get lazy, or at least um it's easier to let the tenants who have been there a long time stay there and maybe not increase their rent as high as you could, because maybe they're good land, or maybe they're good tenants, they take good care of the place, they don't complain. Uh when things go wrong, they let you know so that you can fix them instead of letting a small problem turn into a large problem. And sometimes we just want to reward them by um you know keeping them there. And if that means taking less of rent then then we can. So uh for a new owner, though, to come in, that's an opportunity because if someone's playing, paying two, three hundred dollars less than you know the market rate, then we can come in as a new owner and we can just uh maybe we don't even have to do any work, but we can just kind of at least slowly or or maybe quickly bring that that up to uh to market rent. And what that does is uh the way that commercial real estate is valued, it's it's valued based on a multiple, just like a business. It is a business, uh, it's value based on a multiple of the net operating income that it produces. So to the extent that revenues exceed expenses, operating uh expenses. So that's the the model is to purchase properties that probably need a little love, some improvement, um, to to renovate them or reposition them as the uh as the the website says, that process is to to make them look nicer, to do what we can do to increase the rent flow. Um lots of times, not always though, we'll do the refinance. Sometimes there's no reason to, or sometimes it just doesn't necessarily fit with the business plan um for that particular property. Sometimes we'll just hold it and go to the cash flow stage, which is hopefully everything is going well. It's uh producing more cash on a monthly basis than it's um requiring to operate. And that's what we use to certainly to just distribute to our investors. So I think that's in my mind is the most important part of the process is being able to take care of the investors because that was the honestly, it was the biggest mental hurdle for me to get over making the switch to kind of doing everything by myself to now I'm going out working with partners, I'm bringing investors to help make all these larger um purchases possible. But I have to look somebody in the eye, whether they're my family member, my friend, my coworker, uh, or maybe someone that I uh have just met, uh I have to look them in the eye and say, hey, I truly believe this is a good use of your investment dollars. And I promise to do everything I can to take good care of those dollars. Uh it's real life, so I we never guarantee that something's gonna go exactly like we want it to go, because most people know that real life doesn't always work that way. Sometimes it does. Sometimes things go much better than we planned. Uh, that definitely happens, and that's a fantastic, it's it's great when that happens, but um, sometimes they don't go quite as we planned, and then they require a lot more work or time, or um, maybe the investment isn't as great uh as we hoped. But uh over time, the most important thing is that we're taking care of the investors, communicating with them clearly and as often as possible to keep them in the loop, to be transparent about hey, if there are challenges, here's what they are, here's why the challenges exist, here's what we're doing to solve them as quickly as possible or as um completely as possible. So um having that type of relationship, I guess, with with those who have trusted me and and and my team, you know, the people that I surround myself with, uh having their trust is is probably the the paramount of paramount importance. So I take that very heavily, uh not lightly, whatever the opposite is that is. Um so uh and then of course, you know, on the uh the disposition, that's the the sell it side. That's that's where most of the money is made. You know, if we've done our job well and and uh the market has treated us well, then by by selling the property, sell it for more than it's worth, then everyone gets uh uh a larger their their share of the profits. The investors certainly take the the lion's share of of any profits uh made as well. So uh I love that that part of the game and uh that part of the the business. And yeah, we just we try to replicate it as much as possible.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

