Dan Brault Shares How He Went From Giving Up With 350,000+ in Personal Debt to Paying All His Debt Off in 12 Months

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. Today, we have Dan Bro with House Buyers Club, and he flew in from Rochester, New York to talk about how he went from struggling to massive debt to paying off his debt in less than twelve months. If this is your first time tuning in, I am Steve Trang, founder of the Office Fast Homes app, the only MLS for off market wholesale properties. And I'm on a mission to create 100 millionaires.

We do have our workshop kind of coming up in three weeks. If you wanna see if you qualify, please go to disruptors.com. And if you get value guys today, please tag a friend below, share this episode, comment, so on. If you guys can really do this, it would help us a lot because we that way we can all grow together, because a rising tide does lift all boats. And this is a live show, so please ask your questions for Dan to answer.

You ready?

Dan Brault: Ready.

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

Dan: I've always liked houses. And when I was when I first started in real estate, I was in the medical device field. And I was looking into retirement investing and didn't like the options I saw. Yeah. And started reading some real estate books, saw all the advantages that it had long term and short term and, thought I could do that too.

Steve: So you didn't like your options that you saw as in, like, four zero one k or Yeah.

Dan: Yeah. Just the uncertainty, the lack of control. You know, I have a little bit of a control thing. Sure. So, yeah, it just seemed way more appealing to me.

The the cash flow, the ass the depreciation, the the equity gain just Right. Made sense to me.

Steve: So what books were the ones that opened your eyes? 13. Yeah.

Dan: So I think pretty much everyone that's been on the show has probably read Rich Dad, Poor Dad. God, honestly, I've read so many books. I I don't even remember them all. I read I went through I talked to every real estate investor I could find in Rochester and and interviewed them and read every book, you know, even House Flipping for Dummies, Rental Properties for Dummies, all all those. I I read as much as I could.

Steve: Why I really like that part where you went to go talk to everyone, all the other investors in Rochester because that's kinda how I started was I always interviewed. Right? I kinda pick a prank and go to lunch and so on. Mhmm. So that's what you did.

So talk to talk to everyone. How was that experience? I learned a lot.

Dan: I mean, a lot about what I

Dan: wanted to do and what I didn't wanna do. You know, not all these guys were thrilled with what they had done, the businesses they had built. Really? Yeah. Just, you know, landlords, tenants are a pain.

Gotcha. You know, areas to stay out of, you know, some of those city properties, they look like the cash flow really well. But then you look at who's inside them and the the headaches you have to deal with. So that helped me steer away from that. Can't make decisions based on just the cap rate.

Right. Right. It's not always what it seems.

Steve: Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. So when was that? When you were, like, investigating your options and which direction to go?

Dan: Yeah. That was I started all this about five years ago. So started out, flipped my first house, did all the work myself. That was a mistake. It was a disaster.

I've never done that again.

Steve: Why was that disaster?

Dan: Just I hated it, about every second of it. It took me away from from my wife. Well, we weren't married at the time yet, but, you know, I was I had a full time job, and then I would go there after work on weekends. It just took up all my time. And I didn't really know what I was doing that much.

It was I was learning on the job, and and I think we maybe broke even on it. But, you know, my first time, I I made so many mistakes.

Steve: Oh, Oh, you're also working full time too?

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So you didn't quit to go do real estate yet?

Dan: No. Not at that point. Okay.

Steve: So what was that journey? So the first flip was a mistake. I mean, what I said to people before, if you don't lose money in your first flip, you actually came out ahead. Right. Right?

Because you get to learn a lot on that first one. Yeah. So did you continue on this flipping, like, progress? Like, what

Dan: did you do? Yeah. After that so I started acquiring a few rental properties and then decided after that experience of doing the work myself and how well that went, decided to hire some crews to do the work. And so at that point, I got I got a pretty good crew. There was about six guys that were doing all the work, and they were able to do pretty much everything.

And so they were they renovated some houses that I kept as rentals, and then the most of them, we were just flipping.

Steve: Okay. So you're managing the crews and you're flipping, at which point because we talked about you had some large machinery.

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: Was this in that time period?

Dan: Or This was a few years later.

Dan: So

Dan: yeah. So I was still probably full time in the medical device field for about a year until I decided to go full time in real estate. Got it. And that's when I really started to go do some bigger things. So about well, it all ended about a year ago.

So it started about two years ago. I I took a shot at a historic luxury flip. We thought it would sell for a lot more than it did and thought it would cost a lot less than it did. So let's talk about that deal.

Steve: Because I think this this is a part of your story. Yeah. Right? Like, you don't get to where you are without this specific house. Yeah.

So what was this house? So let's talk about the house.

Dan: Yeah. It was this in in a village of this pretty I don't wanna say ritzy, but one of the nicer towns in Rochester.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And it was this historic property, one of a kind. We thought, hey. This, you know, one of a kind property has all this history. It's gonna sell for this big number.

Steve: So how did you how did you come across that deal? A bandit sign. Bandit signs.

Dan: Bandit signs.

Steve: So you have bandit

Dan: you're putting out Bandit signs. Yep.

Steve: So you're wholesaling also, or you're only flipping at that time?

Dan: At that time, I was wholesaling a little bit. I really wasn't focusing on it at all. I I started wholesaling because I I got these. I was buying deals from wholesalers. I saw the fees that they were making.

I was like, I can do that. Like, I don't wanna pay that to them. Yeah. I just wanna get that deal on my own. Yeah.

So I started doing that a little bit. Just really just doing bandit signs at first.

Steve: So you're doing bandit signs Yep. And you get this lead Mhmm. In this house. You go to it. Like, did you know about the how distinctive it was before you went?

Dan: It it had one of those plaques out front. It was I can

Steve: see in the movies, like, where they got the plaques, like, the history and everything. Okay.

Dan: Yeah. So it was on the historic registry. Mhmm. It was an old it was first the the first schoolhouse in the village, and then they transformed it to a Masonic temple.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And then it was they they vacated that, and then I turned it into a single family home.

Steve: Okay. So it wasn't a home when you bought it?

Dan: It was never a house.

Steve: Okay. So what were you able

Dan: to buy it for? Bought it for 200.

Steve: Okay. And what was your expectation?

Dan: We thought it would sell for about 1,000,000. Yeah.

Steve: And what because we all are super optimistic as entrepreneurs. Uh-huh. We see the best case scenario That's right. Every time. What was it that caused you to think it was gonna sell familiar?

Dan: You know, we had a room full of smart, experienced people comping it out, looking at the neighborhood, looking at the history, seeing some other houses that were on the market that were not too far from

Steve: there Mhmm.

Dan: And just thought based on the level of finish that we were gonna put in there that that's what we would get.

Steve: Okay. So you had smart people confirming. It wasn't just your crazy idea. Right. So smart people verified it should

Dan: sell for

Steve: a million dollars. Mhmm. You acquired for 200. Yep. What was the renovation?

Dan: $600,000.

Steve: $600,000. Why was it so much? Gosh. There must have been a few lessons in there.

Dan: So many mistakes. Let's call them lessons. Lessons. Gosh. It we had to gut the entire thing.

Mhmm. We we rebuilt the whole house except for the exterior siding, which was cobblestone.

Steve: Okay.

