Give more. Get more. With Jim Duffy

In this episode of the Blue Cup podcast, Russ Scheider and Jim Duffy discuss the intricacies of real estate investing, focusing on buy and hold strategies, the importance of cash flow, and the lifestyle changes that come with successful investing. They emphasize the significance of building relationships in the industry, creating repeat business, and the mindset shifts necessary for success. The conversation also touches on the challenges of learning and growing in commercial real estate, highlighting the value of coaching and being in the right environment.


To find more about Jim Duffy please visit at:
https://assetaccelerator.com/subscribe

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'm standing on the shoulders of giants.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Making pancakes. I can make pancakes. All it takes is be professional, treat people fairly, give value.

SPEAKER_02 0:09

It actually makes life more fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Jim Duffy is with us today, and Jim and I have conversations from time to time, and it's always very beneficial. So I wanted to share that with you. So let's have a conversation.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

Thanks, Ross.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Really good to be with you.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Yeah, we have conversations and every so often a cigar as well.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Occasionally a cigar too. So this is the Blue Cup podcast. And we are we're live. So let's go. So Jim. Yeah, so I'd I'd like to get you get to know you a little better. We we talk on the phone all the time. We've enjoyed a cigar together at the club. What's a moment in your life that completely changed your perspective?

SPEAKER_02 1:15

Completely changed my perspective. Um boy, that's a that's a tough one off the top of my head, but I do like that question a lot. There's probably at least two that have completely changed my perspective. One is I when I was younger, I I just completely shifted gears and went to Europe and lived in Europe for seven years. And what changed my perspective there, I was in Ireland for a year, then Spain for a year, then uh Italy for five, and you know, traveled around and all that. And what changed my perspective was getting to know not just visiting those countries, but being immersed in the culture and the language, right? You pick up the language. Well, I I don't speak Gaelic, but Spanish and Italian, yes. And and just being immersed in that culture really did two things. It made me really appreciate the different cultures, and it made me really appreciate the US. When I got back, I remember I landed at Reagan International Airport, and I was walking down and looked out the window, and I saw these big SUVs and big parking spaces and large roads, and I said, Oh, I'm back. That feels good.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

So when when was that? What years?

SPEAKER_02 2:29

That was nine. I came back to the states in the middle there for a little bit, but it stays in Canada and I was working here, but that was 9090 through 99, basically. Okay, with a little bit of stint back here.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Wow. Okay. So through the 90s. I spent a short amount of time, 10 days in Italy and Spain. And the the contrast between, I mean, I drive a full-size pickup truck for no good reason, except I have a little boat to pull around. And it was fascinating to watch the the little Mercedes and Fiat's and you know the smart cars, how they park even is so different. Yeah, it is just live a different life, and then the the cost of having a nice meal was so low.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

In Italy and Spain. It was a great places then.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

You didn't go to the tourist spots, you went to the local spots, probably.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Yeah. Yeah. My my sister was with me, and she studied in Salamanca in Spain.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Oh, that's where I was in Salamanca.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Yeah, yeah. So she knew a little bit to guide us along, and had my at that point 79-year-old mother with us, and she walked 15,000 steps a day. I mean, we did the thing. So, but it was the lifestyle difference, and that's you know, a lot of what this podcast is about is the lifestyle.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

And the ability two years ago, I took a cruise for two weeks with my mother and my sister, just the three of us, and we visited uh Spain, the um south of France a little bit, and then Italy, and we flew home from Italy. And it was awesome, absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah. What was your favorite spot that you visited?

SPEAKER_00 4:19

I really like Barcelona.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yeah. I don't know, it's hard to say favorite. I mean, everything was everything was pretty great. Rome was a little overwhelming, and I felt like if I had had like two months in Rome, I can enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

But um, Barcelona was pretty digestible, and you know, we had like two or three days in Barcelona. And I don't know, just the energy of the people and the uh Barcelona's a little bit dirty and a little bit less polished than the other places, and I enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

I'm actually glad to hear that because my pastime, my everyone has a hobby, right? And if it's a lifestyle podcast, let's talk about hobbies as well. And mine is cycling, right? I like to ride bikes. And so in a month, I've and I've spent I've passed through Barcelona, but I've never really spent time there. But in a month and a half, we're going on a bike cruise. So everyone loads their bike onto the boat and we go to a and in Barcelona, and we go to a different place in southern Spain or northern Africa and end up in Lisbon, Portugal. And every day we get a bike off the boat, you ride somewhere between 40 and 100 miles, see the countryside that way, stop at a cafe, do that whole thing, and then get back in the boat for a nice dinner and and cruise on to the next little port.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