I love it, man. I I I love that and I love always asking questions along those lines too, because I want our I want everyone out there just to just to realize the the differentiation between industries, between partners, between people, and between players. And how I like you said, how as I spoke to in the beginning, this is probably one of our most populous industry interview, meaning like we speak to a lot of people within real estate, but how each and every time you get a unique experience, and you get, you know, now we're talking about a process and a syndication, and whereas you know, that was very much new information to me because whereas a lot of the real estate experts, gurus who I've talked to, and my apologies if I'm if any of them brought up syndication, I don't recall that, you know. So for me, I I love just taking a different approach, but necessarily the same kind of format with each one because you're gonna give me something different. You know, we're gonna talk about land flipping in one or boots on the ground program in another, commercial here, this and that. And even if you guys are both doing commercial, you know, you're acquiring in different places, you're acquiring different ways, you're meeting people at different places and at different spaces. So I appreciate you kind of just giving some insight and really just breaking that down further for me. So to now even not even really play devil's advocate in a sense, but I guess just out of curiosity, you know, I know that there are some things that you probably thought about real estate or expected to have to do, or maybe go into that you may have kind of it may have flip-turned your your your um your thinking just a little bit, or maybe you thought real estate was this, but after learning it, after going through 23 years of it, you're realizing, oh no, it's completely different. Or as I spoke to 23 years ago compared to now, we're talking about two totally different things, you know, early on in the 2000s versus, you know, we're almost near 2030, 30 soon, or however you're kind of looking at it. So, in your experience from even before onward equity to now onward equity to even current day, do you feel like there are any misconceptions, any myths, any just misunderstandings around what it is that you do within real estate? You know, have people ever kind of come to you or have tried to explain kind of certain things or what's going on, or maybe not necessarily understood the business model because they were under one set of thinking or one mind frame, and then you've kind of had to maybe make some make some clarifications or just kind of communicate to people as you kind of spoke to. Is there anything essentially that you've had to kind of like clear up or debunk in a sense?

SPEAKER_02 41:08

Yeah, I guess a couple things come to mind off the top. Number one, I think people are the most important part of the process and two different people, the tenant. Uh, obviously, keeping the tenants happy, I already mentioned is is top priority for me. I think uh having tenants that are well well cared for leads to happy tenants, which leads to either them staying and taking good care of the house, or maybe they leave, but maybe they refer a friend to you. I've I've definitely had that where um someone leaves, but they say, Hey, I've got a friend, they'd like to move in when I move out. That's great. Because if I respect you and and I respect that you make good friends, then I want all your friends to live in my houses or you know, apartment buildings, whatever it is. So um that part of the process I think is something that I've learned how important uh you know finding good tenants are and just the the managing people. When things go wrong, it's it's being there as an operator, as a as an owner to say, hey, call me because I can't fix it if I don't know it's broken. Uh, but then being that that landlord or that that person who's gonna say, all right, now that I know it's broken, this is a priority. And and my I tell all my tenants that, you know, I promise them two things. The first promise is something's gonna go wrong during the time they live there. And the second promise is that when you tell me about it, we'll get it taken care of as soon as possible because none of us want to worry about a leaky faucet or uh, you know, a light switch that doesn't turn on and off, whatever it is. Uh we don't, we we've all got better things to do than worry about it. So uh managing that, those expectations, I guess, of hey, this is my job. I take it very seriously. I want to make it a good experience for you. Uh and then um the other part of the process, I said there's two people, so it's the tenants, and then the other one is is uh the the maintenance people or who I call when they tell me they have an issue. Uh it's for me that the most stressful part of any landlording situation is if I get a call that says this is wrong, whatever this is, if I don't know who to call to help make this problem go away or to solve it, that's stressful. But but having good people that I've worked with for many years now or decades now, that then I hey I I can call this person when uh the AC needs to go out. I can call this person when I got an electrical issue or a plumbing issue, you know, having those type of people uh and you know, whether I I never used to think of it this way, uh, but that's my team as well. You know, even uh that's that's that's who I'm calling. That's that's we all work together, you know. They don't work for me, they work with me is kind of my mindset, uh, even though I'm you know hiring them. Um, but those type of people that that I can trust that are uh going to do good work, they're gonna go in and be respectful to the tenants when they get there. Um so important. Um so that's that's one thing, I guess, uh the people. And then uh the other thing that that came to mind. What I've learned is uh just the, you know, they say if you ask the IRS, real estate investing is a passive activity, but there's really nothing passive about it if you own the real estate directly. It's it's a it's a job and it can be stressful, it can be very rewarding as well. Um, but one thing I've I've learned recently in the past six, seven years, um, which was the kind of the catalyst for uh creating onward equity, is that there is a there is a way to 100% passively invest in real estate, and that's be an investor, a limited partner in a syndication, which is um what who we work with now. Those are our investors, and it's 100% passive to the investors. You know, they they're what they have at risk certainly is their financial um uh investment, those dollars. Uh but then there's nothing, nothing else else that those people need to do besides um, you know, follow along with us, the communications that we send out as far as how we're managing uh that property and and that um that asset. So um that is something honestly, I was in actively doing real estate for 15 years before I even realized that that existed, that there was an opportunity to invest passively in someone else's real estate deal uh to still get very similar returns from a financial standpoint, but literally not do any work. So um that that was uh definitely an eye-opening, kind of mind-expanding um uh something to learn when I learned that. And and that's that's where I am now is trying to educate people on you know that that this even exists, you know, a syndication, which some people say, oh, that sounds risky. And in most part I think it's because yeah, it's fear of the unknown. You know, I don't care who you are or what it is, if you don't know about it, it's probably gonna sound risky or dangerous, or you know, you're gonna be a little bit shy about jumping into it. But the more you know, the the more likely you are to, you know, to find it interesting, or maybe something that you're um that you want to do. And so that's what I focus on uh through the onward equity brand is trying to educate uh as many people as possible about you know why real estate or why or why investing in general, uh, but then specifically uh why real estate and all the benefits that that can have for you. So um yeah, I think I hope that answered your question. But uh I yeah, in short, I think an educated investor is the best kind of investor. So that's that's the type of people we try to attract, or at least uh to help create through through educational content.