Dan: So we took it I mean, every single floor, wall, ceiling, we had to reframe. Each window is in a historic neighborhood, so we had to do everything like it was original.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: Each window, there were 24 windows in the in the house, cost $3,000 per window. K. It added up real fast. Yeah. It did.

We put in I mean, we did everything. It came out beautiful. Mhmm. But it cost way too much.

Steve: Were there so one lesson maybe about the windows in historic homes. Right, which you sometimes have to learn. What were two two other lessons that might have came out of that?

Dan: Every if you're flipping a house, it's gonna take a lot longer and cost a lot more than you it will.

Steve: Yeah. Alright. So you're getting to was there a point where you're like, screw it or let's just sell it in its current condition? Was throwing in a towel at some point a consideration?

Dan: I really wanted to finish it. Mhmm. I had to fire a lot of contractors on the job. Yeah. A lot.

Steve: And were you doing this on the side, or were you full time at this point?

Dan: I was full time at that point. Okay. Yeah. So this was that one job took up almost all my time. And how long was that project?

That took a year. So a year? Yeah. Kicking your ass. Bad.

Steve: 600,000 in rent in renovations. Yeah. What did you end up selling it for?

Dan: Gosh. I honestly sometimes even forget because it was such a nightmare. We started the price out at, like, $9.75, I think. Which is in line. And and then we we did so many price drops.

It was ridiculous. It was on the market for a while. I ended up losing at least a $150,000 on that job. Okay. It was nuts.

Steve: Okay. So was it because of the lofty sales price going way over budget or dealing with contractors? Like, what was the ultimate cause of that?

Dan: Man, I have to I have to take the blame.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: I mean, I found out I learned a lot about myself in that process. I bet. One of which is that I hate managing people, especially contractors. Yeah. So that was the last flip I did.

Steve: Oh, really? That was the last flip?

Dan: That was the last flip I did.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay.

Dan: I yeah. Managing people and managing contractors, I I can do it. I've done it before. I don't like it. It drives me nuts.

And, you know, I'm I tend to be optimistic and

Dan: Yeah.

Dan: I sometimes that that helps me out because I go for things

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: And I take chances. And lately, they've really worked out well. But on this one, it was a big swing and a big miss.

Steve: Gotcha. So, you know, one of the things we're talking about was paying off personal debt. Mhmm. So the 150,000 loss on that one. Mhmm.

You didn't have that all in your bank account. No. Where did that loss come from?

Dan: So that and that was only part of it. Mhmm. At that same time, while I was wrapping up that job, I had started another company. We were Oh. Yeah.

Great idea. Yeah. On Twitter. I thought it was gonna work. Yeah.

We had started a development company. We're gonna be building houses and a lot of which we were gonna keep as for our portfolio. Put the main operations running the crews and the construction in the hands of a very skilled skilled craftsman, and honestly, I was blinded by his skill because he's, as a craftsman, top notch.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: He wasn't at all who I thought he was, and he ran those crews and jobs into the ground. And we had we had six full time guys. We had a couple other part time guys.

Dan: We

Dan: had some big machinery, I think three or four large pieces of machinery, you know, $5,070,000 dollar pieces of machinery.

Steve: Yeah.

Dan: That we ran out of money. That everything was just being mismanaged. I was probably taking on too much at that time. I put too much trust in him too soon and that company just fell apart.

Steve: When you say ran the crews and the projects to the ground, what does that mean? Like He he

Dan: was not for as much as I say, I don't like managing people, and I'm not good at it. He would tell me one thing, and then the employee would come in and tell me a completely different story about how they're being treated. Got it. And so, you know, I never witnessed it in person because he I think he always put on one face in front of me, but according to these other guys, he treated them like garbage. Really?

And, you know, people were people were quitting all the time. And the jobs were constantly over time, over budget. And we were in the middle of building someone's house, and we ran out of money. Yeah. And I had to shut down the company.

I had to lay off six guys. I had to surrender, voluntarily surrender all that machinery, as a result of all that. I mean, legal fees, all that machinery that I had to pay off. Legal fees? What legal fees?

That homeowner. She was not. No. That that was I mean, this was the most stressful period of my life by far with those two things going out at the same time.

Steve: And what year was this? Last year.

Dan: So 2019. This was last year.

Steve: So 2019, you've got this company, which you felt would be going pretty good. Yeah. They ran into the ground. Mhmm. And then you finished because you didn't it sound like you didn't start this flip, but you finished the flip

Dan: Finished the flip. In 2019.

Steve: So what was your what were you in the hole on the on the development side?

Dan: That company, at least $1.75, probably a little bit more after all is said and done. I mean, together between the two, at least $3.50

Steve: Yeah. In debt. And the thing that's crazy is I don't think it's crazy to take on two projects. Right? It definitely sucks.

Like, crazy to have two projects go south. Yeah. But that's kinda what we do as entrepreneurs. We take on projects like, oh, we can do this. I'll just do a quick aside.

So last week, I bought my daughter a bike.

Dan: Okay? And, you see

Steve: my tiny car, and we had to take the wheels off to put the bike in the car. And I feel like this this guy set me up for failure when he asked me this question. How confident are you that you can put the tires back on? As a guy, there's no answer except

Dan: Right.

Dan: Course I can do it. Right. Man, that took thirty minutes too long to

Steve: put the wheel back on. Oh. So so we have this problem where we think we can do everything. And I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing

Dan: Right.

Steve: Because like you said, you you you're you're where you are because because you took chances.

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: So what about you know, you're talking about $3.50 in a hole now between the two projects. You didn't have that money in the bank. No. So what do you do?

Dan: That was a really tough time. I mean, we I had to liquidate my four zero one k. I sold my truck. We were selling stuff out of our house. Honestly, if it wasn't for my parents, I would have had to declare bankruptcy.

Got it. It was really bad. It was I had to

Steve: So you're married?

Dan: Yeah. With a newborn? Married at that point. Yeah. Our daughter was one.

Mhmm. I mean, when I say stress, I had they say, you know, sick to your stomach. I got an ulcer.

Steve: Like, I

Dan: was going to the doctor. It was bad. Got it. Like, barely sleeping. I mean, it's just sitting up at night wondering how am I gonna deal with this.

It was it was by far the most stressful year of my life. Nothing nothing comes close.

Steve: And then at this point, you decided to go back to get a job?

Dan: Yeah. I I was like, I'm done with real estate. Screw this. Not worth it.

Steve: Those books were all shit. No way.

Dan: I was my my risk profile went from, I'll take on anything to I need something steady. Yeah. I just need I I put my wife through hell. Our we have a little daughter. I need to provide some security, some stability.

I can't let this happen. Yeah. Like, we need to get back on track. Because before all that happened, we were doing great. Right.

And then everything just went downhill real fast. Yeah. And so I went back into medical device sales. And that was just about the beginning of this year. And I was fortunate enough to find something pretty quickly with the company I used to be with.

Gotcha. And I mean, that was I was blessed to get that at a time where I was more stressed than I'd ever been in a financial spot I'd never experienced before. To get that was a huge blessing. Gotcha. And then

Steve: we connected at some point around this time.

Dan: So shortly after so I had been there. So that started the beginning this year. And then so I was in so medical device. I was in the surge in surgeries. I was was in the operating room.

COVID hit.