That's awesome. That's awesome. And we did the same thing again. Um, I'm 57, my sister's 52, my mother's 80. And we we did the um we did a cruise, which I never ever ever thought I would do a cruise. I've never been on one. Yeah. I I enjoyed every minute of it. Awesome. And I mean, the we I hired a I would highly recommend hiring a travel agent.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

And don't figure that shit out by yourself. Right. Then I've got a great guy who lives in Colombia. Nice, nice, wonderful man. My cousin is a travel agent. I can recommend her too. And I mean, we were able to, everywhere we went, there was a driver to pick us up, and every meal there was somebody who knew our name.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

Oh, that's great. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

And it was not expensive, it was very inexpensive.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

So that those experiences, you know, we're talking about real estate and we're talking about investments, and but the whole purpose of the thing is so you can have these experiences.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

So you can live with it.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

You're going cycling in Europe, and that sounds ludicrous, but it's really, really not that expensive. Right. If you have a foundational business at home, and we talked about, and we'll talk about it, I'll probably do it on every podcast, the slow money, fast money, medium money. That consistent theme is as long as you have those bases covered, go play.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

And that's what a lot of people don't have covered, is they, you know, yeah, you have some, if you have a W-2 job, you have two weeks of vacation a year, or whatever you have, you know, of vacation a year. But a lot of people can't take more than that because their fast money ends. They don't get paid anymore. And so, yeah, that's why I love the investment. It's not just because you need cash flowing assets, in my opinion, everyone needs some cash flowing assets in order to stop the W-2 job one day, which by choice or by force, we're all going to do one day, and then you live on the cash-flowing assets, but also just to live right now, to your point. You know, that one of the neat things, the last time this group took the same route on this cycle cruise, I I guess I'll call it, they went to Morocco and we're going to Morocco, which I've never been. And there's pictures of everyone with their cycling kits on looking like they're, you know, just stepped out of the Tour de France, that that cycling outfit, but riding camels.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

I love it. So to your point, yeah, lifestyle is is what it's all about as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah, I mean, we can drill into every number, every detail of every deal, but that's not what this is about. In 2017, uh, I bought a rickety ass RV and thought I was oh, I thought I was a mechanic, which I should have known I'm not. And we took off and spent nine weeks. My daughters were in fourth grade and sixth grade. And this is a cool fact, if you don't know this, if your kid is in fourth grade, the whole family gets into every national park in the U.S. for free. Oh, I had no idea. I didn't either until we and it, we just it was dumb luck when we were researching it. It was like, well, Bianca's in fourth grade, and we get free tickets to you know, Grand Canyon, yeah, um, Grand Tetons, the Big Ben National. I mean, some of the like uh Yellowstone is you know 35 bucks a person per day.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

And we were there for four days.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Four days and and nothing didn't cost you a cent.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Free. And you know, puckety puckety puck in the you know, when we were going over the ravenel bridge, if you live in Charleston, we I I Airbnb'd our house and our guest house, and everything like we had no home. We lived in the 17th, there was no choice.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

What was the RVA? You had no place to come back to because it was oxygen.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

So 1985. So we go over the Ravenel Bridge and we're puckety puckety puckety puckety pucked, and my ex-wife looked at me and said, What are we gonna do in the Rocky Mountains? Puckety puckety puck over the Rocky Mountains, and we did, and we can't get a little push if we have to.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

Yeah, so did you have did you have visions of cousin Eddie in the morning?

SPEAKER_00 10:12

You know, I love a bathroad too. I definitely rock a bathroom. So, yeah, definitely cousin Eddie. Definitely oh my god. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

This woman's daughter probably That's probably one of the best memories your daughter has, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, we and uh so the the the second night on the road, we pulled into the campground and I had bought a little TV at Walmart and wired it up and had a hot spot so they could watch TV. It rained that night, and I was not smart and didn't check the antenna. Water ran down the antenna line into the TV, and the TV went poof.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

Okay. No more.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

Oh, second night. Second night.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Second night, first real night, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

So I I threw the TV in the dumpster and we went to the library and got them a bunch of books.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

It's like probably the best thing that could have happened on that trip.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Well, yeah, and they were, I mean, because the TV reception sucked anyway. So yeah, why not read books? So yeah, I love um I love integrating the idea of if we understand our fast money, medium money, and slow money, and we take a trip, like you're I can't wait to see photos.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