SPEAKER_01 46:33

Absolutely. No, I I would be a firm, I would be in firm agreement with you. I would be a firm believer in just the same, you know, education is crucial in any aspect, in any industry, in any niche. And sometimes, you know, one bad apple can simply spoil the bunch. And I think I speak to that from a landlord perspective, meaning that, you know, someone could have, I may even be guilty of it myself sometimes, just having a bad experience with one landlord and allowing that to impact how you treat your next landlord per se or how you handle certain things or whatever, you know, and everybody should be given that fresh later, like you know, it's it's very, and I think a lot of why I keep bringing up what you said about love and being a landlord is just because one, while I've never heard that, it's just not something that you even see. It's just not something one, a lot of times you don't even really see the landlord other than their name on the property somewhere, maybe in the elevator or on the sign outside, you never really get to make that face-to-face connection or uh anything other than email or anything like that. But the fact that some people can have those into, and then for those who are able to have those interactions or know their landlord on a first name basis, it may not always be the most pleasant or the best experience because they may be stretched too thin or because it's just their lackluster efforts or enthusiasm or anything of the sort like that. So to really have someone to really have people who are out there, and you know, I know this is obviously not indicative of everyone, but to have people out there that are doing what they're supposed to be doing, that are truly and and that are truly just embodying what a landlord, what a good landlord lives up to, you know, it's just amazing to hear and amazing to know. So as you spoke to towards the end of that answer was something that you're moving into now, is more so just the education of things and more so just passing that knowledge along and just allowing others to also be a resource. So something I think about too with this episode is that we're gonna have some newcomers along the way. We're gonna have some people who are just finding out about Scott and what onward equity is doing, but maybe whether it just be because they are in Indianapolis, which I'll actually tell you comes kind of some ties that I have to Indianapolis after this, uh after we wrap this up. But whether it just be somebody like that, or whether it be somebody who you know who's been thinking about real estate for a while, or maybe has some experience in real estate or commercial or anything like that, what's next? So we always love to just give them something to look forward to and something to tap into and something to think about. So as you think about this journey, you know, I spoke at the beginning of the interview about the year pretty much being over in my eyes, practically. But as business owners, as entrepreneurs, as people who work in the corporate world, just the same, we're always thinking ahead, we're always thinking bigger, bigger picture, we're always thinking that next movement ladder down the line. So when it comes to onward equity, when it comes to the space that you guys are in now, um, would you say that there's anything that you're looking forward to, looking forward to debuting, looking forward to experimenting with any new properties or projects or new collaborations that we can be on the lookout for?

