Cody Barton Shares How He Went From Early Success to Struggling Realtor to Owning Dozens of Rentals

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. So we've got Cody Barton, another player in the Phoenix market. Another one. Another one.

And we're gonna talk about how you went from 6 figures doing multilevel marketing to kinda getting lost, I think, a little bit Yeah. To now owning dozens of rental properties and having a wholesaling and fix and and fix and flipping operation. So, if this is your first time tuning in, I'm Steve Trang, founder of the Offer Fast Homes app, the only MLS for off market wholesale properties, and I help entrepreneurs create businesses that support their family, lifestyle, and goals through mentorship. I'm on a mission to create 100 millionaires. In fact, we've got our workshop coming up in three weeks.

If you guys wanna check that out, go to disruptors.com/workshop. If you're excited for today's show, please give me a wave. Give me a thumbs up. And as a friendly reminder, I don't charge a dime for the show. I don't make any money doing this.

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And, Cody and I were just talking. I actually didn't get settlement statements from Cody, and it's the first time in a long time.

Cody Barton: Why is that?

Steve: Because he uses my title company. So I actually can just go in there and look at it if I really need to. But since we're already doing business together, I need to get the settlement statements. So this is a live show. Please ask your questions for Cody to answer.

He's an open book. So first question is real simple. Is what got you into real estate?

Cody: Man. Well, I mean, it all kinda goes back to, when I was a little bit younger, when I was a teenager, I always wanted to I was like the black sheep

Steve: in school.

Cody: I always wanted to make a lot of money and, like, school kinda pushes you down that path of, like, you need to get a job and work really hard, you know. It's like the the forty forty forty plan. Get a job, work for forty hours a week for forty years of your life, and hopefully retire off 40% of that income that wasn't already enough in the first place. And I'm like, I don't like that plan. So I'm, like, looking at different things to different ways to make money, really.

And so I I got into initially network marketing because I'm like, okay. I can make money here. Did that for a few years, built a business all over the world, and that was a ton of fun, learned a lot. It really grew me up, you know, made me grow up fairly quickly.

Steve: Well, I think we should talk about that because that's how you made some of your connections as well. Yes. That's right. Wanna talk about what what MLM that was?

Cody: Yeah. The company was Veema.

Steve: Okay.

Cody: And, really, I I got into that. My sister was in the company. She introduced me to it. I got started, and I just started taking massive action, which, I didn't really know what I was doing, but I just took a lot of action, and I was just super persistent. I was consistent and persistent.

So I was just continuously taking action, and within, you know, a year and a half, built up a team of over 2,000 people in that company. Really? Yeah. Wow. It was crazy.

Steve: Well and the reason why I wanna, like, talk about this is because there have been a few guests on the show already.

Cody: Yeah. That I knew from there.

Steve: Right. Because I mean, there was, there was Nick and Octavius Yep. And there was Brandon. Yep. Right?

So it's crazy, like, you know, I still remember going back a long time ago, back when I was still in engineering. Yeah. I was reading, Multiple Streams of Income Uh-huh. By Robert Allen. Mhmm.

And he talks about the value of just going getting into multilevel marketing, not because it makes you rich.

Cody: Yes. No. Most people don't make any money.

Steve: So well,

Cody: I mean, no. Most people don't make any money in real estate either. But Right.

Steve: You know? But it teaches us the valuable skills you need Yep. To be a business owner. Exactly.

Cody: I mean, the things that you learn I mean, networking, number one. Like, number one is your net worth is going to be, you know, what your network is is filled with. So within that business, I was getting surrounded by people that were, you know, making $6.07 figures, 8 even 8 figures a year. Yeah. And so those people were directly mentoring me, telling me the books to read, telling me the things to do, telling me the changes to become a better person.

Steve: Mhmm. A lot

Cody: of mindset stuff. Exactly. Which transfers over to anything that you're really doing.

Steve: Right. So were you the big closer that they flew in?

Cody: I was the I was the fly in. I was the trainer. Okay. I so, basically, I didn't understand the the visionary integrator relationship, but my business grew really well because I recruited visionaries. And the visionaries on my team, I didn't know it at the time, but they were the visionaries where they would bring people

Steve: How are you recruiting visionaries?

Cody: I would just show them the plan. I was just consistent, and I was persistent on showing the plan, showing the plan, showing the plan. And they were the ones that were able to then take it and be able to be, you know, that motivational speaker, the one that got everyone fired up. So, basically, what would happen is I'd go into a different market. We'd be doing our, you know, our regional trainings and things like that.

I would go in there and structure the whole event to make sure it was gonna accomplish what we needed to Mhmm. Have them go up and speak and do the rah rah, and everyone's excited, and then I would teach everyone actually what to do. That was that's how we did yeah. The systems. The systems to making it work.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. Very cool. But you were higher up in the pyramid, or at some point, there were a lot of people, at least, beneath you Yeah. In the pyramid.

Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. And then so that was working really well.

Cody: Mhmm. But then But then what happens is well, it was sort of interesting because it was a lot of young people that made a lot of money in that company. I mean, a lot of money at you know, when you're 18, a $100 plus a year, like, you're rich,

Steve: you know. So a lot of money at 18.

Cody: Yeah. So and I was just like, alright. You know, so basically, the the biggest thing that happened is what I think happened is there were so many people in the company that started making a lot of money, and the personal development hadn't really caught up with that. So, you know, making a lot of very bad financial decisions, they weren't, you know, really in in a leadership position to take the business from where it was to continue to grow it. So slowly, it started to taper off, and it actually started to, you know, dwindle down.

Like, I remember going from, you know, a little over 2,000 people in the team to just seeing it kind of slowly but surely started, you know, declining. And that's when I started realizing, I'm like, I don't really wanna do this. I don't really wanna do this anymore. It's just, you know, it's a different kinda different kinda beast.

Steve: But did you leave while the money was good, or you started leaving when it's like the writing was on the wall?

Cody: The writing was on the wall, and I I realized that. So what did I do? I'm like, what what else can I do to go make money? My my mom had a real estate license, so I'm like, I'm gonna go get my real estate license.

Steve: Right.

Cody: So I didn't know what wholesaling was. I wish I did. No. That's I would've just done that first. So when was this?

So this was back, I mean, shoot, 2015.

Steve: So this is a while You say a while ago.

Cody: A while ago for me. Like, I was 21. Not that long ago. Yeah. Right?

Not that long ago.

Steve: And I wanted to and I I bring that up because a lot of people think, like, it takes forever. You know? Mhmm. And and, really, like, five years, think, to build a business to what you have, five years is a really short period of time. Yeah.

Right? So anyway, so you get you you go get your real estate license. Yep. How was that experience?

Cody: It sucked. I hated it. I hated school. So I I knew I had to go through it, so I I crammed, I crammed, I crammed, got my license after failing three times and finally passing. Got the license, and then I just, you know, I started just taking a lot of action.

I was doing open houses every weekend. I was door knocking. I was cold calling. And I didn't have a you know, my database, I'm 21. I didn't have a bunch of people that are, you know, in secure jobs already to go sell houses, so I had to go find new clients.

So that's basically what I did. And so first year was a little rocky. Within the second year, I started getting momentum. You know, I started you know, I got an assistant, got a couple agents working working under me, and, did that for did that, next year.

Steve: Did one

Cody: more year of that. So I think it was, like, three full years as an agent.

Steve: And how was that?

Cody: Hated it.

Steve: How was it financially, though?

Cody: Oh, it wasn't bad. Like, I was making so the first year, I think I made, like, $60, and then the next two years, I was making, you know, mid 1 hundreds, like, $1.50. So it was okay. Like, I was used to I was already kind of used to making that

Steve: Mhmm. In

Cody: network marketing without, you know, all of the expenses. So that's grossing that, doesn't mean you're netting that.