Yeah, it's gonna be great. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yeah, I want to see you on a camel in a bike chip. That's what I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Hopefully it doesn't buck me off or anything. We'll see. I think it's gonna be one of those epic trips, but you're right. That's what we do, and that's what that's why I love what I do personally, because I get to see so many people's a snapshot of people's lives, both financial and emotional, right? I mean, on the real estate side, when you help people buy and sell real estate, well, even on the investment side, you see the emotional side of things and run the numbers, but I love it because it's a snapshot into their life and you get a beat in there for a moment. And for me, it's just exhilarating because it's not someone who just comes into your shop to buy whatever you're selling on the in your little street shop, you know, you buy your whatever it is, and there's some interaction, but it's all superficial and what it's it's in depth. You're really affecting these people's lives and hearing their dreams, and a lot of people do have dreams like this, and it's great when you can have it I do get very deeply involved with people, it's not just a transaction.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

I use the word transaction, but I need to find a better word for that because it's it's a relationship that has a beginning, middle, and end.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

It does, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

It does, it's it's a relationship, it's not it's not it's a transaction. I mean, there's a lot of relationship there. So I I appreciate you pointing that out.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

That's what I love about what we do and what we get to do, and and we get to make a living doing it, just helping people and interacting and creating those relationships. And they last for years.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Yeah, at some point I'm going to do a podcast on repeat business because for somebody in my business or your business, creating repetition can be pretty challenging. I have a few ways that I can do that in my business, and I'd love to maybe have a separate conversation about how to create.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

I'm actually curious how do you do that? Because in so many people talk about recurring income. You know, create a recurring income stream, and that's what rental property is. If you buy and hold it every month you get paid, you know, the the rent, and it is recurring income, but that's the small amount, right? That it adds up over many properties. But what you do flipping properties, what you do sit buying and selling properties, helping people buy and sell, and what I do financing, you know, helping people get their mortgage to buy the home, there's no recurring income, except there sort of is if you do it right. But I'd love to hear your thoughts. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

Man, open that door for me. So my father was a very successful businessman. He had a cabinet shop. Cabinet shop, okay, cool. Cabinet shop. I mean, that nothing sexy, fancy, whatever, but he would talk about a sphere of influence.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 14:27

And you think about the sphere, there are lots of points. I love a fractal, like a snowflake with all the different points.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

That's a better image. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Yeah, the snowflake, I um hosted a mastermind a few years ago, and I typically wear a dress shirt or a linen shirt, but I wore a t-shirt that had a fractal on it. Okay, and a fractal is a pattern like a snowflake.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Got it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

The point was the connections. Yeah, they're all these different, it's a scientific image, but if you do it in three dimensions, it's a sphere.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

And they're all these different connections. So um here agents, real estate agents talks about sphere of influence. And I wonder how many of them really understand how three-dimensional that is.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

And so, what's today? We're on a Wednesday, doesn't matter. Two days ago, somebody texted me and said, Your name came up three days today, three times today. Your name came up three times today. Nice. And I was like, Well, that's interesting. What can I do for you? And he's well, I don't sell houses, I buy houses and keep them. And I know him, I know him pretty well. And he does. He buys and just holds everything, and he'll he'll create any situation just to hold it, hold it. He said, But I have one I want to sell. And three different people told me, if you want to sell at Russ, Scheider is your agent.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah. So I mean, I was I I was humbled by that, and humble the definition of humility is I'm not better than anybody else, and I'm not worse than anybody else. Right. I'm just in my right place.

unknown 16:10

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Yeah, I've always heard the term the definition, humility is truth. If you understand your truth, you are by definition humble. You're not making yourself out to be more than you are nor less than you are.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

I like the term right size. Like it it makes me the right size. But I was very, I was very flattered and yet very humble, and you know, met with them and went through the whole thing, and we're um we're working out a listing agreement for that. But that to answer your question about repeat business is yeah, I asked him, well, who were the three people that mentioned my name? Because I want to thank them and I want to I want to show gratitude to them, and I kind of want to know. I mean, and when he did, like, oh yeah, I've sold four properties for him, I've sold six properties for her. I'm kind of surprised the other one just kind of knows me by reputation, or you know, we've met briefly. But but the point is that that repetition is is all in building the sphere of influence and doing the right thing. And I know you do, and I appreciate you, Jim. I know you do. So we just do it.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

It's so much nicer when people mention your name, three people mention your name to the same guy, and you weren't at a cold play concert.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

I mean I love it.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

No, I totally agree with you.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

So glad. I'm so glad it was a yeah, Russell, a you see what Russ did?

