Create the Lifestyle You Want First and then the Business – and How to Raise $20 MM in Private Money, Too

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. Today, we've got Austin Rutherford with Elevate Life. He flew in from Columbus, Ohio to talk about how he's done a million plus in each of the last three years and the importance of building a business around your lifestyle. If this is your first time tuning in, I am Steve Trang, sales trainer for some of the top wholesalers in the country, and I'm on a mission to create 100 millionaires.

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You ready?

Austin Rutherford: Absolutely. Let's do it.

Steve: Alright. So first question is what got you into real estate?

Austin: Yeah. So my first dream was to be an NBA basketball player. You know? That didn't work out. So after high school, I went out to Arizona actually here, Arizona to play basketball for a year.

But it got to like, basketball is how I treat business now. I was in it all day every day. You know, I was trying to grow as much as possible, work as much as possible, but it got to a point where I hated touching the rock. And, you know, for me in my life, that was my life. So when I started hating basketball, I I felt lost in my life.

You know? Maybe, you know, somebody gets laid off, somebody loses a job. Like, you don't know what to do. That's where I was at. And it like, there's a lot of tears and everything.

And I don't know who gave me the book, but the book, Think and

Steve: Grow Rich

Austin: Mhmm. Was given to me when I was 19 years old.

Steve: And then I read that

Austin: That was really fortunate. Yeah. Agreed. 100%. And I read that and then opened up my mind to the possibilities of actually making money in business as an entrepreneur.

So and then I the next thing I read, I don't know if it's true or not, but it said 90% of all people who file a tax return with a million dollars or more on it had real estate in their portfolio. I was like, well, you know, basketball didn't work out, so let's try real estate.

Steve: I love that line. Yeah. But I can't find that actually stated anywhere. But it's a great line. Agree.

I don't know if it's true,

Austin: but it worked for me. Yeah. I went through

Steve: I went digging for a while, like, one night, and I can't find where that was sort of.

Austin: You tried to look for it?

Steve: I tried to look for it. And but, anyway, let's talk about basketball. So what was what was the basketball dream?

Austin: It was the to be in the NBA. You know, when I sophomore, eighth grade is when it all started. You know, I never played basketball up until then, and, the dream was just just to go to the league. I don't know if it was, like, for money or desire or Are you in Ohio? I was.

Yeah.

Steve: So you're a Cavaliers fan? I am.

Austin: Oh, I was. Craig Elo?

Steve: Like, who was who was who was the stud back then?

Austin: I don't even know back then. No. You know, I I remember when Lebron LeBron started.

Steve: Oh. Oh, yeah. I forgot you're a lot younger. Man. Got it.

Okay. So basketball was the dream. Didn't pan out.

Austin: Nope.

Steve: Moved to Arizona. Nope. Think and Grow Rich.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And then what happened?

Austin: So the like, I don't know why. I hated reading books. I never worked on myself before that. But for whatever reason, I started reading books and I started journaling. I'm a big proponent in journaling.

I try to do it every day even today. So I was sitting up on my rooftop. We had a condo. The whole team was staying in it. And, I was just journaling about life.

And I ended up looking across, the the backyard, and there was, like, a 10 or 15 unit apartment building back there. I was like, man, you know, if some guy owns that building and he's got 10 or 15 people paying him rent, I knew nothing about numbers if it was a good deal or a bad deal. But I was like, he's gotta be making money if 15 people are paying him. Mhmm. And then that's what that's what triggered real estate.

And I just started buying, like, every, like, book, every small course I could find, anything that, like, could get mailed to me to learn And, you know, fell in love with passive residual income and then bought my first house when I was 20, after I moved back to Columbus.

Steve: In Columbus. Yep. So, you know, looking at this, it's it's really interesting. You know, growing up in Arizona, like, homeownership is just normal. Right?

Like, you go get a job and you buy a home. I lived in California for a bit. And over there, it's like, maybe you can buy a home.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: But you also resign to, like, that's for rich people.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: In Ohio, I learned later on, it's kinda crazy. It's just normal to

Austin: rent. Yeah.

Steve: Can you explain that to me?

Austin: I grew up in a household where my parents owned the home. So, like, I don't understand it, but, I mean, people are just used to renting over there.

Steve: But, like, the whole Midwest is just

Austin: It's a great I think maybe two is a great place, like, cash flow wise. So a lot of landlords from all over the country own there.

Steve: For investors.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: And that's why they're going there. Yep. But why is homeownership, like, not a thing there in the Midwest? Because it's cheaper to own than it is

Austin: A 100%.

Steve: To rent.

Austin: 100%. I I think this goes back to to education, to high school and college. You know? It's it's something that they don't teach anywhere in the country, in my opinion. Mhmm.

But people don't understand money. They don't understand, you know, debt. They don't understand finances. And, you know, people don't know that it might be cheaper. A lot of people don't know that it's cheaper to rent than, cheaper to own than it is to rent.

Steve: Got it.

Austin: I I don't know. I don't know why, though.

Steve: So you think it's just, insufficient financial literacy, like,

Austin: up and down the I think so.

Steve: I mean, that's what obviously, that's what's happening. I just don't know if that's, like, the main reason. It's just their whole lives, like, you know, your generation before you, generation before you. Yep. And that's the reason why appreciation is a challenge.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: But, man, those yields are amazing.

Austin: Agreed. I mean, I I I know people that have lived in a rental property for twenty years, and they paid rent for twenty years in a row. You could be you could own the house for and clear at this point.

Steve: I had a property we bought during the recession because we were afraid our we were losing our house to foreclosure, so we bought another property as kind of a backup plan. And we didn't we know we were able to do a loan model in our house. And that lady lived in our property. In the course of ten years, paid our entire mortgage.

Austin: Like, she Yeah.

Steve: Like, our house was free and clear Yep. From all the rent she paid over

Austin: ten years. Yep. It's But people don't

Steve: people just don't understand it Yeah. Which is crazy. So alright. So 20 years old. You buy your

Austin: first rental property? Yeah.

Steve: Due tax. So talk about that. What was that process like? Yeah.

Austin: So fell in love with the idea of of passive residual income. And, you know, I just I wanted rental properties. I wanted passive income. And, the I I I didn't know what to do. I had no idea how to evaluate rental properties.

So, again, I just tried to learn as much as possible.

Steve: At 20 years old.

Austin: Yeah. Exactly. So I actually moved home, I think, when I was 19 and got a valet job back at home just to try and make some money. And then, you know, started diving into real estate, trying to understand, like, what was a good rental property, how I made money on cash flow. Like, there was a podium on my valet where, like, you'd, like, scan tickets and stuff.

And, like, everybody would be out running cars, and I'd be in there, like, looking up, like, duplexes and rental properties and putting my cash flow calculator together. And, you know, looking back, shout out to them for not, you know, pulling me away. But, did that for, like, a year, and then started actually going out and looking at houses with the realtor. And, like, I built my own, like, spreadsheet, you know, the PITI and then the rental profit, the amount of, like, monthly rental income. And, you know, I ended up finding a property where the net was about, like, $111,200 dollars a month on it.

And, it was a duplex. Once I paid for more than the mortgage, and I was like, alright. Let's let's do it. So And

Steve: was this situation where you're house hacking, or this is just a straight up rental property?

Austin: I didn't even know about house hacking then. I wish I did. I absolutely would've done it, but I ended up putting, like, 25% down on the property. You know?

Steve: Got it.

Austin: I wish I'd have known house because it's only, like, three and a half percent.

Steve: Right. Okay. So was this all through books or is it other places too?

Austin: It was, like, books and, like, are you gonna I don't even know what they are if they have them nowadays, but you can order, like, binders of, like, information. So I read those too, but it was I didn't even know what YouTube was back then. I didn't even know what podcasts were back then. It was just, like, literally ordering $10.20, $50, like, pamphlet things and just learning as much as possible.

Steve: Was bigger pockets around then?

Austin: I didn't know about it. Yeah. It might have been.

Steve: Alright. So So you buy your first duplex.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: Smooth sailing, or were there challenges becoming a first time landlord?

Austin: It wasn't too bad. Like, the property was fully renovated when I bought it. It had yearly tenants in place. They were all month to month. So when I bought it, I increased rents, like, I don't know, 50 or $100 a side.

The only issue was it had, not been too wiring in it. So anything they didn't update. Mhmm. So on the remedy request, we asked them to update it, and they did. But outside of that, like, it was pretty smooth.

And then I self managed, at the time. Mhmm. And, you know, everyone hears a story, like, you get the call at midnight. It was Super Bowl weekend, that night of the game, and I got the phone call that the furnace went out. And, you know, in Ohio, it's cold.

We can't just, like, ignore that phone call. So me and my dad, I called my dad. I was like, hey, dad. We gotta go fix this furnace. And, drove down there.

And after that, I was like, I never wanna be a landlord. I never wanna personally manage the properties. So, you know, besides that, it wasn't too terribly bad, though.

Steve: Right. And then what was the next deal?

Austin: The next deal so when I put that money down, like, back in before that, just in, like, high school and middle school and stuff, I would cut grass. I would shovel driveways. I'd flip candy. I'd make buckeye necklaces, which is an Ohio thing, and then sell them at the football games. So I had a bunch of money saved up, which is how I what I used for the down payment on property.

Steve: Hustler before?

Austin: Trying to. Yeah. Yeah. Get it by any I actually got in trouble because they thought I was slinging dope in high school. Mhmm.

But I was selling, like, gum and, like, Sour Patch Kids out of my backpack. Yeah. But, started doing that, and I lost my train of thought.

Steve: What was I talking about buying a second property?