Steve: Right.

Cody: So, you know, the the biggest thing that I took from being an agent was I didn't wanna do it anymore because I didn't like dealing with clients. Mhmm. And just recognizing that about my personality, that's why I'm working. I work well as an integrator, is I don't dealing with the people. I like my people.

I like our team. You know, I like dealing with the team. But as far as dealing with clients, I was, like, not really what I wanna do.

Steve: So wholesaling. Yeah. How did you come across it? How did you come upon it?

Cody: Well, really, it's funny because some of the guys at Kegley. Right? Josiah, Hunter, and then I hadn't met Jamille yet, but I was actually in a small, bible study with Josiah and Hunter. Really? Yeah.

Before

Steve: I had no idea.

Cody: This is when they were first starting Kegley

Steve: a few years ago.

Cody: And so they were starting that, and I was, you know, understanding wholesaling a little bit more. And, you know, just kind of seeing what they were starting and doing, I was like, man, like, I really gotta look at doing wholesale and fix and flips and, you know, that side of the business. And so, basically, watched, you know, kinda what they were doing, and it got me excited. And I had met a couple other investors around town. And so I started, you know, doing some door knocking on pre foreclosures and got my first literally, this is the thing is I didn't know anything about fix and flips.

I didn't understand really how wholesale exactly worked. But I went and just door knocked pre foreclosures and got someone to believe believe that I could help them, and brought an investor that I knew that would flip the house. And we partnered on the deal, and that was the first flip that I ever did. I didn't know what I was doing. I just took action.

This is shoot. '20 I mean, the years kinda merged together, honestly. Now, like, 2015, 2016

Steve: Okay. So you discovered

Cody: 2017? I don't even know.

Steve: Well, I guess my question is, when the transition from traditional real estate

Cody: Yeah.

Steve: To whole sale.

Cody: Yeah. So that was probably, like, 2017 then or 2018. Yeah. Yeah. 2018 is when I started really transitioning into just wholesale.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So then and I wanna hit this point here because, like, you invested in yourself.

Cody: Yes.

Steve: Right? I mean, you you took you went to events. You were learning stuff. Yes. But you were still struggling.

Cody: On the wholesale side.

Steve: On the wholesale side.

Cody: Yeah. You Definitely.

Steve: Because I think it's important. Right? A lot of people watch this show, and they see the success. Mhmm. And some people might think, oh, it's really easy.

Yeah. Like, let me just go ahead and just go get a couple systems, buy a couple lists, gift trace it, text it, and then I'm making 6 figures a year.

Cody: Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't really work like that. So let's talk about great.

Steve: So I think it's really important to talk about the journey because even though you have massive success today, there was a time where you were not feeling so successful. Yes. Let's let's talk about that time.

Cody: Yeah. Definitely. So well, really, what I decided is there was a day, and it was in 2018 when I just because I was kind of I was still doing some traditional deals and kinda just holding on to that. Mhmm. And I was, you know, trying to work into doing wholesale deals.

So I'd do, like, one every other month. It just wasn't really wasn't really going. And so I just kinda had to burn the bridges with I'm just, like, I am done doing traditional real estate. I am only gonna do wholesale. Right.

And I'm gonna do it the ways that everyone says you can. I'm gonna drive for dollars. I'm gonna start doing that. So what I did was I made my plan. I remember, I would wake up literally, this is my plan Monday through Sunday.

I would wake up, I'd map out where I was gonna drive for dollars for the day. This is before the freaking deal machine app and all the, you know, the great tools that you could use. So I was

Steve: Way more tools today than there were. Yeah.

Cody: There's so many more tools. And people, like, oh, I can't figure it out. I'm, like, really? Like, you have so many resources to do this. I mean, this show show is helpful in itself.

So I mapped it out. I would map out, okay, where am I gonna drive? A lot of these areas were in South Phoenix because I just knew there was areas over there that, you know, visually could be on my driving for dollars list. So I would map it out. I would drive from about 10AM to about 02:30, 03:00.

I would, you know, add addresses to my list. I would go home, and I was handwriting those. I was handwriting in a yellow notebook all all of those addresses. I would take those home. I would individually skip trace all of those addresses.

I would cold call them one by one. Yeah. And that was what I did to start. And I got my first deal in the first month, and I just tried to do it all by myself to just figure it out. You know, the end buyer that I found just by cold calling LLCs took advantage of me, you know, kinda pushed me down on my price.

I didn't really know. It was a lot that I actually got under contract. The lady that I got under contract, I'm like, I don't even know if this is a good enough deal, I got it. I made, like, $3 on that deal. And I was like, alright.

Well, proof of concept that it works. You could, you know, drive for dollars and do it. And that was in a month. Yeah. So then I took that $3,000.

I reinvested all of it. I didn't take any of it. I had money saved from, you know, being a realtor. So I just took that $3. I bought a CRM from Carlos and Sal at that time, because I'm like, I know I need a CRM to get my stuff organized.

Brandon Schwamm, which is a guest on the show, he's like, dude, you gotta do texting. So I'm like, got it. Perfect. So then I took the the rest of the money, got a small list, started texting, got a package of six houses that, you know, at that time, you know, the dispo source was Jaden Pudney over at Carlos and Sal's company. They helped me get that deal done, made $18, took that $18, reinvested it, reinvested it.

Long story short, you know, probably four more months went by. I was getting one or two contracts a month, but for the amount of leads I was generating, I should be getting a lot more. And they were and they were always smaller. Because on the acquisition side where it's not my strong suit, I always wanna give the seller more, and I always wanna sell it for less. Because I'm like, oh, man.

I'm selling it to my friend. Like, I want them to make money Mhmm. Acquiring it from the seller. Oh, I feel bad for the seller situation. So on a deal I should have made $15.20 grand on, I'm making 5 because I feel bad for everyone and wanna make sure everyone's happy.

Steve: Right. It's that that, that glue that Yeah. Part of it, like, is part of being an introverted personality. Yes.

Cody: Yeah. Right?

Steve: You just wanna make everyone happy. You want cohesiveness Yes. And so on. Exactly. So then is this around the same time that you connected with PACE?

Cody: Yes. Yeah.

Steve: Okay. And I think this is an important story. Right? Because, you know, I've said from the beginning, for episode one, we wanna create a 100 millionaires. Yeah.

Right? And so, and you were you were already having success.

Cody: Mhmm. I was closing deals. I was making money, but I would I was not even, like, touching the potential of what I could be doing, and I knew that. I knew I needed to find something. And I had tried finding other people that love to do the sales side, and I just wasn't really finding it.

So I'm like, well, I'll just do it myself. I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out. So that that's just where I was at. And so what ended up happening, I remember I was sitting at my desk upstairs in my office.

I was texting. I had I always on my dual monitors, I always would listen to your show. So I was listening to to you interviewing Pace.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: And on that show, he was, you know, it's like, he's closing 10 to 11 deals on his own every month. And I'm like, what is he doing? I'm like, this

Steve: and then he's like the master of sales, and then he mentioned he lived in Mesa.

Cody: And I'm like, mentioned he lived in Mesa. And I'm like, I gotta talk to this guy.

Steve: Right.

Cody: So I literally I stopped what I was doing. He gave out his number on the show Mhmm. Which he sometimes regrets now.

Steve: He's crazy. I I've told him every time, and he still does every once in a while. I think he's a crazy person.

Cody: Yeah. So I I remember I texted him. I'm like, hey, PACE. I just saw you on Steve Trang's show. Loved it.

I just wanted to reach out to you. I've actually been generating a lot of leads. I don't think I'm, you know, doing the best job at closing all of these opportunities. Can I just bring these leads to you and you just close them? I don't need to make any money on them.