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Ducking away.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Yeah, that's awesome. I love it. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Not me. No, I I totally agree. It's the very first loan I ever closed was for a friend of mine. I remember, and I was, you know, brand new to the industry. This is 2001, is how far back I go. And I took I met him at a cafe and I took up my folder and had the application on it, and I by hand just filled it out and asked him questions and filled part of it out wrong. He said, he literally, he said, I said, what's your income? He said, Well, I mean, do you want gross or net before tax or after tax? And I said, Well, all you have left is after tax. Let's go with that, which obviously is dead wrong. I didn't even know anything. But we I figured out I had a good mentor in the in the business. He said, No, you're dead wrong there, and help me out. And that same person, I've now, over the years, I've done five home loans for him and his wife, and I've helped his kids who were just little little at the time, buy their first home. I've helped them refinance when rates fell to 3%. And that's just one person. That's my very first loan. And it was on, I remember the closing was on uh Halloween day of 2001. So in October, end of October 2001, and all these years later, it's amounted just from he and his family to eight or nine loans over the years.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah. Yeah, it's I mean, you treat people correctly. I know you, Joan. I mean, it I know you do. And that's all it takes is be professional, treat people fairly, give value. Uh Napoleon Hill, everybody knows Think and Grow Rich. It's a book, right? There's another book he wrote called The 22 Laws of Success.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

22 Laws of Success. I have not read that.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

It's a much bigger, thicker book. I'll share it on a podcast because it's amazing. But one of his principles is always give more service than people expect.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

And I do my best to do that. Some I fall short sometimes, but I spank myself when I do, you know, because I should be giving more service than people expect, not the same or less. And I know you do that as well.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

I I try, and that's the whole goal. Yeah, I'm amazed that you do that. I'm not surprised that you do that. I'm just amazed that you do that because you and I both know a whole bunch of realtors in town. And I'll tell you, the majority don't. They don't even think that way. And I love it. There's a book, I can't remember the name, I won't mention it, but it's a about the Mr. Schmooz. I don't know if you've ever heard that. It's not Napoleon Hill in-depth, but it's it's a real short little book, and it's just a guy who goes through very successful in life, but he goes through and always gives a little bit extra to your point.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

And it pays dividends. It's it's first of all, it's a great way to live your life, I find. Right? If you're always thinking, how do I give more? How do I give, how do I enrich this person's life more in the time that we're together? It's it actually makes life more fun and what we do for a living more fun.

SPEAKER_00 21:03

Well, and I'll flip it real quick and say, if somebody gets angry with me, I say, I know I gave you more than I had to. Or I'll look at myself and say, you know what, you're right to be angry with me, and I'm gonna make it right.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

It it it it squares it squares that box. Like if somebody's like, I'm angry with you because of dah-da-da-da-da-da, like you're ridiculous, and I gave you more than I could have, or like, oh god, I'm I'm not happy with myself.

SPEAKER_02 21:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Because I did not give you the service that you deserve, plus some, which is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

Sometimes I would imagine you do give the service, but not the way they want, you know, the what's that book, the five five love languages?

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Yeah. It's it's you know, you're you're giving, but you're not spending. Well, it applies to business as well, right? Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

No, I agree. I understand. Except for the physical part, the physical touch language can't really apply that to business. Maybe a little both.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Maybe a little. I mean, so many people appreciate just a pat on the shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yeah, they don't.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

But appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah. Yeah, it's developing repeat business in your mortgage business or my real estate business, I think, is a matter of engaging with the right people in the right way.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

And how do you follow up with people to make sure that they remember you, frankly? I'm I'm just being honest. How do you make sure that five years later, and now they're looking to sell this property or now they want to buy an investment property, they remember your name? Because most people, their studies show, and I don't remember the exact numbers, but studies show that most people say, Yeah, I was really happy with my realtor, and then they say, Well, what was your realtor's name? And they're like, I it's not coming to me.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Well, I'm gonna give you a trophy for this first because you call me all the time out of the book. And that's why we're doing this podcast, is because Jim Duffy will call me and say, How are you doing? What do you think's up with the market? Well, you know, and we'll just we'll have a we'll have a conversation.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

And you you do an exceptional job of the of that. I do it in a little different way through like REI Central and Clear Vision Coaching and the the business. We're recording this at the helm where there are a whole bunch of other investors and agents and a plumbing company and a roofing company. And you know, we all share this office space.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

So I just make sure that I'm I'm seen, and anybody who sees me know they knows they can approach me and ask me a question, and I'll and I will be honest and say I have no idea, but if you call this person, that person's gonna so I'm gonna connect. I'm a thank you. Yep, I'm a connector. So I don't know everything, and I don't know everybody, but I know more people than I know things. So I can always I can always connect you with somebody that's gonna get you on the path. And people know that about me.