Austin: Yeah. So I was broke after I put the down payment on the rental property. I had $0. So I was like, alright. I gotta make money faster.

And my real estate, agent at the time made, like, $8,000 commission on the house. And I was like, alright. Well, like, let me try and get my real estate license. So I went out, took the classes, got licensed. I did, like, the speed classes.

It took me, like, two weeks to take the classes. Mhmm. Got licensed, sold, like, two houses, hated it. You know, people driving people around, showing them houses, it's just not a fun experience for me personally. So I started looking into other ways of making money.

Heard a web a, a radio show. I was like, hey. If you wanna learn how to flip houses and become a millionaire, you know, come to this free seminar. Went to the seminar, invested into a mentor program, education program. And How much

Steve: was that?

Austin: $25,000.

Steve: And at the time, you didn't have 25,000?

Austin: No. Not at all. So How did

Steve: that work?

Austin: It was a three day seminar. Day two, they're like, hey. We got this program. You need $25, but you gotta have it tomorrow. Mhmm.

And I had, like, a few grand at the time. And I was like, oh, man. This is gonna be tough. So I went home, and I applied for American Express credit card. I told them I made a $100,000 a year, and I told them I had 800 credit score, roughly, give or take a zero.

And, they approved me for a line of credit on the credit card. So I maxed the credit card out. Mhmm. But I was still, like, $510,000 short at the time to to make the the $25,000 payment. I was 21 years old.

And, like, for me, it was that that moment in life where, like, I knew it was what I needed to do, but, like, I couldn't do it because I didn't have the money. And at the time, I was still living with my parents. And, like, I asked my parents for the money, to loan me the money, you know, ask my uncle for the money. Like, I asked anybody I could think of to try and get the money. And everyone's like, no.

You know, it's too good to be true. You know, they're they're not just gonna teach you to be a millionaire. You know, that's the sales pitch. You know, just work hard. Right?

And, so my parents ended I was living with my parents. They ended up going to sleep, and I literally, legitimately crawled under my dining room, my parents' dining room table and started crying. And it wasn't just crying. It was, like, bawling because my parents ended up waking up because I was crying so hard. And they came downstairs and they, like I don't know.

They realized that I was serious about it. You know, they've seen that I've hustled in the past and made money, and they ended up fronting me the other part of the money Wow. To get into the mentor program. So next day, I got goosebumps just telling it. Yeah.

But next day, walked in, swiped my credit card, maxed it out, eighteen months no interest

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: And thought I was gonna get rich in a month, but that doesn't always happen like that.

Steve: It's not as easy as it looks Yeah. Whether on social media Yeah. Or on the stage.

Austin: 100%. 100%.

Steve: Okay. So then what happened next?

Austin: So, again, so I swiped the card. I had eighteen months no interest. And so I was like, alright. I gotta pay it off in eighteen months. So, you know, I started, sending marketing.

You know, they taught us, like, direct mail, like, probates, foreclosures. There wasn't cold calling or RVM or SMS, or at least I didn't know about it back then. I only knew about really direct mail. So I started I went found out, like, how to pull lists from the, the county recorder's website, the probates, the divorces, the foreclosures, and the tax liens. So I did that every week.

So I had new data, started sending them out. Back then, probate was a tremendous thing because nobody did that. You know, a lot of people do it now. So got a bunch of deals from that, but not quickly. And then I was still valeting cars.

So still working, like, fifty, sixty hours a week.

Steve: Still hustling.

Austin: Yep. I promised my mother I'd get my college degree. So I was going to college, taking fifteen hours.

Steve: Was that a condition of the of the loan?

Austin: Probably was. Alright. I just grew up, like, go to school, get a degree, go to work. You know? So I just promised her I'd get my degree.

So I was going to college, taking fifteen credit hours. I was still a realtor at the time trying to sell houses, didn't work. And I was trying to start the real estate investment company. So I'd go to work from seven to three, and then most days, I'd have college at night. I would write letters in my parents' basement till one, two, three in the morning, hand addressed envelopes to get people to try and sell me the house.

Mhmm. Go to sleep, like, midnight, one, 02:00, Wake up at 6AM the next day. Go to work. Like, I was putting in eighteen, twenty hour days, like like clockwork. There's a time I got off work at 03:00.

I was driving home, and I literally fell asleep at the wheel. And the only way that I woke up is because I hit the curb, and I was on the sidewalk, and there's a light pole in front of me. Thank God I woke up, went back on the street, drove home, started writing handwritten letters to send out to sellers. So, like, to me, it was, like, get it by any means. Like, I had a debt that I had to pay off Mhmm.

And, like, I was gonna make it happen. So ten months into that process of doing that every day for ten months.

Steve: Zero up until this point.

Austin: Zero. Literally nothing. You know, I was I had the debt of the mortgage. I've maxed out my credit cards. Like, I was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and there was, like, at times, a $100 in my bank account.

And, finally, you know, a seller called me from a probate mailer. It was the fifth postcard I sent to them. They called me. They're like, hey. You know, my mom passed.

Got this house I'm looking to sell. It was, like, seven siblings with, you know, wives and, husbands. And in the state of Ohio, there's dower laws. So all the wives and husbands need to sign off on the contract as well. So that was a nightmare just getting it in contract.

But put it in contract for, I think a $102,000 contingent on the foundation inspection. And the foundation went through. It was terrible. It was, like, $28 to fix it. So got it reduced to $74,000 And, you know, at the time, I've never raised private money in my life.

You know, so trying to figure that out. It was a $170,000 rehab, so it was a quarter million dollar raise. And, you know, luckily figured it out, got a private money lender to fund the entire deal Mhmm. And, flipped it, sold it, made a $103,000 net profit six months later. So sixteen months from swiping the credit card Mhmm.

To actually making money, sixteen month process, sold it, took that money, reinvested it, and just just build it from there.

Steve: Paid off your debt.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: Yeah. So you're '22? Yeah. What year was this?

Austin: 2015.

Steve: Okay. So I wanna hit a couple of points here because, I am uncomfortable Mhmm. Right, with some of these other programs out there Yep. Charge 25,000.

Austin: Mhmm.

Steve: You know? Know? But they exist.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: There's two things here. First, you had, conviction. Yep. This was gonna happen.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: This is your destiny.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: You're this is why, you know, this opportunity was presented to you Yep. And you made it happen. Yep. What gave you that conviction?

Austin: It's just the want like, the desire, the will to win. You know, people talk about, like, he they have it. Like, what is that it? Nobody knows what that it is, but people have it. Some people have it, and some people don't.

Mhmm. Like, I I'm a competitor. You know, I love to win. I I love to make money. You know, my why then was to get rich and go on the vacations and have the cars and the Rolexes and all those things.

And, you know, I was just willing to get it by any means. Yeah. And, like, I know I'll I'll outwork anybody. If it really comes down to it, like, I'll put in more work.

Steve: I mean, clearly, I mean, you're falling asleep at the wheel. Yeah.

Austin: Right. A little bit too much.

Steve: So and the reason why the other reason why I brought this up was that, that, you know, you not only maxed out your credit card, you got a new credit card just to max out.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: And, again, you know, we frown upon this industry, that encourages people to sign up for credit cards maximum. But here you are.

Austin: Right? Doing it.

Steve: And I didn't do that, but I certainly maxed out my credit cards.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: You know? I think when Chase called my credit card, dude, like, hey. By the way, we're gonna shut down your credit card. I think it's a 39,000, you know, in credit card debt.

Austin: Running it up. Right.

Steve: I was running it up. That was how I was running payrolls, how I was paying for everything.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And so, like, we always tell people, you know, be cautious, be careful, whatever. Well, not be cautious, be careful, but, like, don't swipe for this 25 k program.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: But who are who am I to say that if I'm the kind of person

Austin: That did it.

Steve: With that conviction that will you know, the the best way to motivate me and possibly you too is tell me I can't do it.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: Right? And then it's watch me.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: So alright. So you got that big deal. Clear 6 figures.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: Pay off your parents, pay off American Express. Yep. Then what happens?

Austin: So people don't believe me when I say this, but I literally didn't spend a penny. I didn't go out to eat. I didn't buy a pair of sneakers. I didn't go on a vacation. Like, nothing.

Put it all back into the business, went back to school, and went back to my job the next day. Still valeting cars, $100 at the age of 22 years old. More money than, like, I've ever seen anybody that I've ever known has ever seen. Mhmm. But I went back to work.

Right? Because I know one deal isn't gonna change your life. Like, one deal doesn't do anything for me.

Steve: Well, and also you took ten was it ten sixty months to close that one. Yep. And so I think there's also a curse because some of these guys have instant success. Right? Like, you know, check out this texting platform or this or that.

And, like, most people struggle for a long time Yep. And, unfortunately, quit. But you have a couple guys that'll, first month, close their first deal.

Austin: Yeah. One one one marketing campaign.

Steve: Yeah. They'll clear 60 k. And then they're kinda like, oh, this is easy. Yep. And because they think it's easy, they may not appreciate it as much, whereas you are, like, savoring.

Austin: Yeah. For for real. It took a long time.

Steve: Yeah. Alright. So you went back to work. Went didn't didn't didn't go crazy with it. What happened after that?

Austin: Yeah. So kept marketing, kept going to work, kept, you know, going to college. And I think, like, two months later, I got the next deal from direct mail. Her husband passed away. She moved in with her daughter, and the house was vacant.

It was full of all types of stuff. The the landscaping package was, like, $15 and it wasn't, like, to make it nice. It was just to clear the brush. So it was completely overgrown, and ended up the contractor that did that job was two doors down from the first house I did. He was renovating another house.

