Self Storage Investing

The Self Storage Development Process

December 29, 2020 Season 1 Episode 33
Self Storage Investing
The Self Storage Development Process
Show Notes Transcript

Welcome!
To the Self Storage Investing podcast. I'm your host Scott Meyers.
As we continue sharing the knowledge and skills from leading investors, developers and operators to help you launch and grow your own successful self-storage business leading us all into a brand new year.

Tune in each week for a new episode on topics in the self-storage world with guests from each sector of the self-storage investing industry. This week my guest is here to discuss with us the Development Process in Self-Storage.  Keep listening to hear all the knowledge and tips our very own student turned partner has to say!




About today's guest: Ross Stryker

Ross Stryker is a founder and CEO of Smart Asset Opportunities – which helps educate busy small business owners to take charge of their own financial freedom plan. He practiced dentistry and specialized in Orthodontics for over 35 years – 12 of those years were while serving in the US Army – reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and later in private practice where he grew one of the largest single doctor practices in the country.

Ross has owned 40+ single family homes and written two books – one specifically on real estate investing.  It is not the asset that makes the opportunity work – it’s the people behind the asset.

Having participated in a multitude of commercial projects, including Self Storage facilities, mobile home parks and more, Ross is passionate about getting money out of the wall street casinos and putting it to work on main street in safe, tangible investments.


For more information on today's guest: Ross Stryker
https://www.smartassetopportunities.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ross-stryker-1563a5159/

Helping People Become Financially Independent Without The Hassles of Tenants, Toilets, and Trash with Self Storage Investing!




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See you next time

Scott (Intro):
This is a self storage podcast where we share the knowledge and skills from the industry's leading investors, developers, and operators, to help you launch and grow your self storage business. I'm your host, Scott Myers. And over the past 16 years, we have acquired, developed, converted and syndicated over 2 million square feet of self storage nationwide, but the help of my incredible team at self storage, investing.com who has helped thousands of people achieve greatness in self storage.

Scott (00:24):
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the sales stories podcast. I'm your host, Scott Myers. And today I'm excited to introduce you to my good friend and partner Dr. Ross striker. Ross is the founder and CEOof a Smart Asset Opportunities. And his company helps busy small bu siness owners take charge of their own financial freedom by showing how to actively and passively invest in real estate. Having participated in a multitude of commercial projects, including self storage, mobile home parks, and more. Ross is passionate about getting money out of the wall street casinos and putting it to work on main street and safe, tangible investments. Now, prior to launching smart asset, he practiced dentistry and
orthodontics for over 35 years, 12 of which while serving in the us army, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and then later in private practice where he grew one of the single largest doctor practices in the country. Ross has owned over 40 single family rental homes as well, and written two books on how it's the people behind the asset, not the asset that makes the investment work, which is what he shareswith us on our show today. So without further ado, I  would like to welcome Dr. Ross striker. Hey there Ross, welcome to the show.

Ross (01:20):
Hey Scott, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here. And hopefully I can say something of value
for those that are listening and watching on YouTube, but I hope I can bring value to your listeners.

Scott (01:31):
Well, no hope on, on this end that we know that that will be the case. And so Ross, your, your career is unparalleled from anybody that we've had on this show so far. And so in terms of how varied it is and the things that you've accomplished. So, if you would, I give everybody a piece of your bio. Now, if you would just kind of fill in the gaps and tell us what you're up to lately.

Ross (01:51):

Well, okay. You know, as I explained to somebody not too long ago, cause they, they didn't really know my background, even though they thought they did. I tend to reinvent myself every once in a while in life. I was in the military for 12 years and private practice of orthodontics for 23 years and got involved in real estate investing. And I've been doing that exclusively now for several years. And I sold my practice in 2017. Lately, while working on a project with you in Birmingham, Alabama, and that opened a, about a month and a half ago and it's off to a great start. I've got some other opportunities introducing the Birmingham area that we'll be rolling out soon. We don't have things completely outlined yet for investors, but very, very close. We've got some properties under contract and looking at some other opportunities there and some things I'm doing with my nephews and Topeka, Kansas, and
you know, just, just trying to put things together for people to invest in because you know, I'm
recovering orthodontist. I get what it's like to be running a small business and B you know, I don't want to say handcuffed to the chair cause it's a good job being a dentist, but on the other hand it is confining.  And so it's nice to be involved in something that maybe I can help people reach their freedom point as I like to say. So, yeah…