Steve: But you're you're actually inside

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: Operating rooms?

Dan: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Advising the surgical team on how to use our stuff. Wow.

Okay. Yeah. Pretty cool job.

Steve: That's yeah. It's interesting.

Dan: Yeah. I mean, it was great. It was I was doing really well. I had this new position they created just for me to come back into the company to make it work. And so I was doing some traveling and advising people all around the Northeast on these new products.

Steve: Oh, that's cool.

Dan: Yeah. And then COVID hit, and surgeries just stopped

Dan: Right.

Dan: Overnight. And so, thankfully, you know, my boss was nice enough to be giving me a salary still, but I wasn't eligible for any commission because there was no surgeries going on. Mhmm. And you know me. I I can't sit still.

I can't do nothing. And so I looked back and I said, well, there's there's still a lot of money in real estate. I'm not gonna flip. Never doing that. Yeah.

Wholesaling, I had done it before. I didn't love it, but it was always the margins were great. And I said, well, I know there's a better way to do it. I know there's other people who are doing this well and enjoying it and doing the process better than what I've been doing. Mhmm.

So I said, I gotta get a coach. I I need I need someone to guide me on this journey because I know I can put it together. I just don't wanna do it on my own because I know I've been trying that. I've been trying to do it on my own. Right.

It's not working that great. I can learn from other people who've already had that success. Mhmm. And so I just started doing some research. I was watching some videos.

I found one of your podcasts, and it's like, give that guy a call. Yeah. And then here we are.

Steve: Yeah. So you went at that time so this is, like, right when COVID struck. So, like, around April, March or April. Yeah. And so we scheduled a call.

We jumped on. So at that time, real estate, there was no transactions. There was no Right. Wholesales, no flips, nothing. You weren't you were like, you tried it.

That ship has sailed. I'm done.

Dan: Yeah. I was doing no real estate at that point.

Steve: Okay. So we we worked together. Alright. We scheduled a call, worked together. What were the things that you say the keys that really changed that really unlocked all this for you?

What were some of the major keys?

Dan: Yeah. So those lessons I learned last year, you know, the value of other people

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: That just to have that community, that support, the value of other people's experience and knowledge. And so that just completely shift my mindset, and you can imagine that was a very humbling experience last year. Oh, yeah. And so I I just my mind just sort of switched. I said, you know, there are so many people that do so well at so many different things, and I can learn from them.

Yeah. And not just from books because I constantly read.

Steve: Yeah. I was intimidated by how many books you're behind you when we did our call.

Dan: So not just from books, but from actually interacting, taking coaching programs, mentorships. And then the I mean, you guys just put everything together. Yeah. And it's not just because I'm sitting here with you now. I mean, I talk about this to anyone that asks that it's you've labeled it correctly.

It's the blueprint. Mhmm. It it gives you everything you need. And if you actually take action on it consistently, you're gonna get the results. Wholesaling isn't that complicated.

No. No. It's if you're decent, if you're halfway decent at sales, and you're into personal development, and you're constantly trying to get better, you're gonna have success in wholesaling. Right. So the systems that you guys created and taught, I just put that into play and consistently took action on it.

And it completely changed my business. Yeah. But the thing is, like, we've coached

Steve: a lot of people, and then you kinda, like, flew out of the gate. So for people because you kinda touched on a little bit about consistent action. You wanna emphasize that a little bit more because there's a lot of people that will learn. Mhmm.

Dan: But there's something different that separates. So what do you think that is? A lot of people talk about massive action.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: That's not what gets success. That's that's it's never one big thing that gets you there. It's the little things every day. That's it's not the sexy stuff. Yeah.

It's the day in, day out work that is behind the scenes that no one sees. It's the hours of role playing. It's the constantly adjusting the script to fit my style. Yeah. It's working on my CRM so that the process flows nicely.

It's finding it's every little thing. It's doing something each day to get a little bit better. That's gonna make the big difference over time. Right. And when you combine that with my background in personal development, I mean, my you know, you saw that picture of Tony Robbins holding me when I was, like, two or three.

Yeah. And so that's just been around me for a long time. I think his what is it? His personal power two program. It's CDs.

It's like thirty days of CDs. Oh, yeah. I've probably listened to that 15 times at least, and it's a full thirty day program. Really?

Steve: I started I finished it once. I tried starting a second time. It's intense.

Dan: Yeah. And with the journal and everything and doing the whole I I my dad gave that to me when I was in high school at some point.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: But he, you know, he worked with Tony Robbins. He had a Tony Robbins franchise. So that was just always sort of what I grew up with, and I just really latched on to it. Mhmm. So taking that personal development side of things and then combining it with the great system and me moving very quickly with things in general Yeah.

It just took off.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. So I think absolutely just everything that you're able to do. I think it's incredible. So you were already in medical device sales.

Mhmm.

Dan: Killed it? I was doing well.

Steve: Okay. So now you've gone through our sales training. What's different?

Dan: The this system, it's so different from pretty much every sales method that you'll you'll learn out there for the most part. I mean, most of it's a lot of questions, trying to get as many yeses as you can. Mhmm. With this one, I'm basically telling people not to sell to me. Mhmm.

I'm asking very few questions. It's it's really interesting. It wouldn't seem like it works. It works amazingly well. It shouldn't work.

It shouldn't. It does. With everything we know, it just shouldn't work. It shouldn't. But it works so well.

I mean, so many it's it's statements, not questions. Yeah. It's you're making a lot of assumptions, and you're voicing it

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: And seeing how they react. Yeah. And and just using that and just it's incredible how well it works. So it's none of those yes, no questions. There is a few at the beginning.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: After that, there's almost no questions. Right. It's, you know, as you said the other day, it's you're making statements that behave like open ended questions.

Steve: Exactly.

Dan: And that's it works so well. It's incredible because like you said, people love to correct you. And so if you make a statement that they don't agree with, they will correct you and tell you all the reasons why you're wrong, and then they're just selling themselves at that point.

Steve: Exactly. Yeah. I love it. Okay. So, the systems, the the processes, the sells the selling mindset.

Mhmm. You you attribute a lot of that to basically, I mean, if there was a comeback player of the year, I mean, that's I think that's kinda like the award you would win, right, in in wholesaling. So is that did I did I get that right?

Dan: Yeah. I think the consistency Mhmm. Of the program as well, you know, having the frequency of the calls because you can learn something and maybe you'll be a little bit better afterwards.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: But when you keep practicing that, you take something new each time and you get a little you keep getting a little bit better. And so you're on this upward trajectory. And so that's where I see the big value in the program being for a longer period of time where we're constantly working, we're constantly learning new things, and we're going over a lot of the same stuff.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: But there's so much value in that because as you gain new experience in the marketplace, you're talking to new people, you have new things to reflect on. And so something that we're suddenly working on, you have a different perspective on it, and then you understand it in a totally different way.

Steve: Right. Because you're actually doing it. Right. So you had sent me a vision board or a picture of a vision board. You wanna talk about that?

Because I think this is good for a lot of people who are actually watching right now.

Dan: Yeah. The The message between us?

Steve: The the vision board, the picture. Like, what was on your vision board? You were saying, like, you were gonna be here one day.

Dan: Oh, yeah. Yeah. So yeah. So we oh my gosh. That conversation, it seems like it was so long ago.