So I just went in there. I was like, hey. My name is Austin. What's your name? Like, you do work for other people.

So networking is huge in this business too. But he ended up doing that next house, bought it, used private money to do it, took, like, thirty, forty five days to renovate it, sell it. Three months later, made another, like, 40 ish thousand dollars. So I was almost a $150 in profit in that period of about four months minus the other sixteen months on top of it. Yeah.

And I was like, yeah. This is it. So I went So

Steve: now it's real?

Austin: Yeah. I was like, alright. This is Google. And I had the next deal in contract. Yeah.

I was like, alright. Like, it's working

Steve: now. Alright.

Austin: So I went home. I was like, hey, ma. Like, you're never gonna see me graduate. I'm done with college. And I was still living with them at the time, so they they understood it.

They saw the work, the money that was coming in. They're like, I I wouldn't expect anything different. Went into work the next day. I was like, hey. I'm done.

I ain't coming back. Yeah. And just went all in on real estate.

Steve: Got it. Alright. So you you you slammed it on a couple of flips.

Austin: Mhmm.

Steve: But you're really more a buy and hold guy. Yeah. So talk to me about that transition.

Austin: For sure. So I all I knew was real I I wanted to get into real estate because of passive residual income, but then you start making money and people lose track of buying rental properties. Because the thing with rental properties is you don't make money today. Mhmm. You make money long term.

So I lost vision of that for a little bit. I was just chasing the money, you know, putting up multiple 6 figures a month in wholesales and flips and making great money doing it, but it's like, alright. It's always chasing that next year.

Steve: Active income.

Austin: 100%. Very active income. And, you know, honestly so I had, like, 25 units or so up to about fourteen, fifteen months ago. And then a buddy of mine, he's got a couple 100 units and, like, he I was crushing it at the beginning money wise, and he was, like, eating crap because you don't make much money on rentals. And then I saw a switch.

He's like, yeah. I just did a refi of, like, 30 properties. I paid off 15 of them. I refi the other 15, and I got a $800,000 check. No tax.

I was like, alright. Rentals is the way. Tax free. Yeah. Yeah.

So just kinda went all in on rentals over the last, like, twelve to sixteen months. Got it. Got almost 70 units now. And, that's that's our first exit strategy is to just keep keep, stacking the rental properties.

Steve: Yeah. That's, that was something that, the first time I heard about this was that you can do a cash out refi No. And just take all that money out tax free. Yeah. And it's not income.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: It's equity.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: So there's there's no reason to there's no reason to get tax on it. Yeah. But the idea that you can have 800,000 right here

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And not have to pay Uncle Sam a dime.

Austin: Seriously. That's 1.2 in the real world.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's amazing, concepts.

Okay. So you saw this. Your world got flipped inside out.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: So you said it was two years ago?

Austin: About. Yeah.

Steve: Okay. And so then, what, you just started keeping everything, or what what happened next?

Austin: Everything. So, like, our first So

Steve: just stopped wholesaling, stopped flipping?

Austin: For the most part. Like, we still do a little for deals that don't fit. Mhmm. But, like, when I started, it was just rehabbing. That's all I knew.

I didn't know about wholesale. I didn't know really know much about rental properties. And then I saw an opportunity to start doing new construction, in my city. There's a neighborhood that was getting developed. There's a bunch of rehabs.

No new construction. So I took the profits, bought a whole bunch of land, made a bunch of money on new construction, bought a couple rentals, like, every every now and then, and then got introduced to wholesaling. So started wholesaling more instead of doing these $150,000 rehab projects. So got then got to wholesaling, bought a couple rental properties. But now our first option is to keep it as a rental property.

So when deals come in, we evaluate rental properties. We're looking to burr it with no money out of pocket Mhmm. And at least $400 a month in profit per door before, like, vacancies and repairs and things like that. And if it hits those numbers, we're keeping it as a rental. No questions asked.

If it doesn't hit those numbers, if the rehab's less than $50, we can get in and out of those in about thirty days. We're gonna buy it and rehab it and flip it. If it's more than $50, we're gonna wholesale it.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So let's talk about transaction account right now. Well, so before you did this transition Mhmm. What were you doing volume wise?

Austin: So at the beginning, when I was, like, just doing flips and stuff, I would do, like, two to four flips a month. But, like, we were popping 50 to $80 of profit on each. So especially the new bills. We're doing 6 figures on the new bills, which is great. And then we got, like, kinda into the wholesale model and scaled, you know, sales team and dispositions team and, you know, all that stuff.

We're doing, like, 10 ish a month. And now, like, you know, it's it's came down a little bit. Just I feel like people scale chaos sometimes. They scale something that they don't actually want. So I'm very conscious of, like, my goals and how I want my lifestyle to look like.

So now we're doing, like, two to five a month. Right. But it's very, very limited overhead with those.

Steve: And then, your involvement with our friend Carlos Yep. Was probably instrumental in some way.

Austin: For sure. So that that's when I got put on to wholesaling. Got it. You know, all my all my deals up till then was from direct mail and driving for dollars. Mhmm.

That was it. I didn't know about co calling or RVM or SMS or any of that stuff or the list buying. Like, I I didn't know any that. Mhmm. So that's kinda like what put me on to the wholesaling thing, and I just blew up the marketing, you know, scaled the team, and made a lot of money.

But, again, it's it's not what I personally wanted at that time in my life.

Steve: Right. So, obviously, having a friend that's having a having a lot of success For sure. Buy and hold certainly helps. But even then, what kinda help you focus on lifestyle? Because we all get started for the same reason.

Right? We all get started because we wanna make a lot of money really fast Yep. And have, time and financial freedom.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: But then once we get started, that thing about making a lot of money is really shiny.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And that part about the reasons you started kinda start 100%. Getting a little dark. How did you getting a little dark. How did you remember to keep your eyes, you know, on why you started?

Austin: For sure. You you hit the nail on the head. People start something for a reason and then lose sight of it. Yeah. And it's very difficult to get out of that.

And I was stuck in it for years. You know, I was work work work work work work all day every day, like, no friendships, no relationships, like, just work and make money. But, you know, I think mentors are huge. The people around you that force you to do the right thing even when it's uncomfortable. Mhmm.

So one of my mentors, like, he always, like, pushed me to, like, you know, get out uncomfortable and spend money on myself. And I think part of it too is, like, burnout. You know, I got to a point where I, like, I was like, man, like, I don't know if real estate's really it. You know, this is this is a lot of work. But I think it's from burning out from working nonstop all day every day.

So with those two things combined, you know, they pushed me to buy a nice car. That was a Jag it was $30,000 Jaguar. I was literally driving to the dealership to buy it, and I called my mentor, and I was like, I I feel like I don't deserve this. Like, I feel guilty for buying it, and I could afford a $30,000 Jaguar. Right?

And, he was like, bro, go buy the car. Like, that's what you work for. Go buy the car. And the cool thing is once you buy the car, it'll pay for itself a 100 times over because it'll create conversation. It'll put you into rooms that you weren't able to get into before.

Mhmm. It'll make you grow mentally. So when he said that, I was like, alright. Well, like, I can have nice things and make money.

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: You know, it's it's a win win. Yeah. Yeah. So I started doing that, you know, started traveling more. It just I love the lifestyle side.

Like, people and it's the question, like, you know, how much money do you wanna make versus how how do you want your life to look like?

Steve: And, you

Austin: know, I'm still trying to find that perfect balance. I don't know if you'll ever find it. But I'm you know, I love to travel.

Steve: Was that Mark Evans that Yeah. Was pushing you that way? Yep. Yeah. If you're listening, Mark, waiting for you here.

I was actually texting him a couple weeks ago. Yeah. So the lifestyle then is the focus. So let's talk about that because I mean, you said you're 27.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: Right? Unusually young to have this kind of, like, perspective. It took me I think I was, like, 35 when I finally figured this out. I was like, oh, you build a business around your lifestyle.

Austin: Yep. Yep.

Steve: So talk about how talk about that mindset and talk about how you execute that.

Austin: Again, I think it's a lot of, you know, going back to mentors. You know? Mark kept telling me, he was like, people build a business and then build a lifestyle around it.

Steve: Right.

Austin: Same thing you just said. You need to build a life and then build a business around it. Mhmm. So just just being very conscious of that. And, like, so I'm moving to Florida next month.

Like, I'm moving away from my hometown to go to Florida. I was thinking about doing this for years, but I was like, no. I gotta be in Columbus. That's where the business is at. Mhmm.

You know, I need to be there. Stuff isn't gonna get done. And it's it's consciously just thinking and getting out of your own way. I think the big one of the biggest blessings is traveling. So I we do like vacation masterminds.

People fly in, and people are, like, nervous. Like, I can't leave my business for five days. But when you leave your business, you realize what doesn't work. Mhmm. You take you remove yourself from the meat for from, from the equation, and we go on, like, a yacht trip one of the days.

Like, you don't have cell service. So you physically, like, have to remove yourself.

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: And it's, like, very eye opening to watch people go through. It was for me when I first did it.

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: It's like, man. Like, I'm not the guy that solves every problem. Like, somebody else has you gotta call somebody and be like, yo. I'm I'm not gonna be in today. If something happens, like, you gotta handle it.

Mhmm.

Steve: And it's

Austin: like, well, if you can do that one day, why can't you do that every day?

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: So just being very conscious of my thought process, and forcing myself to travel to put better systems and people and processes in place.

Steve: So travel. If you'll travel, you'll find what's broken in your business. Yes. And And then you can fix it.