I just wanna learn. I wanna get better. You're obviously closing a lot of deals. I just wanna get better. I'll just bring you these leads.

Just show me your process when you're closing those.

Steve: Yeah.

Cody: So the reason I did that is I understood from, like, when I was in network marketing, you have to leave with value. Like, there's too many people that are takers that are just trying to,

Steve: you know, to And a lot of people say it. Yes. But so let's expand on that because this is important.

Cody: Yes.

Steve: I think it's it's critically important. It sounds kinda cliche now.

Cody: Yes.

Steve: So when you say lead with value, what did that what did that mean?

Cody: Leading with value. I understand, like so where I was sitting, I'm like, what do I have to offer PACE at that time? I have leads. What can those leads do for PACE? Those that could bring more money to take care of his family.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: What is that gonna do for me? I get to watch him go through the sales process, close those leads, and actually get better. Yeah. So if I get better, that's gonna make me more money. Right.

So that's what I that's what, you know, that's what you have to do. And I think so many times, like, people reach out to me, people reach out to PACE, people reach out to you. Mhmm. And they just they're, like, trying to take, hey, like, people you know, PACE will tell people, people, like, yeah, like, Cody could help answer that. And people will text me, and they'll be, like, hey, you need to give me this.

And I'm, like, excuse me? I don't even respond. So, you know, if you're watching the show and you've texted me demanding something, I will never respond. So but that's the thing is, like, there's too many people that they they aren't leading with any value.

Steve: Right.

Cody: And and so that's what I understood with that was I wanna bring him lead opportunities so he can make money, support his family even better.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: And that's how I'm gonna learn and become better. Like, you have to you know, people at the beginning, they're so caught up in, like, making so much money. They see, you know, Lambos, and they see, like, all the gurus that are making tons of money. And it's, like, yeah, that's that's gonna be part of the process if you are willing to go through the process. But there is a process.

You have to you have to learn the business. And some of the best ways to learn the business is finding people doing well, bringing the value that you can actually bring to that individual, and not expecting something in return.

Steve: Right.

Cody: That's the biggest thing.

Steve: So I think there's a couple of really important points here. Right? So you're listening to the show. So thank you initially for listening listening to the show. I appreciate that.

Cody: The best honestly, best, and I'm not obviously, I'm on the show, but I think this is the best podcast that you can be like, people that are listening to this, like, this is what helped me on the days where I was frustrated, cold calling, getting bad numbers. I was using, like, skipping on Intellius, and I'm just like, oh my god. Like, I gotta figure this out. Yeah. And this show just, you know, continues to give encouragement.

So Yeah. I love what you're doing with the show. It's been it's been amazing.

Steve: Well, I appreciate that. But you not only that, you took Pace's info, reached out to him, connected with

Cody: him Yes.

Steve: And continue to take action. I think that's one of the themes that a lot of people miss Mhmm. Is, and and I'm not saying anyone's, not made this mistake. Like, we've all had a little bit of getting stuck with paralysis analysis. And Lauren last week was talking about, like Yeah.

One of the things that she does as a coach is just helping people get out of analysis paralysis. Yeah. But you you're a pretty analytical person Yes. But you're still taking action. And he's like, oh, that guy has that guy that can't believe you gave me out his phone number.

But since he did, let's jump on it. Yeah. And, you know, I run with Pace. Yeah. Right?

So we talk fairly regularly. Yeah. A lot of people called him. Yeah. Not a lot of people said, hey.

I have leads for you to close. Yeah. I don't think he's told me anyone else that said, I have leads for you to close. Let's work together. Yeah.

Right? So there's massive, you know, respect for that.

Cody: Yeah. Because peep the the thing people say, it'll be you know, the first thing like, people be like, yeah. I have this lead. How much am I gonna make

Steve: Yeah.

Cody: If you close this deal? What am I gonna make on the deal? It's like, that's what people come at you with, and they're just like, dude, I'm trying to help you.

Steve: Sorry, guys.

Cody: So, you know, that that's the thing is, you know, leading with that value. And so, that you know, what happened there is I remember he texted me back. He's like, hey. I'm going to Dallas. I can't meet.

You know, reach out to me next week.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: And so I'm like, well, hopefully, that's not him trying to brush me off because I will reach out again next week. Yeah. So as soon I knew the day he was getting back, reached out, like, hey. Let's get together. Where are you at?

Anytime of the day. I don't care. I'll meet up with you. And we went to, we went to dinner, talked. Couple days went by.

We met at a McDonald's because he got his golf tournament got canceled. So he hit me up, and he was like, hey. Do you have any leads that you're working on? I was like, yeah. Where are you at?

And he's like, I'm driving over here. He's like, meet me at this McDonald's. So we met at the So random. Yeah. So we meet at this McDonald's, and I just put together I have my five hottest leads that I was working on that I was floundering with closing.

Right? And within a week, we got one of those, no. It was literally within, like, four days. We got one of those contracted. We made $20 on it.

And he's like, yeah. Like, you know, we split it $50.50. I'm like, dude, I don't care, but, you know, thank you. Great. He's like, just generate more leads.

And within, like, another week, we got three more contracts.

Steve: And I'm like, wow.

Cody: This is amazing.

Steve: This works.

Cody: Yeah. Like, this works. And so, you know, a couple months of doing that, and I was like all I did was I just started taking that money, and I'm, like, pumping more leads. I'm like, if I could just keep getting more leads and just, you know, teeing them up, setting up appointments for pace to go and close those leads, this works out great. Great.

Right. So that's what we did for a couple months. And after a couple months of, like, dating, I remember we're sitting in his living room, and he's like I think this is, like, it was, like, in April or March. And he's like, if we don't hate each other in, like, two months, like, why don't we just partner? So

Steve: There you go.

Cody: And I was like, oh, yeah. Let's do it.

Steve: Right. And so since then, you guys have partnered up Yeah. Where you got American Home Offers. Yep. You've got, Sub two, Creative Financing.

Mhmm. What does your company look like today? Because it's got so many moving parts. Yeah.

Cody: There's a lot now. There's a lot

Steve: a lot of things going on.

Cody: So, like, what are

Steve: the companies you guys have together? Yeah. And we'll talk about each one of those.

Cody: Yeah. So American holes, American Home Offers is our wholesaling company. And so, basically, within that, we have two acquisition guys, three acquisition guys, Tino, Nick, amazing guy. Shout out to you guys. Love you guys.

And then we have Daniel. He's a newer, junior acquisition, which he just got his first contract yesterday. So proud of him.

Steve: Awesome.

Cody: And then we have Anna, which she's kind of a Swiss army knife. Like, she works within our American Home Offers business, you know, doing, you know, some podio management and kinda some lead management as well. But then she also manages our construction on our flips for our other business.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: And then we have Rochelle. She's our disposition, agent for that business as well. And then I'm, you know, running the marketing for it. And I'm actually in the process. We've built a really strong virtual team, and I'm basically, I'm almost at the point where one of my VAs is talented enough where he's able to run all of our marketing

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: Manage all of our VAs, manage the amount of leads that we're getting on a daily basis. Wow. And base basically, we're running the marketing department. So we're How much

Steve: is that VA getting paid?

Cody: He's getting $6 an hour. Wow.

Steve: That's incredible value.

Cody: Yeah. It's incredible value. And but the thing is, you know, I care I care a lot about him. I care about his family. You know, at Christmas, it's like, you know, we're sending him, you know, Christmas gifts for his kids.

Like, we're he's getting bonuses whenever deals are closing. You know, he's getting bonuses on on those deals as well. And now since he's moved into this new role where I put him in management, he's getting an override on all of the cold callers, any of the texters on our team. So he is just super excited. He's in Colombia.

