From Being a School Teacher to Being a Millionaire

Michael Franke: Lot of people don't wanna take action. Right. They wanna wait until they're perfect at something. I just went and did something. What gave you that confidence?

Came from from my mother from a very early age. Mhmm. She told me over and over and over that I was supposed to do something big in this world that impacted a lot of people. Yeah. You're a real estate investor.

You wanna make money. But to be successful in this niche, you truly have to divorce your desires for what you want and really think about the other person on the side of the table. Mhmm. And if you provide enough value, the deals will come.

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of real estate disruptors. Today, we have Michael Franke with Niche, and Michael flew from Kansas City to talk about how he went from being a school teacher to become a millionaire, and congratulations on that Thank

Michael: you.

Steve: Super Bowl, victory. That was that was a big, big game not too long ago. Guys, I am on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. The information on the show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire in the next five to seven years. If you'll take consistent action, you will become one.

Guys, if you get value today, please hit that subscribe button. That way we can all grow together. You ready? I'm ready. Alright.

So first of all, this is a long time coming, long overdue. So what was your life like right before you got into real estate?

Michael: So I was a teacher before I got into real estate and, loved teaching, loved coaching, but the financial side of things was just not going well. I had to work eighty hours a week to make $40 a year. My wife wasn't working much, so we were not going forward. We were going backward every month, and I just didn't feel like it was sustainable. So for years, I'd kinda nerd it out on HGTV or property, any type of property show.

I would watch it, and I'd be like, I could I could do that. I wanna flip a house. So, fortunately, my parents were well off enough that they helped me buy my first house to flip. It was a piece of junk, and we paid way too much for it. But Mhmm.

For that entire summer off from teaching, I flipped that house, and I think we made $18 or so, and we split it because they funded the project. So it's, like, it's not a lot of money, but it was proof of concept that I could do it.

Steve: And then, when was this?

Michael: That was 2015.

Steve: 2015. Yeah. Okay. So nine years ago, man. 2015.

I was gonna say it's not that long ago, but now looking back, like, that's a long time ago.

Michael: A long time ago and just yesterday. Yeah.

Steve: So teaching math, algebra. Right? Yep. Teaching math to ninth graders. To ninth graders.

Was it rewarding and fulfilling?

Michael: I actually really enjoyed the teaching aspect and getting around the kids, and I love the coaching. That was my love. I coached cross country and track, but, it was the things that I couldn't control. I wanted to teach deeply and have them really understand the concept, and that's just not how it works in high schools. You're you're teaching a mile wide and an inch deep.

Mhmm. That just wasn't fulfilling for me.

Steve: Gotcha. And eighty hours, what's what's with the eighty hours?

Michael: So I obviously have my forty during teaching, but you have coaching before school, coaching after school.

Steve: Oh, so it's a practice.

Michael: The practices added up a lot. And then you have meets on the weekends that are eight or nine hours, so it added up.

Steve: You don't get paid extra for being a coach for the other things?

Michael: You get a stipend, but it's kind of

Steve: a joke. So not really No. Not really that big. So 40,000, but, look, it was in Kansas City?

Michael: Yeah. Kansas City.

Steve: And that goes pretty far in Kansas City.

Michael: It it it did, but we we just weren't doing well financially.

Steve: For two people.

Michael: For two people.

Steve: Yeah. And, like, I admire that you went down that road because, like, that's something I've said I wanted to do. Right? Because I still remember it was ninth grade but my, high school physics teacher like, what this guy does is awesome because he's passionate Yeah. About physics.

He's passionate about teaching it to us, but I couldn't make math work.

Michael: It's exactly right. I just didn't wanna be the man that didn't provide for my family, and Yeah. We were starting to think about kids and, like, we're gonna have a third one and, you know, a fourth one in the family.

Steve: And it this is not going to

Michael: make sense.

Steve: This 40,000 was not just you and your wife.

Michael: Yeah. It was just thinking long term. When we start having others to feed, this isn't gonna work. So Right.

Steve: Started looking for other options. Okay. So it wasn't a book. It wasn't social media. It was really watching, like, TV shows on flipping.

Michael: Yeah. It was that. And I I knew it wasn't gonna be as easy as it was on TV. Mhmm. But I had always had that entrepreneurial idea that I wanted to pursue in my head, but I was kind of guided down a path of college and being a teacher.

And it just wasn't what I wanted to do. And Yeah. I really felt like I had the ability to make a lot more money and make a lot more impact with others, and I thought I could do that in real estate.

Steve: What gave you that confidence?

Michael: You know, actually, it came from from my mother from a very early age. Mhmm. She told me over and over and over that I was supposed to do something big in this world that impacted a lot of people. And whether that was true or not, I believed it. So the my whole life that's been kind of ingrained, and, we actually had recently had a conversation, with my mother there, and she, was like, what do you think that the most important thing that I did for you is?

And it's like, of course, you love me. You took care of me. I I wanted for nothing, but I think it was that belief that you put in me that I I can do it, and it won't be easy, but you're gonna impact a lot of people.

Steve: Yeah. Well, that faith. Right? That confidence and belief. I think my personal opinion is probably the single most valuable asset or trait we can, bestow upon our kids.

100%. Yeah. Something I look back and, like, that was the greatest gift I think my mom gave me.

Michael: Oh, cool. Right? Cool.

Steve: It was I don't know if it was well founded. Right? Because we're talking about singing. But, you know, she's like, you can do anything Yep. That you want to do.

So talk to me about that first deal. So you you're watching TV. I can do this. Mhmm. How do we go from I can do this to doing it?

Michael: So I was completely green. I knew nothing about real estate other than what I'd seen on TV. I thought you had to use a real estate agent to get a deal. And at that point, there was an auction website called Hubzu that I got on. And there was a a house that caught my eye, and it didn't really need a ton of work.

And I was like, we could do this. Well, we ended up buying that house for about $80. Knowing what I know now, we probably should have paid more like 55.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: But we got the deal done, and, I we bought the house in July right after school was over, and, I just started doing all the work myself and committing the cardinal sin of, swinging the hammer.

Steve: Got it. Oh, I was not cardinal sin. You're just getting started. So Yeah. Hubzu, if I remember correctly, you had to pay something.

Like, you were by making your earnest money through credit cards. Right?

Michael: Yeah. Yeah. It was something like that. It's been a while. Yeah.

Steve: You register account. You bid, and you have to submit your I I think it was, like, your deposit was nonrefundable unless you didn't win the bid or something like that.

Michael: Right.

Steve: So you say cardinal sin. Why is it a cardinal sin?

Michael: I invested right before that house into well, my folks did into a very, very expensive coaching program that we probably shouldn't have purchased into. But if there's one thing that I learned that from that course, it was not to swing the hammer and to, you know, hire it out and delegate. Mhmm. I did not do that. But it was interesting to learn kind of those trades at a deeper level.

That way, you know, later on when I was facilitating those flips, I kind of understood what to look for.

Steve: How much was that course?

Michael: A lot more than I'd care to admit, but I think it was something like 70 k. It was a lot.

Steve: Wow. It was a lot. 70 k. Alright. I guess maybe we have to talk about offline who it was.

Michael: Yeah. But definitely offline.

Steve: Okay. And the the sad reality is that's not unusual. It's not uncommon. Right? Yep.

To have these programs out here. I'm guessing it was probably one of those, like, you listened to something on the radio, and then you went to, like, a a two day event for, like, $97. That was exactly it. And then, like, hey, Michael. You need to get some credit cards.

Michael: Yep.

Steve: Right. Then go to the back of the room.

Michael: Yeah. That's exactly right.

Steve: Yeah. So They did a

Michael: good job. They they got us. And as much as it stinks to spend that type of money on a course, it did get me on this path that, like you mentioned, has made me millions. So

Steve: So let's try to, at least, on this podcast, provide more value Yes. And our time together than what you get from that $70,000 course. Alright. So you say the carnal of of swing and hammer. Now everything we see today, you know, social media, YouTube, whatever, it's like, don't do the work.

Don't do the work. Hire it out. Delegate it. Work on your business, not in your business. Yeah.

I'm of the opinion that's a fallacy. Right? Like, you have to start off knowing what you're doing because how could you possibly teach, manage, retain. You don't know how to do it. With all that being said, I don't know how to swing a hammer.

So you say it's a cardinal sin. Knowing what you know now, do you still think it's a sin?

Michael: That being said, I was a solopreneur for a long time. So from 2015 to 2019

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: I did it all by myself. I was the the acquisition person. I was the one looking at the finances. I was the person that was the TC Mhmm. Going to the appointments, everything.

It was me, so I did learn all of those things.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: I think when I said it was a cardinal sin to to do it myself, it was more of just the construction part. But I've seen every part of the business, and I I've done it all at a high level. So I think there was a ton of value in that. Yeah. That way I when I taught my people, I knew what I was talking about, not just guessing.

Steve: Well, not just teaching. I think it's also for, like, the BS meter. Right? Like, one thing that I've I think I've sat in nearly every seat in the company. Right?

Not to this degree or quality, but I've sat in every seat in the company. And that really helps me with vendors. Right? When they say I'm gonna do this or that, I was like, oh, does that really add is that in alignment with what I know to be true? Right?

