Joe Theriault shares his remarkable journey from homelessness and addiction to building a million-dollar real estate business in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He discusses overcoming personal struggles, the importance of building company culture, and how investing in employees creates loyalty and retention.
Focus on removing waste from every process - even saving seconds per transaction adds up to significant time and money when scaled across hundreds of deals
Build company culture by investing in employees' growth, offering benefits like 401k matching, health insurance, and personal development coaching
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1:55:06Josh Stech, founder of LendingHome and Sundae, shares how he built a billion-dollar real estate lending company in just five years, scaling to 14% market share. He discusses the venture capital playbook, hiring at scale, maintaining culture with 500+ employees, and his transition to solving the property sourcing problem for investors through Sundae's marketplace model.
1:47:49Tommy Mello, founder of A1 Garage Door Service, shares his journey from massive debt to building a billion-dollar company. He discusses critical business lessons including the importance of systems, hiring for attitude over experience, and how he scaled from a local garage door business to a nationwide operation that sold for $570 million.
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Partner with other investors by offering disposition services - leverage your staff and systems to help others while generating additional revenue streams
Achieve 95% employee retention by making people feel valued and giving them clear growth paths rather than treating them as replaceable
”“From homeless to being able to take 14 people in Puerto Rico. 2024, we set a goal that if we did 4.2 mil gross, I would take to company all expenses paid.”
”“I know that they have to win for me to win. Right? It like, I know that, and our turnover rate like, we had like, I think we lost one employee.”
”“At 20 years old, nobody cared about me. No one no one invested in me. Yeah. I worked my ass off for companies building them. No one cared.”
”“I wanna be the best company in the world to work at. That's what's more important to me. Because I know if I make that happen, I can actually go do the next thing.”
22786 words
Joe Theriault: From homeless to being able to take 14 people in Puerto Rico. 2024, we set a goal that if we did 4.2 mil gross, I would take to company all expenses paid. January, we take 11 employees and three spouses down. All expenses paid. Rented this huge place.
Mhmm. Private chef, super cool guy, just authentic Puerto Rican food, and taking employees down. Mhmm. Not even blanket the money. What is that?
That's that's how I fill my cup.
Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Disruptors. Today, we have Joe Theriault with IPS Cash, and Joe flew in from Nashua, New Hampshire talk about how he went from homeless to a million dollars in the bank. Now, guys, I'm on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. Information on this show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire.
If you take consistent action, you will become one. And, guys, if you get value out of today's show, please hit that subscribe button. Please share this with your friends. That way we can all grow together and create more millionaires. You ready?
Joe: Yes, sir.
Steve: Alright. So first question is, what was your life like right before you got into real estate?
Joe: That's a long question. Mhmm. Right? Like because I got into real estate when I was, like, 24. And Like, a
Steve: few years ago?
Joe: So a few years ago. Right? It's it's funny. Like, 4047 now. And then so '24, I bought my first oh, I'm sorry.
'22, I bought my first apartment building.
Steve: And bought apartment building?
Joe: I bought a three family. A a
Steve: a Wow.
Joe: Okay. Tri a big triplex in Wow. In New Hampshire. Right? Those old school, They take a big, huge house, and they cut them up.
Right? And, so he's 22, had a full time job as a machinist, bought the apartment building. Like, I I read the Kiyosaki stuff before Kiyosaki was cool. Mhmm. I read back when HomeVestors had a wholesaling class.
Before wholesaling was cool twenty five years ago, they came in a binder. Okay? Okay. And you got the binder in the mail for, like, $500. Mhmm.
So the plan was like, I can remember being at the machine shop being, like, I'm gonna retire. You guys are gonna keep working Mhmm. For a long time. Mhmm.
Joe: So
Steve: Twenty five years later. Yeah.
Joe: Twenty five years later.
Joe: Now I'm working more than I ever did.
Joe: And, the, so the biggest thing was '22, got the building, did all the did all the stuff, but I didn't have my stuff together personally. Right? I was partying, having a good time, refi the building, took the money, basically lit it on fire, and, instead of going and buying another building.
Steve: Right?
Joe: And that was before that would have been back in, like, o 02/2002. So it was before the uptick of the 2006. I had a had a partner with that building, and I got sober at that time. And then, basically, I left that building, ended up in Germany, got married Mhmm. Ended up in Texas, and, I can't remember the guy's names.
Took another course down there and got divorced
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: Or separated at that time. Right? Left there with $500, drive back up to New Hampshire from Texas Mhmm. And with nothing. No job lined up and drove around for three months till I finally found something.
Living in the car. Lived in the car for another two months, and then I bought a RV tow behind trailer and lived up in Claremont, New Hampshire. And that's really where the story begins, like, truly of how I got to where I am.
Steve: So when you say you didn't have yourself together Yeah. You're talking about, like, mindset, or you just were just dumb kid?
Joe: Well, we're the the volume knob for swearing has been I'm trying to turn that down. Right? So it's it's I'm trying to be mindful of that, right, and how much color I add to this. Right? There there was a lot.
Right? I smoked pot. I was drinking. I was more of like a binge drinker. Right?
Like so I didn't fit the typical alcoholic under the bridge. I was the guy that got a fifth of Bacardi, and that's what I drank
Steve: for
Joe: the night. And smoked weed, and that's what I did. Right? And was a pothead. Right?
And that just, to me, doesn't necessarily facilitate that's not what I did to go from a zero
Joe: zero to a million.
Joe: Right? That's not Well, that's
Steve: how you went backwards.
Joe: That's how I went backwards. Yeah.
Steve: Well and it's hard for me to even imagine because, like, I know you, this version of Joe. Yeah. I can't imagine the pothead, and it's at the Bacardi Yeah.
Joe: For a night. Oh, it's crazy. Yeah. It's out of control. Yeah.
And say my wife says the same thing. Right? Like and she'll ask me because she'll drink. It, like, doesn't bother me to be around people drinking. And, she'll ask me.
She'll be like, well, can't can't you just, like and I'm like, trust me. This is a bad situation. Like, you don't wanna see me. And they people she doesn't she she never saw it. Right?
And, she'll be like, every now and again, just like, well, can't you? And I'm like, no. No.
Steve: She's tempting you.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, a 100%. Right? Not and and not and she'll she just doesn't doesn't understand, doesn't see it.
Right? Well, it's
Steve: hard to appreciate if you haven't been around it.
Joe: A 100%. Right? If you were around it, you would have been like, that was the best thing you ever did. Right. And, you know, and, and I left I don't know.
I'm behind. That was a tough thing because I was, like, I left the apartment behind. I left the building behind. I left the job behind.
Steve: You ever drive by the by the building anymore?
Joe: Yeah. I do. And my buddy still owns it, and it's still and it and it, is still worth it's still it's still worth a bunch of money. You know? And, it it, you know, they they say, like, I look back and been like, I could have been a millionaire then.
That was, like, the before the market took off back in 2000, I could have been wherever now. Right?
Steve: I look at, I bought a couple of properties, that were bad. That old guy buys. Yeah. Right? But the one good buy, one good property, I sold it to cover the two bad buys.
I've always let those two bad ones go and just kept the good one. You look at it. It's like, man. Like, they've been darn near paid off by now because it's been that long. Yeah.
Yeah. And so, anyway, that's just looking back. So, took a course in Texas and then drove back, defeated, living in out of a car. Mhmm. How did you go from, you know, basically living without a home homeless Mhmm.
To getting back on your feet.
Joe: Yeah. I think there's a lot of in in this industry, in life in general, there's a lot of easy shortcuts. Mhmm. Drink the Kool Aid, and everything will be fine. Yeah.
I didn't come from that growing up. It was you're gonna work. And I had been a machinist. I'd gotten I was looking for a job. That's what I was doing.
I wasn't looking to buy apartment buildings or I wasn't trying to live the dream. My thing was I had
Steve: to get
Joe: a job, get back to even. Right? And I had child support to pay, and I still was taking care of them at the time. So the the big piece was so I found the job that was unstable as could be, but I had the job. It was a newer machine shop.
Mhmm. And, and I was in and they were making guns, and they needed a guy to make this new prototype gun. Mhmm. This is weird trajectory in my in my Yeah. Career of things and that.
So I got the job, and I just worked. And I saved up enough to buy a tow behind RV camper Mhmm. That I then put in a campground. Mhmm. And I stayed in that campground for a year.
Yeah. And I would have my fire at night and a can of beans, and life was pretty pretty easy. Like, truly, like, it was really simple. But then my dog, my wife was gonna take my ex wife was gonna take my dog, and I was like, alright. Stuff's gotta change.
Because the dog's gonna need a place to go. Mhmm. So I found a Multi. Again You
Steve: drew a line.
Joe: Drew a line, found a Multi, and, it was in foreclosure because that was right right right in the height of 2000 when the market crashed in 08/2009.
Steve: Yeah.
Joe: I started buying. Okay. And, and people at work were like, what are you doing? Like, are you insane? I'm like, you guys are insane for not buying.
Mhmm. Right? Bought it. FHA said because it was an FHA loan. House in foreclosure.
Place was trashed. They're like, you it's not gonna pass appraisal. Mhmm. I had to paint the whole building before I owned it. People people like, what are you doing?
Are you crazy? I'm like, what I have no I live in I live in an RV. Like, what do you what are you talking about? I live in an RV. Right?