Steve: Like, it wasn't

Dan: that long ago. It wasn't that long ago.

Steve: No. It was earlier this year.

Dan: I think I I said something like, you know, I I can't wait to be on the show. Mhmm. And and you said, you're gonna be one of my busy biggest success stories. Yeah. Can't wait to have you on.

Yeah. And that's up in my office right above my computer. And I thought it would be I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna get on the show. I can do it. Mhmm.

I didn't think it'd be this quick.

Steve: Nah. I don't know if anyone would expect to be this quick, but I think that's awesome. Right? So I think that's a testament. I mean, selfishly or self biased, you know, I think our our system is held.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't happen without you taking the consistent action, which is something you guys heard me say a few times in the introduction. The key is consistent action, not massive action. And so I wanna talk about front door DAS, but before we get to

Dan: there Yeah.

Steve: One thing you mentioned, is, the managing people that you haven't enjoyed it. Not your most favorite thing to do. And so we recently, actually, today, we're talking about predictive index. Yeah. And it's something that, Eric Brewer was here on the show last week.

We're talking predictive index. So you wanna talk about how that tool has helped you bring on your your chief integration officer.

Dan: Yeah. So the predictive index, I wish I knew about it a long time ago.

Steve: Me too. Even just

Dan: for my own for myself, for analyzing myself and my personal relationships. But it it's amazing how accurate it is. It really so Mike, the the guy who's facilitating the predictive index, was going through my results. And he said, so at this time, you were you were probably going through this type of thought process, and you're probably this type of experience. And I hadn't told him any of this stuff.

It was like he was a fortune teller. And the accuracy of it is incredible. And so it allows you to really hone in on what you're good at, what your natural tendencies are, and then how you interact with other people, how you should maybe change some things based on your personality and who you're dealing with. Yeah. And then also you can create on there.

The great part about that for hiring, you can create these job profiles. And there's so many other people that have done that before, and so you can match it up to past people who've done it. Mhmm. Say this is generally the type of profile you're gonna want for this type of job. Right.

And people submit their results, and you see how well they match up. And it gives you this whole guide of how to how to interview them and even how you're gonna interact with them and what you might need to adjust based on their style. And so based on all that, I learned about myself, like, hey, I'm a super driver, literally off the chart, couldn't get any higher. There was the arrow pointing all the way off the chart saying you are in need of more control than pretty much anyone else. Yeah.

You're extreme. I'm very, very low on the patient scale, about two standard deviations less than the norm. So for needing to be in a ton of control, having low patience, having a little bit lower on the the extrovert side, more introverted. Mhmm. I'm just not the best person for managing people.

I just I I move too quick, and I'm too impatient. And I probably don't explain things as well as I could. And so I'm great if someone has a baseline level of knowledge. I'm just there to, like, get them to the next level. Yeah.

But it was the same thing in my personal training days. Like, if I had to deal with a newbie, I I couldn't stand it. It just drive me nuts, like, having to teach them the very basic stuff. Yeah. But taking someone from they had some experience to that next level, that was my key.

That was where

Dan: I was

Dan: the best. Awesome. So

Steve: so, guys, that's a plug for predictive index. But if you guys aren't convinced, you guys can send me a message either on Instagram or Facebook. I'll post a link to this later on as well, where you guys can take the predictive index test. I've offered it before, so it's really crazy how accurate it is. And it wasn't until I took it that I realized, like, what's wrong with me?

You know? Why I I can collaborate with just about anybody. But, man, being in a situation where I'm not, like, the majority decision maker, I can't do it. Like, I can't have someone

Dan: make decisions for me.

Steve: It just it just won't work. Alright. So one thing that you and I were talking about, also was front row dads, and it's something you're really passionate about. And I think it's something that a lot of us, when we get into this business, we do it. You know?

It it's either for the money or for the time or both. Mhmm. I wanna have more time. I wanna have more money or whatever. We all have this mindset, and then we get into this business, and we could completely forget all about it.

Yeah. And all we're doing is hustle and grind, hustle and grind. You see, like, memes all the time, but hustling right.

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: And so everyone's trying to see who can work more hours in a

Dan: week. Mhmm.

Steve: But you're taking a different approach.

Dan: I'm working on it. Front row dads. I'm working on it. Yeah. So, you know, as things have scaled really quickly for my business, I found my my time wasn't a good reflection of my priorities.

And family for me, you know, I I lived in California for a year. I moved back to the East Coast because of of family, not for the weather. Certainly not for the weather in Upstate New York.

Steve: I hear Rochester's great

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: This time of year.

Dan: Yeah. It's amazing. You should come. And so as I was getting busier and busier, I was I was fine. You know, I'm doing stuff after five.

I'm doing stuff on the weekends for work. I'm constantly answering emails, text messages for buyers, sellers. I was totally unbalanced. And so a buddy of mine was a part of this group, and he had mentioned it to me called Front Row Dads. And their whole motto is family men with businesses, not businessmen with families.

Mhmm. And that resonated to me really strongly, because I saw myself going down this path. And I was thinking, if I keep going down this path, there's a big business and a lot of money down it. Mhmm. But my schedule is gonna be awful.

It's it's gonna I'm gonna sacrifice the things that are really the most important, which are the so many people go wrong. They say, I'm working so hard for my family.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: That's not true. Yeah. You're doing it for yourself. Of course. You're doing it for the things you can buy with it and for the clout and for social media.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And not because it's gonna make you so much happier. Right. Because, really, money can buy only so much. Mhmm. If you lose all your relationships in the process, you're gonna be miserable.

Right. There are plenty of billionaires billionaires out there that are miserable Mhmm. Because they ruined all the relationships in the process. Yeah. And I saw what the business could become because I see all the people that are having so much success in it, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice on the relationship side.

And so I needed to be surrounded by a group of people that had those same values. And this group, there are high level guys in there. Guys that I mean, multimillionaires run big, big businesses, guys from all over the world. And that is their focus. Family first.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: While still operating really great businesses. And so, you know, I'm I'm a new member. I just joined maybe three, four weeks ago. Yeah. But I'm blown away.

I mean, we just had a full day online summit, and I learned so much more than I thought I was going to. And, I mean, for anyone out there who's thinking about their life being a little bit out of balance in terms of work and family and need to reprioritize and really start focusing on those people that are those relationships that are truly the most important, and you want some role models to learn from and collaborate with, it's the best group out there. Yeah. I mean, it's it's I'm blown away by it.

Steve: Yeah. And I think it's powerful. And I think it's, you know, for everyone to, you know again, the reason why we get into the business but then once we get into the business, you completely forget about it. And so one of the questions I've heard before and I think is powerful is, you know, everyone says they're doing it for the family. But if I were to pull

Dan: up on your calendar, would your calendar reflect Right.

Steve: That you're doing it for

Dan: your family? That's right.

Steve: And I think that's a really good point that you just hit on because we say it, but really, we make enough money where we can stop. Right. Right? Or not that we could stop, but we don't have to go this hard. Right.

Alright. We can go

Dan: 75,

Steve: 80% Mhmm. And still maintain pretty

Dan: solid income. But Growth is so addictive. It is. It's you you have success and you see all the things you can do, and you're, oh, I just wanna get it bigger. Mhmm.

I wanna do more. Yeah. It's not always better.