Because if you don't know it to be true, what you don't know what is real and what's possible, then you're paying for things without knowing whether it's valid or so on. Oh, completely agree.

Michael: I one of my gifts I would say is that I have a I'm able to perceive if someone is legit or not Mhmm. Almost immediately. I'm I don't even have to talk to them sometimes. I just know. So doing all those things in the company, I I do know the verbiage.

I do know how things are done. Mhmm. And if someone isn't, you know, in alignment, I can tell pretty quick.

Steve: Right. So you got the deal, Hubzu. You did the work yourself. What were some of the challenges on that particular deal?

Michael: What what didn't go wrong? I'm I'm out there at the property. I'm I remember it clearly as when I first got exposed to YouTube. I am putting up a backsplash in the kitchen. I do not know how to do this, and I'm trying to cut a little angle for the the light switch cover.

And I just remember looking at the YouTube video and throwing up my hands and and giving up and going home that day. But it was just a lot of lessons, and I realized, hey. It's not necessarily easy to get into this business, but I know it's going to be productive.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: So I learned all those skills, and it probably took three plus months of me grinding away. And I was out at that house a lot. Yeah. But it was super rewarding when I finished. It was like, I did this.

I did it with my hands. We sold it for a little bit over list. When we we put it on the market, I actually listed it myself because I had my license at that point. And,

Steve: it was

Michael: just a it was really cool to see, hey. I didn't know how to do this. I bought a house. I renovated it. Someone else saw value in it.

We made $19. Let's do it again.

Steve: Well, that's the best part is that, you were able to still come out on top. Yeah. Sure you traded a little bit of sweat equity. It's fine right when we're starting, but it could have been worse. You could have done all that work and lost money.

That's very true. Alright. So alright. So you let's let's do it all over again. Did you go back to school after that summer?

Michael: I did not.

Steve: Okay. So that was enough to say I'm not coming back.

Michael: Well, there were times that I thought I might have to, not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I was able to cash in on that three years of retirement to kind of keep give us some operating expenses. I believe it was somewhere around $20. Mhmm. Well, that left us, you know, three, four, five months of operating expenses at that time in my life.

Steve: Operating expenses or living expenses?

Michael: Living expenses.

Steve: Okay.

Michael: Living expenses. And, that money started getting really, really tight. Mhmm. And it got to the point where I got to this deal that I was working on. We had kinda broken even on several deals in a row, so I was fortunate on that first one.

Steve: Right.

Michael: But the ones after that, my my realtor that I was working with Mhmm. They said that the ARV was a little bit higher than it was. The repairs were probably a little bit less than they should have been, and we ended up breaking even. She was the only one that made money on those deals. And there was a point where we were about to close on a deal.

It was gonna make us $20. I was down to no money left in my account, And it was supposed to close the next day. I got on a call from an appraiser. He said, I got some bad news for you. This house, it's gonna appraise 20,000 less than than what you have it under contract for.

Almost exactly what the profit was. Mhmm. And I remember just being completely broken, and that's it. I'm actually getting a little bit emotional thinking about it. And I was finishing up some of the repair requests for that house because I'm still doing the work.

Mhmm. And, I just broke down. I went and sat on the side of the house and just wept. Like, it was it was ugly crying because it's like, I didn't know what I was gonna do Mhmm. To provide.

We didn't have the money for the next month of our mortgage or anything like that. So I just had to finally, I I just had this resolve after sitting there for sixty minutes. I probably thought something like what we had talked about earlier with my mom. It's like, you're capable of doing this. Mhmm.

You can do it. And I would say that situation kind of a new man came out of that Yeah. That, and I just decided I was gonna be the man that provided for my family, and, I started doing that.

Steve: What were those thoughts he's talking about? Like, what am I gonna do and this and that? I mean, what because I think a lot of people that are listening, whether today or in the past or will in the future run into those thoughts. So what are those some of those thoughts? You spent countless weeks going back and forth with the homeowner only to lose a deal because the seller changed their mind, another wholesaler made an unreasonable offer, or what the seller needs from the sale, you just can't pay.

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Michael: I mean, some of those thoughts that I was having when I was sitting there was that I wasn't enough, that I was a failure, that I was gonna have to go back to a job that I hated. And, I was just playing through those over and over in my mind. And I realized that I I didn't believe those things that, you know, I could go down that path and believe those thoughts, but I've been raised well enough that I was resilient enough to to fight back on those thoughts a little bit. But, for me, it took being backed into a literal corner, to kind of emerge as a a new person and start taking action that I needed to take to be successful.

Steve: So I'm thinking back to the hero's journey. Right? Like, you know, the best instance I can think of right now is, like, every Marvel movie. Like, all the superheroes are defeated, and they got that sad song, and all hope is lost. Yes.

And then something happens. You get back on the horse. You come up with a new plan. So what's the new plan?

Michael: So I was just a man possessed at that point. I had to make money. I knew in the back of my mind that my parents would bail me out, but I didn't want that. I wanted to solve it on my own. So I was at that point, I didn't know anything about what I do now, but I was just out driving for dollars.

I saw for sale by owner. Mhmm. I called that for sale by owner, and it happens to be in the same neighborhood in which I currently live, which is kind of cool. Mhmm. But I called and I said, hey.

What are you looking to get for this house? They said a number that was absurdly low. Like, surely there's a mistake. Mhmm. So I called them up, went over and met, signed the contract on the spot, which I'd never done that before.

Mhmm. So that was kind of cool. And that was one of the easiest rehabs we ever did. We listed it. We ended up making $60 on the house.

Mhmm. And I went from having a few $100 in my account to all of a sudden 60, and it was just like, wow.

Steve: Yeah.

Michael: I I can do it. We're okay.

Steve: That one where the appraisal came in 20 kilo is staying there. You guys aren't able to challenge it.

Michael: No.

Steve: Buyer wasn't gonna come up with the difference? No. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay.

So it was the next one.

Michael: It was the next one.

Steve: The next one. Okay. So then after that.

Michael: So, really, I kinda kept going in the same path. I started delegating things out more. We got some contractor relationships. Mhmm. It was largely kind of the marketing style that you would expect from a newbie.

You're out there doing bandit signs. You're doing drive for dollars. You're putting offers in on the MLS. That's all I knew. And this went on for a few more years.

And at that point, I was like, I'm doing okay, but we're kinda stagnant. Mhmm. I'm missing something. And I remember it clear as day. This was 2018.

I was in another one of those periods where we were okay financially at that point, but I didn't have any leads. I didn't have any deals. And I was sitting on my back deck kind of pouting about it. My wife at that point was no longer working. She was able to

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: To retire, and she came out and was like, why are you here? Go do something. Go go make something happen. Mhmm. So she kinda kicked me in the butt a little bit.

Yeah. And, I was like, okay. I need to look for another opportunity. So it's kind of that next moment of being backed into the corner again. Mhmm.

And I was scrolling through Zillow, and I saw a little red dot on Zillow, and it said preforeclosure on it. And I was like, I don't know what this is, but I saw that that house was about a half mile from my home. Right. So I I walked over there. I was scared out of my mind.

I'd never door knocked a house before. I thought they were gonna chew me out or yell me off the property. Mhmm. But I knocked on the house, and all that I could think to say was, hey. My name is Michael.

I noticed you had an auction next week. I just wanted to come by. I'm in your neighborhood. I just wanna see if I could help. Mhmm.

And I I didn't think anything was gonna happen, but they poured out their soul to me. They explained their whole situation. I went into their living room. We sat there for probably ninety minutes and talked it out. And the point of this is, you know, a lot of people don't wanna take action.

Steve: Right.

Michael: They wanna wait until they're perfect at something. I just went and did something, and I only knew a little bit more than they did probably. But to them, I seemed like an expert. And then, they said they were gonna think about it At the end of the the conversation, I was like, no. This isn't going to happen.

Mhmm. But, the next morning, they called me. I went over there and signed a contract to sign that thing for $50,000. I was like, wow. I I generated a lead out of nowhere.

Mhmm. They were extremely motivated. There was no one else that I was competing against. What did I just do? Alright.

And that was kind of the the origin of of the preforeclosure thing that we do now.

Steve: Gotcha. Before we continue that this thread, the you you you were, you know, lost, and you get the $60,000 deal. Mhmm. At this point then, do we have full conviction, like, this is it or, like, there's no more doubts? Or

Michael: At that point, I'd opened Pandora's box. Mhmm. And I was like, I I made $60,000 on this deal. I know that I can at least find one more deal a year Mhmm. That I could make $40, like, my old teacher salary.

So there was no going back at that point.

Steve: So as long as we can beat the old teacher salary

Michael: Yeah.

Steve: We're good. Yes. Gotcha. Okay. So door knock, get a signed contract.

That one, is this 2018?

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: Wholesale? Or are you still flipping?

Michael: We wholesale that one.

Steve: Okay. So you when did you start wholesale?

Michael: I think my first wholesale was back in I wanna say it was twenty sixteen, seventeen. I can't remember the exact year. Mhmm. You know Nathan Brooks?

Steve: Of course.

Michael: K. So this house, I also found on Hubzu. It was in a lake community. Mhmm. Right?

And I bought the house for $92,000. I knew it was a deal, but it was just kind of this weird third tier house. Mhmm. I didn't know how to comp it. I didn't have the confidence to to flip that house.