Scott (03:08):
Well, you certainly have the credentials and the model to follow. And I've been following you as you've been helping others. So come along and we're on very similar paths as well. And just thankful for you giving back in, in so many ways of that being one of them. So if we could, let's go back to the time when you were transitioning, I'm you, you seem to be ahead of the curve in folks, I would say in any field, but especially in what we've seen in the, in the medical field where most folks go into it, thinking that they will begin investing along the way that they're when they sell their practice at, that will provide their sole form of retirement funds. And you seem to be way ahead of the curve and, and realize early on that was not going to be enough and begin to invest in real estate and to supplement retirement and prepare for that. So, tell me what was maybe the turning point or, you know, the aha moment when you realize that, “you know what, I need to figure this out. If I want to continue on, you know, having the
lifestyle that I really want to have when I retire.” And then what did that look like? The steps you put in place while you were still working, full-time running your practice.

Ross (04:10):
Yeah. All right. So I don't know if I'm ahead of the curve, but yeah, I think the aha moment for me was the first time that I joined a mastermind group in Dallas, David Phelps, and, you know, David very well, and that was a great group. And that was my first start in real estate investing and it, and it was a good place to start. It wasn't a good place to finish for me because I don't want to use it for him, outgrew it, but that that's term, I guess I'll use anyway. But really Scott, for me, it look, here's the evolution. Here's how dentists or physicians or will really whatever career field they're in. They're generally very smart people. They, they do well on tests. They get patted on the head; they get passed along to the next level.

Okay, you got to go to college, then you got to go to medical or dental school and maybe into a specialty like I did. And then they send you out into the world and you open this business or you work for somebody else, but suddenly the smart people are not smart enough to know enough about investing. They're  typically just told, just, just hand your money over to the wall street types. Everything will be okay. All right. Just, just give your money to a financial Claremont. Look, I'm not pooing on financial planners. There's good and bad, but the point is, why were you so smart to do all this stuff all along, but suddenly when it comes to money are too stupid to know what to do with it. So the other thing about dentists and physicians, and I was there, I convinced myself that I loved what I was doing so much, that I was just going to keep doing it until I died at the chair. Seriously. I mean, I'm not making that up. I convinced myself, I loved it that much, but when I took a step back and I realized, you know, it's overwhelming when you've got a small business. And look, I'm not saying the pressure was that, but at a certain point, Monday mornings became a drudgery. I'd wake up. I had 214 members working for me and all those families were depending upon me to show up for work. It wasn't like I ran a troop business because I was just self-employed. It did nothing works without me being there.

So I realized I had to find a different way. I had to replace my transactional income with some kind of cash flowing income so that I could either slow down or completely withdraw from practice. So you know, joining those masterminds, networking being part of people that are ahead of me, like your group, I've been allowed me to achieve that and a certain point in the real estate investing, I realized, “Hey my real estate income has now superseded my practice income.” So now I have the opportunity to sell the practice which I did, and I miss it. I miss the socialization part of it, but I don't miss the part of it that confined you, confine you, I guess, is the word. So anyway, I, I don't know if I answered the question, but if I didn't circle back around to it, sometimes I get off on a tangent.

Scott (07:09):
No, all of this is good and that's a, that's exactly where I wanted to lead to. And so, as you mentioned, you know, I started out with physicians, dentists, anybody in the medical field, but it is any business, including real estate investors, where they realize that at many times, you know, they are the technician and nothing happens in a business without them. And what they've done is they've, you know, built a bigger job with more responsibility and more liability and more people around them. As you said, that you feel responsible for, you know, feeding and taking care of, and that's just not scalable, no matter what the business is. And so when you began then to invest in real estate you, you have the luxury of getting in on the passive side before going active. And so, you know, by, by way of David Phelps ‘s
mastermind and others, you know, learning about the business with, by putting a toe in the water, even though significant amount of money, but not taking on all the liability in the beginning. So, you know, tell us what that experience looks like, and that path that you took of starting out passively, and then moving over into an active investor.