Steve: It's not always better, but it's also what gets us out of bed. Right.

Dan: It's that chase. It's a tough balance. Yeah. I mean, for for hard driving entrepreneurs, that's probably one of the most difficult things

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: Is balancing how much growth do you really need versus taking a little bit of a step back and focusing on those relationships? Yeah. It's a it's it's tough. I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs have.

Steve: Oh, it's absolutely one of the biggest challenges. And that's why I've said before, like, it's not it's tough being an entrepreneur, but it's gotta be tougher being married to one. We put our wives through hell.

Dan: I believe that.

Steve: And so, I I kinda had this mental exercise. I was talking to one of the guys that I mentor. If we just because the way we're wired Mhmm. If someone just dropped $10,000,000 in my bank account, $50,000,000 in my bank account, would I stop? No.

I was just trying to figure out how what

Dan: what can I do with this?

Steve: How can we get bigger? Yeah. How can we get faster? And it's just the way we're wired.

Dan: Right.

Dan: Yeah. So I

Steve: think that's awesome that you you your intention with this, you're focused on it because a lot of people kinda just, you know, they just keep driving and driving. And I think that's awesome that you you you took your you reminded yourself and had the presence of mind, to to to look at that. So for a lot of these guys that are listening, so we're talking about paying off 350,000 personal debt

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: To your parents.

Dan: Mhmm.

Steve: In six months. It's crazy to fathom. So I think people need to know, what do your numbers look like?

Dan: Yeah. It's honestly, it's still mind blowing to me. Yeah. Just how different of a place we're in from one year ago. Yeah.

I I when that all that happened, I said I'm never letting this happen again, and I'm gonna get so far from it that we never have to worry about this again. Yeah. And so right now, we're averaging about it varies because we're constantly changing changing things.

Steve: Entrepreneur.

Dan: Yeah. But this month, so far, I think I've signed 13 contracts.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: Unfortunately, some of those have have fallen through for various reasons, but, we'll probably finish this month with about 10 deals. Yeah. So for I mean, for where we're at in the business for, you know, really only doing us six months full time, I'm thrilled with that progress. Yeah.

Steve: I don't think anyone can complain about that. So, for everyone listening, because it's not necessarily easy to replicate what you've done. I wish I could say, hey. Everyone just go do what Dan's done Right. And replicate it.

But there are some restrictions. So or challenges that you may have, run into trying to replicate what you've done. So,

Dan: for people listening right now, what

Steve: is your number one lead source?

Dan: So recently, we started up with TV, and it's been incredible. Yeah. I mean, you know, we've gotten since since then in our group, I think four four or five other other guys have signed up for TV Yeah. Because of the results they've seen, me have so far.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And so that's the number one, but we've been constantly changing. I mean, we over the past six months, you know, we were doing texting. We haven't done cold calling. We're doing bandit signs. We're doing some online marketing, Facebook stuff.

Steve: So you're doing a lot of Facebook marketing.

Dan: I remember that. Direct mail, and now we're really just focusing on TV because it's it's been so great.

Steve: Yeah. So you're you're already on this direction. Right? You're on this momentum. So you're doing a lot of texting.

Mhmm. So when we first started working together, you're doing texting and Facebook marketing. Yeah. And then it's evolved. Well, you're doing direct mail the whole time too.

Actually, you wanna share everyone what what your direct mail trick is because not one no one's doing direct mail the way you're doing it.

Dan: Yeah. Well, for the full details. The course is coming. Yeah. But I have yeah.

I've set up a system where I can get handwritten direct mail out for less than 60¢ a letter. Yeah. And our our response rate is 1.65%. 1.65? Yeah.

That's really good. It's really good. Yeah. It doesn't sound I know it doesn't sound great for anyone who's not done direct mail.

Steve: If you don't know direct mail, that that sounds not terrible. But For direct mail, that's double

Dan: inventory average. For direct mail, it's phenomenal. Yeah. And at a lot lower cost than if you try to get handwritten letters anywhere else, real handwritten letters by an actual person

Steve: Yeah.

Dan: Not a not a robot. Not not printed out. It's actually handwritten. It'll cost you $34 a letter. Yeah.

So, set up a system, which I plan on launching a course for that. Mhmm. It's that's been great because the response rate has been phenomenal, and it's it's I I don't have to manage that at all. Right. It's it's fully set up.

That's a great system.

Steve: Yeah. So direct mail, TV. Where are you with texting? Stopped. Stopped doing it.

Dan: Stopped texting altogether. I think we stopped three weeks ago or so. Mhmm. You know, it was going great for a while. Really good.

That was

Steve: really good.

Dan: And I probably even got into texting pretty late in the game compared to when it was at its high. Yeah. But I just I was tracking the numbers and every maybe, what was it, two two months ago

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: It

Dan: just started to go downhill. Just the return wasn't there anymore. Yeah. And it's such a management intensive method of marketing.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: You have to you can't have a robot send it. A person has to send it. And then you have to monitor that. You have to do quality control. It's a lot of people management, which I don't wanna be in that business.

I wanna have the leanest team possible. Got it. Or at least someone else running that team. Yeah. I don't wanna be managing those people.

So for me, it was an easy choice. The the return was going down. It was taking more and more to get the same number of leads.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: There was so much competition. And so the calls the the response when when a homeowner is getting contacted by ten, eleven, 12 people, there's they get sort of nasty. Do they? They're not the best conversations. They're not thrilled to talk with you.

Yeah. And so, you know, I didn't I never loved doing that. I was just doing it because the deals were there. Yeah. And then once I actually I forget what book I read, but it was it talked about concentration risk.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And how if you are too focused on any one thing, that's where all your liability is.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And so if that one marketing method goes downhill, your business goes away. Yeah. And so for me, hearing about all these regulations that all these carrier restrictions

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: You know, them saying sending these automated messages at the end of your text, like, if you wanna opt out, say end or whatever it was. And so there are all these restrictions, and I just saw the writing on the wall. And and smart guys like yourself were saying texting is probably gonna be over pretty soon. Yeah. It's not gonna last that much longer.

And I was looking back at some videos from, like, a year ago, and everyone was saying that same thing. And now is it kept going down, and everyone was saying, yeah. Are you getting these results too? Like, my response rate and my delivery deliverability rate is down by, like, 30% Yeah. Or whatever it was.

And so I saw the writing on the wall. And at that point, I said, I I need to explore some other options for marketing. So I can diversify my risk a little bit, but also get something that gives me a better return with less people management. Right. So who are you managing right now?

Hopefully, no one soon. But We still have

Steve: to manage one person.

Dan: Still one person. So I have, our our our team right now is pretty lean. You know, I have a full time VA in The Philippines. She's a rock star. I have a few other part time VAs.

I have a sign poster who's local for Bandit Signs. Mhmm. I just hired a chief integration officer. He just started on Monday. He's a rock star.

And he's he's once he's fully trained up, he's pretty much gonna be running the day to day operations Got it. And managing the people

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: Which he likes to do. So for me, that's great.

Steve: That's weird. So bandit signs. Yep. You're still doing bandit signs?

Dan: I am still doing bandit signs.

Steve: You're still getting leads from it.

Dan: Sometimes I forget about it. Yeah. The calls aren't frequent.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: But the the lead to prospect ratio is really high on those. Interesting. If someone calls those, they're probably pretty motivated.