Like, there isn't a whole lot of, debate here. So that's what started that was I bought that building, fixed it up, fixed up the apartments, rented out those two units Mhmm. Lived in a unit, worked a full time job Right. Refied it, bought another building, refied it, bought another building, opened a yoga studio. Right?
And, that's what got me to, like, that spot where I, like, was okay, you know. And I had I was making good money for living up in North Country Of New Hampshire.
Steve: So you were house hacking before house hacking was, like, a thing?
Joe: Yeah. 100%.
Steve: Yeah. Right. That's great. Because I remember, like, Robert Allen's book, multiple streams of income.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: He talks about that in that book. Right? So this is before, like, bigger pockets.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: Robert Allen's talking about it in the books. Right? I was like, that's a really cool idea, but I can't imagine myself in a poorplex. Yeah. Maybe poor mentality.
Joe: Right.
Steve: But you were doing it. Yeah. And then you were refying out because I'm I'm are you taking advantage of an appreciating market then? Do do the refi to buy more, refi to buy more, or were you actually adding forcing equity?
Joe: Forcing equity into the homes. Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Because it it hadn't moved yet.
Right? So the the the market hadn't hadn't moved. Mhmm. Didn't start moving until '16 '14, '16 till the market really started. So I was doing actual repairs.
Mhmm. Like, I was out there swinging the hammer. I was putting the hardwood floors in. Like, I was the one doing that work, and I had guys helping me do stuff back then. Alright.
Guys that still work for me to this day.
Steve: So I have to ask for him before.
Joe: Yeah. What kind of guns were you making? Yeah. So, they they made I made the very first LCR nine Mhmm. Which is a 38 special aluminum frame gun.
I had never shot a gun before. I made the very first one and took that gun from concept to 300 a day Mhmm. Which took about two years to do. Right. And, that that, like, that those things that they don't talk about that carry over into today as who I am as a person.
If you would have looked back then and been like like, I think many times in real estate and people that wanna be entrepreneurs, they don't really realize the life skills that they're getting, doing whatever they're doing
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: Translates when you're actually ready. When when you're ready as a person to take whatever step it is, you have life skills that are there. You know? So do
Steve: you I'm assuming you have one of the first 300 somewhere in your house.
Joe: Don't. You don't. Funny enough, the, I did not start I did not start getting guns till about five years ago. Okay. And that was fifteen years ago.
So I made the I made all those guns, ARs. They started getting into all different types of gun pots because Ruga was known at the time for they'd been making guns forever. So they weren't on the edge of tech. And the company that I was working for was an aerospace company. Mhmm.
And they were they knew how to program stuff, and they knew how to actually machine. Mhmm. At that time, Ruga didn't have those capabilities, so they had us do this gun. I see. And then once we figured this out and they sold a ton, they're still selling a ton of those.
Then they gave us a bunch of other contracts, and it just kept going and going.
Steve: So you're talking about the lessons you took from there. So what were the life lessons you you you took from building the first 300 of this particular prototype into your life business?
Joe: Yeah. So there's there's so there's so much there. Right? Because it was it's not just it was going from making one gun a day or one gun to 300 guns a day. So it's the actual manufacturing process
Steve: Right.
Joe: Right, of knowing Kaizen and waste and all of the different like, all of that stuff Mhmm. That you wouldn't think that I actually know about. Right. But I have a pretty in-depth manufacturing background of, like, in knowing how to manage people. That's one of the things that so I always got promoted to me.
You know? Guy does good job. Well, you're our manager. Yeah. You know, that's how it works in Blue Carla stuff.
Right? So that's
Steve: So for those that are listening that don't are not familiar with the Kaizen principles, you wanna elaborate on that real quick?
Joe: Yeah. So there's a bunch there, and I am rusty and gray. It's just remove waste. Right? So there was a for an example of that, let's just say you had a a machine to run.
Okay? And there's a line, and we gotta take this block of of metal that's gonna start as a square block, and then we're gonna transform it. We're gonna go through nine machines to make that happen. Right? Every movement that I take from the time that I push the cycle stop button to then take the piece off of the first machine, take it out, close the door, put another piece on the machine, and hit the stop button.
Every second that I could get out of the process means we made more guns for the day. Right? It was a constant race there. So any any waste that I could remove so, basically, if if you gotta gotta spray with the the machine with air before you load the new Mhmm. Piece on.
K? Make sure that the chuck is doesn't have any chips on it. K? Okay. Alright.
Precision manufacturing. So it's gotta be medical, like, clean clean. Right? So you blow it off. So that means if the guy has to step one extra step to get his his air wand his air wand, whatever.
Right? It adds a second to the process, and that's just in changing it. And now if I've done that nine time on nine different just getting the air wand Mhmm. Versus if I could have programmed the machine to blow the thing off in a controlled environment Mhmm. I could have wait.
So it's like, I would go with a stopwatch, and I would time everything in every step and just the the moving of the material, never mind the actual 118 tools it took Mhmm. To get through the manufacturing process.
Steve: Right? So one just the air wand. One second.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Nine times.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Nine seconds. Mhmm.
Joe: 300
Steve: guns. Twenty seven hundred seconds. We're talking, like, I don't know what that is off top of my head. Like, fifth fifteen minutes? I don't know.
But good amount of time
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Every single day. Yes. And that directly leads to, like you're saying, gun production. Yes. So odd question here.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: How good is your speed deleted?
Joe: Yeah. Speed delete is really good. Mhmm. Because Candy's on speed delete.
Steve: Okay.
Joe: Not because I'm on speed delete. Yeah. It it's weird because I didn't have to worry about the people back then. It's it's a machine shop. 08:30, the buzzer goes off.
You better be at your fucking machine running. Or next, there's someone in line. Right? That's not how you manage in real estate. Right.
So Be nice if you could. It would be dude, I would have the stopwatch. Right? It would be awesome. I'd be we do.
They would be awesome. And so Candy's far more strategic with that, and every sales manager and those reps all know. So speed lead is we're really good on speed lead. Yeah. We're running, I wanna say, 85 to 90%, generally speaking, to under a minute.
Okay. Done for a rate. Yeah. That's that's Yeah.
Steve: Really impressive. Okay. So, so you buy these first properties, you're forcing equity. How long until you quit Machinist's work to actually just be, you know, full time real estate again?
Joe: Yeah. And it that's, my daughter's 18 now. It took probably took me eight years. Mhmm. Because I left about ten years ago.
Mhmm. Took so it took me about eight years because I then had them. Now I had those buildings. I had a yoga studio. I had Yeah.
Steve: So yeah. I missed that. Yoga studio. Yeah. You had a yoga studio.
Joe: Yeah. Okay. And I was a yoga teacher.
Steve: You were a yoga teacher. Mhmm. Yeah, man. I I so first, the pothead, which I can't picture.
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: And then the yoga teacher.
Joe: Yeah. Soba yoga teacher. Right? Not the hippie dippy. I was into the hippie dippy side, but I wasn't I wasn't partaking in greenery.
Steve: How long were you in the yoga?
Joe: I was in that community for a good few years. It's what got me it's what got my head straight. It's what got me to be able to go through my daughter lives in California. Mhmm. To be able to say to myself that I'm a good dad and not be in my daughter's life full time.
Like, my parents stayed together and growing up. Right? So there was lots of trauma and baggage that I had that was, like, holding me back that I was constantly for those first few years back up in Claremont when I bought that building, I have, like, vivid memories that pop up of going out, flying, getting custody, flying out to California, then they moved to Utah. So there's, like, a a bunch of stuff that the yoga because I was I was losing it. Like Mhmm.
I, you know, I wanted to go, like, drug start looking pretty again. Like, all of that stuff starts to creep up, right, real easy, and I know how easy it is. And, and I wanted to go out there. I wanted to move where my daughter was, and I knew that just wasn't the answer. It was not my ex isn't it's not a good doesn't like me.
Alright? So be
Steve: a good situation.
Joe: Not a good situation. Right? So the yoga brought me to be able to be okay. Right? No matter what.
No matter how much I had, what I had, didn't have Mhmm. Is what yoga brought for me. Yeah. And, I was never I was never a big, like, flexible yoga person. It just brought me the mental calm, and I learned no matter how bad things got, I was gonna be okay, and I could control myself.
I could control my emotions, was what yoga did for me.
Steve: Got it. And then so you got the yoga. Did you do yoga, like, as a side hustle at the time while you're still working in the machine shop?
Joe: Yeah. I would leave during lunch and go teach a class, and I had a few teachers as well. Wow. Okay. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. So the full business. This was not a side hustle. It was a full business.
Joe: I had a yoga studio. Legit yoga studio.
Steve: Okay. Yeah. Wow. Alright. When did you go full time real estate?
Joe: That was ten years ago. Mhmm. So I met Candy, and she lived two hours south.
Steve: Okay.
Joe: And let's see. Hot wife in Nashua or live up in New Hampshire in the mountains with yoga studio, a bunch of men in a machine shop, and tenants. Right? 10 tenants in a rural market. Right?
Like, do the math. Right? Figure that math out, how fun it is to deal with that. And a yoga studio where, people appreciated me, but it wasn't it wasn't giving me enough back. Yeah.
So ten years ago, when I met Candy, I had the opportunity to come down to Nashua. Mhmm. And I had a coach at that time that was like it was like, should've get off the pot. Mhmm. Isn't what she said to me necessarily, but I was kinda at that crossroads where you can only go so far as a machinist.