SPEAKER_02 49:10

Uh, we're always always kind of looking for the next opportunity, the next deal. I will definitely say that. Um never want to be in a position to you know root for anyone to fail. That's that's absolutely not anyone's goal. But the reality is that uh because of the the interest rate environment, most people are probably maybe all too familiar uh that interest rates went crazy, right? The last couple of years or so. Um, what that means is that a lot of people could potentially be in a uh a situation where if they had adjustable rate mortgage or debt, uh they could be paying a lot more now than they can afford if they ever planned on paying uh from a monthly mortgage payment standpoint. So I say all that to mean there's there's opportunity, there's going to be opportunity to not take advantage of someone when they're down, but to you know, come in and maybe be uh be a life raft or uh you know uh a life jacket when they're drowning type thing. So uh I think I I am excited about what the rest of this year is gonna bring. And as we get into 25, I think there's gonna be opportunity. And um, I'm really just focusing on kind of what we've talked about this whole chat so far is aligning myself with the right people so that when opportunities present themselves, I'm in a good position to take advantage of that. And that comes from both uh the partners on the gender partnership side of the business, but also um finding like-minded individuals who are interested in you know, potentially being an investor in a uh uh syndication or you know in a uh an apartment building like that. So the more of those type of people that I can uh speak with and and try to you know help them figure out why this could uh resonate for them and be a good opportunity for them and their family, uh, then that's you know, that's fantastic as well. And together we all then go into the next opportunity and um and live happily happily ever after. No, I'm just kidding. There's a lot of work that comes uh that that that makes everything possible. But uh that I guess that's what I'm looking for. It's just I know there's gonna be opportunity and trying to put myself in the right position to take advantage of it when it comes.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

You made it sound so simple. I thought it was really just that easy, it just happily ever after, and you know, we just we just call it clits, and that's it. But no, I'm I I I'm I'm excited, you know. I'm excited really just to because we always, you know, I'm excited where I meet people in the journey. And I feel like it's very intentional and it's very by design that we do. And I feel like you know, we meet companies exactly where we need to, one just to be able to kind of see what happened, to be able to get to this point, but now what's happening and then what's going to happen to see kind of where they go. So I'm always very just emphatic about where businesses are, where people are, but I'm also very just I guess eager to see kind of what's to come. Or, you know, as like I said, as business owners, entrepreneurs, we're always thinking about that next step, those next two steps, five steps, ten steps, you know. So, whereas you know, we can talk about a lot of kind of what's happening and what's going on when we end this interview. There are things behind the scenes going on for on with equity, there are things going on behind the scenes for down the business. So I'm loving to see it, but I'm also just encouraging my followers, my audience, whether you tapped in with us today, we've been getting a lot of feedback on Facebook and YouTube. But whether you, however, you tapped in with us, however you're here in this interview, you know, take advantage of Scott, take advantage of the network, take advantage of the education that he's willing to provide. You know, there is a lot of just misinformation, apprehension, um, even just confusion around real estate, around the industry, around commercial, residential, around land flipping, around Airbnb, around whatever you may want to do, you know. And I feel like sometimes we just need to just slow down, just maybe get our questions answered per se, not necessarily take everything that we we get from these guru or these YouTube universities, and sometimes really just talk to real life experts. And I think Scott has done a great job today of just giving insight into what he's done, his experience, his foundation that he's built, but also what onward equity's approach to everything is, where they want to meet you, how they want to take care of you, and what they also want to ensure you of moving forward so that you know this can be a win-win situation. Because at no point here did I get the impression or the notion that Scott is really trying to sell me on something or really trying to, you know, get get something out of me. It's more so just hey, I want to make sure you don't have to make the same mistakes that I made, or maybe have to go through 23 years to get to this point, but still feel well-versed and still feel experienced and still be able to speak to that experience just the same. So I love to see everything that you guys are doing, Scott. Again, I thank you for the time today for for joining me, for bearing with me, even through whatever was just going on. I think the the between the tropical storm and the hurricane here, you know, they're trying to throw all different types of things and elements at us, but we're holding strong on down to business. But before we officially close out, arguably the most important part of the interview, I like to call it the call to action. It's more so when it comes to finding out about you, finding out about onward equity, following along the journey, everything like that. When it comes to social media, websites, best places to reach you or contact you, can you just give us everything you have in that regard?