Austin: 100%. But people are too scared to travel.

Steve: Yeah. Well, if you don't have a business where you can walk away for a couple days, you don't have a business. Right? And so, like, you know, you're a mastermind. I'm a mastermind.

I've been in in some other crazy masterminds. And it's always fascinating to me when you're at a mastermind, when the guy's always walking in and out of the room.

Austin: Phone calls.

Steve: Yeah. Yep. Right? Because it's like, if you're always walking out of the room, then either you don't trust your people or you don't have the right people.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: It's one of those two things.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And it sucks. Mhmm. I can't imagine living that life.

Austin: I've been there. I've been the guy going in and out of the door, and I hated it.

Steve: Yeah. It's tough. So another thing that's interesting is I've been following you on TikTok. You're everywhere. You're always on my, for you thing.

Right? Why are you in TikTok?

Austin: Man, you know, we're talking about this before this, but social media eyeballs is the future. If you can if you can impact people, help people, you know, have people love, you know, love you, respect you, want to to be like you, wanna support you, whatever it is. I truly believe, like, when people ask, like, what's your net worth, it it it doesn't work like this, but it's going in that direction. Eyeballs, followers

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: Is a portion of your net worth now. Now. Yeah. Because, like, again, you can you can help more people. You can make more money with the more influence that you have.

So, you know, a little over a year, year and a half ago, I just went all in on social media.

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: And, TikTok is one of the only platforms where you can get, like, really, really good organic reach and get in front of more people. So we're on TikTok.

Steve: Yeah. It's interesting. Right? Because Gary Vee's been saying it for many, many years. Yep.

You know? Attention attention is currency.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And he's been telling us for many years, like, get on TikTok. Get on TikTok. Get on TikTok. And we're like, whatever.

Austin: Yep. It's a kid thing.

Steve: Right? It's like, you know, like, you got that coach that you kinda stop listening to. Like, you know, Bill Belichick, you know, he did really well. And then for a while, like, the players stopped listening to him. You know?

Yep.

Austin: I think

Steve: Gary Vee's been right many, many times. Like, so you're really right about this TikTok thing. Yep. And then you see it now. It's like, god.

I missed out on it.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: You know? So and I thought I missed out on it, but, like, it was definitely a lot easier.

Austin: Yeah. For sure.

Steve: A few months ago.

Austin: I had a buddy that so he told me to start it. I created an account. I made, like, one post, and I was like, forget that. Mhmm. And my buddy told me to do it.

And then that same buddy, like, four months later, he was like, yo. Like, you really gotta get on it. I got a 150,000 followers. He does personal training, online personal training. He's like, my business has, like, three x Mhmm.

Because he talks about, like, nutrition and stuff. He's like, like, you really gotta do this. And I was like, alright. I guess I'll do it. And then the first video I did, it was like how I became a millionaire.

And you just like point on beat type of thing. Mhmm.

Steve: And it

Austin: was like bought a house in 1920, you know, flipping first house 22, blah blah blah blah. And it went viral. I had like 400,000 views on it and like got tens of thousands of followers, hundreds of comments. And I was like, oh, man. Like, this is it.

Steve: Yeah. It's crazy.

Austin: And so but the other thing was social media too, that video, mo how I became a millionaire. People are scared what other other people think. Right? That's why they don't post on social media. I started going through the college feeling good.

Right? I was like, yeah, man. Like, let's let's let's let's let's let what people are saying. And it was, like, 30 comments of, like, 30 comments of, like, 30 comments of, like, 30 And then I kept reading. I was like, man, fuck them.

Like, I'm a do me. Like, y'all do whatever y'all wanna do.

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: So you just can't care what other people say.

Steve: I mean, I've had stuff when they're talking about, like, buying time Yeah. And buying time by, like, not eating. Yeah. You know? Fasting.

Yep. If you fast, you have more time and more money. And they're like, you you know, someone with those cheeks should not be giving comments about fasting. Like, god. That was unnecessary.

Austin: A 100%. And it's nonstop. And the more you're out there, the more you get.

Steve: Yeah. The more you get. Yeah. And it's funny you're talking about, like, the first one was the pointy thing because, I was talking to Con. I was like, Con, like, I need some tips.

Yep. Like, Conley, you know, you're crushing it. And this is when he just hit, like, a little past a million. Right? He's like 2.4 or something crazy now.

Austin: Going crazy.

Steve: I was like, you know, Conley, like, what do I gotta do to grow TikTok? He's like, end his response. Can you point?

Austin: It's literally that simple. We overcomplicated it. It's literally point on beat six times and write a couple words.

Steve: Yeah. It's nuts. Alright. So then what's the purpose, though? Like, so you're you're you're able to influence people.

Mhmm. You can demonstrate. Show them what you're doing. Yep. Got it.

And then, you know, Ryan Ryan Pineda was on the show, and he said that he got a bunch of money. Right? Lenders Yep. From TikTok. Yep.

So are you getting any private money from TikTok?

Austin: I haven't got it through TikTok, but I've got it through Instagram, and they may have came from TikTok.

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: But I've raised money from social media. I've bought deals from social media. I've sold deals from social media. I've coached people from social media. I've became friends with people from social media.

I became friends with people from social media. Like, it it's it's nonstop.

Steve: So raise money through Instagram. Let's talk about that story.

Austin: So I had a deal completely funded. Private money was the first position. I think it was, like, 100 in the first and $40 in the second position to fund a deal. And the next day, it was closing. And the person in $40,000 called it was a long time lender.

I think a deal went sideways or something, and they didn't end up getting paid off. They called me, like, 7PM the night before. I'm like, you couldn't give me, like, another day or two? He's like, hey, man. Like, I didn't even wanna make this call.

That's why it's so late, but I can't do the deal. I was like, what? He's like, I can't do it. I was like, it's cool. I'll handle it.

And, like, I could have called other lenders because, like, we we've built that, you know, those relationships.

Steve: I was

Austin: like, let me try Instagram out. So I posted on Instagram. I was like, yo. I need a $40,000 loan. I'm presenting opportunity for a $40,000 loan.

You know, if you're interested, hit me up. Bunch of people hit me up. Got on a call with a lady. Never met in person before. Never private messaged them before.

Nothing. Got on the phone, and I was like, hey. Like, you know, where you at? What do you do? Blah blah blah.

Well, here's the opportunity. I just wanna be transparent with you. It is a second lien position, which is harder to raise money for, and I need it in the next twelve hours. And, we like, we obviously, the conversation was longer than that. But at the end of the conversation, she was like, it's it's crazy that, like, this is our first time talking, and I'm getting ready to wire you $4,050,000 dollars.

Mhmm. But I feel like I know you personally from following you on social media for the last six months. Yeah. I'm in. I'll send the wire tomorrow morning.

Steve: So Crazy. Like, the the the relationships, the the connections that you have Yep. Because people watch you. And I think it's rightfully so

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: But it's still kinda crazy to me.

Austin: It it's my like, people ask to, like, take pictures with me, or I'm walking around. They're like, you're that TikTok guy. And it it's it's still very surreal to me right now.

Steve: I'm still waiting for that moment.

Austin: It's happened, like, twice to me, so

Steve: Yeah. I've seen it, you know, again, hanging out with Kong. And, like, a couple of times, like, hey. You're that guy. You know?

I was like, wow. This this is a real thing. Like, this actually happens.

Austin: 100%. But it's people always ask, like, what do you post? Right? People that follow you want to just see everything about you. They wanna see what time you wake up.

They wanna see what you eat for breakfast. They wanna see where you work out. They wanna see you going through your emails and closing deals. They wanna see you getting on the phone. They wanna see you driving to your car.

They want, like, they wanna see everything. Mhmm. So something that I learned, like, early on with social media, like, what do I post? You document, you don't create.

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: So you document what you're already doing in your day to day life. You don't have to go out there and get crazy and start creating. Eventually, you'll get to that. But to start, you just document it. You literally just post what you're already doing.

Steve: Yeah. It's really simple, but we still overcomplicate.

Austin: For sure.

Steve: So how are you finding deals right now?

Austin: Yeah. So, at the be like, at the beginning, it was just direct mail.

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: And then it got RVM cold call and SMS and direct mail. Always done direct mail. Now, like, really, the best leads is cold calling, and some direct mail. We I've done that for seven years. I've never stopped.

We still get deals from it. Their response rate has gone down for sure. Mhmm.

Steve: I think that's gonna go back up soon.

Austin: I agree. Because people are going away from it now that everyone's

Steve: Well, I think people are gonna yeah. I think texting's going away.

Austin: Agreed. And cold calling. Yeah. I think those response rates are dropping right now.

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: But right now, we're getting a ton of deals from social media. Yeah. Just just, you know, from other wholesalers messaging me in in our city and around the country. Mhmm. It's like, yo, you buying Columbus?

Yep. Yo, you buying Ohio? Yep.

Steve: Yeah. You know,

Austin: we got well, there's, like, four big markets in Ohio, and then we have buyers in all the markets. So I just phoned them to my team, and, you know, a lot of them we buy, and other ones we help, you know, co wholesale.

Steve: What are the markets you guys buying in?

Austin: So we only buy in Columbus, Ohio. Mhmm. But we do deals in Cincinnati, Cleveland, and, like, the Dayton area and Columbus, obviously.

Steve: And so it's interesting because, like, you know, a lot of people have said that the culture in Phoenix is really cool. There's a lot of collaboration. Right? We got Carlos, Sal Yep. Alex.

We got, the guys at Batch. We got Pace, Jamil A lot

Austin: of them.