You have to go be an engineer and or open a machine shop. Right? Those are your next paths. I already knew more than most typical engineers did at that point.
Steve: So I was like,
Joe: what's the point? So it was like, where do I where do I where do I go? What do I do? Like, I've already built all like, what? It it was like this weird thing to jump off the precipice again.
And, and my coach was like, Joe, you just you she wasn't telling me to go, but the message I was receiving was you gotta go do it. It's like, you're either gonna stay here and stop the real estate dream. Mhmm. Right?
Steve: Like Or you're plateaued.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. You've gone
Steve: as far as you can go Yeah. In a smaller market. Correct.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. That's a good way to put it.
Right? Ten years ago, I sold one of the buildings I left my job. I had $30 basically to make it. That's what what I what I had, and I had to live and, hang bandit signs and and do some direct mail. And I didn't know what I I didn't know.
Steve, I I am lucky. Dude, I am not gonna pretend that I, you know, had knew what I was doing. It was hustle and luck.
Steve: So your experience that you had in in the early part of your real estate career didn't really help you so much start over in Nashua?
Joe: Not at all. Not at all. Because all I knew was to buy all I I knew how to buy buildings. Mhmm. Right?
And I knew how to do that, but I didn't have the money. I didn't have the w two job anymore. Right? So, technically, the only thing I knew back then was the only way you can do real estate was to have a w two job, and you go to the bank, and you get and you burr. That's the only thing I knew how to do.
Right? Like, I had heard of host like, been rehabbing. I didn't know how to rehab, but I could clearly see that that was a way to buy a house and fix it and resell it. So I didn't know the all the ins I didn't know about wholesaling, technically. I just knew get the house for a price.
That's what I knew. You know? So it really didn't I don't know. There's probably some sway there, but not as much as Well,
Steve: let's talk about them to start. Yeah. Right? So you start over. Yeah.
Bandit Signs was the first thing you started with?
Joe: Bandit Signs.
Steve: Okay. How was that?
Joe: I was the Bandit Signs king. You were? Yeah. Okay. Thousands of Bandit Signs out.
And, and not at first, obviously. Right? But I was doing bandit signs, man. Mhmm. At, what, 37, 38.
My wife's in her forties, working a corporate job, you know, making really good money, and
Joe: Yeah.
Joe: And she's got this boyfriend going out at two in the morning hanging bandit signs going, hey. You wanna go out and hang bandit signs? And, you know, I'll take you to a diner. It, we'll go eat at, like, two in the morning. Right?
It's a running joke that we still have between us. You know? And, just going and hanging bandit signs.
Steve: You know?
Joe: That's that's was my first thing. You know?
Steve: How did that go?
Joe: I got lucky again, man. This lady, I was getting leads. I didn't know what I was doing. There's a few stories there of the the first lead the first house I ever went to, and I didn't know sales. And I was a man I was I was in I was in a machinist.
Like, I could make anything. I could make your mic stand.
Joe: Do you
Joe: know what I mean? Like, whatever. First lead I ever went on, the, it was, like, right down the street from me. I go. They were like, well, we don't know you, but I'm like, I have a dog.
I'll bring my dog. How bad could I be if I have a dog? Right? Right. And I go, and they were super nice.
They were high as high as all get out. Right? And because she had MS. Go on that first appointment, and, I didn't even know what I was doing. But they were like, oh, your dog seems so friendly.
You can let it let let the dog go. Right? Mhmm. And, let him roam around. Soon as I let him off, he goes and takes a hot shit right on there.
Nice carpet.
Joe: And this wasn't like a hoarder house that we walk into. Like, dude, this is my first appointment.
Joe: Right? Like, you know what I'm saying? And I'm just like, what? What? What the?
What? Right? I'm like, oh my god. And, like, I could still picture sitting there and just being, like, at a loss for words. And, like, thankfully, they
Joe: were, like, high and laughing to a certain degree.
Joe: You know? But, like, I I made them some kind of offer, and then she made a joke about, like, take your dog and get take your shitty dog out of here or something. Right? And, that was, like, the first appointment. Then
Steve: You didn't get the contract? They didn't get the contract. Okay.
Joe: That's just a funny story that's that popped in my head with the with
Steve: the thing. You know, your dog loves FitzMark.
Joe: Yes. Yes. We did. We did. We did.
I missed that dog too. That's why I told that story. But the the first one that changed the trajectory was this lady, woman had lived, like, two blocks up from my aunt's house Mhmm. And called the band sign, wouldn't give me a name, wouldn't give me any information, wouldn't even give me the house address. Mhmm.
And she just told me a story. And, she said, I'll call you back in two weeks. And I'm like, okay. And, she calls me back. And then she gives me the address, and I look it up and see that it's, right up from my aunt's house.
And I'm like, my aunt lives right down the street from you. Yeah. And, so finally, it took me a good few months. I ended up taking Nick Allerud and Megan. I can't remember her last name.
She came out with me on my on that appointment. Mhmm. And we wrote the contract in that in that time. The price was wrong, and no one wanted to do the deal. I couldn't wholesale it.
And I called my old business partner, and I said, The
Steve: apartment building.
Joe: Yeah. No. That that started IPS with me.
Steve: Okay.
Joe: And, so before that, you know, early on, me and him were just working together. I called them, and we hadn't even worked together. And he's like, he didn't do Massachusetts. He knew. I knew Lowell, Mass.
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: And he said, listen. I'll give you the money. I'll lend you the money. Like, we had gone out a few times. He knew that I was, you know, not a scumbag.
And, said, I'll lend you the money you do the rehab. I'm like, great. Like, dude, I'm down to, like, $3 right now looking for a part time job again. Like, I'm not taking your money right now. Mhmm.
Like, I can't do it. He said, how about this? I'll buy the house. We'll split the profits. Sold.
Like, sign me up. Where do I do this? The lady because the lady called and said, I'm leaving the country in forty eight hours. Either you can buy the house or not. And I said, well, here's my number.
And that's when I called Ray, and, and we got it. That house netted us about a $100 in two months. Oh, wow. I got lucky. Yeah.
We we did the floors. We did a few things. We hadn't even finished, and a neighbor came over saying, my daughter's been looking for a house for a long time that's on this street. Will you sell it to us? Mhmm.
And we said, yes. Here's our price. What do you want done? So we we rehabbed it
Steve: For them.
Joe: For them. Yeah. So that 50 kept me in the game. And that was, like, the first deal, bandit sign, and then I was like all I was gonna do is hang bandit signs.
Steve: I gotta
Joe: run around and do more bandit signs, and that's what brought me
Steve: Yeah.
Joe: You know, to here. So then
Steve: real safe, full time, you don't go back at all then. Right? No. Okay. So, first one, you get 50.
Joe: Yep.
Steve: It's about ten years ago. Right?
Joe: Yes. Nine, ten years ago. Yep. Okay.
Steve: So what were some of the challenges you had in the very beginning?
Joe: Just the because I was rehabbing at that. Like, truly, I was basically the GC Mhmm. Is what that came down to. So I had my realist I got my real estate license, and then I I couldn't go to a customer's house and and do the wholesale thing. Mhmm.
I couldn't mentally bridge that gap of Yeah. You hear about it of how can I show up and pitch that I'm buying it, but I'm actually assigning it? Mhmm. Right? And not be a sleazeball about it.
Right. Okay? So I just didn't do it. I just went, and I was gonna buy the house. And I had a book with me on the cover of the book that said I was the inherited specialist.
Steve: Okay.
Joe: And you could you could buy books back then that said you were like, you could what do they call it? Ghost writing or Mhmm. Whatever it was. So you could buy a book, and I would show up to these appointments and just like, some that it could have been about dogs in the book, but they didn't care. They they saw my face on a book, and they were like, there's a there's a celebrity.
Steve: Makes sense.
Joe: Right? Yeah. Anyway, so I rehabbed for the first five years Mhmm. Four years. And it was it was tough because it wasn't enough money.
Because my partner at the time, he had run a 50 mil business. Mhmm. So he'd already retired, and he didn't need the money like I needed the money. Right. Right?
Like, I needed money to survive. So it'd be this constant, you know, up you know, the up and down swing Yeah. They talk about in real estate. And that was a that was probably up till three years ago when I bought them out. Mhmm.
And because it was always did we have a good quarter? If we had a good quarter, great. Paid ourselves. Mhmm. You know what I mean?
Yeah. And and Wow.
Steve: It was like that. So, like, you don't you weren't even paying yourself regularly?
Joe: No. And I didn't have control over the money. He he was the
Steve: he was until three years ago.
Joe: Mhmm. Wow. Yep. Okay.
Steve: Yep. So swinging a hammer
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: GC
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Managing sales. Mhmm. I imagine you're probably pretty good at that.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Right. That I'm pretty good
Steve: at. I can see you like, I have a hard time seeing those other two versions of
Joe: you. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. I can see you running in as, like, what the hell?
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: Why is this not done? Where are you? I'm at the property. You're not here. Where the f are you?
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: That I can see.
Joe: Yeah. Managing subs, I was good with.
Steve: Yeah.
Joe: Right? Okay. I didn't like doing it, but I did it. Mhmm. And I knew enough to keep because I had swung the hammer, so I had already known what what what was up.