Ross (08:10):
Yeah, that's a good point. You know, are when you're investing with other people, you're, you're not really making things happen. You're simply writing a check and writing along with them. And that, that was good. That's a good place to be, and for many people that is a place they should be. For me, I wanted to be more active. I saw that for me, I wanted to put together things that could allow people to invest with them because I wanted to help them do what I had done which was to be able to invest in opportunities outside of wall street to take their money off the wall street, roller coaster, so to speak and put it to work in main street where it actually does, you know, people are on the ground, some good.

You know, with wall street investing it's, well, I can look, I can buy an iPhone or an iPad, but I'm not going to change the value of the Apple stock. I don't have the ability to move the needle on it, a wall street investment, but with real estate investing or whatever it is, small business or whatever, you have the ability to move the needle. So I saw that ability to do that. I decided that's something I wanted to do to help people right along. And of course, you know, like in the investment, in the storage facility, in Birmingham, a lot of those people are busy professionals. They don't have time to go out and find those opportunities and put those things together. So it gives me satisfaction. I know it does to you to, to help those people get a nice return. Hey, look, you, you could put it in a CD in the bank and get, you know, three quarters of a percent. half of that, you're going to give it up to taxes. And then let's, don't even get me started on inflation because we know that the CPI that the government comes up with is ridiculous. I mean, this year they're saying it's going to be 1.7 or 1.8%. And really, in frankly, the inflation rates a lot higher. Now, we just don't know that it's kind of hidden information. But anyway, the bottom line is we're helping people get to their freedom point quicker. You're doing that, Scott and I want to do that too. And so to answer your question, I saw the need to get from passive to active and but being careful not to do what we did earlier, which is to create another rat race. I don't want to be that. And so I'm looking at the next opportunities I'm doing and saying, I want to be very careful about what I get involved with as far as an active person in the market, because sometimes you're going to look around and say, I just created another job for myself. I don't, I don't want to do that.

Scott (10:29):
And that's what we've seen with many of our students that come through and they, they recognize that to become a passive investor first, even though they may have wanted to go out and be active, that, you know, sometimes they realize that, you know, I I'm getting really good returns by not having to have a liability and spending the time, you know, to invest in a project. And it, I may not have the capital to begin with. So, you know, by putting in 25, $50,000 into a project that gets money in play, which is what I want and creating the passive income, which is what I want in real estate anyways. And still being able to, if you invest in the right projects, getting depreciation and all of the benefits on the active side you know, the downside to that is that again, they may, they may have to raise capita where they never
have before built a team, which they haven't and delays their ability to generate the income they want on that end. And again, taking on all the liability, signing recourse on the loans, if necessary, and then at the end of the day, if you own all of it versus some shares, like if you were passive, if you won't all of it, or on the general partner side, you'd take on all that liability from lawsuits and anything, and anyone else that decides that they want to come after you. So you know, benefits to both sides, but you've, so you're at that place now where you are investing both them passively, as well as actively. And you've seen both sides and the benefits, and now you are building your own community of investors to come along and invest past will be with, with you taking shares of the ownership in a partnership, or sometimes all on your own. So, you know, tell us how, if you would just share with us a little bit about how to build that community, how you've been able to build that community and investors to come
alongside of you and you know, how that's been changing the way that you invest in real estate over the past several years.

Ross (12:13):

Okay. Well, first of all, let me touch on something you just said in that, and, and you, you said to our team and let me emphasize that because, you know, I've, I've had people talk to me about things that I'm doing and they are, let's say it's a dentist and dentists are very much known for thinking they can do it all in a room. They can figure it out on their own. And I'm just telling you, this is not an arena where you want to try and do it yourself. I mean, you need help. I mean, you know, I've got my nuclear team members that deal with me, day-to-day, Shannon and Natalie. And my wife, Mary, helps too. And it gives me great feedback when I need it. Cause there oftentimes are times you go and you have probably am playing outside of my lanes here a little bit. But the other thing is all the team members that you put together for an individual opportunity foolish, let's give the example of the storage facility in Fultondale,
Birmingham, the team members are you brought to play from your team to help us. I mean, then you think about finding the contractors and finding the folks that are the engineers and the architects and putting all together. You just, you have to surround yourself with smart people. And sometimes I get asked, well, a question and I say, you know what? And I don't have my phone with me, so I try to put it away. So it didn't ring on this, but I'm like, I got all the answers I need right here. You know, I don't need to be able to answer that question.