Steve: Very interesting. So Ryan Kinney wants to know process with doing TV. I guess, if someone wanted to do TV, any recommendations for them?

Dan: They should talk to Darren. Yeah. Darren Dami, he is with Bullseye branding. Yep. They're so some really big names use use their services.

Mhmm.

Dan: You know,

Steve: a lot of Doug Hopkins being

Dan: the biggest one. Doug Hopkins, Ryan Panida

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: Soon to be Steve Trang.

Steve: Soon to be Steve Trang. Well, really Max Jimenez. Steve's behind the scenes. Okay.

Dan: Max Jimenez. A bunch of other guys in our group, a lot of guys in CG. I mean, it's a fully automated process, which for me was ideal because, like I said, hate managing people.

Steve: Yeah.

Dan: And the simpler and leaner I can get it, the better. And so they do every I mean, they all I had to do was show up for the shoot for the the commercial Mhmm. And film that, but they set that all up. They they talk to the stations. They do all the ad buys, and they do it really intelligently because they have data from all over the country and all the markets they're in.

Maybe they're in, I don't know, 35 markets or so all around the country with with other wholesalers. Yep. And they look at the call logs. When are people calling in? What numbers did they call?

And they track that that to what station that came from, what TV show, what time, and then they use that data to make good decisions for your ad buys.

Steve: Right.

Dan: I don't I never decide what commercials, what times, how many slots. I never look at any of that stuff.

Steve: You're not the guy.

Dan: So I'm I'm totally off hands off hand with that stuff. And all I have to do is is get the leads when they come in.

Steve: Yep. And then what's the process from TV to close? I'm guessing when you should lead comes in on a TV. Mhmm.

Dan: Generally, call in website. So I I think it's 75 will call, 25% will do a web form.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And so we have our our leads manager who's the first point of contact. They will qualify and disqualify those leads. If they're qualified, they'll move on to acquisitions where they set an appointment. And so right now, I'm doing all the acquisitions. So I'm physically going to the the appointment to the house.

If we get that under contract, then well, he just asked through closing. So Yeah. Goes through the traditional transactions coordination until closing. Unfortunately, New York is an attorney state and about the slowest state you can be in for real estate transactions. So I I mean, I have stuff that's my pipeline is full.

Yeah. Let's say that.

Steve: And Jake Washburn wants to know, if you aren't good at sales and you're a wholesaler solopreneur, what would you recommend?

Dan: If you aren't good at sales, is he already in wholesaling

Steve: or looking to

Dan: get into it?

Steve: So it sounds like he's already in it.

Dan: K. Well, I would say lean on your strengths.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And so if you're not great at sales, get someone who is. Put them on straight commission. Because if they don't produce, you're not paying them anything. Right. But if they are good at sales, they're gonna be extra motivated because they're on commission.

Mhmm. So if I guess if you don't wanna hire someone, then you need to learn sales. Yeah. And you need to learn sales sales from Steve.

Steve: Well, I appreciate that. That's what I was gonna say. If you need to get good at sales, we basically, like, engineered good sales program.

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: Took our engineering brain and applied it to sales. So David wants wants to know about predictive index. Yeah. I'll definitely send you

Dan: guys a link later on for for predictive index. It's expensive. Predictive index is expensive if you if you're buying it for yourself. Yeah.

Steve: If you're buying it for yourself. But we can give them a free test.

Dan: But it's worth it. Absolutely. If you're

Steve: hiring a team, it is worth it. Yeah. Like, the the cost do you know what it is? A cost of a bad hire is how much?

Dan: Oh, gosh. I don't know the stats. But

Steve: It's usually a lot more than the cost of the employee.

Dan: Oh, yeah. It's like what is it? Like, a 150% of their yearly salary or something like that. It's yeah. Yeah.

Steve: It's one of those things where it's really important to get right. And as entrepreneurs, we're impatient. Yeah. We don't wanna do it right. And so you gotta use this.

You gotta get it right because you get a wrong hire is actually more expensive

Dan: Yeah.

Steve: Than the program itself. Samuel wants to know what's what was your success like with Facebook ads?

Dan: So this probably isn't a good representation, because for anyone that's read, Traction or anything by Gino Wickman so I'm a visionary all day. Scored a 97 out of a 100 on the visionary scale. So in terms of the the fine details What

Steve: did you score on the visionary scale?

Dan: 97. Okay. 97 or 98. It was one of those. Very high.

Steve: Yeah.

Dan: So in terms of details, that's not me. Yeah. So I took I I took information and that someone else was doing and having success with and and sort of just let that run. Mhmm. But in terms of constantly tweaking things and monitoring the stats and every that stuff just drives me nuts.

Yeah. So I sort of set it and let it go. I know that's not the way I should do it. So that's why I actually sort of stopped doing Facebook ads right now until I have someone that can do that. Because you are you were not being responsible with your marketing dollars.

I wasn't. So I well, that and really with TV right now, I'm getting more leads than I can handle. Yeah. So I didn't need to be wasting money, particularly when I wasn't monitoring it. Yeah.

So I was spending this money on on Facebook ads. Not a ton, like, $50 a day, but it adds up. Yeah. And I wasn't really being responsible with the stats on it. So I turned it off, and I will turn it back on once my team can handle the increase in leads and once I have someone who can track that, track all the stats, figure out where we should be, and making those tweaks on a regular basis to make sure we're being responsible with that marketing dollar.

Steve: Absolutely. George Gutierrez wants to know what county

Dan: do you target? So right now, we're just in Monroe County. So in Rochester.

Steve: But soon to

Dan: be? Yeah. So within the next twelve months, we're gonna be also in Buffalo and Syracuse, New York.

Steve: Gonna be king of Western New York.

Dan: That's right.

Steve: At some point, maybe they'll call it Danbro Stadium or wherever the Bills play. Shane Imson wants to know, what's the monthly spend for your TV presence currently?

Dan: So all in with the marketing fee and the ad spend, I'm at 13,500. Yeah. Not very much. For what it brings in, it's not. It's and the leads are hot.

Yeah. They are hot. If someone's calling a TV lead I mean, it's not it takes lead to a whole another level. Because if you if you think about, like, a text lead, it's not even it's orange apples and oranges. Yeah.

So a text lead is just someone who says, yeah, I wanna sell.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: But when someone calls based on your commercial, they're probably gonna be pretty motivated. Yeah. So it's like a PPC lead. There's usually gonna be very little competition. These aren't lists you can buy a lot of times.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: Or if they would be on list, they're not on it yet Mhmm. Because it happened so recently. So a lot of times on these TV leads, they're not talking to anybody else.

Steve: Right. Exclusive.

Dan: They haven't so there's no I'm not in a bidding war. Yeah. It it's it's great.

Steve: Oh, that's awesome. Warner Quiroga wants to know, where can you get a nice plaid shirt like the one you have on?

Dan: I got this at, my wife ordered the trunk club

Steve: for me. Yeah. Well, I think what we should do is we should sign it and then sell it home.

Dan: I'll sell it home.

Steve: Yeah. I think that's For the

Dan: right price.

Steve: Alright. Ernesto wants to know how much were you spending a month on Facebook leads and how many leads were you getting?