SPEAKER_02 24:16

And that's what people want. They don't want you to have all the answers, they just want to have a problem solve. Someone told me, so when I was in Europe, I I studied over there, and uh I got uh two master's degrees, right? And as I was finishing a master's degree in philosophy, because that's why I'm in the mortgage business, one of the professors said, you don't have to remember all this stuff, but you have to figure out how to get the answer very, very quickly. And that's and it's always stuck with me is we don't have to know everything, we just have to know how to get the answer quick.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

So that's hilarious because Troy Gandhi is um my broker at Maven Realty, and he has a college degree in philosophy.

SPEAKER_02 25:00

Oh, does he? The two of us in Charleston.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

I think it's a valuable school and uh valuable skill in dealing with humans.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

To to have some understanding of philosophy.

SPEAKER_02 25:12

So a lot of people don't regret it at all. Everyone makes fun of it like, oh, that's totally unemployable. Of course you're in the mortgage business now.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

But so obviously you're giving up the mortgage business, right?

SPEAKER_02 25:24

Right. No, philosophy gives a foundation of how to think, how to think through to get to the nucleus of a problem. And I like that.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Right. Right. Yeah, you're and you're very good at that. And I love that's why I love talking to you, is because I can say, well, why? And you're not hurt by why. And there are a lot of people who are like, well, don't question, right? And you and I have that in common that you can ask me why, and I'll dig down and say, Well, this is, I think this is why. And you'll do the same thing, which is powerful. And there are a lot of people like, well, don't ask me why, just do what I say.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

That's there's so many people in my business who hate dealing with engineers. They're like, Oh, an engineer comes and they you know they're gonna nitpick every number, every paper, every and I actually love it when because engineers are they just think that way. Why? Why this? Why that? What's this mean? What and I like it, I enjoy that.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

Yeah, so my my father is an engineer. I was raised by I am the least mechanical person ever. My wife should have been an engineer. When the boat motor breaks, I put her under the hood. It's like um, there are just certain people who are really, really good at that. Yeah, and um, I had a job in St. Louis for a while where there was a GE light bulb plant. I'm not making it up. They made light bulbs for GE with a plant right down the road, and we did renovations for people. So big majority, and there was a Boeing, there was Boeing, Monsanto, and GE. So, like, you know, three out of five of my clients had some sort of engineering background. And so what I learned to do is say, I'm very, very good at this one thing. Yeah, but I'm not as smart as you are. And I said, Don't expect me to be as smart as you are. You're gonna ask me questions I can't answer, but you'll if you'll be patient with me, I'll find the answer, or I'll find somebody who has the answer.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

That's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

And learning to do that at a really young age because of my dad, he would ask questions like, I don't know. I mean, I don't know. Um, because he will tell you he's probably the smartest person you've ever met. And he will tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

And you're gonna remember it. Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

At that point, I'm like, okay, I'm I'm not gonna be as smart as you, but I can I can provide the service of like a DSCR loan. I'm gonna bring that around, you know, to what we do.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

Then then you can break down and explain a DS CR loan to me in a better way than I understand it, even though I've executed a few for my own, but it's not my career. It's not my it's not what I do.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Yeah. No, exactly. And you don't pretend. It's like I always whenever I'm I I work together with um a realtor partner like yourself, I always say, look, I'm gonna respect your lane because you're the expert. You respect my lane, and then together we can better serve and and the attorney's the same way, right? When they ask a legal question, I'm like, I think I know this, but let me get you the real answer and get the attorney to give you a call and answer that question for you. Because I feel like it's a better service to the end client, the buyer or the seller. If if the whole team is working together, everyone knows their expertise, but no one's overstepping or stepping on each other and pretending it's just serving better.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

Yeah, I mean, on a daily basis, including today, I said to somebody, I'm not an attorney, I'm not a CPA, I can only tell you what I do. And I can tell you what my attorney and my CPA told me to do and how I execute that in my business. And then if if you want to argue with that in any fashion, I'm gonna put my hands up and say, call this. I I can give you a number for CPA or another.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