So, you do need to put together a team, but the difference between passive and active, I like both. I like some activity and I liked some that's passive. I like a little bit of both because I like investing with other people that I know like and trust. And, and by the way, there aren't
very many of those anymore because even this last year, a lot of falling along the wayside people that I thought that knew what they were doing, they were on top of things. And, and look, sometimes it's just out of your control. I mean, nobody could have predicted a year we're having so, and, and we're all big boys and girls, I'm an accredited investor. I go into these things. I realized the 50 million different ways that you could lose your money or die when you invest in something.

So, I get it, it doesn't always work out, but there's a very small group of people that I'll invest with. So, I try to try to stick to a smaller, I look, if you looked at my spreadsheet of all the different investments that we've had and I've divested myself several of them over the last year, they're all over the place. Got, you know, because when I became a real estate investor, I'm like, well, I want to do look, I want to do a little bit of that. Yeah, sure,
sure. I'll, I'll invest in a coffee farm in Panama. Sure. I'll invest in a hotel and bullies. I'll invest in some ATM's, I'll invest in some apartment complexes here, but you quickly realize you just can't do all that. Even as a passive investor, you can't properly do your due diligence on that many different things, that  many different people. So anyway, I've tried to really kind of narrow things a little bit. The people I deal with the different investments I deal with just to make my life a little simpler.

Scott (15:18):
And I think that's good sound advice or a good model to follow for anyone. You know, Ross out of people that are watching or understand that you know, you are in, you know, maybe halfway through your investing career, how's that. And you know, most people think that it, you know, at the end of their investing careers, when they begin to simplify and, and I would argue the sooner, the better I think many people just, you know, by nature, they want to get to a goal really quickly. And the only way to do that is to go really fast and invest in as many places with as many people. And that doesn't always turn out to be the best. As we've said, many times when investing with someone else you've met the sponsor and their team far more than you've at the deal and, and the market. I mean, all of those are very important and integral to the success of an investment.

But narrowing that down and hitching your wagon to, you know, a handful of investors or maybe one or two that you can a partner with us is
usually the best way to go. But, so, one of the ways that, that, that we research our joint venture partners and quite honestly, the ways that we have created many resources for ourselves is in the way that you and I met is by joining a mastermind. And I know you're involved in having been involved in three, four, five masterminds. You're a very key part of our own mastermind. Tell us, you know, the importance of that and, and what that has meant for you as an investor, both active and passive and the things that you've learned as a result.

Ross (16:41):
Yeah, sure, no, that's huge. I mean, as I tell it people that talk to me or call me with questions, I tell them that look, insider information on wall street will get you thrown in jail, but insider information is where you make the deals in real estate investing. And so, you know, this year has slowed things down a little bit, as you know, with virtual, you know, we've gone more virtual with a lot of things, but that organic contact with real people that that's where deals happen. And, you know, I know we're all wound up and right, I know this supposed to be evergreen. I know we got all this stuff going on post-election November, and we got a big election coming up in Georgia, but you know, really your worry should not be what's going on in Washington. It should be what's going on the ground, the area where you're investing in. And it could be more than one area that you're investing in, but I'm just saying it's, it's, it's
connections, it's connections with the mayor, the city council, or the people in the planning and zoning commission. It's, it's connections with people in groups like yours.

Look, for example, somebody says, well, I don't, I don't have the money to take on a large project. Well, yeah, you do. You can meet people in groups like Scott they've got the money. Okay. So there, there really are very few excuses for not being involved in real estate. And there's not necessarily as an active person or putting a development together. Like I didn't Birmingham, I'm not saying it. Everybody has to do that. I'm just saying there's opportunities to do things. You just have to meet the right people, and you're not going to meet them
reading a book or  you've got to get out and meet people. It's just very important that you
make those organic relationships.

Scott (18:20):
Well, not to use the older cliches, but I will, because they're true and that your net worth is equal to your network. And I've never found that to be more true than in the, in the most recent years, as I look at the people whose lives I've been able to intersect with and the people that come into our mastermind and just that I've been exposed to. And if you take the time and always looking to make a connection, not out of, you know, coming from a standpoint of, gosh, what can this person do for me? But just, you  know, truly being able to just be open to the people that come across your path, adding them to your Rolodex. And then if you think of a way that you can help them, fantastic. If at some point you may call on them. It's incredible.