And and where he's in a city where most people, how they're making money in his city is they're, like, selling clothes and stuff on, you know, on on the street corner. Yeah. So he there's not a ton of opportunity, and so he's able to have a really big opportunity, and he's a hard worker. And so, you know, I really am happy about, you know, what we've been able to build with our VA team. So, so that's what our American Home Offers business looks like today.

Steve: So you have the wholesaling operation. Yes. You have the flipping operation. Yep. And then you got this other entity that just holds a lot of properties.

Cody: Yeah. Yeah. So so yeah. So we're, you know, actively still buying rentals, via subject to, and then we're we're actually gonna be doing more of the BRRRR model, you know, inspired by, like, Zach Keeps. You know, he's, you know, crushed it with that, obviously.

Steve: He's doing very, very well. We all we all wanna be Zach.

Cody: Yeah. Exactly. So so we're integrating, doing a little bit more of that in our model as well so we can, you know, be in really good equity positions on some of those properties as well. Yeah. So we have that.

We have, you know, investment in, you know, a virtual assistant company that, one of our friends, Matt, owns. Mhmm. And so, you know, we've been helping with building that out as well. And that's been, you know, a ton of fun to work on. And, you know, then we also are partnered with Annie, Jesse, and Evo on the GoNock app.

I mean, there's a lot of things, like, we that we're working on.

Steve: So So right now, we're your wholesaling operation. Yeah. On average, how many deals a month are you guys wholesale? So on

Cody: average, direct to seller Yeah.

Steve: About eight About eight.

Cody: On average. Yeah. Okay.

Steve: And your average fee on those?

Cody: 15,000.

Steve: 15,000. Mhmm.

Cody: It actually just started going up. We were actually a little bit closer to, like, 10 to 12 a few months back.

Steve: I was gonna say, we're at 13.

Cody: Have you? Okay. Because we started noticing we've been going up a little bit more. More. But what we've also started doing is we've been pounding on our sales training.

Like, PACE has made it a really big point on hammering the team on sales training

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: Where that wasn't happening as much. Like, we have John Martinez sales training that they're going through on a weekly basis, and they have modules to complete. They have role play sessions to do. But PACE has been doing a lot more in person training with them Yeah. Recording calls.

And we just dialed in that process

Steve: Right.

Cody: A lot more on, you know, helping our sales guys get better.

Steve: Yeah.

Cody: You know, personal development, doing, you know, individual meetings on a weekly basis with with the sales guys. Those were the things we weren't doing within the last couple months. And then also, one of the things that, that we just started using was smartphone. I don't know if you've

Steve: heard of that. Yes. So we

Cody: started using smartphone in our Podio and it's been great. You know, our guys can dial through, a lot more.

Steve: Mhmm. And so

Cody: they're just they're being a lot more effective too. Obviously, it doesn't change the spread, but as far as dials that they're able to make on their yeah. Efficiency. So Yeah.

Steve: So then let's go to the flips. Mhmm. How many you guys closing on the flips per month?

Cody: Closing on the flips, two. Say two

Steve: on a

Cody: monthly basis. We're looking at ramping that up a little bit to go to get to three to four of those a month. Right. There's part of there's a conservative side of me paces on, like, let's do all the flips. And then I'm, you know, reeling that back.

I'm like, well, election's coming up. There's uncertainty a little bit in the market right now. The market is hot here, which is, you know, just, you know, houses are selling really quickly.

Steve: It's showing no signs of slowing down. Yeah. But it could.

Cody: But it could. It could. So so that's, that's kinda where where I'm at with that is, you know, I'm I'm happy if we're taking down two to three new flips a month Mhmm. And if we're able to make, you know, 20 to 30,000 net on those, I'm ecstatic. Right.

But what we've been noticing, I don't know if you've noticed this too, is on our we've been getting beat up on our binsers lately. The last couple months, like, our buyers have been beating us up on binsers.

Steve: We haven't been getting beat up on binsers. We have been I mean, let me take a step back. We are we are making repairs. Yeah. But these are like, yeah.

That's those repairs we should buy. I mean, we just had one right now that we're closing, in six days Uh-huh. Where we got, like, on the bins there or not in bins there. On the inspection reports, like, hey. This roof was shot.

Yeah. Here are two bins for the roof. It's 18 k from two different companies. How much

Cody: is the house?

Steve: It's a pretty big house. I'm looking at it. It's like, oh, that sucks. We're gonna have to go back on the market. And they submitted the Benzr, and it was like, you know, tweak the AC, fix the pool motor.

And I was, like, oh, wait a minute. For the you just sent me the the report that says the roof is shot, and then the Binsir is, like, $2,500 worth of repairs. So I asked Kristen to, like, verify.

Cody: Mhmm. Make sure that that's actually what they're saying they want.

Steve: Because if that is, we're gonna tell them we're gonna think about it, but it's a hell yes. Yeah.

Cody: Right? I mean, that that's great. I mean, our last couple of Benzer's, we've been I mean, it's stuff that should be fixed. It's we've just been having bad luck with some of our you know, like, AC goes out mid escrow. I mean, you know, stuff like that has, you know, happened on a couple of the ones lately.

And

Steve: Well, that's the fun part of flipping. Right?

Cody: Yeah. Yeah. So we, you know, we basically just account for a $5,000 benzer on every deal. We don't even we're just, like, if they're we're just accounting on it.

Steve: I think that's a pretty safe spot. So, Andrew, it's a great question. It is, what is a binzer? So, we're in Arizona, so we call it the buyer inspection notice seller response. So binzer.

Yep. Okay. So then I think we got a lot of sub two people here. Yeah. I see a lot of peace signs.

I'm sorry. Sub two signs, in here. So let's talk about your your your sub two business. How many are you guys picking up right now, direct to seller, as far as creative financing deals?

Cody: So on the creative financing deals side, we were going from we were acquiring a lot. Like, we were picking up three to five a month Mhmm. Towards the end of last year and at the beginning of this year.

Steve: You expected, like, 10 in October or something like that.

Cody: Yeah. No. It was too much. You know, my, you know, integrator side. Too much.

Yeah. So now what we've done is we've been working on over the last couple months, we've been stabilizing those. And now pretty much every single one besides we have one property that isn't stabilized yet. And so now we're starting to acquire again. So we stopped acquiring for a couple months.

Steve: Let's explain what stabilized means.

Cody: Yeah. So stabilized meaning they need to still be rent you know, light renovation typically on those properties. So, you know, getting them rent ready and then getting a lease option tenant in those properties. So, basically, stabilized where we the renovation is done. We have a tenant or an owner finance, you know, buyer in that property making the payment where we're not basically bleeding out money.

That's what stabilized means.

Steve: Gotcha. What is your your guys' typical turn time?

Cody: So on, rental or

Steve: From when you guys close on a creative finance deal till stabilized.

Cody: Stabilized? I would say about forty five days. Forty five days. Forty five to sixty days.

Steve: So you guys are paying whatever that mortgage you guys assume?

Cody: It's between mortgages.

Steve: Okay. And what does that run on average?

Cody: Anywhere from, like, 14. We don't usually do higher end stuff, so it's usually anywhere from 1,400 to 1,800.

Steve: And then on the light rehab, what

Cody: are you guys looking at? Anywhere from $2,500 to $7,500.

Steve: Okay. So all in less than 10 k Yeah. On a sub two on a creative deal. Mhmm. And now you've got cash flow.

Yep. Yep. Very cool. Awesome. What do you guys what do you guys have total as far as, like, between you and Pace?

Cody: So he has some deals that he's bought, like, outside of what me and him have, but we have about 24 doors together.

Steve: Awesome. Very cool. So I think one of the things that we talked about so the first piece was taking action. Mhmm. And I can never emphasize that enough.