You're probably right. Yeah, exactly. I mean, you're probably right for you, then that's fine. Right. That's where the connector comes in as well, I would imagine, because you're like, this is what my attorney asked me to do, this is how I do it. If you have a problem, talk to this same attorney and and go go figure it out for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Yeah, we have a discussion with a lender, not your company, but another lender, about the fact I wanted to put a property in a land trust.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

And in Florida, apparently that's a big problem. I suppose South Carolina's I've done I looked at my spreadsheet, I've done 78 of them.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

78? Wow. You know what you're doing a little bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

So I haven't done two, I've done 78. Right. That that's an exact number. This this'll be number 79. Nice. And it doesn't make me an attorney. And it and I I'm very clear about that, but at the same time, I know what works and what doesn't work.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

And so being able to guide people with confidence without overstepping our professional boundaries. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:39

Um, I tell that to young, young realtors all the time. I'm like, look, my suggestion be part of a team. Either either really part of a team or be very close to your broker because you're not going to have all the answers, I guarantee, because you're brand new into business and you're young and you haven't had that experience. So just have that as a selling point. Yes, I don't have all the answers, but I do have this team that I can rely on that's much bigger than both you and I, Mr. Seller, Mr. Buyer. And and I think that's a selling point that a lot of people, you know, they have that imposter syndrome where they should have. I'm standing on the shoulders of giants.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Oh, I love that. Love dub. So we need to wrap it up, but I have one more poignant question for you.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Um, are we wrapping it up?

SPEAKER_02 31:32

No, we have time. Keep going.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

He says we have time.

SPEAKER_02 31:37

I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

This is my producer in the background saying, You have time, man, keep going. Tell me about a small mind shift mindset shift that's changed a big thing for you.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

I think one of the biggest ones, I think one of the biggest ones for several years, I I would say, well, how do I earn X number of dollars per year? And, you know, put the number to it that everyone wants to earn, right? I was like, how do I earn a million dollars a year? Because in this industry, that is a possible thing. And instead of doing that, my mindset one several years ago, I was talking to someone in the industry who does earn over a million dollars a year. And the mindset shift was very similar to what we had talked about before. How do I best serve this one person better than any other lender can do? And when I shifted that away from how do I earn more money to how do I serve this person better than anyone else can do that? It it sounds like a super simple mind shift mindset shift. And it is, but for me, it changed everything. It completely changed everything. The way I approach the business, the way I sit down at my desk in the morning, everything. It just became about serving that other person. And then I didn't worry about money. I just said that'll take care of itself. All I have to do is serve really, really well. It's a dumb little mic shift, and I was really dumb for not figuring out on my own, but it took another person to kind of shift it for me.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

We all help each other. I mean, we all need coaches and mentors and people to spur us. And the way I've heard that expressed is the more people I can help get what they want, yeah, the more I can get what I want.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yeah, I think that was um just forgot who who I've always heard had said that.

SPEAKER_00 33:46

It's a very famous quote, but I was I was hoping you'd remember who quote.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Dale Carnegie. I think that was Dale Carnegie, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

So from How to Win Friends and Influence People is the more people my sister went to a full like all day in New York Dale Carnegie training.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Oh, really? That'd be cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

Yeah, we've talked about it multiple times, but I've I've read How to Win Friends and Influence People, but his I think it was Dale Carnegie, thank you. Is the more people I can help get what they want, the more I can get what I want. And then so in sales training, when I was I hit a tipping point as I got trained and then started training other people.

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

And my personality is I'm not pushy. I'm very pulley.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Pulley. Define that. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

So I don't push people into something that's not beneficial or you know, any sort of a situation where I'm pushing somebody, but I'll pull.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

And I'll pull and I'll pull and I'll pull. And I do it with questions. Uh instead of making statements like, well, you need to do this. I'm saying, well, what would happen if you did that?

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

And then what would happen? What would happen after that? And what would be the best outcome for you? And where do we go from here? And pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Going back to push the philosophy thing, that's the Socratic method. So hello, Socrates.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Yeah. Yeah. Socratic Selling is one of my favorite books. Uh, I need to go home, pull it up my bookshelf, and put it on the podcast. Socratic selling, very much how I how I live my life.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Yeah, I've never even heard of that book. I I've got to look it up myself. But yeah, that's that's the Socratic method. And it's is it really what it does, I think, is helps people come to their own conclusion rather than us forcing a conclusion on them. And that's how that that's how we internalize things. I mean, everyone's had things forced on them, and you have, I have, and it's always like, oh, I don't want to do this, you know. But when it's internalized and it's our own conviction, we're never letting go of that.