Steve: Brand Daniels. Alright. But we all collaborate. We're all friends with all one another. And everyone looks at us like we're weird.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: You know? But then there's you and Tiffany and Jerry. Yep. And, I don't know how much you work with Tim Brotz, but, like, you guys are all friendly to one another as well.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: It's not like there's beef in there either.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: So talk to me about collaborating up in in in Ohio.

Austin: Yeah. So when I started, I was the guy that, like, wanted the like, everything. I wanted a 100% of my little little grape. Right? I don't wanna tell people, like, how to market.

I don't wanna tell people, like, how to talk to sellers. I don't wanna tell people, like, any of those things because if the secret got out, like, my business would be done. Right? And, finally, again, mentors have been huge in my life, you know, talking about having a having a 100% of grape or 20% of a huge watermelon. And, the cool thing is you meet better friends.

You know? You have real relationships with people. You make more money. Mhmm. You do cooler stuff.

You're not just doing, like, little $50,000 houses. You're doing, like, apartment buildings and new construction and other types of stuff. So collaboration has been huge for me. You know? There's there's still people that we cross by that is, like, 100 me me me me.

Mhmm. And they don't wanna collab, which is which is fine. But I I just like, my my niche is not your everybody else's niche. You know, if I get a, you know, 200 unit apartment deal, I'm calling Tim Bratz. Mhmm.

Right? If I get a a new construction house in Columbus now, we're not doing it anymore. I know who I'm calling. Right. So collaboration has been huge.

You know, it it's I've made more money with less headache and less time from j ving with people.

Steve: Yeah. Well, and the other thing too is collaborating. It's like you guys can compare notes.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: Like, it's just really quick. Like, hey. This stopped working for me. Does that work for you too? Yeah.

Exactly.

Austin: It's very very quick market research.

Steve: It's it's so impactful. And the thing is, like, the people that will collaborate with you are bigger thinkers.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: Right? And there are people in town that we don't collaborate with, which is fine. Like, whatever.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: But I feel, in some way, like, you know, bad for them because they'll never get better. Yep. Right? Like, they'll do well. They're doing great.

They're having great business, whatever. But they'll always be that That's it. For the rest of their career.

Austin: Yep. They're they're stuck. They'll never get out of it. Like, I think one of the people are like, oh, I've been, you know, wholesaling houses for ten years now. Like, I don't want that.

Like, ten years from now, like, I don't wanna be doing the same thing I've been doing. Yeah. Right? But that's how people get stuck, you know, that that there's an identity problem. You know, they're they think that real estate or wholesaling or flipping houses is is them, and, like, they're worried about what other people think about them.

Steve: Right.

Austin: But, you know, I I don't want that. I wanna keep going. You know, I love talking to people, networking with people, learning what's working, what's not working, and and continuous growth.

Steve: Yeah. Get better, grow. And, you know, I've I've given permissions to multiple people in my office, you know, got our brokerage here. I've I've said to them, if you ever see me in a continuing education class, which you need, right, to keep your license going

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And my hair is all white. Yep. You have permission to shoot me dead. Right? Yep.

Yep. Because that means I failed. Like, I was not growing.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: So Alright.

Austin: Growth is huge. But I think there's a real identity problem with some people. They think think that what they do is them Mhmm. And they can't change.

Steve: Right. I'm a wholesaler. Yeah. Right?

Austin: I'm That's it.

Steve: That's it. Yeah. Yeah. No. I'm with you there.

It it's it's huge that, if if you're if you are your profession and it's not that there's anything wrong with it. Mhmm. I think it just limits what your options are. Agreed. So Corey Guzman says SoFlo is the next guru capital.

What's interesting is it was the guru capital. Really? Tampa was the guru capital is what my under understanding was. Okay. And then Phoenix kinda took that mantle, I think, with Sean Terry leading leading that drive.

But it's it's looking like there might be, you know, between Tampa and Phoenix, we might be going back and forth.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: What part of Florida are you going to?

Austin: Fort Lauderdale.

Steve: Fort Lauderdale.

Austin: Yep. So it's so slow.

Steve: Alright. So, Adrian Chalis, I'm probably butchering the name, struggling right now to develop the right strategy to scale out the rental portfolio. Currently has one rental and one working full time job. What recommendation would you get somebody who's, trying to build a rental portfolio that's got a full time job?

Austin: I mean, there's a lot of ways you can go around doing it. You can you can do the traditional buy and turnkey, put 25% as a down payment on it. That's by far the least amount of time that you'll have involved into it, but you're gonna have the most money put into it as well. So if you have an an income where you're generating solid income, you know, do that. Buy a $100,000 fully renovated property with tenants in place paying a thousand dollars a month, put 20% down and make, you know, $300 a month.

It's a great thing if you already have other money coming in. But, like, if you don't have money, then you gotta do the BRRRR method. You gotta find deals yourself or buy them from wholesalers. A lot of our rentals, we still buy from wholesalers. People don't think, like, there's still margin left on them.

Like, we're still getting into 75¢ on the dollar and refi out with no money out of pocket. So those deals are still there. So, you know, either learn how to market, which if you have a full time job, you probably don't know how, or just network with wholesalers, buy deals from wholesalers, use private money to fund them, renovate them, rent them, refinance, and repeat the process.

Steve: Yep. And I think that's one of the, places where some people get lost, where you know, we got our show, so maybe we're part of the problem, is that they have this idea, like, I need to quit my job wholesale to buy rentals.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: You can just jump right in the rentals.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: You know? Like, I quit my job at Intel, you know, to get into real estate and kind of this thing where a lot took my eye off the ball. Right? But I could've just kept my job

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: And buy rental properties. I could've just done that. But I went this thing where I should become a real estate agent. You know? I gotta wholesale to build my rental portfolio.

No. Like, if you got a good job, Adrian, you can just buy rentals.

Austin: 100%. 100%.

Steve: And then a couple of guys are see here are saying that BRRRR is the ultimate, investment. Guys, if you guys have any questions, please ask here. Alright. So do you so Ray wants to know, do you worry about advertising for lenders? I guess this probably goes into maybe, you know, SEC concerns.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: So do you do anything to protect yourself in that regard?

Austin: Yeah. So I've I don't, like, advertise. I don't say, like, hey. I got this deal for a $100. I'm paying you 10% interest.

There's some exact line of what you can't do. I think it's offering, like, a specific interest rate. You can't, like, offer a a SEC a security or whatever. Mhmm. So I've never done that.

But I've always showcased deals to spark conversation.

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: So I'll I'll do, like, a a case study. I'll be like, hey. You know, I bought this house for 50, put 50 into it, sold it for a 150. I made $30,000. My lender, without any work of his own, just by writing a check, made $10,000 in interest.

Mhmm. So, like, I'm still saying, like, hey. I'm raising private money without saying, hey. I'm raising private money without saying, hey. I'm raising private money at 10%.

Steve: Right.

Austin: Because they look at it and they're like, how what? He made $10 without doing any work? Like, I'm confused. And then somebody's gonna message you like, how'd the lender make money? Now your foot's in the door to have that conversation.

So, you know, I've raised, like, over $20,000,000 to fund all my deals, the everything, the flips, the new builds, the rentals, everything. And what I always say people always ask me, like, where's money at? First of all, money's everywhere. Literally, anybody you

Steve: meet see that right now. It's literally everywhere. Literally.

Austin: But anybody you meet can become a private money lender. And the the next question is, like, well, how do I, like, talk to them? Mhmm. And what I always say, like, when I'm out, like, me and my girlfriend go out to dinner, and she wants to, like, sit at a table and, like, have a date. And we do those sometimes.

But I always go to the bar because, like, I wanna be next to people. Especially before COVID, it was a lot easier. But even today, we still do it. I talk to the bartender. I talk to people to my left.

Talk to people to my right. I go to car shows. I go to country clubs. I go to places where money is at. Mhmm.

And inevitably, the conversation always leads to, like, well, what do you do? And if I ask you what do you do, you know, I'm in real estate. People ask me when I peep when people usually ask me way back, I'd say I'm in real estate. No. Like, oh, cool.

And just walk away.

Steve: Yeah. It's boring.

Austin: Exactly. So now when people ask me what do I do, it depends who I'm talking to. You know, if I'm talking to a young kid and they see the, you know, the Rolls Royce pull up, I don't say, like, I'm in real estate. I say, like, I actually teach other people how to buy this car. How do you do that?

Right. You know?

Steve: It's a wealth of Wall Street moment.

Austin: Exactly. But, like, when I'm trying to raise private money, they're like, well, what do you do? So, actually, I teach other people how to invest their money into real estate and earn possibly earn double digit returns. How do how do you how do you teach those people? And now your foot's in the door.

Yeah. So there's a whole another conversation after that, but you just have to get the conversation started Mhmm. And get the interest peaked. And then, you know, you can pitch them a deal that you have or an upcoming deal that you have. Tell them about private money, how they can earn money on, you know, retirement accounts, bank accounts, all that stuff.

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: But you just gotta start the conversation.

Steve: Well and I think it's awesome that you're intentional with it. Right? Because I actually had, one of my past clients, he's, he was telling me, like, you know, he's in the car club. He's like, you know, you should be in the car club. I was like, I mean, there's gonna be a lot of money there.

Yeah. Let's let's go to the car club.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: Right? And so, I I guess it's invite only or something, so it's pretty cool.

Austin: Absolutely.

Steve: Alright. So the the message here, when you're talking to, what you do, is you cater your answer to what's probably going on inside their head.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: Right? And that's the key to marketing, effective marketing Yeah. And sales Yep. Is figure out what the other person wants Mhmm. And see if you have that you can give it to them.