Yeah. That really ultimately of of all determining factors, what makes someone successful, action Yeah. Is the number one Yep. Thing. Now the other thing is you when you and Pace partner up, this is before traction.

This is before rocket fuel. Mhmm. So

Cody: you guys were naturally doing it without No. Understanding why it was working. Right. And there's also, like, the thing that you have to take into account too is there is a lot of frustration too when, you know, in the newer partnership where we didn't understand the rocket fuel. We didn't understand the traction.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: We were working together. But there's sometimes there's the overlap where you're in the new partnership and you're trying to let go of some things that, you know, you're it's the other person's jobs, you know. So that's where I would be trying to control things that I shouldn't be trying to control and vice versa. So, you know, some of those things you just kinda have to, like, work through and learn through. Thankfully, if you don't already have through the book, it's like you have to get Rocket Fuel.

Yeah. Traction is, like a steroid ed out version, but Rocket Fuel is a great book to start with.

Steve: Right. And I think that's something that is really important for anyone that's got any kind of a partnership. I think you've gotta re rock the fuel. Yep. So let's talk about the integrator role.

Because did you see, it's been about two years, about a year and a half since you partnered up with PACE. Right? So you're working on your own. Mhmm. You got your own thing.

You're you're having success Mhmm. But not this kind of success.

Cody: Yeah. Not rocket not, you know, rocket ship success.

Steve: Yeah. Right. So you partner up with PACE Mhmm. And your your business goes crazy. And I'm not saying this is all PACE.

This is because of the partnership. Yep. Right? Because when, when PACE came on the show Mhmm. He was still with HomeVestors.

Yeah. Right? So, like, let's not forget, like, you guys are both in your different spots, but neither of you guys are where you guys today.

Cody: Yeah. Exactly.

Steve: Right? So talk about you know, walk someone through. If they're watching this show and they're more of an integrator type personality than a visionary Mhmm. What are some bits of wisdom that you can impart on them to help them with their journey?

Cody: Yeah. So so I would say, you know, if you're an integrator, I think you just have to, first of all, accept what you're good at and what you're not good at. And it's not that you aren't good at something, it's just maybe that that's just not your your your natural strength. Yeah. It's like, I think people are the most successful in their life when they're able to focus on what their naturally their natural strengths are, because they naturally enjoy it more.

You know, people that like basketball, they're probably at least decent enough where they can play and they have fun with it. You know, someone that really hates it, probably it's because they're not good at it. Yeah. So and that's that was kinda my thing with the sales side is I didn't I could do it, but I didn't really like it. So why not have someone that loves that be in that role?

And so on so just understanding that. And that's okay. And and understanding that it's okay, because I think a lot people are taught, you know, growing up that when you're in school, you have to be good at everything. You have to be good at math.

Steve: You have to be good at math. You have to be

Cody: good at science. You have to get your weaknesses under control.

Steve: Which is one of the worst advices for business. Exactly.

Cody: I mean, Gary v talks about it. It's like double down on your strengths.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: Get better at what you're already good at because you're gonna be able to provide more value. So as an integrator, understanding the things that you're good at, working on getting better at those things, and then understanding the things that you're not good at. And naturally, as an integrator, you're typically not gonna be as good at sales as a visionary is. So if you're a solo person working as an integrator, it probably makes sense either one is partner with somebody that is a visionary or hire salespeople. This is what your first hire probably.

So that you can, you know, get the marketing machine going and have your salespeople be able to, you know, do the sales side where your natural strength isn't. Yeah. So that's that's what I would look at as the the right path.

Steve: Yeah. And I think that's a really great point. Right? Like, you don't have to. Even if you're an integrator, you don't need a visionary necessarily.

Right? I think there are plenty of visionaries that actually been on the show.

Cody: Yeah. Yeah. There's a few.

Steve: Right? So you could just pick the vision you like the best. Yeah. Right? And as an integrator, you know if you're good at being integrator,

Cody: Yeah. It's like where the rubber hits the road and actually makes it happen.

Steve: Right. And then you could just hire the salespeople

Cody: Yes.

Steve: To go close the deals. Exactly. Yeah. So I think that's awesome. I think a lot of people need to, to be aware of that to open their eyes to it because I think it's kinda easy to say, like, man, because I'm not a salesperson, I can't make this work.

Or I

Cody: can't do this business because I can't do the sales side. It's it's really that's not the truth.

Steve: Right. So Leo Aguirre's question is, did you ever imagine being on this show Yes. When you're watching it?

Cody: A 100%. Awesome. 100%. I mean, that's, I mean, that's part of that's part of success and, like, visualization. That's something that I that I learned back in network marketing is when every event that we're at, we're constantly, like, envision yourself where you want to be.

Envision what that's gonna feel like, taste like, smell like, the whole entire thing. Oh, really? The whole deal. Like, I've met you know, Tony Robbins, the whole deal. So, you know, it's like envision visualizing how that is gonna look like and then making the decision that that's where you're going.

And then you just have to wait for time to catch up. Because once you fully make the decision, you've envisioned what it's going to look like, then it's just time has to pass, and you just need to take the action, and you're eventually gonna get there. It's just you don't know what it's gonna look like, when or how long it's gonna take, and the obstacles, but you know what the end result is going to be.

Steve: Yeah. I think that's awesome, the visualization. Right? Yes. So what was it look like?

Cody: Look like, smell like, taste like if you're eating there, you know, it's like the whole all of your senses. Like, the more you can get all of your senses, like, wrapped around, you know, where you're actually going to be, that that was a really big thing that we would get taken through a lot. And, you know, network marketing was, you know, visualizing, you know, what that's actually gonna look like. So then once you're there, there, it's like you already knew you were going to be there. Yeah.

It just time hadn't caught up with that.

Steve: So I think as a homework assignment for everyone who's watching the show is to do that exercise. Yeah. Right? Hit all five senses.

Cody: Mhmm.

Steve: And on top of that, the last thing I'll add is act as if you were that person.

Cody: Yes. Act as if. So so, an exercise that, well, Bob Proctor is I'd highly recommend Bob Proctor to anyone listening to the show for law of attraction, visualization, things like that. But an exercise that I got taken through to help, you know, problem solve and help become more of the person that, you know, I wanna become is, you know, looking at, say, like your top three to five, people that you look up to the most.

Steve: And whenever you're struggling or having an issue or

Cody: you feel stuck, you know, taking your struggling or having an issue or you feel stuck, you know, taking yourself in a path and, like, visualizing yourself that you're you're in a boardroom and you have, you know, say Grant Cardone, Tony Robbins, Bob Proctor, you know, those most Steve Trang, all those people in the room Yeah. That are like what you wanna be like. And so you can trick your mind and have a this it sounds crazy, but you can have a mental conversation and say, if you're sitting at that table, I'm having this problem in my business. If I would you know, if I'm asking Steve, how would Steve answer this question that I'm currently stuck on? How would Grant answer this question?

So you can get other perspectives from within by creating a different perspective.

Steve: Right. Yeah. You're creating a mastermind in your head Yes.

Cody: That actually works. Internal mastermind. Yes.

Steve: I think that's brilliant. Leo's got a follow-up question is what is your why? What is my why? My why has been,

Cody: you know, obviously, besides helping helping my family, helping take care of my family, and living, you know, a great life, one of the biggest things that I've wanted to do since I was in network marketing and I was so frustrated with, since I was a teenager was every you know, creating something where I can help, you know, teenagers and then college age kids, find a different path to success in life and just, you know, help basically build a platform where I'm able to give back in a big way to teenagers and college age kids and help I don't know what it looks like yet, but maybe it's building a website where it's, like, showing different, you know, professions that people can go into that isn't the get a job, work for forty years, you you know, retire. That they're doing that whole plan. Like, I I wanna be able to create a platform that allows me to show teenagers and college aged kids that there's other paths. It's not that their path the path that school brings you through is wrong. But if you feel like it's wrong, hey.