Steve: Oh, you're good
Joe: with your hands too. Yeah. Exactly. Right? So I might not have, like, a in-depth construction background, but I could run a saw.
Right? Right. And, like Yeah.
Steve: Right. So then when did when did it become real for you? Because you're saying, like, up until three years ago, you weren't sure you're gonna pay yourself a recording. When was real estate real for you? I've got some big news, and you'll want to hear all of this because I'm gonna give you the best bonus ever at the end of this video.
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Joe: Yeah. When I decided that I want to basically, I was tied to that. And I had already gone to him a few times of, like because he he had the hard money. He had control of all the finances. Mhmm.
And I was marketing and sales. And it was basically And
Steve: you're the fifty fifty?
Joe: Mhmm. Okay. And it basically came down to I mean, good guy. He was just he was on different trajectory in life than I was.
Steve: Different visions.
Joe: Different visions. Right? And, that that's when it really became real, and that's when I hired, Simple CFO and Christina who's been with me since, since since the beginning when I had to go learn about finance. So that's when it really got real because we had employees. We had marketing budgets.
Like, it was easy to I I slept at night Mhmm. Till three and a half years ago. Right? Where because I didn't worry about it. He had money.
If we're if we never
Steve: It wasn't a problem.
Joe: It wasn't a problem. We were we never were because he was a controller, PI type, and had run a he had financial acumen. Mhmm. And so we didn't I didn't even think about that stuff. Right.
All I thought about was growth and sales and deals. Mhmm.
Steve: And So then when did you start wholesaling?
Joe: That was probably about five years ago. Okay. And we started going there, and that's when I started to see scalability. In different groups. Like, we did boardroom, and we did, I coached with Rob Hyder for a while.
And I started to see that guy can do it. I probably can swing this. Mhmm. You know?
Steve: Yeah. Rob's a great guy.
Joe: Rob's it Rob's a superstar. Yeah. Is keeps his head down and does does does
Steve: his At some point, we gotta get him on the show. We've talked about it, but he still hasn't come on to the show.
Joe: I, I'll I can I definitely cannot Yeah? Poke him.
Steve: He's probably just too busy being a big deal in Saint Louis.
Joe: He he is he's definitely I've gone there a couple times and hung out with him, and he's just a good dude and always helped me. He's, like, one of the people originally that helped me, give me the confidence to walk away, you know, from from a business partner at the time. Yeah. Even though Rob was coaching both of us, he's he stayed cool and knew what I was trying to accomplish.
Steve: And, you mentioned Nick Allerud. He was on the show a few years ago. I wanna say when we first got into the space five years ago.
Joe: He's one of
Steve: our first guests in here.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: So he worked with you.
Joe: That's a that's a that's a a a dicey subject that I will, I will say, man, I'm having that, like, moment of authenticity. Right? So Nick helped out early on. Okay? From a I paid him to be a coach, and his wife owns an attorney shop.
Most of the beginner wholesalers go there because he had a big mastermind. Mhmm. I brought my team to his brokerage, and, one of my team members at the time Mhmm. Started talking shit behind my back because she was down at the office, and she was down there saying, Joe doesn't do it. I'm the superstar.
I'm the superstar. They were you were the superstar with $30,000 a month, the marketing budget behind you, and a whole team set new appointments. Right? And, we we had a fallen out is what that was with, with with Nick. Right?
So it's kind of where we'll leave that story in the in the sense of being in a positive growth mindset
Steve: Absolutely. Of,
Joe: yeah. So that's kind of we had a fallen out. Moving forward.
Steve: Yeah. So somewhere along the way, you, so you you mentioned boardroom. You were in boardroom.
Joe: Yep.
Steve: We met through Collective Genius.
Joe: Yep. Kind of. You just don't remember it. You don't remember
Steve: Refresh my memory.
Joe: You you were around before for me, before CG because you had we came and we bought training off of you because we need we had a hole in Dyspo. Mhmm. And you were doing some kind of product. Mhmm. That was Dispo training.
Dispo training.
Steve: Yes.
Joe: Okay. So somehow see, I got linked to you because I was out here years ago Mhmm. In Phoenix with Brent Daniels and
Steve: Got it.
Joe: I started doing radio. So there was a there was a there was a a crossroads there that ended up happening, like, sixty years ago Mhmm. For you just don't remember me. I I remembered all the fancy faces back then. It's all good.
It's alright. I'm not I'm not offended. I'm not he's not on my shit list yet.
Joe: But, no.
Joe: You know, it was never like that.
Steve: But So radio, I mean, was that one, Chris Arnold?
Joe: Yes. Okay. So you're
Steve: out here
Joe: That's Gotcha. So I we hadn't just the weirdest thing happened in that time period. I came out for some reason. Mhmm. I don't even I don't remember if I was in boardroom or not, but, I went out because Brent was, like, bringing people out to the office.
Mhmm. And I knew a few other people out here. I had done I had did, I can't remember the guy's name. It doesn't it doesn't matter. But I met, like, three or four different people in a weekend.
Mhmm. When I was at Brent's office, Chris Arnold was there. Yeah. He was just starting the radio thing. Mhmm.
Right. I remember that. And I and I heard Chris talk. And this was before anyone was doing TV and radio. Nobody was doing TV.
Like, very few people were doing TV six years ago. Like, unless you were had been around forever. Right? It isn't like it is now. Yeah.
I heard Chris talk, and he was like, ready I've been doing radio. I was like, mind blown.
Steve: Right.
Joe: Mind blown. And I was like, I hit him. He didn't even have the training out yet. I was like, dude, like, what what, like, what do I gotta do? You know?
And I hit it big with radio, and that's what changed the business.
Steve: Really?
Joe: Yeah. Okay. I started to be a media buyer. Wow. Okay.
Yeah.
Steve: I had no idea.
Joe: I had 20 radio stations I was managing. Okay.
Steve: All in Nashua or Nashua FM?
Joe: Boston and New Hampshire. I mean, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Yep. Wow. And that's what brought it.
That's what changed it from, like we're doing some PPC, some bandit signs, cold call we're texting. We're big. I was, like, the first person texting with Sherpa back in the day. Yeah. Sherpa was one.
So it was bandit signs, texting. Mhmm. Texting started to slow, and then it was radio. Wow. And then I smacked it with radio before.
Steve: Got it.
Joe: We were doing we were doing, like, I think pre COVID, it was like we were doing, like, a a 10 spend, and we're doing five we're doing 25 leads a week. Calling leads Steve, people calling the phone Mhmm. 25 leads a week. Wow. I can't I can't I don't even know what it would cost me to get 25 people to call me right now.
Steve: Plus, probably, quite a bit more. A lot more right now.
Joe: No one calls now. Even with a $50 a month TV spend, we'll get a couple calls a week.
Steve: So you're a celebrity at that time with just radio?
Joe: Just radio. Yeah. Just radio.
Steve: Okay. So that puts you now you're, a lot more business, a lot more reputation. Yeah. Easier to do deals.
Joe: Yeah. Okay.
Steve: And then later on, we connect through DJ. Yeah.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. We we get we get personal, Steve. We have the kung fu jujitsu thing.
Steve: Right. Right.
Joe: And, and, you know, you're a
Joe: good guy and, you know, so I'm drawn to people
Steve: like that. Yeah. So, yeah, we're gonna talk about the jujitsu thing in in a second here. So, CG, what brought you to CG?
Joe: That was the the other piece of the puzzle that, like, I was so afraid to assert not afraid, but there was a lot of fear around like, that was a lot of money, man. Like, moving that kind of money around and being responsible for people's lives that were employees wasn't something that I took lightly. And, I wanted to make because I always could go to Ray. I could like, it was like I had I I still call him. I still mess around.
I'm like, hey, dad.
Steve: Like like,
Joe: still we still do deals together every now and again. And, and even now, I still call him for advice. Right? And, the so it was like they were there, like, for that to fill that gap where I felt like I could get any question answered, and there were people there that that had my back no matter what. Yeah.
And that was important for me. Uh-huh. And that's really what CG was and simple CFO of Ben Fawny. It's just I still, to this day, pay both of those. Yeah.
It's you know, pay both those fees each month,
Steve: and,
Joe: and I don't I don't even blink at it.
Steve: You know? What has CG done for you?
Joe: Yeah. CG, what's it done for me? Mhmm. I mean, I I have friends in I have friends there. Like, legit, I feel like this I feel for a long time, I was kinda quiet.
I don't I don't go and hobnob with everybody and try and be that guy that fits in. Mhmm. But now I've I've become known, and I've been able to help people there. Right? And my my wife, Candy, feels part of.
Right? And she's been able to give back to CG. It's there's, like, an amount of second family. Like, did I go it's like, honestly, I don't even I don't meet extended family. Me anymore.
We're all it's all kind of like, I go to CG. It's my extended family to a certain degree. So it's given me that that base in in room and growth and connection Mhmm. Right, and stability to be able to get to know that like, I always say that I'm in CG. Like, I'm proud of it, that that I'm part of it.
You know?
Steve: If everyone's listening, we wanna know what CG is. Collective Genius. So I think if you've been listening to show by now, you probably know what it is, but just a a a an FYI. So, there's a little bit of a jujitsu community in there. Yep.
Right? You're into jujitsu. Yes. So you got yoga and now jujitsu. Yep.
Why are you doing jujitsu?