So if a kid's asking you, what do you do? Yep. He probably wants a Rolls Royce.

Austin: Yeah. Exactly.

Steve: Right? And someone's got a lot of money, they wanna make more money.

Austin: Absolutely. Yeah. Passively.

Steve: Yeah. So that's brilliant that you you cater your message. I love that.

Austin: Another thing on the private money tip, a lot of the money that I've been able to get has been because I've taught them how to how to raise their own money, you know, whether that's a home equity line of credit or rolling their retirement accounts to self directed retirement accounts or tapping into a cash value life insurance policy. So if you understand, like, how people can get access to, you can ask better questions and get the real answers

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: And then teach them how to make money. Like, my parents, they they, they got a home equity line of credit. I I think they pay, like, 4% or something, and they lend it out at, like, twelve.

Steve: Right.

Austin: So they're making 8 percent on money that's not even theirs. Mhmm. They have a cash value life insurance policy as well. They pay, like, four or 5% to themselves Mhmm. And then they lend it out 12%.

Steve: Right.

Austin: Right? So teaching people how to get access, you know, it it puts more private money in your pocket at the end of the day.

Steve: Yeah. And I think that's something that maybe is not talked about enough is actually understanding money to a certain degree. And if you if you can understand it, you can coach someone through

Austin: it Yep.

Steve: Then you're not just a borrower. Yeah. You're a resource. Yep. 100%.

I think that's huge.

Austin: I've I've literally got I got goosebumps just saying this, but I've literally gotten text messages. Like, I just retired two years early. Thank you. Like, that that's the most rewarding thing, like, I can do. Right?

Yeah. You can help me make money, and I can help you live a better life than you ever dreamed of.

Steve: Like Yeah.

Austin: It's a win win.

Steve: Oh, absolutely. That's definitely rewarding. Let's see. He also Ray wants to know, do you do creative deals?

Austin: I'm doing my first, what's it called? First subject to, like, next week. I've never done one. I've always just bought it with cash or private money.

Steve: Yeah. So this was the follow-up question. This is from Luis. It says, why BRRRR when you can do subject to or seller finance?

Austin: So the thing was, like people always love, like, the idea subject to. Right? Everyone's like, woah. Why don't they send it to us to buy? Like, you know, this doesn't work.

Oh, what if I get a subject to to you? The only difference between buying it with private money and buying it subject to is you're saving the interest on the the balance of the loan. So if it's like a $100,000 loan, you still gotta make the mortgage payments. So you're really only saving a couple percent in interest. The only way for us that it makes sense to buy a subject to, if you have access to a lot of private money, is if it's, like, almost turnkey and it's gonna be very little money out of pocket.

Because, like, let's say you buy a deal subject to, but you gotta pay the seller $20 to walk away, and you gotta put $30 into the rehab. Now this great subject to deal, you got $50,000 into it of your own money.

Steve: Which is you could you just got the

Austin: private money somewhere else. Exactly. You could've bought two turnkey deals for that. Yeah. So we've just haven't had that many opportunities that actually make sense.

But this deal that we're buying, we're picking it up. It's gonna be, like, $5 in rehab subject to the existing mortgage, and we're gonna keep it as a rental property because it's only $5 out of pocket for a great rental property. Yeah.

Steve: So Jeremy Mathis says that you're the GOAT.

Austin: What's up, Jeremy?

Steve: And he wants to know how do you teach your team to analyze deals for you?

Austin: Yeah. One of the questions I got very early on from the sales team was like, well, how should I analyze this deal? If the deal makes sense, we can make money from it. You don't have to analyze it as a just a rental property or just a flip or just a wholesale. If the deal makes sense, you can make money on it.

So I always tell them, like, we kinda use two ways to analyze it. The super super quick way is, like, look at what other cash sales are selling for in the area and just get it beneath that. That's, like, the easiest way you can go. Yeah. But it's not always, like, the data is not always that clear.

So we just have a spreadsheet where we put in the ARV, the, the rehab budget, and then it spits out the price for us. Yeah. And then give or take, that's generally where we need to be. And then if it's close, you do further research. You finalize the numbers.

But if you need to be like, off of that, if you need to be at a 100 and they're, like, 200, like, you just move on to the next one.

Steve: If you

Austin: need to be at a 100, they're at, like, $1.10, $1.20, $1.30. Usually, there's a way to make that deal work.

Steve: Got it. Is this in your, blueprint?

Austin: Yeah. Yep.

Steve: Awesome. Very cool. You wanna talk about your blueprint?

Austin: Yeah. You know, it's it's a online course, teaching people how to get started, in real estate. Basically, like somebody brand new or somebody who's done a couple deals that still wants the guidance of how to grow. So it teaches wholesaling, marketing, sales and negotiation, raising private money, flipping houses, managing contractors, and buying rental property. So it's it's the blueprint of real estate.

Steve: It's a lot. Alright. So, so Adrian was saying, I think many people like myself get stuck in seeing the big real estate investors. I feel as if we don't have as many rental properties as they do when we're we're not making or or or doing it right. So I guess might be a little of, keeping up with the Joneses Yeah.

Potentially.

Austin: 100%. Again, like, are you building a business that you want? Are you scaling chaos? Are you chasing something that you don't actually want? Because I know a lot of people that have great businesses, and they show, like, the gross profit numbers, but the net is the same as it was if they had one person.

Mhmm. So, like, do you want that extra headache to to look good on social media? You know? Social media, you can get caught up forever trying to chase somebody because on social, you only see the 1% of their perfect life.

Steve: Right. You

Austin: know? Everybody goes through struggle. You know? I go through struggles. I lose money on deals.

You know? I try to show that on social to be real with people, but people get way too caught up in keeping up with the Joneses.

Steve: I was laughing at your video of your tripod falling over.

Austin: I was doing my dance and it fell. I was like, I'm a post this anyways. Yeah.

Steve: It's real life.

Austin: For sure.

Steve: Okay. So how do you set it up where if you're how do you set it up so that you're not the one looking for deals anymore?

Austin: You gotta have a team. You know, it's it's that simple. If you want to not be a solopreneur and not be the guy in the meetings that has to go in and out of the rooms to pick up phone calls, you gotta hire a team. You know? Usually, starts with, like, a lead, like, manager.

It starts with a cold caller, so you get off the, you know, the front end of the phones. Then it's usually, like, a lead manager or warmer upper to hand them off to you. And then, ideally, that person learns enough where they just start closing the deals themselves.

Steve: Yep. And I think one of the other things too is, you know, it it's hard for this. You you you learn this as you get older Mhmm. Is you have to give people permission to fail.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: You know? Like, every every time someone makes a mistake, like, you lose it, then they're gonna be terrified. Like, they'll screw something up, and they won't even tell you. It's like the, if you're if you're dinging the tenant for every repair Yeah. And then they don't tell you about the the repair Yep.

And now you've got crazy, mold, you know, damage. Right?

Austin: 100%.

Steve: You gotta give people permission, to fail.

Austin: 100%. That was a struggle for me because, like, I was I was the one that wanted to know about every penny of every deal of every detail of everything. And, you know, I was just, like, on people. But, like, I've purposely people have told me decisions. I know we're losing money, but I let them do the decision anyways.

Steve: Yeah. You have to. It's hard.

Austin: And I'm not gonna let them lose a $100. But, like, if they make a decision and we gotta lose a $200 earnest money deposit, like, I'm gonna eat that so they can learn that lesson.

Steve: Right. As long as we're learning.

Austin: Agreed.

Steve: Travis Copeland wants to know, how does he get on your mastermind yacht or mastermind on the yacht?

Austin: What's up, Travis? I'll I'll see you in Cabo in June.

Steve: And Jeremy wants to play one on one.

Austin: He don't want that smoke.

Steve: What did you play?

Austin: I was point point guard. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Yep. You're pretty tall. So

Austin: Got buckets. We you can do it anytime, Jeremy.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I'm I'm gonna wanna end on this. So what does your team look like currently?

Austin: So sales team, one salesperson, disposition slash project manager. So they dispose if we wholesale it, which we don't often. Mhmm. And then they run the contractors, whether it's a flip or a, or a rental property. And then, like, a TC assistant transaction coordinator assistant.

And then, like, we have property management company that manages all the rental properties. And then yeah.

Steve: So you're back to self managing?

Austin: The rentals?

Steve: Yeah.

Austin: No. We got property management that does them.

Steve: So you have a property management company that you you use?

Austin: Yes. Correct.

Steve: Okay. I thought you were saying that you own it.

Austin: No. No. No. No. No.

No. I thought about building it, and I talked to some people, and they're like, don't do it.

Steve: No. If you're gonna do it, you have to go huge. Yeah. You can't do it small.

Austin: Agreed. And then we just started putting some Airbnbs in play, which I love. We got two. We're doing a third one, and I'll I got, like, 20 doors in one neighborhood that's, like, booming right now. So we're gonna transition all of them over.

But, like, we're putting the I'm still learning it. But putting, like, the auto responder systems in place and then just have, like, my assistant help with, like, you know, the variables in place.

Steve: Who is the target audience that's, going to Columbus or Airbnb?

Austin: It's a great question. And that's why I didn't do it for a long time because I didn't think there was a market for it. But there's a lot of, like, weddings and stuff that still happen where, you know, families coming in. What I found is the bigger houses that don't really make sense is, like, just rental properties because, like, they're just so large and they cost too much, actually turn out to be great rent, Airbnbs. Yeah.