Mhmm. So I didn't know anything about wholesaling at that point. I didn't even know it was a possibility. So I just we bought the house. I put put it on Craigslist, and I put it out there for $1.45.

I thought it was ridiculous. 92

Steve: to $1.45.

Michael: 92 to $1.45. There's no way anyone is gonna buy this. This is absurd. So we put it on there the next day. Nathan Brooks, I did not know him at this point.

He reached out. He was like, hey. I'm looking for a a cheap vacation home. And he was like, if I give you $1.45 cash, can we can we do this? So I was like, okay.

And then I went ahead and talked to my title company. I was like, I have this under contract, and this guy wants to buy it. What do I do? I have no idea.

Steve: Yeah. So they

Michael: told me, oh, you can assign it. So they helped me through the whole process. Mhmm. And the whole time, I'm just wondering, is this gonna close? Is this real life?

This seems a little too good to be true. Mhmm. The day of closing, I'm like, do I need to come in close? Like, I I don't know what I'm doing. Nope.

You're just gonna get your check. And surely enough, there it was, about $45 when all was said and done. Mhmm. And, that opened my eyes again.

Steve: Yeah. Nathan, incredible human being. He was here when we moved podcast studio from that control room

Michael: Yes.

Steve: To in here. So he was the first guest we had, on on the new set, the set before this set. Okay. So from there, is it just easy cruising? No.

No. So what are some of the other biggest challenges from from 2018 where you figured out with pre foreclosures?

Michael: I mean, at that point, I started encountering new mental hurdles.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: I knew I could do real estate. I knew I could do deals. But at that point, I wanted to build a team. I had started watching podcasts. I don't remember if when yours launched.

Steve: '18.

Michael: '18. So I remember watching that from almost the very beginning. Mhmm. I was actually talking with Austin, my videographer, before we came over here that, I was reflecting on that. The first time I saw your podcast, I was like, I'm gonna be on that, and I'm not gonna ask to be on it.

I'm just gonna wait until I do something cool enough to where they reach out. So just reflecting on that journey.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: What was your question again? I apologize.

Steve: Was it easy after that?

Michael: No. No. It definitely wasn't easy. And like I said, I had new hurdles mentally, knew I could do deals. But I wanted to start building a team, and I did not have that belief that I could be a leader or that I could hire someone or that I could sustain them and their family.

So those were the things that I was fighting for several years. Mhmm. And and I wanted to hire someone in 2018. I didn't until really early twenty twenty was my first hire.

Steve: Really? Yeah. So you started in '15. You didn't make a higher than 2020.

Michael: No. I was the definition of a solopreneur. Yeah. And we were doing really, really well financially at that point, but I was I was burnt out. I was burning the candle at both ends.

Mhmm. I was doing everything, and I just knew that wasn't sustainable. My daughter had just been born, January 2020. My wife kinda laid down that gauntlet. Like, yeah, you you need to be around a little bit more.

Steve: Yeah. I remember that gauntlet as well after our first was born. I think, like, three months old, she's like, so is it, like, always gonna be like this? Like, what do you mean? Right.

Michael: I think that gauntlet got thrown. She had forced me to stay home for the first week after my daughter Piper was born, and then I was like, oh, I'm going back to work. And she's

Steve: like, hold

Michael: on now. I I still need some help. So, at that point, she was like, you really need to hire someone. You can afford it. You can do it.

Yeah. We started pursuing that.

Steve: Tell me about that first hire.

Michael: First hire I ever had, was an acquisition guy. His name was Jared. He had actually moved in from, Las Vegas into the Kansas City market, and I got lucky on my my first acquisition hire. I didn't do any type of real interviewing, no cog test, no personality test. I didn't know about any of this.

We just met at a breakfast spot Mhmm. And we just hit it off. And, he he killed it for me for six, eight months.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: Brought us a lot of revenue, and that was during the period of time where the hedge funds were going crazy, and you could buy a house not at not much of a discount. They'd buy it above Mhmm. Market value. And we did really well, but then he got an offer from another investor that came into Kansas City to own a company at at, what was it, 50% of the company.

Steve: And I

Michael: was like, I I can't compete with that. And, we parted ways, and we still do deals all the time together, so there's no bad blood at all.

Steve: Is that the company still in business? Yes. Gotcha. Yeah. You know, I think hiring a salesperson, the first one, it's not the hardest part.

Is that I think that's the one that's the easiest to not screw up. Mhmm. Right? Because we generally hire people like us. Yeah.

And we don't give them any systems and processes. We'll just go figure it out. I think a salesperson can get away with that with the first one, maybe even the second one. It's after that

Michael: Yeah.

Steve: We need process and procedures.

Michael: So the big problem that we had from that next hire, I was doing acquisitions. He was doing acquisitions. All of a sudden, we had an avalanche of deals. I could not keep up with talking to the sellers and talking to the title company, so we hired a transaction coordinator at that time. She has been a godsend for several years for me.

Probably the best hire that I've ever made. She's taken so much of a off my plate Yeah. So I can focus on on other things.

Steve: Right. So when did it become so the the first hurdle was, like, should I hire? Mhmm. But you did it, and it worked out seamlessly, it appears.

Michael: It worked out well in terms of the financials. Mhmm. But it was a disaster in terms of the company. We had no systems. We had no processes.

We were just gunslinging. And at that point in time in the market, it was you could get away with a lot more than than you could in a different type of market. So, after that, he left. He was like, Michael, I love you, but I've gotta go do this opportunity. You really need to work on making this a real business.

We are a very expensive hobby in terms of we go out there, we make a lot of money, but we're just gunslinging. This isn't a real business. If you want a players like me

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: You're probably gonna need to develop those things. So that was a real gut punch. Mhmm. It was it was emotional. We were really good friends, but it was the what I needed to really take the next step in terms of making a real viable business.

Yeah.

Steve: That was the person that liked you. That gave you that feedback. Yeah. Yeah. Imagine what it would be if he didn't like you.

Yeah. That

Michael: would have been tough.

Steve: So what'd you do with that?

Michael: We, we immediately started doing things a little bit differently. I started keeping track of KPIs. I started documenting things. Mhmm. Made videos for every aspect of the business.

Knew I wanted to hire TC. We did that, and I documented that. And she actually was better at it than me, which is what you want in an employee. Mhmm. And I started working with my employees to start documenting those things thoroughly, and we just got 1% better a day.

It's always been my motto. It wasn't overnight. Mhmm. It was just a little incremental thing, every day.

Steve: So they were documenting or you were doc

Michael: I was doing it too because I had done that process myself during my solopreneur. So I had an idea on how I wanted things to be done. Mhmm. And I would give that off to them, and they would say, well, I'd like to fix this, this, and this. I think that would streamline things a little bit better.

So it was a collaborative effort.

Steve: Gotcha. Yeah. Because I think probably if you're listening to the show, you're probably one of our personality profiles. What what are you?

Michael: I think I'm a maverick. It's been a few years since I've taken it.

Steve: The maverick, individualist. You could be a captain, you could be a veteran. If you're watching the show, you're probably one of the four high a personality types. Right? Not the documentation type profile.

No. And so we all struggle with this. I can say for sure I still struggle with this. Fortunately, I have a team that just does it. How did you what did you have to tell yourself to get yourself to document?

Because most people still don't love to document.

Michael: I almost had to set a time time aside each week to force it out. I actually dreaded it and hated it, but I committed to a couple hours each week of, I'm gonna make a video on this topic. We're gonna document. We're gonna put it. We were using Trainual, I think, at the time.

And I just had to force it out of myself. It wasn't something I enjoyed, but I knew from that advice I had gotten from that acquisition person Mhmm. That I had to have these things and these systems and these processes to keep a players, and that drove me each week when I didn't wanna do it.

Steve: Gotcha. So we just came back from Collective Genius.

Michael: Yes.

Steve: Right? And Jason Medley says something from the main stage that really resonated with me. It was, if you wanna get rich, focus on how to be lazy. And if you wanna become wealthy, focus on how to become confident. Right?

And that first one was my favorite bit of advice from my very first coach. So back in 2010, 2010, 2011, I hired Craig Proctor coaching And it was ironic that the week I was like, I'm done. I got everything I need. I'm out of here. See you guys later.

On that call, they're like, yeah. You should spend as much time as possible figuring out how to be lazy. Yeah. Right. But then this new one, how to be incompetent, documenting.

Right? I'm I'm I'm, we just had Cameron Harold speaking, and he talks about how you need to do less and how and I promise there's a point of the story. Is is, instead of me documenting it, I'm just gonna give you my task, and then we're gonna do it together, and we're gonna record it. Right? And then now you're gonna have the ability to do the task.

Michael: Right.

Steve: But what I've always done or tried to do was document it or record it and this and that and hand it over, which is a functional thing that works. Just knowing myself, getting myself to do it doesn't work. I say, Michael, I need you to do this task. Now you're gonna get that task done, and you're gonna schedule a time with me.

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: And then we're gonna record this conversation. And now we have it's not the best documentation, but it's some sort of documentation. So, I mean, that like like I said, I just picked that up right now. What are your thoughts on that?