The people that I've met that I have never done business with, but I just had a
chance meeting with her. You know, we left perhaps left a coffee and said, well, I don't know that we can do anything right now together, but maybe in the future. And, you know, three, four, five, 10 years later, I'm, I'm looking through my Rolodex and the notes that I have and contacting them to do a joint venture with them, or just to ask a question. And so it truly is about the people that you surround yourself with. And, you know, so one of the other things that I wanted to touch on that you had mentioned Ross is you know, within the mastermind and the people that you've mentioned that you've come across, you know, you've, you're obviously helping these folks as well.

And but one of those ways is by, you've written a couple of books on real estate as well, and you've been able to continue to communicate and really foster, you know, incredible community of people that follow you and invest with you for that reason. So tell me about the Genesis of the books and you know, how you felt the
need to, to, to give back in that way.

Ross (19:55):
Well, all right. Well, let me touch on something you said earlier too. And then I'll answer that question about the books, but, you know, it's like six, a quote. I got back here, you know, you can have everything in life you want, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want. So, yeah, when, when you're making relationships, it's not like a chamber of commerce meeting. We were handing out cards and hoping you'll make a sale the next day. It's never about that. It's always about look, the market rewards, people that bring some kind of value to other people. It's just that simple. If you're not bringing value to other people, you're not going to make any money. So it starts with, with your investors first, the people you're meeting first, what, what can you do to solve a problem for them, if you do that? And if financial
rewards are really what you're about and we all have to make certain amount of money. But for me, you know, I got asked this question about, well, “how, how much money, you know, on an opportunity to it was coming up.”

And, and I'm not, I'm not saying I don't want to make money on that opportunity, but really I said, you know, it's more about having some kind of an impact, you know, when you get to a certain age and you got a certain amount of money, you don't need any more money, you need to have some kind of impact. And that's important to me. So anyway, the idea of a book, well, frankly, the idea of the books that I read or wrote was just quite simple, like a business card, frankly, to let people know that this is an area that maybe they didn't know, Hey, I didn't know it then that I could invest in real estate. You know, my books were not bestsellers. I couldn't even get my mom to buy one, but they, they were, they were more informational. Actually, the first book was in my orthodontic practice and it was called, “Why not smile?”. And going along the line of the, why not titles of books, the, the real estate book was, “Why not financial freedom?”. And basically it was just a compilation of different stories of doctors who had been in busy practices, started to invest in real estate and reach financial freedom point. And, you know, it's just an example that I think sometimes people think, well, I can't do it well, of course you can do it. If somebody has done it, it can be done.

So, you know, you can do it and you just have to meet the right people and surround yourself with the right people to do these things. And so that, that was really the purpose of the book was to just give examples of people who have done what I've done beyond myself and say, here's how you can reach that financial freedom point.

Scott (22:14):
Well, and that, and that's a model that you and I are both very familiar with as a, was proposed to us in the mastermind that we met at. And if you get that roadmap and then the pieces and ways to put that in place, then absolutely it can happen. And it's just like anything else, it's a step-by-step process. And once  you see you know, that somebody can run a four minute mile then guess what other people can as well. And that's exactly how we approach this in a, it is not just a pipe dream, but it's just taking it one step at a time. And you know, I think we may have all heard this as well, that people grossly overestimate what they can do in a year, but they grossly underestimate what they can do in five or 10 years. And, and just by taking those steps, you know, they wake up five years later and realize that, wow, that goal that I said
so, so long ago that I thought was unachievable, I blew past that and half the time but I didn't have to achieve it all in one year. So absolutely I can happen. So, Ross, one of the last pieces that I wanted to touch on you know, I, I appreciate that you've gone on house builds with us down in Mexico and your heart and your passion for always wanting to give back. And the impact that you're making in people's lives is truly evident. And the legacy that you're creating is, that is intentional, that it doesn't just happen by happenstance. It doesn't happen without a plan and being intentional as well. So talk to us a little bit about legacy and what you're, what you're looking like. And is that, are you thinking more of that as intentional means and are you attaching goals to the impact and the legacy that you're going to have right now? Or is it just you know, going along and what you can and having the opportunity to do so when those opportunities present themselves?