So, you know, I'm rehabbing a property now that would never work as a rental property, but I own a house six houses down in Airbnb currently, and it's booming. So I'm gonna do the same thing. But, families, weddings, we have a big convention center. A lot of a lot of, conventions are held there for, like, gymnastics, the Arnold, you know, the big Arnold Schwarzenegger, his events in Columbus.

Steve: Oh, that's right.

Austin: You can charge crazy prices

Steve: for those guys. Canton? Yeah. I

Austin: think it's, like, two hours, two and a half. Yeah. If I was gonna go Ohio,

Steve: I think that's where I would wanna go visit.

Austin: Yeah. They have the the hall of fame's there. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. But, yeah, they're great. We love them.

Steve: Alright. So Ben wants to know if you could have coffee with someone dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Austin: Oh, that's a great question. Damn. I'm a have to think on that one. I mean, like, I wanna get to know people that understand business. Like, I don't care about, like, sitting down with, like, a NBA player or something like that.

Like, I want somebody that, like, thinks different, like the like the the Jeff Bezos or the Elon Musks, or the Tim Cooks or, you know, somebody that's, like, been way outside of the box and been wildly successful. I wanna know, like, how they they actually, like, process thoughts. Yeah. Because a lot of people, like, just think and then just keep it pushing. Other people, like, kinda think on the thoughts, but, like, they're on a whole another level.

Steve: Yeah. I'm with you on Elon. I'm a big Elon fanboy. He's, he definitely does not think like other people think.

Austin: No. Not at all. And I wanna I wanna know what that's like.

Steve: As Adrian says, yeah, he definitely has a problem with keeping up with the Joneses. So, do I need so many rentals, or if I'm satisfied with a certain income coming in, then that's okay. And, Adrian, look, you are not alone. I actually had this conversation with my wife two nights ago.

Austin: Yep.

Steve: And she actually asked me the question, like, when is enough enough? You know, like, how how much do you travel? How much do you need to do this and that? And I was like, you remember that movie, The Greatest Showman? You know that song?

You know where she sings, like, it's never enough? Like Yeah. That's, like, my theme song.

Austin: It's it's a moving target. I'm still trying to find that answer. Yeah. But something that I did that brought some clarity to that question Mhmm. Is think up, like, what your dream month would be like.

Are you living on a yacht? Are you flying a private jet? Are you living in Columbus? Are you living in Turks and Caicos? Mhmm.

Are you traveling with your entire family? Are you traveling just with you and your wife? Think about what, like, your perfect month looks like, and then add all that up. Mhmm. And then add, like, 30% on top of that.

And then that's the goal now because that's your perfect lifestyle.

Steve: Right.

Austin: And the problem is with us, when we get there, we're like, alright. Well, I wanna own the jet instead of rent the jet. Yeah. But, like I

Steve: don't wanna be some schmuck running a jet. I wanna own the jet. I wanna own the island. Exactly. Like, I was at, Richard Branson.

Right? He owns an island. Yep.

Austin: Mhmm. And he owns a lot of stuff.

Steve: Yeah. He owns a lot of things.

Austin: But it's like it's figuring out, like, what you want your lifestyle to look like. Because every level, there's there's a lifestyle adjustment you have to make to it.

Steve: You know,

Austin: if you wanna make a $100 a year, you can do that very passively and live, you know, completely comfortable. You wanna make a million dollars a year, you know, there's some extra work you're gonna have to put in. There's some, you know, late nights you're gonna have to put in when things go south. Mhmm.

Steve: If you

Austin: wanna make a $100,000,000, there's even more things that you gotta do. So you just gotta ask yourself, like, what do you want your life to look like and then adjust the income to fit that lifestyle.

Steve: Yeah. And what price are you willing to pay?

Austin: Agreed. 100%. Yeah.

Steve: Alright. So, Travis wants to know how much doge Dogecoin are you holding?

Austin: Zero right now. But And

Steve: then, HODLing. I don't even know what HODL is.

Austin: HODL hold hold and never sell or something like that.

Steve: I gotta learn this whole other crypto world.

Austin: I love crypto.

Steve: Which is also, you know, keeping up with the Joneses. So then how much do you own in crypto if you don't mind answering that question?

Austin: 7 figures into it.

Steve: There you go. So are you using proper order to talk about that? Can you talk about hiring an acquisition person, no salary, so I'm guessing all all commission, while only having, like, a two man team. How do you get them to go over the job over other opportunities that offer base pay?

Austin: Yeah. So getting somebody to start a 100% just commission Mhmm. Is definitely gonna be difficult unless they came from a 100% sales job already. So that's usually, like if you if you're hiring a killer that knows how to sell, that's producing maybe in car sales or something, you know, you may be able to get them to come in a 100% commission if you can prove to them that you're actually producing the amount of leads you need to produce. But if you're not or if the people's newer, you know, starting them as we call it like a like a junior act, junior acquisition, putting them on a small base with a small commission for anything that they bring to the table, and telling them, like, hey.

You know, my goal if you want this to be the goal, my goal for you is to learn this game, start closing the deals, and then move you to a 100% commission because you'll make more money over there, and it's less overhead for us. Mhmm. So getting somebody to come out the gate with no commit with no base, is is gonna be difficult, especially because in real estate, you get a deal today. Sometimes it takes twenty, thirty, sixty, ninety days to get paid on it. So it's gonna be very difficult for them to wait to one, two, three months to actually make money.

Steve: Yeah. And we tell them right off the bat in the interview, like, just don't expect to get paid for three months.

Austin: Yeah. Alright. That's a great expectation to see.

Steve: If you can if you can come in here knowing you won't get paid for three months, then, okay, let's let's work together. But Yeah. You're telling me, like, you can't hold out three months, then, this isn't gonna work because you don't have commission breath. Yep. So Salama says the goat again.

What did your marketing look like when you were doing 10 plus deals a month 10 plus wholesale deals a month?

Austin: Yeah. So we're sending out about 15,000, pieces of drag mail every month. We had three full time cold callers cold calling all day every day. I think it was, like, a thousand RVMs a day, and then a couple thousand text messages a day. We had PPC going as well, and then we're still buying from wholesalers on top of that.

So, like, I I got into the game buying. So, like, that that's always been something that we could do. But, the budget was, like, 25 ish grand a month, when it was at its peak.

Steve: And then, why a Rolls Royce?

Austin: So I just I love the car. When I was, 17 years old, freshman year in high school, I bought a Chrysler 300, because it's, like, the thing that

Steve: I was a lot like it. Yeah.

Austin: Exactly. But it's the only thing I could afford, obviously. So I I don't know. I just always loved it. You know, bought the bought the, Chrysler, sold it.

Always had the dream of the Wraith. Finally was able to do it, and I was like, alright. I gotta get the Wraith.

Steve: That's awesome. Yeah. Because I see it every once in a while in the background, on TikTok. Alright. So Maurice George wants to know, have you ever done any commercial real estate or, service, service hotel, strip mall, something like that?

Austin: So I own a six unit, like, office building. Mhmm. So, like, not like a a strip center. But six unit office building, an eight unit, apartment building, a six unit apartment building, and then the rest doubles and singles. So never, like, commercial commercial, but, like, commercial loans on the bigger apartment buildings.

Steve: Got it. And then what is your biggest struggle right now?

Austin: Oh, that's a great question. Honestly, I think it's like clarity. Like, feel trying to figure out exactly what you want out of life. You know? There's there's a lot of ways to make money, multiple streams of income, but, like, what do you enjoy doing?

Because I've been down the path chasing money, and it it's cool. It's fun. You make a lot of money doing it, but, inevitably, that that wears out. Mhmm. So you gotta really find out, like, what makes you happy.

Like, right now, it's it's building a brand. It's helping people. I get I get hundreds of messages a day and people thanking me, like, yo. I just bought my first house. I've been following you for six months.

Thanks, man. Yo. I just, you know, retired. You know, we did a 100 k in wholesale fees, you know, from following your trainings. You know?

That's what I get happiness out of now. So it's not really chasing the money for me right now. It's, it's just trying to find out exactly what I want.

Steve: It's kind of a crazy answer for 27 year old. How do you stay motivated?

Austin: The why. Again, at the beginning, it was it was I wanted the money. Right? I wanted the nice things out

Steve: Oh, we all started.

Austin: It's it's called spade a spade. But, again, once you start getting that, it changes. So, like, motivation now part of the cool thing about posting on social, which you don't realize until you're in it, it it holds you accountable as well.

Steve: It's like

Austin: you have a whole group of accountability partners.

Steve: Everyone knows when I'm not running.

Austin: Exactly. Yeah. Like, I'll I'll go a day. I went a day without posting. I had a life, a family matter I had to tend to.

And people were messaging me like, bro, you okay? Like, what's going on? Like, I didn't see post yesterday. But, you know, they they encouraged me to keep going, and a little bit of lifestyle. Like, I still want nicer things, so I'm still pushing for money, and and helping people right now.

Steve: What is your superpower?

Austin: I hate that. I ask this question too, but it's always a weird answer. I think I'm very conscious of my thoughts. Again, I think a lot of people just run twenty four seven, three sixty five and never take a step back to to think where they are in life. It's called the thought on the thought.

Like, you think you think something, but, like, what's the thought? Why did you think that? How do you solve that problem? You know, I say a lot of times, you can't control what you cannot control what comes into your mind, but you can control your reaction to that that thought. So it's like a thought on a thought.

Just being very conscious of that. One one thing cool that I do, I journal every time I make a big purchase and I have a journal just for that. So like the first thing I bought the jaguar, like, alright, what's my thought process? Why do I want this? Am I buying it for me, or am I buying it for other people?