Joe: It's, yeah. Why am I doing jujitsu now? Mhmm. It's it's, it's I had that question answered more clear a few years ago Yeah. Than I do today because I'm a little bit of in drama land with a little bit of some of the jujitsu stuff that you know about Mhmm.
That, again, I'm gonna stay in a positive light, and we won't throw that we won't throw stones at the glass house. But, you know, it's it really has given me like, when I first started jujitsu and moving your body in ways that is counterintuitive. Mhmm. So your your your natural, your natural pathway of however your brain is wired, I believe, is if if someone's either on top of you or, your your your first instinct is to turn you back and run. Mhmm.
And it's almost the absolute worst thing you can do is to give somebody your back in jujitsu because I'm gonna choke you. Like, I'm just looking to get see how I can get to Steve's back so I can choke him. Like, that's what goes through my head. Right? So it's like new pathways.
Mhmm. Right? And then it became friends. Like, you you end up rolling and fighting with the same people. Most of the time, if you go at the same time, which I was at 6AM one of those loony 6AM guys.
Mhmm. So there was, like, that connection again, that family again Yeah. That new pathways of training and, like, lifting weights, dude. I've been lifting weights for since I've been 15. Right?
Pick weight up. Put weight down. Right?
Steve: Not like a blessing.
Joe: Yeah. It is not. And that I like that. I don't wanna do dynamic lifting. I'm not.
I gotta just pick the weight up, push the weight away, or pull away. It's real simple. Push, pull, stand up, sit down. Right? So jujitsu gave me a a way to stay active.
Mhmm. That was new and fresh, and that's important for me because I get I can get stat stagnant really easy, and it's not healthy for me in general. I'll I'll I'll go I'll go hide, dude. I'll go hide in the basement and just fucking get away from get away from everybody. Yeah.
You know?
Steve: So has it helped you at all in business?
Joe: Yeah. Generally, I am a super hothead. Mhmm. And, really, what I wanna tell people is not what comes out of my mouth. And how I want like, how I wanna handle employees Mhmm.
And handle attorneys and handle situations Mhmm. Has my natural tendency would be to use many curse words Colorful language. Colorful language and cut you to the quick Mhmm. As fast as I could. So it's it's it's given me an outlet, right, to to blow off steam.
Mhmm. So I'm a little more, like, maybe not so. I'm maybe I'm just too tired. I've already been choked out, or I've been tapped, like
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: By an 18 year old or whatever it is. It's just you get humbled. Mhmm. There's an amount of humbling that ends up happening. Yeah.
For sure, an amount of humbling that no matter how much you tried, that that person still made you say uncle. It's a really humbling experience at 6AM multiple times a week. Right? Like, no matter how you spend That's
Steve: why I quit CrossFit.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: But, you know, like, because for me, like, I I do kung fu, and I love kung fu. Yep. Right? And the thing I like most about kung fu is just the mastery. Mhmm.
It's like, you know, again, you talk about counterintuitive. The way we punch the way we wanna punch looks like how you see it on TV, and that's how you break
Joe: a hand. Yeah.
Steve: Right? So you can't punch that way. So you have to, like, punch in a more optimal way. And so, like, that's what we do at Kung Fuera. Like, because, like, if I'm gonna fight somebody, I'm gonna fight with no equipment.
And my goal again is to, like, permanently maim you. Right? Like, that's the goal. And so what's funny was, like, when we were at CG, then we had Wyatt there, Jimmy. Right?
And the Wyatt Johnson, Jimmy Vreeland. And the guy has, you know, like, hey. We're doing this, jujitsu thing in the morning. You wanna join us? He's like, no.
I'll play basketball. I was like, well, you should check it out. And then I said to him, I think it was Wyatt, I was like, look. I'll come with you guys. But here's the thing.
I'm a kung fu guy. My only defense is against you guys, because I know if I'm on the ground, I'm dead. There's no question. Right? As soon as my back is on the mat, I'm tapping out.
There's no point in even, like, trying to move around, tapping the mat as I'm on the ground. My only defense to stay up is to punch you in the face as you're coming in. It's like, well, we don't do that here. It's like, well, then what am I supposed to do? I'm not going to the ambassador to you guys.
I'm not even allowed to defend myself the only way I know how to defend myself. So, but, yeah, for me, the thing I love most about, Kung Fu is two things. One is the, the mastery of oneself, mastery of skill. That's the reason why they had they started kung fu back in the day. That's the only way you can learn mastery if we didn't have all these distractions.
And then b, it really clears your mind because you
Joe: can't think about business. Yes. If you're getting punched
Steve: in the face, you're getting beat up on the ground, someone's trying to choke you out Yep. There's no thinking.
Joe: A 100%. I forgot about I I there is definitely there's a there's a correlation between yoga and jujitsu for me. And people don't whatever, I'll just say, people don't realize, generally speaking, that the what we know as people in The US is yoga is you go into a yoga class. Right? You see him do up dog, down dog.
There's other forms of yoga called pranayama and bhakti and the breath work, meditation, and the which is clearing your mind. Mhmm. That the Asana pot is what you see, generally speaking, people moving Mhmm. Through yoga. Right?
Or through the the sequences. Right? Mhmm. And your your timing, your union of breath and movement is what, it all kind of supposed to happen. You're doing awesome.
I didn't realize that I could go do a different sport and have that same mind clearing happen Mhmm. Where I still had to breathe. Right. I still had to, you know, really I really have to focus on I do more focusing on breath right now, actually, than than I ever did in in yoga because of my I'm getting older. Mhmm.
And people are younger. Yeah. And I just can't keep up with them. And it clears my head. Mhmm.
And and it's really interesting, like, parallel between the two that I even try to tell candy sometimes. I'm like, there's such a parallel there for me of being able to clear my mind. With the yoga with jujitsu, I'm more tired and injured and more of that type of of stuff, right, in general, like, warfare. Mhmm. You know, like, I've just had a battle to a certain degree.
With yoga, yeah, my mind is clear, and it's a it's a little more a little more balanced Mhmm. Because the the the the sequences you do are usually left side, right side. Mhmm. Right? So you're generally I would feel a little more balanced.
It would probably be the only real difference of movement with body in yoga versus movement with body in jujitsu. Yeah. Right?
Steve: We had a a one of the cofounders of Maps Coaching, he was on here a few years ago. He was asking me you know, we're talking about meditation. I was like, well, I don't really like to meditate. I don't really like waking up early and still and just doing that. And he's like, no, like anytime you're doing a physical activity where you're not thinking about what's the problems are at home, problems of the office, that's your own form of meditation.
You just don't realize you're meditating because you are present. You're playing basketball. You're fighting. You're present. You're not thinking about anything else.
You're here right now. And then you also got to work with Annie, I think, a bit as well. Yeah. A lot. A lot.
So not a bit. What has that done for you?
Joe: Well, funny you say, funny you ask is what I meant to say. Funny you ask that I fly back tomorrow. Mhmm. I get in around 09:00, and then I gotta be in Rockport, Massachusetts for 02:00 to spend Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday with Annie and my wife. And, that's gonna be interesting.
Mhmm. And that's that's been a a journey for sure. You know, the working with your wife has probably been one of the biggest business challenges that I've had. Mhmm. I mean, truly, trying to figure that out over the years and working with Pat Precor, working with a bunch of different coaches.
But Annie really can get through, with Candy. It's it's, very logical. So it's very logic brain type person, really smart. But, Annie is able to talk to her in a way that can get through the logic and still have the woo woo make a little bit of sense to a certain degree, that that piece, it's been the best coach that I've had, from I don't know. That's a that's a tough thing to say.
How do you say that nicer, like, without being a kiss ass either? The what she's done for my marriage and what she's done to help my employees and myself be a better leader, that's the person that has helped me the most, right, in the past three and a half years. Right?
Steve: So was it a leadership component? Because I thought she did more mindset stuff or is it both?
Joe: It's for me like, she's pretty intertwined with me and the business and Candy. Right? So, she's doing leadership stuff in the in the business, weekly. We have a meeting, for leadership to be in there. And then we just opened it up for the whole company in this past month because we're doing a feedback form.
Mhmm. And now if only leadership is doing the feedback form and the rest of the employees aren't doing it, it it is a touch problematic. So we opened it up to the company. Everybody. Right?
So there's a the leadership component that Annie's been doing. Mhmm. And then, and what was the what was the what would you ask? They would what was the
Steve: mindset component?
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. So the the mindset component as well. So for instance, one of my sales reps was start struggling last week. She's a captain.
She's my first woman outside salesperson, and we have a bunch of women that work for me. She's the first outside sales one. She went from inside sales, was a rock star. Mhmm. And but she was a teacher and made her switch inside sales, and now outside sales captain Mhmm.
Looks for processes and looks for ways to put things into a box or a process. She doesn't have an answer for it. And that isn't always the best for a salesperson when you're trying to get them emotional with a customer. Yeah. So Annie's been really good with so my rep asked me last week.
She's like, Joe, can I schedule something with Annie? Like, she knows when it's time for Annie session. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah. Fine.
And, and
Steve: It's kinda like, when you watch Billions. She's, Wednesday.
Joe: A hun yes. Yes. That's there we go. That that's a that is a real oh my god. I'm gonna call it Wendy all weekend now.
That that's really what it is for for the company, for me. Mhmm. Because now, like, she knows most of the people in the company. I'm like, Annie. Like, I'll leave her a message, and I'm like, listen.