Ross (23:50):
Well, first, first of all, yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't make it home built this year. I know we didn't have the one back in June, which is the one I normally go to, but hopefully back on track to have both of them next year, both are more. And those kinds of things are always fun. I've been in medical missions too, or it's dentistry and medicine. And those are if you've not been on one with Scott or someone else, you, you owe it to yourself to go to another country where… as you know, Scott, we look at the home builds and it’s that these are people that have moved in to Ensenada because it's better than where they were somewhere else in Mexico. And you're looking at the conditions are living at Ensenada thinking, wow,
this is better. I can't imagine what it was like before. And the same thing on medical and dental missions that I've been on. You look at the conditions, you look at the situation and at least for a few minutes, we're all very selfish as Americans, and we easily forget that it kind of wears off. So, you need to, it's kind of like Zig Ziglar said with bathing, you got to, you got to do it pretty frequently. You can't just do it once a year and, and decide that that's going to work. But to answer your question, I was asked to look, I was asked this question, or, you know, as I work with Ken and Sherry Nassar, contractors down in Birmingham, and I see how incredibly hard they work. And I was talking to Ken the other day about some of the projects we've got coming up. And I told him, I said, look, I'm very excited about this one particular project. Because just like you mentioned earlier about real estate investors that they sometimes get caught in a transactional income. Let's talk about house flippers. That's a transactional
thing. They never were building up their cashflow. Well, I can, and Sherry are somewhat caught in there as contractors. It's transactional business. And I told them, I said, look, I'm very excited about this one project that we're looking at, because I know it's going to work. I'm very excited about it. And I know it could lead to a second one and a third one and build up your cashflow. So as far as the legacy to me, I want to see people like Ken and Sherry. I want to see people like Dennis, that invest in your project and Fultondale or doctors or physicians or whoever they might be. I want to see them have the choice to keep doing that because what we need, those people, we need those people working on us, okay. So I don't want them all to retire right away, but if they choose to, not because they have to, and I want to get them to the point where they feel like they can work part-time and spend more time with their
family. I want them to get to the point, like one of the investors that are on project before who builds up enough passive income, that he could take it to your mission to the Philippines. You've never done is more of an admission when he was younger, but he did it as an adult because he could, he'd replaced his income with that cashflow. And now suddenly he's able to do those kinds of things and good for him.  And you know, the other thing is too, we're not, we're not promised tomorrow. I mean, you know, some, some people think, well, I'm just going to keep working forever. And it's like, well, that's great, but you might have a disability tomorrow. And that disability income can only go so far. So let's build up that passive income. So to me, that's really what I'm pointing at is trying to free people up to do the things that they want to do when they still have the quality of life to do them and not be sitting in that
rocking chair at age 90 going, I wish, I wish I'd spent more time doing those things.

Scott (27:14):
And that's, you know, that's the beauty of real estate is that you can do that for yourself, with them when we get into the education business and like yourself, we're also, there's really nothing more gratifying than to be able to in, in small ways, large ways, whatever that looks like to maybe even just be the catalyst, to get somebody thinking differently, to get down that path, you know, where they can get out of that transactional income hamster wheel that so many people are chained to and keeps them on to that place for so long. And to realize that once they stop that, “Hey, they didn't save enough. They didn't invest well enough”, and the… or that they have to continue to keep going. And you know, regret does not taste well. It is very bitter. And I too want to avoid or help people to avoid the place where when they're 90 years old sitting on their porch in a rocking chair that you know, they are not looking
back. I never asked them themselves. You know, what if, you know, I could have, or I should have. And so, you know, we get to, we get to do that. If anybody has an interest in doing that.

Ross (28:13):
We get to do it Scott, but we can't do it for them. And, you know, you can give, you know, that that's the frustrating part for me. And I just have to get over it because I look at myself as a connector. You, you know, try to put people with other people I've met because a real estate agent from Indianapolis that sold our last three homes up there. And I've been working with him for the last several months and, and, you know, young guy about 40 he's got young kids, he's working his off selling these single family homes. And I just told him over the last few months, I said, Kevin, you're working too hard. You got to figure something out, your kids are growing up and you're not going to have time to spend with them. You're working all these Sundays and showing houses and doing all this great guy and very helpful. But you know, finally he, he, he knew that he had an opportunity to do something in the multifamily world,
had a connection. I knew that person, I, I said, yeah, they're great. You should go do it, go to their mastermind. Kind of like your receipt decided multi-families what do you want to do? Well now he's made offers on five different apartment complexes and he's got one in her contract. He's taken action on it. On the flip side though, I've got somebody else and I'm not going to even mention a first name because that might prompt somebody know who I'm talking about, but I tried to do the same thing with them. And it's just like you, you know, but you can only do so much. And once you make those connections, when you see somebody, the light bulb goes off and they're taking action, like Kevin is, it really makes you feel good if they take action and do it. So, yeah.