SPEAKER_02 54:07

I can. Yeah, thank you for that opportunity. So certainly I'm on Facebook just as Scott Jacobson. I'm on LinkedIn as Scott Jacobson, but uh onward equity have a uh a website, and that's probably the best way I would suggest someone to you get in touch with me if if you're interested. Uh the website is onward hyphen equity.com. And uh when you visit the website for the first time, there should be a pop-up there. And asks, it's gonna ask you if you want a copy of an ebook that I wrote that's called the top 10 reasons to be a real estate syndication investor. And I can say this, I say this humbly, even though I it's a self-plug. I I really believe that uh it was written to uh written for someone who maybe not may does maybe doesn't know a whole lot about what a syndication is or maybe what real estate, why real estate investing in general. So with that in mind, I think it does a good job of of kind of laying down a good framework of of why real estate investing and what is this, what perks or benefits does this have for me that you know the stock market uh just doesn't have. So uh if you put your name and email address in there, what it's gonna do is gonna send you a link to download that ebook, uh, but it's also gonna put you on my mailing list for full disclosure. And what that's gonna do is it's gonna uh I send out an email once a week, or at least every other week. I try every week to send out something educational. Again, it's it's maybe it's investing in general, maybe it's specifically geared towards real estate. And then that's the list I also use when when the time comes, when we have an active investing opportunity. Those are my people. So those are the people that I share it with, share the opportunity with, and um open up the opportunity to them uh to invest if interested. So uh I would love to talk to your listeners and uh just share them, share with them about real estate. I think it's a fantastic um hobby or even profession for those who are so inclined. So yep, love to chat.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

Yeah, I couldn't get my computer off mute there, but no, if if anybody is gonna be signing up for that, I'm gonna be signing up for it. So if my followers, if the audience, if they want to leave the money on the table, if they want to leave the investment and the education on the table, I will take every table, I will take every ebook possible, and I will get into it. But no, Scott, for on a serious manner, I definitely do just thank you. Thank you for just the time today, just the education, even really just the proactive approach that you took in reaching out to me beforehand. I really do take pride in people who are interested in being on the podcast, but people who also want to ensure that they are prepared as possible. You know, it just makes the show that much smoother. And despite sometimes how hectic my life can be and how things can just be going everywhere. Sometimes I feel like an octopus. I'm just being, I'm I have my I'm just everywhere, you know. But I love just to really be able to sit down and really just get that insight, really provided, but also just share it with others. And I feel like that was really just the the theme of this interview today, just community and just knowledge and and just wanting to impart and pass it on and not necessarily gatekeeper, but also realize that the more the merrier. We can we can all win in this together. There's enough room on the table, there's enough land out there, there's enough money, there's enough passive income for all of us. So, from down to business, from me to you, thank you so much for everything that you're doing. To everybody who continuously taps in with us, whether you joined us today live, my YouTube people, my LinkedIn people, my Facebook people. I saw we had some comments, some likes, and some things like that. So I appreciate all the interaction. And then obviously to my people who are gonna catch this when once it drops, once it airs, I appreciate everything that y'all are doing. I appreciate y'all for continuously supporting. This has been another episode of the Down to Business Podcast here with Tamara Turner.