Here are some other things that you can do that might bring you more joy, satisfaction, purpose, and fulfillment in your life. That's what I wanna be able to, you know that's what that's, like, my passion project that I wanna do, you know, within the next few years.

Steve: That's awesome. That's something definitely I would like to be involved with. Yeah. Lucky Singh has a question for you. I'm not gonna as an integrator, where your top 10 tasks you do daily, I would limit it to maybe two or three.

Cody: Yeah.

Steve: So what are your top two or three tasks that you're

Cody: searching for every day? Getting a pulse on all the businesses. I mean, that's something I can't I mean, that's something I do in a greater detail on a weekly basis, but I'm getting a pulse. I'm I'm looking at, okay, you know, where what projects need to be moved forward today.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: You know, thing so I know, like, what deadlines that we're looking at. So if on our wholesaling business, if if our leads aren't up to par where they need to be, I'm looking at what can I do today to correct that or put us in a direction where it's going to be corrected?

Steve: Yeah.

Cody: I look at you know, I basically just look at all of our businesses, on a weekly basis, and then I'm setting, you know, actions for that week that are going to, you know, keep pushing those businesses forward. So it's not really any one or two things on a daily basis. It's it's I I make a weekly plan on what items need to be moved forward and then work daily on those items. So it could change week by week. But it's everything to do with not the sales side.

So everything, basically.

Steve: Right. The important but not urgent Yes. Category. Yes. And then let's see what else is there.

Daryl Thomas has an interesting question. What, he says that he has trust issues. What advice do you have in that regard?

Cody: Trust issues with, like, business partner or how do we wanna interpret that?

Steve: I'm guessing probably business partners. Daryl, if you wanna clarify that question.

Cody: I'll I'll answer it too. But, you know so the biggest thing is, like, whether it's in, like, a relationship with, like, a significant other or a relationship within your business or relationship with someone else is, like, you have to, I mean, this is kind of more religious, but, like, have have some grace for people. And, you know, what what you're constantly thinking about, you're gonna attract. So if you're constantly thinking that you're gonna get screwed over and have bad business partners and get bad deals with bad people, you're gonna attract that.

Steve: So So I think just to clarify this as a as an example, because I think this is an example most people understand. Yeah. Right? The girlfriend that always thinks you're gonna cheat on her.

Cody: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you gonna marry that girl?

Steve: No. Probably not.

Cody: No.

Steve: Because she's bringing a lot of negative

Cody: energy. Yes. Right? Yes.

Steve: So if you're the partner, potentially, that you're always worried, you're gonna get screwed Mhmm. You will probably attract someone.

Cody: That's gonna screw you.

Steve: Yeah. And it sucks. Yeah. So, the other thing, I'll I'll add and Daryl, my my opinion generally is don't get a partner. Do this on your own.

Hire an integrator if you're a visionary.

Cody: Yeah.

Steve: But I'm also, like, the biggest hypocrite because I have Max Adventist Yeah. Who's my integrator business partner. Yeah. Right? So but the other part of it too is, you know, what the thing you gotta look at is what choice do you have.

Mhmm.

Cody: Because you can't wear

Steve: all the hats. Yep. You just can't. Yep.

Cody: So You have to you have to trust. I mean, to to build a business where you actually have freedom, like, you're gonna

Steve: have to trust. Like, you have to have trust

Cody: and faith in either your partner or your integrator or your visionary, your salespeople, your dispo people, your transaction coordinator. Like, eventually, you have to trust and and also be okay that, like, mistakes are gonna happen.

Steve: Like A lot of mistakes are gonna happen. A

Cody: lot of mistakes are going to happen. And so and it's just having, you know, just having some grace for them and understanding that no one's perfect. You know, guiding them, like, when our team makes mistakes, I'm like, guys, like, we can't like, that cannot happen. You know, I understand how it happened. It's the first time this has happened.

So it's looking at something, addressing that, and then, you know, looking at how do we make this not happen in the future? What can we do better to make sure that that doesn't happen?

Steve: Right.

Cody: So, you know, it's like trust trust but verify too,

Steve: you know. Inspect what you expect.

Cody: Yes. Exactly.

Steve: Yeah. So yeah. And Matt Beard says that's, his is on his vision board too. So that's awesome. Draven is asking, would would you tell a new visionary integrated partnership what will you tell a new visionary integrated partnership in terms of delegation of tasks?

I'll let you answer this question because I think it's

Cody: visionary. Sales and vision, integrator, everything else.

Steve: Right. Yeah. Pretty much. I think I think that's a great point. Right?

Like, where is this gonna go? Right? Vision is where is this gonna go? What's the direction? You gotta draw, you gotta paint the picture Yep.

For the whole organization. You gotta see things things that's gonna happen Mhmm. A couple years before it even happens. Yep. And integrators, like you said, you just make it happen.

Cody: The rubber hits the road where it's like, that's what actually, like, drives those things forward. And, you know,

Steve: I was in coaching. I signed up for coaching around 2011, 2012. Mhmm. And one of my biggest frustrations with that coaching program is that they didn't teach me about this visionary integrator. Mhmm.

Right? So, like, I had success Yeah. Despite, you know, my my what I knew. It wasn't because of what I knew. Yeah.

It was that I got not lucky, but, like, I worked my way towards that success. Yeah. But if someone would just said, oh, you just need an integrator, that would have saved that that would have shaved, like, three years

Cody: Yeah.

Steve: Off my journey. Yeah. You know? So I think this is great that the for people to understand Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman. Yep.

Getting having a visionary, having an integrator. And, Draven, I think that for me to answer your question is you got every situation is different. Right? So you you and Pace, you have Pace as a salesperson Yeah. And you're you're totally happy, you know, be at the back office stuff.

Yeah. But you're not even really the back office anymore. Yeah. You're managing the back office.

Cody: I'm I'm kind of, like, you know, moving the pieces around, like, and just kind of, like, coming in and, like, pointing it's it's like there's a machine that's working, but I'm coming in and pointing at this could be fixed, we need to tweak that. Hey, if we did this a little bit differently, that's gonna work better. Then I'm, like, alright, work on that machine. I grab the next machine and kind of, you know, look at the things and how we can make it better. Like, that's more so kinda what I do on a daily basis.

Steve: And that's kinda how it was with me and Max. Right? When we started, he was the integrator. Mhmm. But he is not a great inter he's not a perfect integrator.

Cody: He's a

Steve: good integrator. Right? Mhmm. So we started, where he was the integrator, and now he manages the people to integrate. Integrating.

Yeah. So it doesn't have to be a perfect one person does all the work. Yeah. It's you can evolve into a higher level of integrating. Mhmm.

Claudio wants to know, where do you and Pace see yourself in five years as far as

Cody: long term bridging? I mean, honestly, I can make up something, but I don't really know what that's gonna look like in five years.

Steve: Like, everything It's hard to even know what's gonna happen in three years.

Cody: Yeah. It's like everything that's happened in, you know, in a year. I mean, you know, we have a lot of big goals. You know, we we wanna build our the goals that we have in our forefront right now is, you know, building up our rental portfolio. We wanna have a 100 properties in that.

You know, we wanna get our wholesale business to a point where, we're pretty much stepped out of it. And what's important to me about us stepping out of it though is, you know, having a wholesale business where our sales people are happy, they're making good money, and, every we just wanna build a really strong wholesale operation where everybody's really happy and that people are making great money. And then, you know, working on some of these other projects. I mean, that's I don't really know what five years looks like. We eventually wanna get into development projects.