Scott (29:45):

Well, they, they have to want it. At the end of the day you can provide tools and resources and, and let them know that you're available. But at the end of the day, they have to want it. And that's never more evident when we do mission trips in Uganda. And we go over there with the goal of creating these selfsustaining communities, where in Uganda, they can grow anything. They just need to be smarter and better about being businessmen and women and learning the right ways of doing it and doing it as a community. But you know, when we hold these conferences and training sessions with them, they leave and a hundred percent of them come back the next day or a week later and say, okay, we did it. What's  next. And in the training sessions and seminars that I have, 10% go out and do it, and then come back and say, what's the next step? And what do I do? But you know what, there's a big difference between
living here in the United States and in Uganda, where you wake up every morning and your cheek is on a dirt floor, you're a little more motivated and the want is a little bit greater. And the, to does have to do with some necessities, not just having one more or a bigger this, or a bigger that. So at the end of the day, it's about whether they want it and, and about grit, period.

Ross (30:58):
Yeah. You know, you raise a great point. I mean, when you, when you're in a country where you don't even have your basic needs being met, and when you get up every day and find food or shelter for your family, it's a little hard to focus on, geez, what am I going to do for real estate investing? You know, you've got to meet Maslow's hierarchy of needs. First, you've got to have shelter and you've got to have food. And then for us in this country, well, we've already got those met for the vast majority of us. And so, it's just taking action, meeting people, getting involved in groups like yours and getting it done.

Scott (31:36):
Well, Roswell, we do live in the land of opportunity. And so as you look out on the landscape, let's say in a one-year plan, 2021, what have you given thought to and direction, and how are you going to be opportunistic as you see it in the gifts that the market may bring to you in 2021?

Ross (31:55):
Okay. all right. So there's a lot of uncertainty about what new next year is going to bring. And again, I know these are supposed to be evergreen, but at a time we're in right now we have a Senate runoff coming up that could determine some things in Washington and far as you know, what happens with the tax code. But I don't think that really affects things as much as what you're looking at in your local market. Now, I will say one thing, I think it was Warren Buffett's investment partner, Charlie Munger that said show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome. And so if we do see changes in the tax code in DC will show me what the incentives are because the tax code is just a way of telling us what Washington wants us to do to make money. It's not, I think people think the tax code is to figure out how to get as much money from you as possible. And it certainly seems that way when it's time to write
the check, but really the tax code is the government's way of saying here's what we think you should do to make more money. And if you look at it that way, then just follow the tax code and say, if it does change significantly, we've look, we've had some pretty good years for the tax code for real estate investors. I hope it remains that way, but there'd probably be some tweaks, but it, regardless of what they do out in Washington, my feeling is 2021 is going to have a lot of opportunities. I'm sitting on more cash than I have for a long time, because I think there's going to be opportunities out there. And I don't like the idea of sitting on cash, because if it diminishes in value every week that I'm sitting on it, like I related to CDs earlier, they're not worth anything, but, but I just really do see on the horizon, we're going to have a lot of great opportunities. I'm ready to strike on those. So I think 2021 is going to be a great year, frankly, 2020 has been a great year for me. And I know that's hard to say because there's a
lot of people that have suffered in 2020 and hopefully the entire country can come back and do great in 2021. So I see opportunities. I think you just have to get that information from people that are on the ground, get involved in groups like yours or other masterminds, find the people that you trust and know when to take action and those opportunities are going to be there.