I need you to deal with this. Like, I'm not I'm not because she's been trying to get me to not I have a bad habit of managing people's emotions.
Steve: What does
Joe: that mean? That means what I'll do is I'll hear whatever issues are going on. Mhmm. Because my door is always open. I know terrible, terrible, blah blah blah.
Give me all you can smack me after whatever. Right? But, my door is open. Right? It's it's that's who I am at that.
Yeah. But I'm trying to grow personally and and in real estate professional. And Annie said, Joe, that's gonna stop. And, and I'm like, okay. But we can't that gap has to be filled.
Right? Somebody has to fill that gap or the the children will be all out warfare
Joe: in the in the
Steve: in the in
Joe: the in the in the office.
Joe: Right? So the the piece of, you know, Annie being able to manage those people's emotions. Because what will happen is people will come to me, and I'll give them the, good good good good good boy. Good boy. Alright.
Go back to work. Right? Like, I'll take on the problem so that you just go back to work.
Steve: Yeah.
Joe: Right? That's gotten me to hear. And when you got 15 to 20 people working for you, that's exhausting. Mhmm. Right?
And, so that reset and recalibrate, and we've we've struggled with emotions as a team. Annie has said it. We have, as a team, need to grow up a little bit, emotionally. Mhmm. We're very good real estate wise, but, like, the emotions can get in the way sometimes of just, like, what's going on of, like, maybe they start dispo doesn't approve the deal that comes in from acquisitions, and then acquisition starts whining and crying and being like, oh, Amy didn't approve my deal.
She don't like me.
Steve: So kind of a a they can get overly emotional in handling conflict.
Joe: Yes. Yes. That's right. There it is. There it is.
Yeah. That's the that's the that's the piece I was missing is that we are a, a conflict adverse team. Got it. So that, in turn, what ends up happening is now problems don't get dealt with. Mhmm.
Steve: And So they percolate.
Joe: And then they percolate. Mhmm. And and then they don't they don't explode, but then the starts. Yeah. Right?
And, I actually don't like that. So what I do is I would try and head it off and and fix those problems. Right? And that's not really fun. And then you have your wife working with you full time that's involved in that mix, who's a former marine, and and doesn't put up with it like I do.
Yeah. And, and then that
Steve: one made on the team?
Joe: Funny and oh, 100%. That's oh, yeah. 100%. Everyone knows that I'm I'm I'm I'm like dad, the the passive dad. Right?
Like, oh, yeah. 100%. And, and I don't want that for her either, and that's a dynamic that I'm trying to fix. Yeah. And the only reason she's doing that is to protect me.
Mhmm. And she wants me to be a better person and not let people come to me. Mhmm. Right? Yeah.
So then her whole trauma is starting. Mhmm.
Joe: And the team's trauma is going, and then my trauma is going.
Joe: And it's, like, to just, like, stop all of that Mhmm. So that I don't need her I don't need Candida to be I don't want her to be that. I want her to be a woman that's soft Mhmm. And caring and helping people. I don't want the marine.
Mhmm. You don't want the marine. Want yeah. I don't want that. Right?
I thought I did. Right? And then you come to see that that's not that's not good for your marriage Yeah. When you work together.
Steve: Yeah. It's tough. I mean, having, working with someone that that you're married with. I mean, I can say, I for sure well, I guess I can't say for sure anymore because we're
Joe: we're
Steve: probably gonna start a hard money company together Mhmm. That she's gonna be charged with. I'm not gonna
Joe: be charged with.
Steve: Well, that's gonna be her her department, because I can't have any more distractions. That's that's her department. Yep. But I remember, like, talking about trauma, you know, when I was wearing my realtor hat, broker hat, realtor hat, and she worked at my friend's mortgage company. Right?
So my friend, who was the top female loan officer in the country, my wife works there. And so because this loan officer is so so successful, she has all the business from all the top realtors in Phoenix. And so my wife's like, hey. So and so opened an escrow today. Hey.
So and so just submitted, loan docs. So and so is closing this many deals this month or someone so and so opened this many escrows this week. And I'm just sitting there, like, I'm just trying. I just Yeah. Enjoy this nice hot meal.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Right? Because it was there was a lot of blurring. Maybe not even blurring.
It just all flowed together.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right?
Steve: And I was like, well, no. Like, we have to have, like, this is work time.
Joe: Yep.
Steve: This is family time. And we weren't working at the same company.
Joe: Right.
Steve: It's just I have a brokerage with a bunch of realtors and my realtor team, and she gets to see all these loans Yep. Go through the door at that branch.
Joe: Yep.
Steve: Yeah. Not good.
Joe: Yeah. It's it's it's tough. You know what I mean? And like you said, that's not that's not fun. It's not healthy.
And, like, the thing is you let it happen sometimes too. Right? And then it repeats, and then it keeps going.
Steve: Then it goes normal.
Joe: Then it becomes normal. Right? And it's just not it's taken me taken me years to figure that out. Took me years to get, you know, divorce my business partner. Took me years to figure it out.
It's taken me just as much time now to say, see that, like, for me to grow, these things need to stop. And that's where the the growth part of Annie has come in from a from a for me as a leader Yeah. Where she's like, you're it's okay, Joe. You're here. Like, you I wasn't ever safe feeling since saying, like, I've arrived.
Mhmm. Right? Like, you don't say that in being sober or doing some of the thing or in jiu jitsu. Right? You don't and even in real estate,
Steve: like, you know definitely the one that's in martial arts.
Joe: Right. A 100%. Right? And and you don't wanna and as someone that's like, yeah. I mean, me and you joking outside of here or CG guys joking around together, the jokes like Adam Devine will get bust my chops and be like, oh, it's Joe King of New Hampshire.
Like and then I'll bust chops with my, you know, candy. I'm like, I'm the king in New Hampshire. Right? Yeah. But in reality, that's not really humble.
It's fun to you know, we joke around. We know each other, and we can bust each other's chops. Right? But that I don't really have that mindset in myself. Mhmm.
I always feel that I haven't arrived. And Annie's been pushing me. Like, yo, you're here. Like, you're you realize that you're, like, in the top, like, point o 2% of the world's population Mhmm. And top 1% of USA.
You understand that. And she's like, no matter what happens, you'll figure it. You'll figure it out. Even even if every if they took everything away from you right now, you would you would figure it out. Yeah.
Right? So to have someone that you trust talk to you in that way
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: And being like, hey. It's okay. Right? It's okay to embrace stepping into the light. Right?
Yeah.
Steve: Well, it's why you're here.
Joe: It is why I'm here. The that that conversation from ENE gave me the permission to be like, you know what? It's it's okay to to say, you know what? I do have real estate acumen, business acumen. Mhmm.
And, you know, and that and that came from her. Yeah.
Steve: It's funny. Like, as successful as we all are, we still need permission sometimes from external places. Yeah. We still need it. And also the whole part about, like, you know, there's healthy paranoia.
Don't wanna say, I've made it because every time I've said it, it's come back to bite me in the butt. So I don't say it anymore.
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: Right? But, yeah, to embrace, like, we are successful that we have, you know, hit certain milestones. I was talking to someone earlier today. Like, every version of me will look back at a previous version of me. It's like, that guy was an idiot.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure.
Steve: But we're still growing, and we always we feel good, but, like, yeah, like, we've made a lot of stupid mistakes. And Annie, you know, we talk about Annie Yash. Like, I remember I had a one on one with her, years ago. Right? And we talked about, like, the trauma that I've gone through, and I am who I am because of the way I was raised.
I was like, well, I am proud of who I am. I am proud that I'm a rational person. I'm proud that I will do whatever it takes to win. Right? And I'm not I have no regrets.
No. I'm not asking for forgiveness that I'm gonna go out there and crush and dominate. So, like, that's fine. Just recognize. You're leaving awake in your path.
Yeah. Like, what do you mean? Like, all the people that have you that have worked with you who felt abandoned, people who felt isolated, that they were left on an island. And it's like, I have had a lot of people tell me that they felt like they were on an island. They were left to fend themselves.
And I took it personally, and I was defensive at first. Mhmm. Because every time someone has said that to me, it's like, you know exactly where I am. You know exactly where my office is. You know I'm in that office, in that chair, and have always returned every phone call.
Anytime someone that, you know, works with me calls me, I get back to every single one of them within a few hours. Mhmm. But every single one, every single time. So it didn't make sense to me. This part where they said they felt like they were on an island.
But when she mentioned, well, you're going so fast that people feel like they can't, keep up with you, or they feel like they're letting you down. That resonates. Mhmm. Yeah. That was rough to you.
Joe: Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Sure.
Steve: And then, you recently went on a trip. Mhmm. We were talking and, like, hey. I can't talk to you right now. Yeah.
That's right. I'm going to Puerto Rico tomorrow.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Talk to me
Steve: about that. Today's podcast is brought to you by motivatedleads.com. With them, you can get 300 worth of of quality local leads sent exclusively to your inbox by just mentioning my name. I've used them, and they're one of the best producers of solid seller leads on a local level. And they fully guarantee the leads that they send you.
To get your $300 free credit, just head over to motivatedleads.com, hit the claim your area button, and let them know that I sent you. Right. I'm going to Puerto Rico tomorrow.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: Talk to me about that.