We, you know, we are excited about doing stuff like that, but really we're focused on what are we doing right now towards the end of the year. Because everything changes. I mean, you know, you set your goals in January year. Like in January, me and Pace had a conversation, we're not starting any new businesses, we're only going to wholesale, do our flips, do our rentals, and the creative deals. And then, you know, six months later, we have our hands in, like, all these different things and, like

Steve: It's visionary. It's your job to slow them down.

Cody: Yes. Yes.

Steve: Wow. So William Ayarza is asking, when you're still new, will you suggest sharing your visionary integrated roles within a group or until or would you wait until everything is set up, everyone is set up on their own? I guess

Cody: What's that quest I don't really understand the question.

Steve: Would you share within your organization, I guess, who's the visionary, who's the integrator?

Cody: I guess it just depends, I mean, how many people are in your organization. It's, you know, kind of the the natural tasks that I think kinda happen is, you know, the the vision like, if you're just a you know, there's two people, there's the integrator, the visionary, like, starting off, like, what is what I feel like it should look like is the integrator is generating the leads, helping follow-up with leads and setting appointments for the, visionary to, you know, go and get those contracts. And then that visionary should be trying to bring bring, buyer relationships, you know, helping with some of the buyers, helping sell some of those deals, and bringing, like, new relationships that can help the integrators, but, you know,

Steve: do their job better. And then, obviously, then

Cody: you start hiring. But it's really, hiring. But it's really visionary and on on just how it worked for us is, like, Pace worked on the sales and the vision and, you know, I kinda work on all the details.

Steve: Yeah. And and, William, I think that, the roles within the organization, they will work themselves out once you start working together. Yes. But one thing you can also do when you if you're trying to clarify the visionary integrated roles is, a, you started with Rocket Fuel, but then, b, you gotta read Attraction. And Attraction sucks as a book.

It's not like

Cody: It it gives you, like, a 100 action items every other page. I'm like, my gosh.

Steve: Yeah. So it's an awful, awful read, but it's a must read. A must is a top three book in in Yeah. In my opinion.

Cody: Definitely.

Steve: So Leo wants to know if you, if you knew then, what do you know now? Or if you knew, yeah. If you knew then, what do you know now? What would you have done different when you first started?

Cody: When I first started my whole with the wholesale business, I honestly, don't really think I would have done much different. I like I like the learning process that I was on. Like, I could have found a a pace or, you know, a visionary a little bit sooner maybe. But part of that process too was, like, it helped me learn and understand what I was good at by not having that. So it helped me appreciate and have a better, you know, appreciation for, you know, the things that Pace does for our business, where if I would have just found someone that was doing that and he just, you know, crushed it with what he was already doing, I may not appreciate some of the things that he was doing because I didn't ever have to do

Steve: it. Yeah.

Cody: So, you know, having to do everything that I had to do, it allows me now to have respect and appreciation for everything that he does for our business. So

Steve: That's awesome. What is your biggest struggle right now?

Cody: Biggest struggle. I mean, we're for for Arizona, we're hire we were trying to hire a couple of junior acquisitions for, our wholesale operation. Mhmm. So, I mean, that's that's the only thing I could really think of that really struggling with. Everything is going in the right direction.

Things are moving forward. That's just something that, you know, just with growing. So hiring in a couple of roles, that's that's something that we're, having a little bit of trouble with. But we haven't put a ton of energy into it, so that's probably our biggest thing right now.

Steve: Yeah. And then we've kinda talked about this, you know, being an integrator. But, what would you consider to be your superpower?

Cody: I feel like my superpower is I can, like, come into a business and, like, figure out why something's not working, and I know and I can just come in to come in and, like, make it, like, function. Like, that's just I just it just really it just is natural for me to be able to, like, come in

Steve: efficiency expert.

Cody: Yeah. Efficiency. Yeah. So coming in and, like, how to make it how to make things more efficient and how to like, I can look at the processes and be like, this doesn't make sense. We need to take that out.

We need to do these things. This is how we grow it. So just coming in and making it efficient and then accountability, you know, really, I feel like I'm really good with accountability with our team and, you know, having those weekly meetings, and check ins with everybody. So, you know, it's just I'm very blunt, so it's just these are the numbers. I don't need a story.

This is what the numbers are. Like, what did how what did we do last week? Why didn't we perform? What can we do better this week? On a scale of one to 10, how do you think last week went?

Why wasn't it at a 10?

Steve: How do we get it closer to a 10?

Cody: How do we close that gap? What's our goal for the next thirty days, sixty days, ninety days? What do we need to do? What are these action items that need to happen today through next week before we meet again and have this conversation again? So it's just accountability and, you know, having those meetings.

Yeah.

Steve: And it's funny. That's the same thing that I have for Max, because I can't do it. Yeah. I can't ask you, Cody, why did you not make the calls you said you were gonna make? Yeah.

I can't have that conversation twice.

Cody: Yeah. I'm I I don't know why I'd I I mean, that was what I did well in network marketing too. Like, I was, like, the numbers with our our business on, like, why our recruiting numbers. I'm, like, why wasn't there this many people at the meeting? What happened?

How are how is the in how are the invites happening before? So those those are just the things that come natural.

Steve: So That's that's interesting. MLM really does teach you everything you need to know.

Cody: It really did, honestly.

Steve: What is the greatest lesson that you have learned?

Cody: I think the greatest lesson that's, you know, goes back to that first company when everything fell apart, you know, I was I I developed an ego in in that business because I That's

Steve: kinda understandable, that age and that kind of money.

Cody: Yeah. I went from, you know, being broke in high school to graduated and was making, you know, a $100 a year with right out of high school, bought a Beamer, thought I was cool, you know, moved into a cool condo, and all my friends couldn't even move out of their house, and, you know, I was traveling, and I was being put on a pedestal at events around the country, and then

Steve: I Also doesn't help with the ego.

Cody: Yeah. Also doesn't help with the ego. And then, you know, it's just like, with all of all of those things together, I just thought I was, like, the coolest thing. And so I think one of the best things that ever happened was that, you know, eventually falling apart Mhmm. Because it humbled me.

I had to sell, like, me and a couple of friends, we're living in, like, a 4,000 square foot house. Like, we're just, like, you know, living life and just spending all of our money.

Steve: Yeah.

Cody: And, you know, I ended up having to after that happened, I had to sell my car. I I and I and I was so I had so much negative equity equity, and all my savings had to go to just paying it off. Oh. So I moved out of that house, had to sell my car, and all of my business went away, as I was, you know, transitioning into real estate. Ended up having to move back at home with my parents, and I was just, like, wow.

Humbled was definitely the word. I was pretty depressed for a few months, honestly. I was just, like, slapped in the my identity was in it too. You know, I just that was what my identity was wrapped in, and, you know, it hurt the ego heavily. And so it it humbled me to a point where then as, you know, money has started coming in within, you know, real estate when I was an agent and then obviously transitioning into the investment side of things, I'm not I I don't think that I'm the coolest thing in the world.

Like, I'm grateful, and I respect my work ethic, and I respect my I have a healthy respect for myself Mhmm. But I don't think I'm God or this you know, I'm the best thing since sliced bread. Like, I I have a healthy appreciation for my work ethic, but I also understand I have a lot to learn. It can be taken away from you tomorrow. And, you know, so it's just having that staying humble attitude.

Steve: Yeah. Well, that's a great lesson. I think life has a way of teaching you Yes. Humility. I mean, I had that same mistake.

Had a lot of success in engineering. It's like, I'm gonna crush it in real estate.

Cody: You just think it's just gonna transition. It's just I'm gonna be the best at it.