Michael: So in the last few hires that we've made, we've gotten to our company, kind of has some presence to it. I've started having access to employees that perhaps I didn't before. Mhmm. And our our business is robust enough to where they believe in it. Mhmm.

But we've really gone through the hiring process religiously now. So you do the cog test. You do the personality test. If that is good, do a Zoom, interview. Then we have two in person interviews and a skills skills test.

Mhmm. So at this point, I hired a CFO. A while back, my father was doing all of the finances, and he kinda wanted to step back. The business had become a little bit more than what he agreed to.

Steve: It wasn't a job anymore.

Michael: It wasn't it wasn't his thing anymore. Mhmm. So we hired Kevin, who was our CFO. Brilliant. Way smarter than me.

Mhmm. He immediately came in, looked at our finances, completely changed everything and how we we operate. I don't have to worry about finances. I don't have to worry about any of that type of stuff. And he just brings me ideas.

Mhmm. Because he's an a player. He brings me ideas. He's like, I think this would really help us improve. What do you think on that?

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: He'll say, I like it 90% of the way. Adjust it here. Mhmm. And then he'll go do that. So those are the types of employees I'm I'm looking for now.

Those real a player type personalities.

Steve: How are you tracking a players?

Michael: We're just really consistent with our hiring. Mhmm. And we still wanna get more consistent. For the longest time, we'd we'd go through a hiring process. I'd find someone really good.

I'd think that they were gonna choose us, then we they would go another direction. Then you'd be kinda crushed. Mhmm. Then it'd be a few months of not doing any hiring at all. Right.

Well, we've really gotten better about making sure all of our ads are out there. We're constantly looking for talent. And I've realized over the years, it's, like, it's great to have a pipeline of deals, but I almost equally need to have a pipeline of talent. Mhmm. So we've kind of adopted that, mindset in our company that we're just constantly trying to upgrade our team.

Steve: You guys have KPIs on recruiting?

Michael: We don't. We're just out there constantly taking action. I could probably be better in that department.

Steve: Yeah. Something we just added literally in, like, the last two weeks. Oh, okay.

Michael: Yeah. I'd love to chat about that because I wouldn't have the first idea on what to

Steve: I mean, we just have, like, you know, how many quality applicants not applicants. Right. How many quality applicants do we have? How many, interviews do we have? How many offers do we extend just like buying houses?

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: And then how many do we onboard? Like, it's the same thing. And then the last thing, this is the post, metric, not the not the leading, indicator, but the lagging indicator is how many performing reps did we get them. Okay. Alright.

So you have to look at that later on. But our goal right now is to keep performing, salespeople per month. How are you recruiting? Like, I know you're saying you're, you know, more diligent. Like, are you and I'm gonna get to this later on about social media.

Like, are you leveraging social media? Are you paying a a third party recruiter? Like, what are you doing to get people

Michael: So it's a combination of everything. We've put ads on the normal job websites. We also have a third party recruiter that is constantly looking for us. I'm actually considering, bringing someone in house. Mhmm.

We're gonna be hiring quite a few people in the next twelve to eighteen months, so it might financially make sense. Yeah. But it's just a combination of things, and I've actually found a few people, through social media occasionally. I'll just say, I have this need. If you're interested, shoot me a message.

And I've had some good conversations. I don't think I've hired anyone that way. Yeah. But at least it gets the ball rolling.

Steve: Some of the best people we've hired have come from social media. Yeah. It's just it's too small of a pool to build this entire organization. 100%. But, yeah, I actually went to a recruiter, and I said, I need you to hire a recruiter for me.

Yeah. I wish she turned around and pitched me, and she was like, how about we just be your recruiting company? Just pay us. Like, that works. Yep.

Right. As long as what you're demanding is not more than what I pay for an in house recruiter, let's do it. So that's what we're doing right now.

Michael: Love it.

Steve: So, you, we're gonna talk about the the the preforeclosure thing. But before we do that, because we're just touching on social media, you have Austin here. I do. Right? From Kansas City.

Michael: He is.

Steve: Now I have noticed you have some really good content. The ones that make it in my feed are either your thoughts on the industry or the ones I find really fascinating, you door knocking.

Michael: Yes.

Steve: Talk to me about how like, what what's involved in creating content around door knocking and then, why it's important. So sorry about how it was involved doing it.

Michael: So I started doing that type of content because I was teaching nicheless type marketing for a long time, but people wanted more in-depth. Mhmm. They wanted to see it in real life. They wanted to know what the conversations looked like, sounded like. I was like, okay.

We're gonna try. Mhmm. So the first time, it was really awkward. I I had a mic I think I wore a black sweatshirt like this and had a mic tucked away, and Austin sitting in the passenger seat just kinda, like, slinked back trying to not let the seller see.

Steve: It's like a really bad, like, cop stalking video.

Michael: It really is.

Steve: Our state governor. Yeah.

Michael: And, he would just zoom in, and we'd go out and door knock and have these conversations. And we found that that content did really well. I don't know if it's a curiosity factor or a drama thing, but those definitely voyeuristic thing. I guess.

Steve: Okay. So that's what you're doing. Well, what has come from that?

Michael: A lot of people are it's amazing the like, I get a lot of appreciation from helping these sellers and getting these deals to the finish line. But I've I've put this content out there And people that I've never met like, I listened to your your word track, your conversation path. I listened how you actually were empathetic to the sellers. Mhmm. I was able to quit my w two because of just the videos on your YouTube channel.

Steve: Wow. That's a testament.

Michael: And it just blows my mind. I get those every few days, and it's just, like, it's the heart going every day. And it Yeah. Goes back to, you know, that impact that I wanna make. Mhmm.

And I know you have a similar impact that you wanna make with all the millionaires you wanna produce. And, it's just something I'm really passionate about changing people's lives. So

Steve: Do you think in any way you have a competitive advantage and that you were a school teacher?

Michael: I think there is an advantage. I when I was a school teacher, I was an easy target for those students. What the school district I was in was a little rough. Mhmm. The parents there were not involved in their kids' lives.

These kids, they had they had rough upbringings, a lot of really ugly things that they went through, and I was that easy target. So there was a lot of situations that I had to resolve and talk people through and go through their emotions and be like, look. I am not your enemy. I am your teammate. Feel free to unload on me.

But I I just wanna help you learn. I wanna help you graduate high school Mhmm. Go to your next step. So I think there was a a lot of empathy that came into place. Through teaching.

I learned a lot, and it's similar type conversations with these sellers. They're going through the worst time in their life. Mhmm. They're going through a death of a loved one, tragic illness, whatever it might be. Mhmm.

And I've seen those situations and and teaching in some regard, and I'm able to have that conversation from learning that, from the teaching ranks.

Steve: And the reason I was asking this is even though teachers generally tend to be more of the stable, supportive personality profiles, I can say not on the house buying side, but definitely on the realtor side. The the the people we like to hire and bring into the industry, were either bartenders, servers, or school teachers. Interesting. Those three profiles those three industries tend to lead really well because you talk to people all day every day.

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: But on the teacher side, what was great is that you cared. You had a lot of reps talking to people, and you care. Yeah. So if you're likable and you can demonstrate that you care, that is someone you generally want to have or present your best interests.

Michael: Yeah. And that's what I try to get across to my team. Mhmm. It's like, yeah. You're a real estate investor.

You wanna make money. But to be successful in this niche, you truly have to divorce your desires for what you want Mhmm. And really think about the other person on the side of the table. Mhmm. And if you provide enough value, the deals will come.

Right. And and we can go down that path a little bit more later, I'm sure.

Steve: Oh, no. Let's talk about it now.

Michael: But, I mean, these sellers are being bombarded Mhmm. In preforeclosure. It's not like I'm the only one going after them. But all those other people, they're only can think about themselves as investor giving that lowball cash offer. I think of myself as a trusted adviser.

I come in there not trying to buy the house right away. I'm trying to diagnose the situation. So we will go through a conversation of every option that they have. Some examples might be, can you reinstate the house? K?

That would be the ideal solution for you. Mhmm. Tell me a little bit about how much you're behind. They'll say, I'm I'm $10 behind. K?

You're not just moving on to the next option. Do you have someone in your life that could lend you that type of money? Do you have a $4.00 1 k that you can tap into? What can you do to get that type of money? I have I've talked to my family.

They said, no. I've talked to my work. It's not a possibility.

Steve: K.

Michael: Right. So you kind of get them to admit that that they were disqualifying themselves from that option, and then you go to the next option. Mhmm. So it's kind of a sales path just like you're you're going through. I I like to think of it as inception you see in the movie

Steve: Yeah.

Michael: Where you're trying to plan an idea in someone's head. Mhmm. Same thing with this. So then you go on to the second option. Hey.

Have you pursued a loan modification?

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: Yeah. I got paperwork from my bank. I applied, but I I got fired from my job. I don't have a job. I can't I can't get, approved for a loan modification.

So you don't think that loan modification is a good path for

Steve: you?

Michael: No. I don't think so.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: A third option for you, chapter 13 bankruptcy. Let it be known I hate this option. I do not want you to go down that path. But in a hail Mary situation, you're the night before the sale, you can file that document and buy yourself some time. Mhmm.

K? Fourth option, we'll just kinda glaze over it. It is an option. I could buy the house for cash, put as much equity in your pocket as possible, but we don't even need to talk about that yet. Mhmm.