SPEAKER_00 36:08

Right. No, that's right. That's um Chris Voss. I know you love Chris Voss like I do.

SPEAKER_03 36:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

It's the power of questions, the power of self-examination, the Socratic method. It's been around for what is that, 3,000 years, 4,000 years?

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

I mean uh he's not wrong.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Right, he's not wrong.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Humans are the same as we were back then.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Yeah, once we have and and you're also teaching it in a in a really good way. I always feel like I don't I have not mastered a topic or a subject until I can teach it in a very simple manner to someone who doesn't know it.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

That's my favorite thing about coaching, and I told I I speak that at every mastermind, every I said my favorite thing about this is I have the opportunity to learn as I'm teaching.

SPEAKER_03 37:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

And as you you just said it, I interrupted you, I'm sorry. But the if if I can't explain it to you in detail with complete confidence, I don't understand it.

SPEAKER_02 37:14

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

I and haven't you challenge and say, well, Russ, that doesn't make any sense. I go, fuck, that doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

So I haven't taught it well enough. I don't know it well enough to teach it well enough, therefore I don't know it yet. Right.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

All right, give me a minute or you know, a week or an hour, and we're yeah, maybe I need to ask somebody, you know. But the that openness to to be able to learn by teaching. Um let me ask you this.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

You're you're you're teaching now real estate, real estate investing. But my conviction is I'm turning the tables a little bit, but my conviction has always been if we're not growing, we're dying. So I always want to be learning something new. So, what is something new that you're learning, picking up? You don't feel wobbly because so many people, as they get into real estate investing, they're like, I don't even know what I don't know yet, and it's scary as hell. What's something new that you're learning? And you're feeling a little like, I don't know, I don't have my equilibrium, my feet aren't under me yet.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

I love you so much. Thank you for that question. That's a that's a challenging question for me. So, Ryan, who's looking at me and I are digging deep into commercial real estate.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Commercial.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

I have done some commercial real estate, but I'm not comfortable there yet. I'm getting my feet under me. Ryan's challenging me daily. He's looking at me right now. Justin and James on our team are challenging me to again find the right person who can answer that question about commercial. I mean, I can I can flip houses and buy rental properties and buy an apartment building, and I mean, that's just like making pancakes. I can make pancakes.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Right. You got that too.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Just make a souffle. I have no fucking clue.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

And to me, the commercial world, I'm learning as we dig deeper and deeper into flex space and warehouses and the restaurant businesses and vacant parking lots and all these things, I've got a lot to learn.

SPEAKER_03 39:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:24

And it's exciting because I can I know people who can help me.

SPEAKER_02 39:30

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

But when I wake up at 5 a.m. in in a cold sweat, it's thinking, how am I gonna execute this deal that I've never done this type of deal before?

SPEAKER_02 39:41

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 39:43

It's it's different from what I've done in the past, but it's not different enough that I refuse to do it. Yep, but I also don't have confidence that I'm like, I got this. I'm making pay this, right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

But you know who to turn to, and that's the key is knowing who to turn and and not being not being too proud to actually turn to those people and actually do it. That's where I love coaching. I've I've had a coach in different areas for yeah. Well, a couple years ago, I was completely out of shape, still kind of in, but I decided to go to the gym. I ride a bike, go to the gym, just get back in shape. It's time. And I was like, I don't even know what these machines do. It's been so long since I've been in the gym. I don't know what to do, I don't know how to do it, I'm gonna do it all wrong. I'm gonna, and I don't mind looking like an idiot. I was fine with that. Just I literally, so I hired a personal trainer. Right? Well, I went to the gym that had a personal trainer, that gym kind of closed down, so I now I have a personal trainer, and they just tell me what to do. I don't even have to think about it. But it's it's a game changer, and for me, what it really did was shorten the learning curve so I can just get in and execute instead of trying to wander around and figure it out for you know a couple of years. And it sounds like that's what you're doing in in commercial real estate, and that's why I love what you do in coaching people on flipping and buying and holding the single family stuff. A coach shortens the learning curve.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Right. And I I I really appreciate that question. That was a I'm gonna add that to my list of questions because I love it. Um but I I joined the Helm. Uh, if you're local to Charleston, yeah, uh, it's a an office space. We're recording in the space now. And there are people in here who, as I said, run a roofing company, a plumbing company. There's a uh residential builder, there's a commercial developer, there are you know, all these people. And I uh Ryan and I walked out of the podcast room yesterday, and one of the guys collared me and gave me a lead onto development lots.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

So just being in the right room with the right people is so critical. And for people watching the podcast, I'm gonna break the fourth wall and talk to the people watching, yeah, is get in the room.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Get with get with whatever you want to do. If you want to be a professional surfer, go fuck up, go fuck up some waves until a surfer's like, dude, come here, let me teach you. If you want to do real estate, get in the rooms with the real estate people and say, I don't know what I'm doing. I said, Well, you know, 15 years ago, I didn't know what I was scared to death.