Steve: No. No. That's not how that works. Now we've talked about traction. We've talked about Rocket Fuel.

Yeah. Is there any other book that you say is a must read or you've gifted more than any other?

Cody: I would say T. Harv Eker's book on, I think it's Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.

Steve: Mhmm.

Cody: I'm always telling people to read that book, either listen to the audible or, you know, actually read it. Yeah. And I think the the biggest reason is, like, that helped me understand, like, financial management. Because it doesn't matter if you're making money, if you don't know what to do with that money, if you're blowing your money, if you're not saving it, you're not putting it away to be able to invest and grow, for your future. And then it also helps you understand, like, your money blueprint.

Because something that outside of that book, but Darren Hardy, you know, I was at a live event with him a few years ago, and he was talking about he's like the this was at our 6 figures and above earners in that company, and he was having a conversation. He's like, how do you go from six figures to seven figures? He's like, what's so special about this person versus this person? Person? Why is this person making seven figures?

Why is this person making six? And so he's like, the 7 figure earner has a thermostat, a financial thermostat that's at a different level than the 6 figure. So it's it's the conversation in your head of, okay, imagine it like you're you have a house. And in Arizona, it's a 110 degrees out. Inside the house, your thermostat is set for 70 degrees.

If you open up all the windows, you know, and then now using this as an analogy of, like, as a ton of add a bunch of money to someone's thermostat, the temperature is at 70 degrees, open all the windows, money's pouring in, close all the windows, what is the thermostat going to do? It's going to drop it back down to 70 degrees.

Steve: Right.

Cody: People have that financial thermostat. So if their financial thermostat is set for $30 a year, if they get any more money than that, they will lose it. If their financial thermostat is set for a $100 a year, if they get more money than that, they will find a way to self sabotage. They will find a way to lose that money. They will find a way to, you know, in however way, they are going to get rid of that money Right.

Because of, you know, past programming from when you're a child and, you know, things like that. So it helps you become aware of those things because it doesn't matter. People wanna make $100 a year, $500 a year, a million dollars a year in this business. But if you get to that point and you're losing all of your money, what's the point of being there? So you have to do the work here to raise your financial thermostat, your personal development level to actually be able to receive that money and actually be able to enjoy it.

Steve: Yeah. I think that's a really, really good point. Often overlooked. Yes. Specifically, everyone talks about how much money you make.

Yeah. And no one brags about how much money you keep.

Cody: Yes.

Steve: Yeah. Right? That's not the sexy number. Yeah.

Cody: The sexy number. What are you what are you keeping and then what are you investing and that's growing?

Steve: Right. Awesome. Very cool. Let's see if there's anything else in here. Zachary, Jenny wants to know, before you were working with Payas, what kind of lists were you, pulling, or what kind of list leads were you predominantly finding?

And have and then have your lead sources changed in the past year and a half?

Cody: Stayed the same. We text and we cold call. Those are the two marketing channels that we do. Hopefully, text lasts keep continues to last because it still works great for us. But we'll see with all the stuff going on with the carriers.

Steve: I don't I don't see it lasting through the year.

Cody: I don't I don't think it will. But, you know, we're preparing and hiring more cold callers and, you know, we're ready to shift if we have to. But, texting, cold calling, lists, all the lists. There's no secret list. We, you know, probate, free foreclosure, tax delinquent, evictions, high equity, unknown equity, divorce, all I mean, all of them.

Steve: We Everybody. I was

Cody: I was doing all the ones I could afford to pull on the smaller niche when I was doing it by myself, but as more money started coming in, all of them.

Steve: And I

Cody: still continue doing all of them.

Steve: Everybody's a prospect.

Cody: Yeah. Everybody. Everybody's a prospect.

Steve: Yeah. I still get I I tell Jared all the time. I still get his RVM about what's a quarter.

Cody: I still get his too. I'm like, Jared I, like, send it to him. I'm like, dude, you have me on your list. But, like, my parents' house somehow has me on there. And I'm just like, what the heck?

Steve: So, and then, guys, we were talking about traction. So if you guys are adamant about listening to it, for me, my personal opinion is you gotta download, on on Audible Get a Grip. It's the fable story version of traction. So listen or read or listen to Get a Grip, Buy the traction book. You have to buy.

It has to be in your hands. And then, Daniel, I guess we'll take this as the last question from Daniel. Can you share some wisdom wisdom for the new guys?

Cody: For new people, the the biggest things that I would say is, you know, you have to Jim Rohn is one of my favorite motivational speakers and, you know, he he talks about, like, you have to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. Yep. And so I was just having this conversation on yourself than you do on your job. Yep. And so I was just having this conversation with one of our sales guys,

Steve: Nick, yesterday, as I'm

Cody: like, you have to work harder on yourself than you are on your job because we were talking about action items. And so, for him, it was, you know, doing more personal development, doing more sales training, so that then he would be able to perform at an even higher level and reach his goals that he wants to achieve. And so, you know, that would be the biggest thing is working harder on yourself than you do on your job, number one. So doing the personal development, learning, not having analysis paralysis where you don't do anything besides learn. Don't become, you know, an event junkie where you just go to events and you buy courses and all that and don't take any action.

Yeah. But understanding that you need to grow yourself and then being pay you know, taking aggressive action but being patient with the results that come in.

Steve: And that's that's a hard balance people understand.

Cody: Very hard. Yeah. I'm a very patient person. Like, I was a runner in high school, so I, you know, I ran distance. So it just I understand the plugging away.

I'm training for a marathon right now. So it's a you know, it's a lot of running and it's long runs, and it's just it's not gonna happen overnight. And so that's where you have to look at your business is it's a marathon and and you're training every day.

Steve: I can't believe you're running a marathon. That sounds awful. Alright. So I'm gonna let you think about what last thought you wanna leave listeners with. Guys, I mentioned this in the beginning.

So, Max and I, we're doing our our workshop July. We're gonna be having it at the Phoenician. So if you guys wanna check that out, go to disruptors.com/workshop. So last thoughts.

Cody: So last thoughts. Well, last thoughts that I'm, you know, super excited about is a couple of things that, you know, Pace and I are working on is, you know, one is that, you know, VA business that we're, you know, helping promote, vahub.com. We're super excited about that. Business that we're, you know, helping promote vahub.com. We're super excited about that and the GoNoc app that's coming out in a couple weeks.

So, you know, we're just really excited for a couple of things that we're launching. But, the last thing I would leave listeners with is, you know, if if you're gonna do this business, commit to doing this business and make a commitment to yourself that you're gonna succeed no matter what. And give yourself some grace and some time to do it. Like Yeah. Say, I'm going to give it my all for the next five years to make this business work and pretty much can guarantee it'll work within five years if you do everything that you can to learn.

And making a commitment is doing what you said you were going to do long after your emotions of the feel good have left you. So it's making a commitment to yourself and to your business.

Steve: Awesome. Someone wants to get a hold of you, don't get by your cell phone.

Cody: Yeah. I won't I won't answer or text you back if you're calling my phone.

Steve: How can someone get a hold of you?

Cody: You can message me on Instagram, Cody Barton official. You could find me in the Creative Financing with, PACE Morby Facebook group. And those are gonna be the two best ways. You could add me on Facebook, Cody Barton, shoot me a message on there. I'm happy to, you know, answer questions, things like that.

But we give out a lot of value in that Facebook group. And, you know, we do a lot of lives and giveaways and different things. So those are probably best best spots to to find out.

Steve: It's crazy how much you guys give away on that Facebook group. It's awesome.

Cody: Yeah. Awesome.

Steve: Alright, guys. Thank you guys for watching. Thank you.

Cody: Thank you, sir.

Steve: It was fun. Awesome. Yeah. See, we real estate disrupt us. Can't nobody touch us.