You know? Is it making me happy? Whatever that is. And I bought a Rolex. Same thing.

I bought a bigger crib. Same thing. I bought a Wraith. Same thing. I bought you know, I'm moving to Florida, paying a lot more to live there.

Same thing. And it's cool to see, like, how that thought process changes over time. You know, what was once a big decision Mhmm. Is no longer even a a conversation.

Steve: It's not on your radar anymore.

Austin: Yeah.

Steve: Those list of questions, where do those questions come from?

Austin: Which ones?

Steve: Am I doing this for me? Am I doing this for other people?

Austin: Got it. Got it. Got it. Mentors.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a huge resource if that's something that you could share.

Austin: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Steve: Give you the send it to me later. I'll post it in the in the show notes. I think that would be great for a lot of people that kinda kinda try to understand their motivation

Austin: 100%.

Steve: Behind what they're doing. 100%. I think that's that's awesome.

Austin: Again, most people just do it to chase clout, to keep up with the Joneses, like the Wraith. Like, I I wanted the Wraith. It's not an investment. I'm going to lose money. I'm gonna lose money on the vehicle.

But the cool thing is when you think about things differently now, how can you get something how can you get a, liability to pay for itself? You know? That car has paid for itself many times over from partnerships, from meeting people, from private money, whatever it is. So you it's very important to think. The thought on the thought.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I think the other thing too is we we we struggle. We work crazy hours. We we take risks.

Austin: Big ones.

Steve: You know? And we're always looking at, like, you know, the return on this, return on that. At some point, you have to do something for you.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: At some point, you have to just, like, okay. I'm getting this Yep. For me.

Austin: Yep. So And it's not investment. Like, I I want this because I want this.

Steve: No. Like, I know I'm throwing money away. Right?

Austin: This is

Steve: money going out the window

Austin: Yep.

Steve: But I'm doing it for me.

Austin: 100%. Yeah.

Steve: You gotta do that. Otherwise, what's the point 100%. Of doing everything we're doing.

Austin: 100%.

Steve: What's the greatest lesson you've learned? I

Austin: I heard this, back when I was a teenager, and it was when you're not working, somebody else is. And there's two ways to take that. When when you're not working, somebody else is working, take your spot. There's two ways to take that.

Steve: Yeah. I saw that on a no fear T shirt.

Austin: And one way to take that is, like, I have to work twenty four seven, three sixty five. Mhmm. And that's how I took it at the beginning. And I did work 247365. But I don't work 247365 now.

You work smarter, not harder. You put the right systems in place. You hire the right people, the right processes. You make the highest income producing activity. Like, I can put a product out for $5 and sell a thousand of them like that.

Mhmm. But, like, is that really worth the time making the product, or is it better time spent, you know, helping people or creating content or whatever it is? So, you know, that's that's what my best driver is now is spending time creating content, connecting with people, and actually building relationships from that.

Steve: Yeah. Huge. What is your favorite best or most interesting

Austin: failure? I think my favorite a couple. So when basketball when the dream of basketball disappeared, like, finding myself again, was was a big one. And, you know, it was a blessing in disguise. They took me away from this opportunity to put me on a platform to make money in real estate and to get backing up other people.

So I think that was huge. And then the first time I lost money, was was not it was a horrible experience, but it was a good lesson learned. And then the second time I lost money, I was actually partnering with a friend, and we thought we're gonna make, like, $60 or something. And then we underestimated the rehab and overshot the ARV, like, how everybody does.

Steve: Right? And

Austin: we planned on, like, a three month, hold time and ended up being, like, a eighteen month hold time. Wow. Yeah. So, you know, went from making 50 to losing, like, 40. Mhmm.

And, I think it was I think it was, like, 25 or something. And I stressed on it for eighteen months. Months. You know, that that was still a lot of money to me at the time. Right?

And I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it. And finally, I woke up one day, and it wasn't selling. We're trying to figure out what to do with it. Didn't make sense as a rental property. And I picked up the phone and called my, called my buddy.

I was like, do you want this house? He's like, well, I mean, I guess I could do an Airbnb on it. I said, bet. I'll write you a check today. Come pick it up.

And I ate the whole loss

Steve: Mhmm.

Austin: Wrote the check, and just got it out of sight, out of mind. So spend your time on things that grow and make money. Once there's a loss, like, you're losing money. You can't you can't save the deal and and get out of it for free.

Steve: Just cut it.

Austin: Cut it. Cut it and move on.

Steve: Yeah. Is there a book that you've given, gifted more than any other?

Austin: Think and Grow Rich. I have I've ordered hundreds of those. I actually keep them in the trunk of my car. So anytime I see, like, a kid, you know, I'll sling them water bottles on the corner street corner or something, try and give them a book as well.

Steve: That's awesome. Paying it for it because you you got it when you were young too.

Austin: I wish I remembered who gave it to me too. Yeah. I don't. But it's it you know, highly recommended.

Steve: Hopefully, they're watching the podcast.

Austin: Agreed.

Steve: How do you feel about crypto mining?

Austin: Mining? Mhmm. I don't really have an opinion on that, but I love crypto.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. What do you love about crypto?

Austin: I think it's the future. So, a friend of mine so I put money in back in 2017 when everything took a crap. Mhmm. Luckily, it was only, like, $500. So, like, you know, I lost, like, 80% of $500.

So I was like, oh, like, that's not it. Like, I don't wanna do that anymore. And then a friend came to me in, like, October, November, and he's like, I got something. I was like, what is it? Like, what's up?

And he's like, crypto. And I was like, why? And he kinda told me why. I went home. I watched, like, eight hours of videos on YouTube that night, and I started to truly understand it.

We ended up buying Ethereum at, like, $300. Bitcoin at, like, $700. I mean, $7,000. I was gonna say $7. Yeah.

$7. So I was like, proof of concept is there. You know? Made a lot of money. Started doing a ton more research.

And the use cases for some of these cryptos that are coming out, a 100% will change the world, and I wanna be part of that. To me, it's like finding the Amazon when nobody knew what Amazon was.

Steve: But everyone's talking about it.

Austin: I think there's, like, five to 10% of the population that's talking about it. We we we see

Steve: surrounded by it. Exactly.

Austin: So it's it's the entire crypto market cap is $2,000,000,000,000. Like, that's not that much money. It was, like, 400,000,000,000 in October, and now it's 2,000,000,000,000. So it's five x'd in six months. So I I think it's the future.

Steve: Nuts. Alright. So, last question is from Solomon is what the what how did you come up with the term elevate?

Austin: So I was thinking about all the different terms like accelerate and and elevate and all these things, and everything was taken. So it I don't know. I just brainstormed. I journaled on it and came up with with elevate life. So, it's just like how business, obviously, how to make money.

But past that, like, how do you become the best, like, father, son, husband, wife, whatever it is to to your people to your people, especially, like, parents? Like, how do you become how do I when I have kids, like, I wanna be the best dad. I wanna be a 100% present, all those things. How do you give back and help people and change most people's lives? So just elevating life in all aspects.

Most people just talk about business, but, like, how do you how do you help all the way around?

Steve: Yeah. That's awesome. A lot of thought put into it. Alright. So think about, anything you wanna leave the listeners with.

Okay. Guys, if you get value, please like, subscribe, share, comment. It helps the algorithms, which means we can get in front of more people and we create a 100 millionaires. And then we do have our workshop, on May 21. So if you guys are interested in that, send me a DM.

Also, you know, we're offering JV opportunities with the brewer method. If you guys are interested in that, check out brewermethod.com. What are the last thoughts I'm gonna leave listeners

Austin: with? For sure. So kinda tying it back to the beginning. You know, some people like that are dedicated, will spend that you know, max out their credit card, but everybody tells them not to. Right?

Steve: Yeah. We tell them not to.

Austin: Agreed. But we do it. Agreed. I believe in life, like, people that, like, want something more from themselves are on the cliff, and they're looking over. And then they see the potential, but they they still have some fear or some self doubt or they're still listening to some people or whatever it is.

Lean into people in your life that are are positive and that believe in you. There's always somebody, somewhere that's positive and believes in you. Even if there's ninety nine ninety nine people are negative, there's that one person that's positive. Because I believe when people are on the edge of the cliff, they need a little push to get going. So, I try to do that for people.

I encourage everybody, you know, listening to be that person for someone. Don't, you know, hold people back. Don't tell people how bad of a decision is gonna be. Or what if this negative thing, what if that negative thing, what if it's the best decision they've ever made in their entire life and you're the one holding them back? So I encourage everybody to encourage others to do that, and it's okay to be at that cliff.

Some people just need that push.

Steve: Yeah. I love it. And what we always love to tell people is, like, look. It's gonna suck Yeah. A lot.

Austin: For sure. It's not easy.

Steve: But it's so worth it. Yeah. Life changing. It's incredible.

Austin: I've never had anybody that took the leap of faith Mhmm. Come back to me and say, I wish I would've waited longer. Yeah. It's always, man, if I knew that, like, I'd have been done it.

Steve: Yeah. There's no one that regrets

Austin: 100%.

Steve: Going for it. 100%. You're not gonna and even if you did, or even if you did it and it didn't work out, now you know. Yep. There's never this regret in the back of your mind.

Austin: 100%. So awesome.

Steve: Someone wants to get a hold of you, how how would they do that?

Austin: Yeah. So you can find me. Instagram is where I communicate the most. Instagram is at Austin Rutherford official. I got a YouTube channel, Austin Rutherford, and TikTok, Austin Rutherford as well.

Steve: Awesome. Thank you very much.

Austin: Absolutely. Appreciate it.

Steve: Thank you guys for watching.