Fifth option, subject to. What is subject to? Subject to is just a fancy way of saying that I could bring this loan current. I would take ownership of the house, but the the loan would stay in your name. And, potentially, if we decided that it was mutually beneficial, you could stay in the house, which is not advisable for a new person.

Mhmm. I'm I'm pretty I I like risk.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: And I buy these houses deep enough to where I can accommodate for issues down the line. But those are kind of the five options that we walk them through, and it just builds so much trust

Steve: Right.

Michael: From them because you're not just coming out and say, I'm trying to buy your house for a deeply discounted amount. You're really trying to serve that person. Mhmm. And if they go down one of those paths such as the reinstatement, the loan modification, the bankruptcy, you're probably not buying that house on that particular round of it being in preforeclosure. But you have to be supportive of them Mhmm.

Of them saving their home.

Steve: Right. So Well, there's a couple different things here, and this might sound, you know, crass. But what we have found is even if they do pick option one or option two

Michael: Yeah.

Steve: In six to twelve months, they're gonna be in the situation again. They were Right. The decisions they made before are probably the same decisions again. And this is true in your life and my life. I make the same bad decisions over and over again.

They just show up a little bit different. Sure. Right? But it's the same ones. Like, when you look back, it's like, why did I do that again?

That's the first thing. Second thing, you're disqualifying. Right? You're not saying you should do this, this, and this. Like, how about this?

How about that? How about that? And they're telling you, no.

Michael: I want it to be their idea in their head.

Steve: And so it's not egocentric. It's not about Michael. No. Not at all. It's about them.

And that's something that we talk a lot about in our in our sales process is that so many people try to be the hero in the story. Let me do this. Here's how I can help you. Here's this and that. And it works.

I'm not saying it doesn't work, but if we talk about you, how do you do this? Can you do this? Have you tried this? What if you do this? And they discover the solution.

They tell you what the what what's the ideal outcome for them. They're selling themselves on you.

Michael: Oh, a 100%.

Steve: Not selling you.

Michael: And the cool thing is that I was not behind on payments a long time ago, twenty fourteen, fifteen. Mhmm. But I know that stress of what's going to happen if I don't have the money. And I'm able to leverage that that I I've felt this, and I would have loved to have someone like me that came beside me Mhmm. Laid out all the options, and I let them know I'm an investor.

I I want to buy this house, but it's not my first priority. First priority is to help you save your home. And if these options do not work, we can go down this path, and I can help you out there. So

Steve: You know, one thing I get from time to time as well, Michael, how about you just loan me the money, and then I get my house current?

Michael: Yeah. I get that question all the time. And my response is, look, I would love to do that, but my finance guy would absolutely kill me. I can't give you an unsecured loan, and they kinda laugh, and that conversation's over. But we don't pursue that at all.

Steve: It's always striking to me. It's like, so you're in this situation. You don't e, lend you money. Okay. So this so this oh, the last thing before we go into for proof of closures.

Why is this important? Like, so you're obviously committed to creating content. Right? Again, Austin is here. Why is this important?

Michael: You know, I I never set out to make a community around this. Mhmm. It was more of a passion thing. I went through it. I found this opportunity to find deals.

Mhmm. It was funding my lifestyle, and I helped these sellers. It was very rewarding to me. But then I just started documenting it with no real intention.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: I just kinda wanted to document my life. And I started getting these messages. How how can I learn more? I want to know about this stuff. Can you teach me how to do it?

And this happened for long enough that I just started making better content. I was like, hey. I make enough in this other company. Let's just start documenting this. Yeah.

So I hired Austin about about a year ago now, and we've been building things up and figuring it out and gotten a lot of really good feedback from it.

Steve: Awesome. And, I met you at Pace's house. Yep. I don't remember exactly the year. Do you?

Michael: I wanna say that was one of his first masterminds that he did for sub two.

Steve: Yeah. So you're in sub two, and you went to the mastermind. There were a lot of people there. There were. People jumping off the the sides Off the deck.

Yeah. Into the pool. So how how has Sub 2 been a part of your story?

Michael: Well, it's one of my five options. Mhmm. I've I've become a millionaire just off of sub twos. Mhmm. So I owe so much to you, and I owe so much to PACE, for opening my eyes to being able to buy a house with creatively.

Mhmm. So that just blew my mind that I was able to do that type of transaction relatively easily, and I was just a bolt on to what I was already doing. Mhmm. And it just helped me help more sellers. Yeah.

But after I'd done a few of those, I was like, I have to meet this guy. So I came down to Phoenix, and it was a kind of out of body experience meeting you and and Pace. And I've come a long way in the last few years, but I owe a lot to you guys.

Steve: Yeah. Well, appreciate that. And then, before, again, we continue, how does someone get to see your content on on your door knocking?

Michael: Yeah. Check me out on Instagram, Michael underscore Frankie. And I do some extended door knocking stuff on YouTube. You can check me out there, Michael dFrankie.

Steve: There you go. And then somewhere along the way as well, my good friend Gary Harper got to work with him as well.

Michael: Yes.

Steve: What did we had Amanda Dean on the show, I wanna say about months ago now. So what did they do for you that you couldn't do for yourself?

Michael: So they helped us implement EOS back in 2020. We went through their process. I I think it was a two or three day at that point where they came in, helped us implement that. We actually weren't ready for it at that point, and I've actually considered hiring him back again because we're actually now at the point where his knowledge could be extremely valuable for us because we could actually implement it. At that point, it was like, this is a great idea, but we do not have the ability to implement.

So I actually need to give him a call and and get him back out.

Steve: Yeah. They're great people. They've, I talked to Gary when when when when things are rough. So you made a huge splash six to nine months ago, maybe twelve months ago. I'm not entirely sure.

But I didn't get a chance to watch the presentation at that time, but I had Jimmy Vreeland talk about your presentation. Jimmy Vreeland's a big deal. Yeah. I had Renton Bartlett talk about your presentation. Right?

Because Renton and I do their sales leadership thing together. And there were other people. They're like this this kid, Michael. He talks about pre foreclosures. It's crazy.

Right? What was it that you were talking about that blew everyone's minds? We need to hire nine salespeople in the next five weeks. We launched our done for you sales service just a month ago, and the demand for it has been absolutely crazy. We have all these people reaching out to us saying, our sales service has been so helpful for them.

Please get us more salespeople. If you are in high ticket sales or looking to get into that space, if you want a calendar filled up

Speaker 2: with people raising their hands saying, call me at this time, please sell me. I wanna be sold to by a highly experienced salesperson, we are looking for you to have that role. We wanna take people who are good and make them great. People who wanna be held accountable the same way Michael Jordan would want his coach to hold him accountable, to take him to that next level.

Steve: So if you want Ian Ross or myself to train you to get better at sales, if you wanna be able to control your income, decide exactly how much money you make, and you wanna work at a company where you're valued and appreciated, we encourage you click the link below. However, we're only hiring superstars. If you're not a plus caliber, don't click below.

Michael: So it's interesting. I went to I did a few presentations at CG Select. I was in that level at that time. And I was like, well, what's my best stuff? Mhmm.

My best stuff is pre foreclosures. I thought it would be common sense. I was actually kind of concerned when I came in there that it was gonna be something that people were gonna be twiddling their thumbs and not interested in. But I presented on that whole topic in a smaller setting. Mhmm.

And people just went bazook over it. I was like, wow. I I didn't realize this was was a need. I ended up winning the the belt at that presentation. Mhmm.

Didn't think much about it. And then a few months later, Leon was like, we'd really like you to speak on the main stage this time Mhmm. For sixty minutes. I've never done anything like that. So it was a little bit intimidating, but I just put all my stuff forward, presented it Mhmm.

And taught people that, of course, you can get stuff on market. That's great. You can get deals. No doubt. You can go direct to seller.

It's great. We all do it. I do it in my own company, but there's another level, direct to motivation. Mhmm. So I taught that at a high level and just kind of gave them a cursory glance of how to get that set up in their business.

And, I probably get messages on Instagram every few days just from new people that are coming into CG, and they see that presentation. They're like, oh my gosh. I have to put this into place right away. Please help me. So it's been a fun ride, and I'm glad it's been,

Steve: useful for people. So let's break it down. What was the presentation about?

Michael: So in that presentation, I gave a background kind of like what we've talked about Mhmm. My my trajectory during that whole time. And then I just started talking about the different ways I marketed to these people. So, of course, you've gotta get the data first. The data is the the kingpin.

If you don't have accurate data

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: Then you're not going to win. So years ago, I hired a virtual assistant. Their only job, keep track of the pre foreclosure data, make sure it's accurate. Mhmm. It's not just notices that are really old.

We want it to be as accurate as possible. Mhmm. We put that into our CRM, and then we start marketing. And most people think of marketing as, you know, cold calling or texting, maybe door knocking, and that that's kind of it. And but we did it in every aspect that we could think of.

So currently, we have SMS. We have cold calling. We have door knocking. We have email. We have Facebook messages, which is it's good stuff.

Mhmm. And then, we have video messages as well. Mhmm. So I just presented on all those different types of marketing channels and different ways to how those messages looked, how those conversations went, different stories from every single source of of marketing Mhmm. And how I'd gotten a deal from that.