Joe: What what a what a what a what a, like, just crazy how did you get here? How did this happen Mhmm. Like, type of a thing. 2024, we set a goal that if we did point two four I wanna say 4.2 mil gross. Mhmm.
I would take to company all expenses paid to some fancy all inclusive in Mexico. Mhmm. We did not hit gross, and I didn't even think about putting net up on the board. Didn't occur to me.
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: I was like, if we don't hit gross, we're not gonna hit net.
Steve: So Generally, that was how
Joe: it works. Yeah. We had enough. We didn't hit gross, but we hit net. So, The more important number.
The more important number. 100%. Let's be clear. Gross is, vanity. Net is sanity.
Right? So, we we're at Christmas. We had our little Christmas dinner, and I said, alright, guys. Where do you wanna go? You wanna go down in a big fancy, like, hotel in Mexico, or do you wanna rent a mansion in Puerto Rico and and stay all stay together?
Not one person said, let's go to Mexico. They all wanted to stay together in Puerto Rico. Mhmm. God. I wanted my own room by myself away from you all.
Mhmm. Right? And, so in, like, three weeks, we put a trip together. And, because we're trying to get done before, you know, February hits and the market starts picking up. Right?
So January, we take, 11 employees and three spouses down. All expenses paid. Wow. Rented this huge like, where they've done Victoria's Secret's model shoots, like, this big, huge place. Mhmm.
And, private chef, super cool guy, just authentic Puerto Rican food, like and taking employees down Mhmm. That but, like, from homeless to being able to take 14 people down, not even blanket the money no matter what. Whatever we wanted to go do, we did, and we just paid Vardall. You know what I mean? Like like, what is what what is that?
You know? And, like, how that's that's how I fill my cup is to see that we were able to take it I call them kids in their twenties, adult young adults in their twenties. They are. Young adults. They're kids at the moment.
In their their kids. I was a kid in my early twenties. Mhmm. That had never been snorkeling. Yep.
We got to take them snorkeling, went out, saw sea turtles, rays, like, to be able to go do those things, and, like, they had a they had a blast. They had a blast, and we all stayed in this big place together. And the whole theme for 2025 was growth and connection. Yeah. So we had some bandwidth for each other when maybe we are real busy in 2025, and maybe we don't get a chance to do that feedback form.
You can think back to Puerto Rico and go, well, Joe's really not that big of a douchebag. Remember when he was cooking meals for us? Maybe he does care about us. Yeah. And maybe I'll get a little bit of extra, grace.
Steve: Right? So what does that do for you and your company?
Joe: Yeah. For me and the company, you could clearly see everybody's rowing together right now. Yeah. It is something like, I might not make the most. I may not be doing the most amount of deals out of everybody in CG.
What what I or in general in the world, what I pride myself on is I just had a new guy start. So to answer the this is how I would answer the question. I had a new guy start last Monday, and he'd interviewed and gone through, and he was like, I I couldn't I thought they were lying to me. I thought it was a hook to get me to work here that, like, people actually like you as a as a as a boss. Like Yeah.
And there isn't and he came into my office, like, on Friday after being there for a week. He was like, there isn't any one employee that, like, that old goat in the corner or that, like, jackass that nobody likes. Right? Like, you you live and die by the core values. So it's given us that, like, it's given us connection.
That's really what we were shooting for. With that whole trip, we were looking for connection.
Steve: Right? Everyone's rowing the boat in the
Joe: same boat. Everyone's rowing the boat right now. It's crazy.
Steve: It's it's it's it's Talk to me about some of the wins for the people in your company.
Joe: Yeah. Wins in the company. Right? So where what I mean, you get to work with me. Alright.
Alright. You know, I just put that right up there on the board. Right? And then but, like, at at 20 years old, nobody cared about me. No one no one invested in me.
Mhmm. Yeah. I worked my ass off for companies building them. No one cared. Right?
Like, to be able to do growth plans with employees, setting them up, on like, everybody has for a lot of the, real estate companies out there, it doesn't doesn't happen this way. They get in the four one k with a 3% match from me. Okay? I'll circle back to that four one k. I'll highlight everything.
Everybody has health insurance. Everybody has paid time off. Everybody can invest with me. Everybody has growth opportunities. I'll give everybody I'll I'll get we want my shirt.
Like, what is it? I'll give you everything. I everything in forty seven years that it's taken me to get, I give, like, I give to you. I try and make it truly our thing that separates us because I wanna be the best company in the world to work at. That's what's more important to me.
Mhmm. Because I know if I make that happen, I can actually go do the next thing. Right? Right. Because like you, I I wanna go.
I wanna dude, I wanna rip. Let's go. Let's go whatever, man. Whatever. Let's do a hard money company.
You wanna do a like, let's go. Right? Like, we get it. We could do hard money loans. Like, dude, I'll underwrite them all for you.
I'm a great underwriter. Right? You get the money. I'll underwrite. Let's go.
Right? Not everybody can run like that. You know? And, to see that, like, they get growth to to people. For example, with one of the employees, I have a twenty year teacher that left her job.
You met I think you've met Amy. Twenty year teacher, $90.90 grand a year. First year with me, 270. Third year with second year with me, well over that. Alright?
So, like, to be able to do that and be able to give people a path in real estate Mhmm. That isn't we'll just go be a real estate agent and go get some listings. Mhmm. Right? Like, to be able to transform people's lives Yeah.
Is is it's an it's an ego trip for sure. There's no doubt. And it fills my cup up when I just I show up every day because I know that, like, it can see the I have other teachers. I have wait staff, bartenders, and I have, like, just every walk of life, there's less the job to come work for me because they they came in and interviewed and saw that it was a great company. They wanna be there.
Like, I I don't know. Does that answer? Does that answer it? You know? Oh, for sure.
Steve: I mean, the the the vision, right, is, like, someone come in and they can turn their life around. Yeah. Maybe that's something that I've always strived for. That was something that, I was inspired by Carnegie. Right?
Like, you know, creating millions. The reason why I have to say I'm on a mission. Mhmm. Is like, I want to help people win. It's actually one of the reasons why it was hurtful when I was people were like,
Joe: so abandoned. Like, what
Steve: are you talking about? I want you to win. Right? And so but I think it's awesome. It's inspiring.
And I think that every business owner should listen to that because if everyone feels like you have their best interest at heart, they'll protect you, and they'll stay. They'll stick around. Right? Like, someone's not, someone's acting out of line, they'll self regulate. We don't need Joe to come and regulate.
They'll take care of it themselves. Like, it's their company now. Mhmm. Because their success is directly tied to the company doing well. Mhmm.
Joe: So I
Steve: think that's huge.
Joe: It it is, that that's that's a good way to reframe what I was trying to say is being able to, like, not only financially get better, but to be able to re to work with some of the best coaches and and be able to remove some of your own traumas at 20 years old, like Yeah. That your boss in the company paid for to go do, like, what? What is that?
Steve: It's one of the reasons why I left the first company I was at, the the my mentor, his company. I was like, yeah. You're coaching me, and you asked me to come here. But, like, when it came time to invest in me, you didn't wanna split me. I didn't say, like, pay for all
Joe: of it.
Steve: It's like, you wanna split this with me? Because when I do well Mhmm. The company does well. I'm just asking if you split it with me. He's like, no.
Like, you know, like, you're supposed to invest in yourself. And is it this and I was like, okay. Well, I'm gonna invest in me, but now I'm investing in only me.
Joe: Mhmm. Right? Yeah. Right. Right.
Steve: That was I mean, that's for me, maybe it shouldn't have been a turn off. Maybe I'm just being ridiculous. But for me, that was kinda like, oh, like, this really I'm in it for me. I'm here for me. Because, like, he doesn't really have, he's happy to get my percentage of my commission.
Right.
Joe: Right.
Steve: But he's not as excited to invest in my success.
Joe: Yeah. 100%. Right. It's, it's like, I know that they have to win for me to win. Mhmm.
Right? It like, I know that, and our turnover rate like, we had like, I think we lost one employee. I I let two go last year, and I think I it's 95% retention right now. You know what I mean? Like, it's it's, you know, it's it's stuff that I'm proud of, and people, a few of the employees now that have grown themselves financially are investing with me.
And then the thing that I did wanna go back to is that four zero one k thing. I spent all of 2024 doing that four zero one k and making it so that, because you can just go to your bank, open a four zero one k, and and and do a 3% safe ABBA for everybody at at the at the shop. Right? Great. Well, I don't know how to describe it, but I know a guy that knew I knew John Hyer, and he knew a guy.
Mhmm. And, guy is wicked smart. Yeah. So we were able to open a four zero one k that allows us to invest in real estate. Mhmm.
So now we're gonna make it so we could pull everybody's funds in the 04/2001 k. I don't want that. As the trustee, I do not want that responsibility
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: And I don't wanna end up in federal prison Right. For some kind of stupid violation. Mhmm. So it it just gives them that opportunity to, like, never mind because they now that, like, employees are at the office, they want to be able to invest in real estate. Right?
Yeah. And, well, now you can you can put in $25,000 a year, and you get a 3% match from me. Mhmm. And now you can turn around and invest that your money and buy real estate with it. Yeah.
That was not an easy lift to make that all happen. It sounds easy in description, but I think you know that's not easy. And I probably would say there aren't too many people that have that availability with their employee.