SPEAKER_02 42:35

We all start that way. We started that way. And look, we know how to do it.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

I'm a little bit afraid right now for some of the deals that we're tackling. Right. It's like if you're not growing, you're dying. But any success that I have had is because of the people around me and not me. You know, I have to do my part and I have to buck up, you know, and play my role, but I'm not I'm not that smart. Let's get some people, get in the right room, get with the right people.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

And uh I think you just hit the nail in the head. I was at a so I I have a coach for I've always had a coach for something all the way through because it shortens the curve. But you just hit the nail in the head. I was at a conference once in Vegas a few years back, and uh sitting around the table, and there were these these two young ladies there who and we were just chatting. It was an industry conference, and we were just chatting, and they were like, Yeah, we I said, What are you gonna implement of all the speakers that you've heard so far? Are you gonna implement one thing? What is it gonna be? And they're like, No, we don't. I mean, they were honest. No, we just like going to conferences. I don't know, we learn a lot, but we don't really change anything. I was like, Well, that's brutally honest, but so many people are like that. So, yeah, to your point, the other thing you have to do is if you have a coach or you're in the right room or you're learning from the right people, you have to go do it yourself and actually implement. And that's what I think. So many people don't. They just learn and learn and learn and learn, but they don't implement. And so they really haven't learned anything.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

Yeah, and I'll share two episodes for that. So I'm gonna say eight years ago when wholesale real estate was a big deal in South Carolina, and now they've really slammed the door on that. So wholesaling single family residences is not a big deal. We can ho still wholesale lots, land, and we can still wholesale commercial, meaning a sign a contract, but we can't market a single family residence. We don't own books. At the time, wholesaling ink, Tom Kroll is one of the gurus for that. And they had an event at the Grove Park In. And he walked out on the stage, and the first thing he said is, I want you to take your notebook and I want you to draw a line down the middle and make a T chart. And he said, I want you to write all the cool things that you learned in the left column. And then I want you to write two things that you're gonna implement. He said, We because we have three days of speakers, we have four speakers a day. It's gonna be this barrage of really cool information. I want you to write down two things that you're gonna go home, either implement here in the hotel, right, or as soon as you get back to your office on Monday. And that and now I do that with all of our masterminds. It's like you're gonna get the fire hose of information, but I want you to pick one, two, never more than three things that you're gonna implement today.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

I almost have too many. Yeah, I think I think I always come away with one. And I love the way you you do that because you you have yeah, we all have ideas. We have tons of ideas. We have shiny object and shiny object syndrome, especially in the age of social media, has grown, not shrunk. You know, I could do this, I could do that, I could, I could start a business here, I could invest in this, I could do Bitcoin, I could do whatever it is. You you can name 800 different things. And my thing is just do someone told me this once, and and very similar to what you were just saying, said if you're implementing something new, implement it all the way. Imagine you're building a bridge across a river, and there's a bag of money on that side of the river, but you can't bring it back to your side until the bridge is complete. So go complete the bridge, bring that bag of money back over, and then start building another bridge. Don't start five bridges because you won't you haven't finished any of them.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Half a bridge is worth nothing. Right. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. Well, very cool. I gotta get back to work, and I'm sure you do too. So any closing remarks? How how can we get in touch with you? I mean, tell tell us how to comment on the book.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Yeah, thanks for asking that. I would love people to I have a newsletter that's geared toward it's called Asset Accelerator, assetaccelerator.com. I'd love for people to subscribe if they're interested. The target is 45 to 65 year olds who have a high income, 150 to 300,000 a year, but not enough to retire. And so how do you fix that situation? How do we create cash flow to be able to someday retire? And I know you call it fast money, mid money, long-term money, but for me it's just asset accelerator.

SPEAKER_00 47:28

Jim, it's been a pleasure and super, super valuable. I learned a lot today. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

Same, Russ. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Yep. So Luke Up Podcast, we're checking out for today, but we'll be back.

SPEAKER_02 47:40

All right. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Thank you, Jim.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

He went to a bar, refused to check, then my no beer happens to that you want. My name is Ross on the mic.