That way, they could get proof of concept that it actually worked. Mhmm. I just worked them through that, and we talked a little bit about those five options that we kinda talked about a little bit about the sales path. Mhmm. And that was pretty much the the whole thing.

But it it's a business plan to where you can get a a deal or two a week, and all of a sudden, you have a million dollar business just from a bolt on. Mhmm. If so many people that are good at EPC, direct mail, pay per lead, TV, all these things, but it's like, wow. I could just bolt this on and and have an additional revenue stream. And it just seemed like a no brainer to people that were listening to it, I guess.

Right.

Steve: So you're talking about Facebook. Right? And I got a chance to see it yesterday when you're presenting

Michael: on it.

Steve: Yeah. What is the general what what are the range of reactions you get to messaging someone on Facebook that's in foreclosure?

Michael: It's one of the biggest questions I get in any marketing channel we do. Are they gonna get mad? Are they gonna cuss you out? What's going to happen? Mhmm.

And it does happen from time to time. But most of the time, people are appreciative if you come at it at the right angle. Mhmm. If you come at it in an angle to where you're there to serve, they can feel that. It has to be genuine.

It can't be fake. Mhmm. And if you come from that angle, they're generally kind of more of a a solemn response. Like, they kind of explain their situation. Mhmm.

Steve: But in

Michael: terms of Facebook, really, it it it's a pretty good response. The the one I talked about in that presentation Mhmm. Was one of my favorite fake Facebook messages that I got a deal from. I had gone back after I got that deal and figured out how many times my team had contacted them through all mediums. 116 times through all SMS, cold calling, direct mail, all these different things added up over a few months' time.

And I could not get ahold of this woman. I was like, this house was in my hometown. It was vacant. There was obscene amounts of equity, and I was like, I want this woman to get a large amount of this equity. Why will she not answer?

So I was about to give up, and I was I prayed about it. I was like, I I really feel like I'm supposed to help this person, but I don't know what to do. And I just got the nudge to try one more time. Mhmm. So I went back to her Facebook profile.

I'd sent her a message before, and it she she had blocked me, actually. Convert we can have that conversation later. But I saw that she had a boyfriend attached to it. So I messaged him. I said, Brian, look.

Your your wife has a foreclosure sale in two days. She has an obscene amount of equity. And we just have a conversation. What do you have to lose? Mhmm.

He immediately responded and said, I'll see what I can do. So she called me a few minutes later. She sent me a a screenshot of her loan balance, and I met her that evening. The the reason for the pain and why she wasn't answering, her son had died in that home, and she could not bring herself to address it. It was just too painful.

So we met over there. She cried. It was the first time she'd been there for quite some time. And she said, Michael, I saw all your messages, every single one. But no one else was persistent enough to keep coming after me.

And you were the only one that sent me a Facebook message, and I kinda thought that was interesting. Mhmm. So we left the house. We went and met in a McDonald's local or close by, and she said, Michael, I I owe 68 on this house. I know you're not even gonna pay that.

Granted, this house is worth $300,000 fixed up. She's like, it would be mind blowing if you would just give me 80. That $12,000 could change my life forever.

Steve: Mhmm. And

Michael: I said, you know, I can't do the 80. What I can do is a 100. Mhmm. So I ended up giving her quite a bit more. It was a wonderful experience, and that's the type of investor that I see being a niche investor.

Mhmm. Someone that, of course, we wanna make money. We wanna do deals. I'm a competitive person. Don't get me wrong.

But we want to impact these sellers in a way that it's life changing for them. It's not just a piddly amount, 2 or $3 that's gone in a couple of months. It's an amount of money that can really change the trajectory of their life, and that was just a cool story that came from a a Facebook message. Yeah.

Steve: It's a great story. And then video messages as well. So how are you sending video messages?

Michael: So for the longest time, I've done it through cell phone. Mhmm. I have opened my big mouth enough, in Kansas City to where I've had copycats implement my whole system, and it's made it a little bit harder to get a deal. And we still get plenty. Mhmm.

But, I was like, I really need to come up with something to differentiate myself. Mhmm. So I started just taking thirty second little little videos of myself. It's kind of like you're just leaving a voice mail Mhmm. I guess, and I would just say, hey.

My name's Michael. I'm sure you're getting completely bombarded with messages. I get that. I truly hope you have the situation with your house with the foreclosure sale coming up solved. But I just wanted to introduce myself, put a face to a name, and just see if you needed anything.

Something like that and a bunch of different variations, and I would send that through. They're just a text on my phone. Mhmm. And, got a lot of deals that way, and the people were just like, you were the only person that sent me something that way. Now over time, it's hard to scale that.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: You got two or 300 foreclosures on a market. You can't really just, like, sit around making videos. So there's different, mass generation type sites Mhmm. That you can basically read a script

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: In your voice, then kind of make a video like you were gonna send it, and it can actually take different fields within

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: That video. For instance, hey, Steve. Your house at 123 Main Street. And it actually makes it look like I'm talking Yeah. And I'm sending it.

So we've implemented that. There's a couple of different sources. One's called tavis Mhmm. .Io. The other one is called gan.ai.

So couple of different sources. You could check that out. Out.

Steve: Yeah. So Devin Robinson, obviously, was in a presentation. I think we brought up your name in Devin's podcast. Another one was John Kleisch.

Michael: Okay.

Steve: Alright. Another Phoenix guy. So we contract the property, and the guy is MIA, goes on a run from ATF. Okay. Right?

Eventually gets caught and is locked up in federal.

Michael: Wow.

Steve: Right? And we need this guy to sign so that we can freaking buy his house. But he doesn't we we can't get him to sign the the contract, a a title, right, to report. So long this whole time, we have a process. We just file a memorandum.

Yeah. Correct? We sign a contract, record a memorandum, sign a contract, record a memorandum. And every once in a while, I don't know why, whatever public records we use, they just change the owner from that guy or whoever to our company. Right?

Okay. Onward Financial Solutions. And so but that's still in foreclosure. So the data out there somewhere says, this house this address is in foreclosure, but the owner is Onward Financial Solutions.

Michael: Okay.

Steve: And they skip trace that, and they get me or my phone number. So one day, I got a text message from John Klich. And it says, hey. This is John calling about your property on I can't remember the address anymore. And as well as you know you have options, you can always reach out to me.

I I I love this message. Yeah. And I send to John, hey. I'm not in foreclosure. What is this about?

And he said, oh, you know, this is something I picked up from Michael Francke at at CG Select. So I

Michael: love that.

Steve: It's like you're you're making an impact.

Michael: Good.

Steve: Right? The other thing too is I love how your presentation the part that everyone, that on the senior side was raving about was like, yeah. Michael shows you how to pull the records from public records. Right? And I don't know.

Maybe I'm just older. Right? But that that's the way we used to always do it from o eight to eleven. We just pull it from public records. Right.

Right? So I guess what was eye opening was that everyone fishes or everyone buys fish. They go to PropStream.

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: They go to PropertyRadar. They go to $80.20, and they buy this data from the company. I guess what they didn't know is that you can always fish for yourself Yes. Instead of buying fish.

Michael: So I went down this path for a long time. Originally, it was just, oh, I found foreclosure data on Zillow, and I just randomly took action. Mhmm. But over time, I was like, what is the source of this?

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: Obviously, if I'm gonna do this, I guess I'd wanna get there as soon as possible, not only to have me be the first person they talk to, but to give us more time before the foreclosure sale. So I just kept digging and digging and digging and found that, of course, they have to public publish it on on public record. They're required to do that. Mhmm. Here's all the notices.

Great. But those are static. Mhmm. They post the same thing over and over. It doesn't give me any information about the sale or when the sale is or if there was an adjustment or, if it was canceled even.

Mhmm. So then I found, oh, there's all these attorney sites with all kinds of different information. So Mhmm. Then I gather that information together, train my virtual assistants, and they're on it all day long every day to make sure that's as accurate as possible. That way my acquisition people aren't messing with stuff that the sale got canceled two weeks ago.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: So if you go to some of these other sources, the information is is good, but it's dated. Mhmm. By the time they send it to you, if they're one of those services that give you two weeks or every thirty days Yeah. Give you information, it's too late by then. Like, in Missouri, we have a twenty one day period Mhmm.

From set of foreclosure sale to foreclosure sale. Right. I don't get data for thirty days. It's it's obsolete. It's no good.

Right. So I've always taught that go directly to the source and make sure your information is as accurate as possible.

Steve: Yeah. So during the last crash

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: Doug Hopkins, whether you know Yes. Been on the show as well. We had a company that did that. Did he? Yeah.

He had a company that was constantly pulling the records That's cool. From the trustee sites.

Michael: Mhmm.

Steve: And they would have the data, foreclosure date, the opening bid, the photos of the property because they will send drivers to this. Yeah. So here's the photos of the property. So it's like and, like, you you blew everyone's minds. And, again, I think maybe it's just because I'm too old.

Right? It's like, that's how we had to do it in the last recession.

Michael: Well, it's funny. Everyone at at CG Premier, they're very good at this business. But sometimes they get stuck in approaches that like TV or or direct mail or the traditional ways, and they kind of forget about the bootstrapping ways to get deals. Whereas the select guys, they're like, they don't have as much money. They're not as established.