Dan: So we were doing $50 a day on lead generation and another I think it was only, like, $8 a day on on retargeting. I did that for a few months. I think I got, like, three or four deals out of it. Mhmm. So it wasn't bad, but it the timing for me wasn't right.

I'll do it again, when I have someone to monitor it.

Steve: Yeah. And it's something that we've talked about as well as we have to change it because now it's gotta be branded. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Dan: You

Steve: gotta flood that branding. Claude Moss wants to know how much are you spending on TVIs, which you already talked about, $13.05.

Dan: $13.05.

Steve: And are you using a cable network?

Dan: They so I think right now, we're on three or four different channels. The main you know, whatever the main ones are right now is might be Fox, ABC, NBC. I don't know. All the main ones. They're the major networks is where those TV spots go.

Yeah.

Steve: So not guys, keep up post your questions. Happy to answer them. So tangent, your dad was a franchisee for Tony Robbins. Yeah. What was that like growing up?

Dan: Well, I was one. So I don't remember. But I know he I think he was just in the Rochester area, but he if my memory serves me correctly, I think he was the number one franchisee in the country and he so he won a trip to Fiji with Tony. Wow. Yeah.

Steve: So he's been in Fiji that long. Tony Robbins. Yeah.

Dan: He's had that resort for thirty years?

Steve: Yeah. Because I remember him like, I think it was one of his DVDs or CDs. And it was that, he bought a place in Fiji just so his friends could come and hang out. Yeah. It's pretty solid.

Dan: Yeah. That's that that's the place. Yeah.

Steve: It's probably a little bit more expensive now than it was thirty years ago. Let's see. We kinda talked about it a little bit, but maybe this is different. What is your biggest struggle right now?

Dan: I would say two things, and it's probably pretty similar for most entrepreneurs is people. So managing people, but finding the right people. Mhmm. Because the wrong people can ruin your business and make your life miserable. Yeah.

So finding, you know, a lot of people have probably who is it? Jim Collins, the right right people on the bus in the right seats. So and that's where having these tools like predictive index goes a really long way. Making sure that, first off, you have the right people on your in your company and that they're they're values fit. That's probably number one Mhmm.

Dan: Is

Dan: that their values fit. Not that they have the skill set. You can teach skills. Mhmm. You can't teach values.

Someone's either a good person or they're not. Right. They either have similar values to the you or they don't. And so if you're not a match there, it's probably gonna cause some friction. Mhmm.

So people management, getting the right people on the team and training them properly, holding them accountable, all the people management stuff that I hate doing, that I recently hired someone for. That's one of my biggest struggles. The other one is balancing the time and and the almost opposing motivations of growing the business, doing more, getting bigger, making more money versus almost slowing down, handing off some of the reins, spending more time on relationships with my family. Those things clash.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: And so that's why, you know, coming back to that front row dads, like, it's a community where that's these guys are all dealing with that. Mhmm. But they've come up with these strategies to deal with it really effectively. Yeah. And so just learning from other people is so key.

Like, there's so many people I know they go to YouTube University, and they look at all these different people who are doing all this great stuff. And they're they're but they're stuck in education mode.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And they don't put it into action. Doesn't matter. Education doesn't matter that much. It matters what you're actually doing. Yeah.

Because theory is not the same as reality. Right. I can I can know how to drive? I, you know, theoretically know how to drive an f one race car. Mhmm.

Put me in it. Yeah. No.

Steve: Well, we kinda drove one earlier.

Dan: We did. It was amazing.

Steve: Yeah. Teslas are awesome. What is your superpower?

Dan: Taking action. Yeah. You know, I think the the predictive index just sort of solidified that for me that I have a real tough time slowing down.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And I just even if something isn't perfect, I know it's not gonna be perfect, but I'm gonna go I'm gonna try. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna work every day to make it a little bit better each day. Yeah. And so, you know, this past year, you know, I was so I got back into that medical device job, and then I said, well, I can't it then COVID hit.

I said I couldn't I can't do nothing. I have to do something. I have to take some action. Got into real estate again in in wholesaling and started taking action on that. That started going really well.

And I decided to leave that stable, good really good job. Again. Again. Twice. But I was able to do that because I was taking consistent action.

Mhmm. Again, not massive action. It was your daily habits that make the difference. It's it's like anything. It's like working out.

Like, you can't go to the gym one time, work your butt off, and then you're in great shape. Yeah. You have to do it every week. You have to do it multiple times a week consistently. Yeah.

Steve: Every day. Dues was it dues rent's due every day. Every day. Yeah. So Warner wants to know, what does the next five years look like for Danbro?

Dan: So the next twelve months, plans are to double what we're doing in Rochester

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And then also expand into Buffalo and Syracuse and be doing a little bit less than what we're doing right now in both of those cities.

Steve: Yeah.

Dan: So that's the next year. After that, I wanna purely step into a visionary and owner role for the wholesaling business. And then I'm gonna get into some other things. I wanna I wanna do coaching. I love coaching.

Something I've been doing for a long time. I wanted to get I wanna get into that space. I want to get into some bigger holds like storage facilities.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: Self storage facilities. I wanna get into that. And really free up my time and energy so that I can focus on my unique abilities, The things that I'm the best at and give me the most energy. Yeah. So that I can have that choice and I'm not doing stuff that's so time sensitive, like answering calls, answering emails, going on appointments.

The stuff that is so time specific that almost handcuffs me from spending my time how I really want to when the opportunity arises.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: Sometimes, you know, it might be a beautiful day, and I wanna spend that time with my family. Well, if I have a bunch of calls or emails or appointments, I can't do that. Yeah. So for me, it's getting my business to that point where I'm owning a business, not running a business. And then I have choice and time and flexibility, which is a big reason why a lot of people, I think, get into entrepreneurship.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dan: And, unfortunately, a lot of people don't get there because they get so sidetracked by growth.

Steve: Yeah. They get bogged down, lose sight. Mike Higgins wants to know what's your personal,

Dan: morning routine? My personal morning routine. So it's been a little different lately because I have a seven week old. So mornings are a little more difficult than normal. But my wife has taken on the vast majority of the responsibility there.

So I can't complain too much. She's a rock star. Yeah. But I so I've learned a lot of different things. There's different breathing exercises.

One one's called box breathing. And it's it's a you it's typically done to a four count. It can be done to any interval. Mhmm. But it's you you inhale for four, hold for four, exhale for four, hold for four.

Mhmm. It's very energizing and relaxing, and it sort of centers you. I do I have my my morning questions, my power questions. You can ask there's a ton of different questions, but it's all, you know, what am I grateful for? What am I excited about?

Why is today gonna be great? Why am I so lucky? Why am I all these positive things. Because when you know, this is all Tony Robbins stuff that those questions. If you ask yourself a question, your mind will come up with an answer.

Yeah. So you might as well ask a better

Dan: question.

Steve: Ask good questions.

Dan: Not why do I have to get up so early? Mhmm. Why is it so cold out? Why is the world the way it is? Those are crappy questions.

You're gonna get a crappy answer.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: But if you ask good questions every single day, what am I happy about? What am I really excited about today? How does that make me feel? You're gonna be jazzed for the day. Yeah.