Scott (34:11):
And that's the, that's the same approach that we're taking as well. And you know, just to, to, to
summarize a few things that you've touched on Ross, and that is you know, tell me, tell me the rules, don't get caught up in the, in the politics. And my gosh, don't get mired down in it every day. You know, we've been on a media fast for a number of years now and just, you know, tell me the ground rules as Charlie Munger says, give me the tax code. Just let me know how I'm supposed to play the game or the rules in which to play the game. It, you know, in a new environment, in a new administration. And then we'll put our heads down and, and figure out the best way to approach it and attack it. This is my, this will be my third call at recession that we're eventually going to head into real estate cycle. I've been investing for gosh, almost 30 years now. And so I've made money when both parties have been in power. And so just give us the rule book and we'll, we'll play by it and we know how to make money no matter what happens. So, no don't get mired downer, and now's not the time because there will be
some bad news coming out with regards to real estate. I think, I think we're already seeing some of that. But it doesn't mean that there aren't, that that doesn't create opportunities. And you know, what, when enough people hear that it's too, not as easy to make money in real estate, as it used to be, then they'll take off. And there's fewer players, which means more opportunities for the rest of us that understand, you know, we just need to dig, dig deeper and uncover, you know, look under the rocks to uncover the opportunities. So we are also excited about 2021 and really have been preparing for it regardless of the outcome of the election as well.

Ross (35:35):
Right. Yep. I agree. Alright.

Scott (35:38):
Ross if you would tell us how about I'll, I'll give you a choice in our, in our last speed round here, and that is either a good book that you're reading or some words of wisdom that you've lived by and heard maybe from a while ago or, or both how's that?

Ross (35:53):
Well, I'm a big podcaster. And so there's several of those. I hate to choose one or the other, if I had to choose one… of course, the self storage, yours. Of course. And I do like Victor Monash. I do like his little short five minute daily ones that he does. But I enjoy someone personal growth. One, one that I have enjoyed listening to lately is Ed Mylett. He's got a great podcast. I enjoy listening to Ed. It's not real estate investing, but personal growth-type things. And he's always got some great guests on the last books that I've read have been by Kevin Elko, who's a motivational speaker. And the last one I read with him is “Not seeing is believing, is believing, is seeing”, if you think of, if you believe it, then you'll see it in front of your eyes. And so that was very good book. I like that. So yeah, I, I, I rarely am driving in the car or spending any time on the treadmill or the elliptical where I'm not multitasking and probably risking falling off and breaking an arm or leg where I'm not reading a book or listening to something on my
headset. So try to try to multitask and get some information while I'm exercising too.

Scott (37:13):
Yep. Well, I can personally attest to that as well. And as a, I think you and I have had calls and I've witnessed you on the treadmill you know, doing all of the above. But light life is a life it's school, all, all, you know, 24/7, 365, you know, we, we should be learning. And one of these days I've been told by many folks that I should you know, sit down and read a fiction book. And I think I've got a couple in mind. And so maybe in the next 10, 20 years, I'll pick one of those up, but for now there are just so many  things out there to learn and to become better at, to once again, be better at our craft and to be able to help others. So appreciate that so much Ross, and appreciate your time. What is if somebody wants to learn a little bit more about you and what you've got going on and what you're doing lately, what is the best way to reach out to you?

Ross (37:59):
Oh yeah, yeah. Our, our website is a smartassetopportunities.com and as you know, Scott Smart Asset includes smart ass in it. So, I'm, I'm a little bit of a smart aleck got a sense of humor, but that's good. I think it keeps things light. So smartassetopportunities.com, or they can go to our Facebook site at Smart Asset Opportunities, or you know, I, I I'll look if somebody has gone through this entire podcast, YouTube, I'll give him my cell phone too, (417) 664-0880. I mean, if they're brave enough to listen to me this entire time, I know you're great to listen to, but not me, but I'll give them my cell phone number because if they really want to talk, I'm happy to talk. I may not be able to get back to you the same day,
but usually within 24 hours, I can give you a call back.

Scott (38:49):
Alright, Ross, we appreciate that. And be careful what you wish for. You just might get called up quite a bit. And because there's always a lot to share from a life well lived, and I'm an investor who is on the right path and with me giving her so appreciate you, appreciate your time and looking forward to getting together with you again very soon, which I may be in a, in, in next a few weeks or so. So with that Ross appreciate your time and we will catch you very soon. Take care now.

Ross (39:14):
Thanks Scott. Thank you.

[END]

[OUTRO]

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