Like, we had to be a little bit more resourceful. Mhmm. And that's kind of where I was at the time, but it's interesting. You you talk about him having a data company because I'm that's my biggest question now is I love what you're doing. I know you get results.

I see other people around the country getting results, but I don't wanna be pulling data. It's a it's a pain, and I don't really wanna hire a VA and have to to do all that. So I've been building something on the side, and I was I'm not trying to plug it at all. But we can pull the data without humans Mhmm. Nationwide.

We can clean the data without humans. We can skip trace the data without humans, and we can get it into what we call a cabinet to where you have all the updated information. We can append that with attorney sites and various things. So That's incredible. I'm trying to make something that removes the barrier of entry Mhmm.

To where if you're me in 2015, it's like, what do I do to get started in real estate? Well, you may as well go to the most motivated source that I know Mhmm. Out there. And, I provided you all the information, and it's updated daily. You don't even have to think.

Just go act.

Steve: Yeah. That's huge. So your title then, pre foreclosure king. What should we add here that we haven't talked about yet? Because we cover a lot of it.

Michael: What else would people wanna know? I'm an open book.

Steve: Yeah. So we talked about how you got started, what you did, the action you took. We've talked about you recording it. I'm not real and, you know, you pulled the data. I can't think of any of the questions because that was supposed to be, like, the point of it, but I think we kinda hit all of it from all the different directions.

So you done it was not just preforeclosures, though. I mean, you you really focus on niche list.

Michael: Niche list. Preforeclosures is my baby. It's it's my love. It's what I like to do, but that's only one list of 23

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: That I that I would attack. So if let's just say you're one of the other objections I get is like, well, my state, Maryland, or whatever states there are, we can't even approach people about preforeclosure. We can say, hey. We're in the neighborhood. We wanna buy houses.

Do you have but everyone's gonna have an excuse. Right. Or my state's too competitive or Florida, the foreclosure period's too long. It it just doesn't work for me. Well, maybe it doesn't.

Mhmm. But there's other lists that you can go towards, such as probate, eviction, divorce, water shutoff. There's an endless amount of motivation out there.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: And you can apply this principle that we've just talked to to any other list.

Steve: Right.

Michael: So whereas I talk about preforeclosures all the time, so people around the country are taking action. It gets a little bit more Red ocean ish. Mhmm. Something like probate. Hey.

Go find that probate. Go check out those doors. Call those heirs. Mhmm. You can do that whole same thing without as much competition.

So that's the beauty of it. No matter where you are, and if your state allows certain types of communication or if they have data readily available, there is a list for you.

Steve: Yeah. You know, I don't think this is a topic we've ever talked about before. So there are certain states Mhmm. That have laws in place to I know in their belief, protect the homeowner. Correct.

What are those laws?

Michael: They suggest that you should not communicate anyone and come like, I wanna be a trusted adviser. They say someone will come to your house. They'll say they wanna help you, and they're just gonna steal your house out from under you. So they have laws to where you can't communicate at least the first communication about, hey. I wanna help you with the pre foreclosure.

Mhmm. So you kinda have to circumvent that with different language and approach it as kind of a general investor would.

Steve: Yeah. I think in Washington, they call it equity stripping. I think that's that's the what they call it there. Is that what it's called in all places?

Michael: I don't know if it's called that in all places. I'm not an expert on every law around the country, but I have had people that have watched my content and said, hey. I've run into this issue. This is kind of what I'm coming up against. How would you suggest I kinda get around that?

Mhmm. And it it's just a simple path of approaching it in a way that you're just not talking about the foreclosure. So it's like like I said earlier, hey. I'm I just bought a few houses in the area. Love this street.

Would you ever be interested in selling the house? Yeah. And they'll say, well, I hadn't really thought about selling the house, but I have this problem. Mhmm. Oh, and then you can have the conversation.

Steve: So I haven't dived too deep into the law. My understanding was we couldn't target the people. It wasn't the words. It was targeting.

Michael: I have to look into that. I'm not an attorney or anything like that, so I have to go back and research that.

Steve: Again, I'm not an expert either. I just had a couple people like, hey. You gotta be watching out watch out for this.

Michael: Like And I do specifically have people in Maryland and Washington that are doing this. So they haven't gotten in trouble yet, but you definitely should consult an attorney before you Yeah. Before you start.

Steve: That's why I love Arizona. It's it's this is the wild west. What were some of your biggest victories, along the way?

Michael: In terms of preforeclosures or business in general? Getting over that hurdle that I wasn't worthy to hire. I it took me five years to get over that. And now it's like, how did I not do that sooner? And it's like everyone that's doing those tasks that I've delegated, one, they're better than me at.

Mhmm. Two, they love it, and I hated it. And I'm I'm providing someone an income that's providing for their family, and there's a lot of joy in that. So we're at for for the longest time, that was just me. Now we're 14 strong.

Steve: Gotcha. So you're saying skills testing. What's skills testing?

Michael: So for instance, if I was gonna do a sales position, we were gonna do niche list. We would go through cog test and all the other interviews. Let's say they get through those. Mhmm. They're core value fit.

You like them. Mhmm. Well, I might, for instance, say, here is a list of 15 houses and preforeclosure. Mhmm. I want you to go attack these these different houses.

Give it a couple of days, see what you come up with. Mhmm. People will either say, I'm not doing that or or this isn't for me. I hate it. Or they will go out and make action, and they won't have any idea what they're doing, but they'll say, I talked to this person.

They wanna have a conversation. I don't know what to say next. It's like that type of go getter Mhmm. Ability is what I'm looking for.

Steve: Gotcha. I like that. So, you know, we're talking about, personality and and cognitive. Did you know that we cannot discriminate off of disc or IQ?

Michael: Did not.

Steve: Yeah. So I love the predict predictive index because, technically, it's not DISC. Yeah. And the cog, technically not IQ. Wasn't aware of

Michael: that technicality, but I like it.

Steve: Yeah. I mean, that's what it's it's basically what it is. Right? Like, it's just like, well, we're not really targeting free foreclosed. We're just buying houses nearby.

Like, we're entrepreneurs. Right. Whatever we gotta do to to get our message across.

Michael: Reality is, I mean, you have these different laws, and I'll I'll abide by them. But at the end of the day, I I care about that seller and their well-being a lot more than some issue like that.

Steve: Right. But so what does your what does your life look like now?

Michael: I'm still in the business. I I love the business. Mhmm. And I'm I'm currently trying to grow this coaching company and figure that out. It's a lot more than I expected, this data company, but I'm just trying to grow my team to where they can be leaders and they can make decisions.

I think that's one of the biggest things in the last year that I've been trying to work on is enabling them to make decisions on their own to where I can come on a trip like this one and be gone for a few days, and it's not just a a wildfire. Mhmm. And I'm still figuring out the leadership side. That's that's a whole different side and, getting a little bit better at it, but that's a lifelong pursuit.

Steve: Yeah. That's the hardest part of all the things. Marketing, you can figure out you figure it out at a very, very high level. Sales, again, you also figured that really, really high level. Leadership is the one where we all Yeah.

Perpetual struggle because the problem is us. It is. Right? The problem is not a tool. It's not a KPI.

It's it's us. We're we had again, yesterday at CG, we did the roundtable thing. And one of the questions was, like, you know, what's the one thing you would tell your 18 year old self? And it was, like, work on yourself first. Right?

And I made the comment to him kinda jokingly. Don't know how well it landed. I was like, hey. Have you noticed that, you know, all your problems have one thing in common? You.

Michael: Yeah.

Steve: I don't think he took it as well as I was hoping he would take it. I might have gotten a little too comfortable in that group.

Michael: It's true, though. I mean, I'm the I'm the bottleneck in a lot of areas of my company still. I'm trying to figure that out, but, it's a pursuit worth fighting for.

Steve: So a 100%. This is a question. This is a challenging question. Don't be upset with me. K.

So you're doing real estate. You're doing a coaching, product in the immediate future. Yeah. And you're actively working at a data company. Why are you doing three different things?

Most business owners waste their time and money on solutions that never fix the root problems. They'll address all the symptoms due to slow revenue. And because they're only fixing the consequences, the real problem stays hidden and the cycle of wasting time and money continues. It's like having a lingering headache that won't go away despite trying every over the counter medicine, when in reality, should have just gone to the doctor and had them figure out exactly what was causing the headache. And that's what's so difficult about business.

You can see and feel the symptoms and yet struggle to find it. Now imagine you can find a prescription that doesn't just mask the symptoms but actually addresses the root cause. Where would your business be if you address that right now? That's what our sales event is about. Your marketing doesn't suck.

Your leads aren't bad, and your operations aren't terrible. It's that you haven't addressed what actually makes you money in wholesale, which is the conversations you have with homeowners. It's critical that you build trust with sellers, demonstrate that you fully understand their situation, know exactly what's keeping them up at night, and paint the ideal outcome that leads them to a better future by working with you. That's what it takes to get signed contracts and keep your business going. Simply put, at our event, you'll walk away with a framework, phrases, questions, documents, and process to close more sales and buy more houses.

Join the hundreds of others who have come to our live event and dramatically grown their business. Our event is happening soon and is available for you to join only if you're willing to take the pill.