You're gonna be feeling really good because the first hour of the day, you know, the golden hour, hours. It's it's the rudder of the day. It sets the the direction for the rest of your day. So if you start out and you and the first thing you do is is you go on and you check your email and you check Facebook, you're starting off the wrong way. Mhmm.

You're you're you're starting off by you're comparing yourself to other people. You're you're gonna be wanting what they want what they have or what it looks like they have. You're gonna be dealing with issues right off the bat. Take a little time for yourself. Ask yourself good questions.

I work out first thing in the morning. I get me time in. I'm gonna take care of the dogs and everything too. But I really I hold that time sacred. And it's the most important time of the day.

That and right before bed, asking yourself those same questions. And it it they can be the same questions. They can be different, but they need to be empowering questions. And that stuff will feed into your subconscious the whole night. And making that stuff a habit, starting off, you'll probably have to write it out.

Do it in a journal. After a while, it'll just be be routine. When I lay in bed, those pop those questions just pop into my head because I've been doing it so long. So that's that's the routine that that I have that I know a lot of other people have and have had great success with it.

Steve: Yeah. That box method is interesting because that's what Tony Robbins talks about, and I think in personal power too. So it's not like you've gone and changed the formula. You're still doing

Dan: it. Right.

Steve: David Lam has an interesting question. How did you get to that consistent habit to create that snowball effect? And it might you might have touched a little bit on your morning routine, but, like, how how how do you ensure that you're consistent? And he he points he points this out because right now, he's stuck in YouTube University. Yeah.

So

Dan: so if I'll take this from their perspective of he's stuck in YouTube University trying to figure out when he can make that leap to actually taking action. At some point, it's gonna be a leap. There's gonna there's no guarantees. You will mess up. You're experienced.

You're gonna mess up a lot. There's no avoiding that. Mhmm. But you have to take action because it doesn't matter how much you know if you don't put it to work. So at some point, whether it's just taking a chance and just putting something on your calendar, by this date, no matter where I'm at, this is what I'm doing.

I'm getting to this point. I'm going to and you don't have to maybe you have a regular job right now. I don't know. But don't quit your job right away.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: I was in I was doing real estate pretty much full time while I had another full time job for a full year and and saved up a good amount of money. So I made a pretty safe decision. Other people wouldn't think it was safe because I was leaving a 6 figure job.

Dan: Mhmm.

Dan: But I was still smart about it. But you you have to just take a leap at some point. You can't keep waiting. There's never gonna be a perfect time. Never.

Something is always gonna pop up.

Steve: There's always a reason not to. And I think that's what I've told some people when I when's the right time to quit? And I tell them, well, this is when's the right time to get married? Right. When's the right time to have kids?

Never. There's no right time.

Dan: There's never a good time.

Steve: Pick a date, and you just go with it.

Dan: Yeah. So The world isn't gonna stop. It's not gonna slow down. Stuff's always gonna be happening.

Steve: It's definitely not gonna stop for you. Right. Yeah. Alright. So I'm gonna ask a question, and this is just purely for me.

Mhmm. It's gonna replay this later on. Yeah. So knowing what you know now, was it worth working with Max and me

Dan: Oh my gosh. And signing up on the disruptive blueprint system? Gosh. Giving me softballs here. I've I've said it once.

I'll say it again. Signing up with your program was the best business decision I ever made. It completely changed my business. It took me from a point where I really didn't like wholesaling because I didn't like the process. Mhmm.

I felt like the sellers that I was working with didn't love the experience. Property was a little awkward and though I just never felt great about it. Mhmm. Now, man, these sellers, they are so thankful. They love me.

They I they call me their savior, their hero. They're they are so thankful, and they enjoy the process so much more because I have a better process. Yeah. And I put it into work. And, I mean, probably 95% of what I do is what I learned in your program.

And it's I mean, for I know there are a lot of programs out there. There are. Guys, Steve is not paying me for for this. This is just me saying this honestly that, I know there are a lot of programs out there. Steve is one of the best sales trainers in the game anywhere.

He is the sales trainer for one of the biggest mastermind groups that has these big players that are trying to sell you their programs too. He's training them. So what does that tell you? I I mean, it it can't it doesn't get any better than Steve. And one of the thing I would say is that any good, consistent coach look at any Vince Lombardi, John Wooden, any of these guys, they drill the fundamentals consistently.

Right. And so many of these courses are so appealing and so sexy because they're trying to teach this fancy stuff that is five levels beyond the basics. Mhmm. That's not where people need to start. That's not what's gonna get you to that next level.

What's gonna get you to that next level is being really, really good at the fundamentals. Yeah. And we this program will get you really good at the fundamentals. It's a blueprint for wholesaling success. It will give you if you follow what Steve tells you and you put it into action consistently and you keep trying to get a little bit better and you practice, you will drastically change your business, and you will wonder why you didn't do it years ago.

Steve: Yeah. So thank you for that. I probably should pay you for that.

Dan: I'll take it.

Steve: So I want you to leave, what think about what thought you wanna leave listeners with while I make a couple of quick announcements. Guys, again, if you got value today, please like, subscribe, share, comment. It really help us a lot because that's what the algorithms want to see. And then next week, we got, Brian Snyder and Brett Snodgrass flying in to talk about their business. And then, again, yeah, we get the workshop.

Right? Disruptors.com. Go there. See if you qualify. Our workshop's gonna be November.

So last thoughts.

Dan: Yeah. I would say, other than everything, if I'm gonna add something new. Mhmm. Anyone who's in this business or or any business, treat it like a business. Because I I would put money that if you were to take any of the guys that have been on on your show, take them out of real estate wholesaling, put them in another business, they would have success because they know how to run a business.

And they've set up the systems and they've learned how to hire people and evaluate people and do marketing and sales. They know how to run a business. And so many people, I think, struggle in wholesaling and say it doesn't work because they're not actually running a business. Right. They haven't learned how to do that yet.

And so you need to treat it like it's a regular business like any other. It's not some hobby you can just do half ass. Yeah. If it's going to take work, any business is going to take work. This one just happens to have higher margins.

So the things you see on YouTube and on social media are totally possible. There are plenty of people doing it, but they're doing it because they have great businesses and they work their butts off. Right. So take that consistent action, run a real business. And if you don't know how, learn how.

So there are a lot of people that can teach you. Yeah. Steve is one of them. Steve, honestly, if you guys are looking into programs, if you're looking into coaching programs, you're trying to get started in wholesaling or take your game to the next level, book a call with Steve. He's he's an awesome guy, an awesome coach.

The the program is incredible. It will give you I haven't calculated the return. I probably should have. But for for how much I paid, I would have paid so much more for the program.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. For someone that wants to get a hold of you, how would they do that?

Dan: They can find me on Instagram at action dan bro. Without o. B r o. Because everyone would pronounce it wrong if I spelled it the right way.

Steve: It's not brawlt? Looks like brawlt.

Dan: It looks like brawled.

Steve: Alright. Thank you guys for watching. Thank you. This was awesome. Thank you.

Dan: See, we real estate disruptors. Can't nobody touch us. And yet we about to give you gains. Shout out to Steve Trane. Real estate disruptors.

They cannot touch us. And yet we about to give you game. Shout out to Steve Trane. Jump on the Steve Trane. We about to give you game.

All the ass flowing through my veins And you don't have to look no further See right here you gonna learn everything Yeah. See, we real estate disruptors.