Michael: Long term, I see the acquisition company that I work with as being a testing ground for everyone else.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: What is working? What is not working? Mhmm. Trying to be innovative there and, of course, provide jobs for for all my team members. I Yeah.

And I I love acquisitions. I love being in in houses and having these conversations. I don't get to as much anymore. Mhmm. But I enjoy it.

That's why I didn't do it in that company. Then people from sharing that, they said, I need to know how to do this at a higher level. I don't just want a three hour course. I really need to know at a deep level, so I started building this coaching company. Well, as people learned about that, they're saying the biggest issue in getting started is data.

Mhmm.

Steve: I don't know how to

Michael: do it. I don't have the ability to manage this VA, and I don't know if they're even working for me the whole time. I I just don't wanna do any of that. So I had not planned on doing a data company, but I got a contact from another mastermind of a guy that came from the tech space. He's a developer for thirty years, and he was looking to improve the real estate space.

Mhmm. And he was like, I'm gonna start investing. Preforeclosures make sense for me to go after. I'm gonna start going after that. So he started poking around this mastermind.

Who's the guy for that? So I got connected with him, and we talked over a period of months and Mhmm. Started building this thing, and we realized it would be a possible solution. Yeah. We just kept digging in.

I was like, this could just be a supplement for anyone that wants to go through my coaching company. Yeah. Get them started and get them a better result.

Steve: Yeah. I'm only asking this just my own personal experience. Trying to do too many things. Found out that I can't do them all well. Yes.

Yeah. So you probably already considered that, but I had to ask that question. Besides financial freedom, what else do you love about real estate?

Michael: I love the chase. Mhmm. I love that it's different every day. I love that, I get to serve people. And a lot of it kind of reminds me of of teaching.

It's like you're in the same building every day. Mhmm. But every day is a different lesson. Every day kids have different challenges. You get to overcome those.

My biggest thing with with a job is is not being bored and having there be variety. Mhmm. And I love that about real estate.

Steve: What don't you like about what we do?

Michael: I don't know if it's anything about real estate that I don't like. It's that I can't turn my brain off from it. So it's an internal thing that I don't like. But I guess if I had to choose something, there's always a fire. Mhmm.

When you own twenty, thirty, 40 houses at a time, there's always something going wrong. And I've kind of learned to internalize that stress, and it doesn't bother me anymore. I just make decisions. But that's the part where I'm working with my team on right now. I need you to be able to make those decisions without emotion Mhmm.

And without needing me every time. So Yeah. That's kind of the thing we're we're working on at the moment.

Steve: How are you, empowering them?

Michael: That's something that I could probably use your help on. Again, I'm I'm going through leadership stuff as much as I can. Mhmm. But just encouraging them to make the decisions and be like, this is a decision I normally make. Mhmm.

Hey. Let's go through it. I'm gonna explain to you how I made this decision. If we have repair requests on a house, it comes back that, a window is broken and there is plumbing that is an issue. Mhmm.

K? There's safety issues. Go fix it.

Steve: Alright. It's like

Michael: we just go over enough things that it's like, I've seen that before. I'm gonna make the decision. If it's not a, you know, more than a thousand dollar decision Mhmm. It's less, just just do it and make the decision.

Steve: Exactly. What is your why?

Michael: Everyone says they're they're family, and that is a why for me. But it goes back to what my mother instilled in me to make impact.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: It's like I've seen what it's like to have a job where I was never gonna make it. I was just gonna coast right at the same level my whole life, and I opened Pandora's box. And I just want people to have that opportunity to not necessarily do the business at the level that we maybe do it, but it's like, man, what if they saw my YouTube video? It's like they were able to do two deals a year

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: And double their income. It's like it's that type of empowerment for someone else and them to be able to have options in their life. I mean, perhaps break some generational curses of allowing their kids to do what they wanna do. I I kind of felt pushed into college and different things. I didn't wanna do that.

Mhmm. When my kids turn that age, I want them to have the ability to pursue whatever passion they want. I want other people to do that with their kids as well. So

Steve: Yeah. We have you and I definitely have that much in common. What is your superpower?

Michael: Say it's persistence. Mhmm. I wouldn't say that I'm smartest guy, the best looking guy, the best at business, any of those things. But what I do have is the ability to never give up on something even if it's dire and it's looking bad. I'm gonna keep going, and my my thing's always been 1% better a day.

Get 37 times better over a year. I just don't give up on things, and, eventually, I get pretty good at it.

Steve: How would you say you maintain, your emotional regulation, your persistence?

Michael: It's a good question. I I was actually talking with Austin in the Green Room over there about being in fight or flight a lot. Mhmm. But that almost becomes normal.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: So I wouldn't say that I've perfected all of that, but I I've been able to take emotional situations and take the emotion out of it and make a decision. But I wouldn't say that I'm a master at, you know, dealing with my emotions.

Steve: Yeah. Because it's one of those skill sets. Right? Because you need to make a sound logical decision in an emotional state.

Michael: Yeah. Well, and sometimes it's a bad thing. So I might have something in my life that's really emotional, and I should feel something, but I don't. And then I try to logic the situation away. So it's an interesting balance.

Steve: What is your biggest regret?

Michael: I have two. One is not pursuing this path sooner. I'm not saying that I'd not go to college, but I wish I had pushed back on my folks a little bit. And it's like, maybe I take a year in between high school and college to pursue something. So I regret that in some way.

But going to college, I met my wife. I I cannot argue with that path, but perhaps not testing out the entrepreneurial bug sooner. I regret that a little bit. The other thing is not setting boundaries in my life sooner with my family. Mhmm.

Steve: It's

Michael: been an issue in the past to where it's like, I love work. I love working. I love it. Money's fun, but at the end of the day, I I just love doing this.

Steve: Mhmm.

Michael: And sometimes I put them on the back burner. So in the last six months or a year, I've had to put some things in place to where I give them more time and, not learning how to be present more is probably a regret I wish I would have looked at sooner.

Steve: What are those things you've done to be more present now?

Michael: I'm still work in progress, so it's not perfect. But, my wife bought this box at home for my cell phone. Mhmm. It's called an RO box if you're struggling with that type of thing. It can be a a good situation where you put that in the box.

It gives you stats on how long you you put your phone away and stuff, but, still not very good about that. But r o? A r o.

Steve: A r o. Okay. So it's not this, though. I'm I'm thinking of Shark Tank back in the day. Right?

Where, like, what they had was, like, all your snacks had to be in the container that, like, locked itself after, like, 9PM. Right? And I think it's a brilliant idea. Yeah. Right?

If I just had because I've got kids, and there's just all these awful snacks in the pantry. If we could just have the pantry just automatically locked, right, at, like, 07:30

Michael: That'd be good for me too.

Steve: Be great. I'd be in phenomenally better shape. Yes. Right? The self control disappears.

About eight, 08:30PM, self control is lost.

Michael: Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. And then what failure did you learn the most from?

Michael: Oh, what failure? I think from the beginning, I tried to learn everything on my own, and I trusted people that hadn't been to where I want to be. I put my faith in a real estate agent from the very beginning that I'd never met. I didn't know what their accolades were, and we flipped probably six or eight houses and broke even. I I went to a very expensive well, I did do some mentorship, $70,000 mentorship, but didn't vet those people.

Mhmm.

Steve: One

Michael: of the biggest failures probably is not investing in education from people that I know, like, and trust Mhmm. That have been where I wanna be.

Steve: Yeah. And what book have you given to more than any other?

Michael: One book. You know, I don't I don't I don't gift books very often, but I do share stuff from books in my stories every morning. Mhmm. Mostly the the bible and but various other things, but I probably should, share some books more often, but I can't say I've gifted any.

Steve: What is the most powerful verse? Your favorite verse that you like to share?

Michael: Man, anything in Proverbs or wisdom related. I I crave wisdom. So I read Proverbs over and over and over again, trying to figure out what what the Lord needs me to to learn to be the vessel that he needs me to be.

Steve: Gotcha. Think about some last thoughts. I'll leave all the listeners with. Guys, I hope you guys got a ton of value. Right?

I know I got a ton of value, so don't keep us a secret. We want to get this message out there. I'm trying to create a 100,000,000 interest. Michael is on this planet, was put on this planet to create impact, help us reach our goals. What's some last thoughts you wanna leave all the listeners with?

Michael: Guys, don't try to be perfect before you take action. I got into preforeclosures from finding a random piece of data. And instead of thinking about it and overanalyzing it, I just walked. I literally walked over to this house, knocked to the house. I did not know what to say.

Something just came out. I had a great conversation. I made $50,000 on the deal. Is that gonna happen to everyone? Of course not.

But the fact remains, if I hadn't taken action on that, I don't know if I would know about this topic as well as I do. Mhmm. Get out there. Take action on what you've learned today, what Steve teaches. You can be a millionaire within a few years just like Steve says at the beginning of the show every time.

Steve: Yep. Perfect. If someone wants to get a hold of you, what's the best way to reach you?

Michael: Yeah. Reach out to me on Instagram, Michael underscore Frankie. I'm pretty responsive on there. I'd love to hear your questions.

Steve: Awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate

Michael: it. Having me.

Steve: Thank you guys for watching. We'll see you guys next time. Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. We real estate disrupt us.