Steve: Well, compliance is
Joe: a different
Steve: Compliance is an issue. Compliance. The four zero one k component. Is it self directed four zero one k? Is that what you
Joe: This is not a self directed. This is a normal four zero one k at John Hancock that you open. They're not a self directed. This is a a company four zero one k like your, like, your dad or whoever had put all their money and worked their life to put their money into their four zero one k. Yeah.
Yeah. Normal four zero one k.
Steve: Yeah. I've not heard of that. Typically, when you're investing in real estate
Joe: You guys do your self directed or your IRA, whatever. Right? HSA or whatever it is. Yeah. No.
This is four zero one k, which you can I forget what the max is per year as an employee? You can contribute we'll just call it 25 Mhmm. A year that you can put in. Yeah. That's fantastic.
Right? So it just I don't know Stuff. I don't know. Stuff I'm proud of. That totally is.
Yeah.
Steve: Well, I mean, again, like, your people are are happy to work with you. And then another thing too is, so you're in Nashua and Boston.
Joe: So I'm in New Hampshire and
Steve: Massachusetts. So states?
Joe: States. Yes. Yeah. So almost all of Massachusetts where this population Mhmm. Is where I'm I'm generally in the Boston Mhmm.
The Boston market and then all of New Hampshire. Mhmm. There isn't probably a town in New Hampshire I haven't done a deal in.
Steve: Okay.
Joe: Yeah. So all of New Hampshire. And I've done stuff in Maine. I ran TV in Maine. We've did we've probably done, I don't know, 50 deals in Maine, handful in Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island.
You know, I've done. But, generally, it's all of New Hampshire. I wanna say I own New Hampshire. Mhmm. But there are some dogs out there for sure, nipping at my heels.
And, and they're bigger players that can outspend me in, in Massachusetts all day.
Steve: You know? So I'm asking these questions because, like, you know, you like to do deals with other people. Yeah. So talk to me about that.
Joe: Yeah. So we we started to kind of put it out there that let us dispose stuff for you. Right? Like, we're I have the staff. Right?
I have really good transaction coordinators. Like and she's a she ran a mortgage company. Right? So she's she's Your transaction coordinator
Steve: who ran a working company.
Joe: Yes. And she's Wow. And actually cares about people. Mhmm. I have to, like, reel it back and, like, we would be mean, like, share.
Be mean. And, she's awesome. Right? And so you know. Right?
You get your first deal, and now well, you're a one man band. You send out some marketing. Now you gotta go out on the appoint so you did you're the marketer. You are the inside salesperson. You're the outside salesperson.
Now you gotta transact the deal Mhmm. And you gotta dispel the deal. Right. And, oh, by the way, you gotta get another deal in the door at this point. Right?
Yeah. So marketing, more prospecting. More. Right? Go go go go do that.
Let us let us do the novation. Like, I hands down, I there isn't a doubt in my mind. I do more novations in in mass and New Hampshire than anybody
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: Hand hands down. Let me do the novation. Right? Let me handle that process. You got leads that are at $85.80 cents in the dollar, and you're offering $65.70 cents, and the customers, you can't get to work.
Bring me to the table. Let me close it. Let me bring my reputation of being on TV for years to the table. Let let me bring the brand and who we are. You can't get the deal closed?
Let me let us close a deal for you. Right? You get a deal under agreement. Let me let me sell a deal for you. Let me either I own the brokerage.
Right? I can get the deal listed. And then there's there's three full time dispo people right now. Right? That know all facets of not just like a, a dispo person that just knows how to do dispo.
Like, they're a real estate agent. They've been working with me, like, good solid
Steve: They're familiar with all the exits.
Joe: They did hundreds of deals with them. Right? Like, that type of thing there is really what one of the things that I'm trying to accomplish is, like, I want more of those relationships, and I enjoy helping people. So it's like a natural progression
Steve: for
Joe: us as a company to be able to help some guys, and we have been doing it with Yeah. With some with some local people.
Steve: If someone wanted to do a deal with you, how would how would they go about doing that?
Joe: Yeah. Text me. The you're honestly the biggest (603) 558-8604. Just text me. Mhmm.
Right? That's probably gonna be your quickest, like, easiest way to connect you in the company. Mhmm. And, I mean, you can find me on Facebook at Joe Theriault and Instagram. Mhmm.
I'm on both places. Right? But your quickest thing so that I can get you to whoever in. Right? Got it.
It's probably the quickest Got it. Easiest way to because I wanna make sure that we work with the right people as well, that I'm not working with, yeah, I wanna work with the right people. Right? Absolutely. It's a two way street.
Steve: And then along the way, you manage to get put a million dollars in the bank, not just a million on paper, which, you know, a lot of people are. I am.
Joe: Right? Mhmm.
Steve: On paper. Yeah. Not the bank account. Correct. What is going on in your business right now?
What are you doing? Because we talked a lot about, like, you know, the leadership
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Team culture. You went from flipping to wholesaling. Is you do a lot of things here in the masterminds developing yourself.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: What are the things you that you did to put yourself in a position where you now have a million dollars
Joe: Yeah. In the bank? I got, Christina, who's partners with David Richter in Simple CFO. So Alex Wetland who's in Vegas. And, yep, in CG.
I knew him years ago before CG. Me and him were, like, old school eight, nine years ago came up together. And, I don't remember how I found out about Simple CFO or whatever it was. But yeah, David step
Steve: everyone that's listening, Simple CFO director, Profit First for Real
Joe: Estate Investing. There we go. There we go. Thank you. So Profit First for Real Estate Investing.
If you don't know finance, just call them and get it done, and they can send me their affiliate link money after.
Steve: No. It's my it's
Joe: my affiliate link. I would do I swear to god, I'm not and I don't do that. Anyway but, that's funny. And the alright. What was the question?
You distracted me.
Steve: Million dollars in the bank.
Joe: You said you said you said you said you said you said
Steve: you said you
Joe: said you
Steve: said you said
Joe: you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said you
Steve: said you said you said you said you said you said you said you said
Joe: you said you said you said And then Ray, who was in charge of the money Mhmm. I tried to get Profit First in with him years ago, and he was like, no. Alright. So That was, like, my first account. Yeah.
So then I I was like, okay. I gotta find something to fill the gap with finance because, like, I got I understood how money loans and all that stuff, but I didn't understand the finances of a company in a p and l, in and a balance sheet, and all these different things, that go in. So what what that allowed me to do is they have I can't remember what the acronym stands for, but I got a p five sheet. And I have allocations and budgets and yearly budgets, and I got a whole dashboard that I can see really easy how much run time I have on my money, on reserves, and building reserve accounts so that every dollar and, like, the biggest thing I see it now as I'm starting to do a little bit more coaching and helping businesses. I was on the phone with a jiu jitsu guy today actually asking me how to help Mhmm.
His business. Right? And good different than the other guy. This is a good guy. Alright.
Steve: Yeah. I understand.
Joe: Alright. Alright. Alright. You they don't understand that every dollar that comes in needs to be divided up. Mhmm.
Right? And it's easy to say, oh, yeah. Profit First. Just open your six bank accounts. One for marketing, one for, you know, well, I gotta pay Joe profit first.
Like, I don't need to read the book. This is stupid. It's easy to understand.
Steve: Simple concept.
Joe: Simple concept.
Steve: Execution is a different story.
Joe: Execution is different story. And that's why Christine is still working with me because I Mhmm. Really good at ideas and concepts, and execution is that last 20% is where I struggle. Right. So, like, that that piece of it of knowing how to divide up that dollar of every dollar that comes in, I'm I feel way better about where my money is and what's coming in and projections and and every dollar that does come in still to this day.
I run it. I have a little calculator that we set up at the end of the year based on all of the all of the profit and loss from 2024, comes into 2025. We build the budget out, which then designates in the calculator where everything has to go from a standpoint of marketing, business my partner buyout. I still have still that was $500. $504.60.
$4.60 ish buyout, at 10 k a month, so I have to allocate there. I have to allocate for myself. I have to allocate for the credit card any credit, you know, credit stuff. I say reserves, operating account, and tax account. Mhmm.
Right? And everything that comes in. Like, people just generally speaking, I think a lot of people sub 10,000,000, maybe sub 5,000,000, don't don't get that concept. It's just run. Run.
Run. Outpace what you're make more than sales will fix all solve all problems. Right? Like, that's the the running mindset that and that's what I had from my
Steve: side. The hustle culture. Hustle like, I mean, we all we it we all had it. We can get to where we are without it.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. But we can't go any further until we lose that habit.
Joe: A 100%. 100%. That's what I was telling the guy today that I was talking with. I was like, listen. He's like, I don't like fine.
I'm like, you sound just like me
Joe: Mhmm.
Joe: A few years ago. You know what I mean? I was like, if you wanna be and you wanna help more people and be a better martial artist and a better business owner, you have a responsibility to learn finance and a responsibility to learn. You don't have to be I'm not I'm not great, but at least I can I can have a conversation now and not I can go to a bank and get whatever I want for money? You
Steve: know? Financable. Easily. Yeah.
Joe: Yeah. Finance. There we go. That's that's the piece. Financable.
Steve: I mean, one thing that Jason Medley says, you know, he sounds like a broken record because he doesn't say that many different things.
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: But there's tremendous wisdom in it, and it's that, you know, making money is a skill, keeping it as a discipline. Yeah. Yeah. Two different skill sets.
Joe: 100%. 100%. Yeah. And it it was it was, a a big thing this year, 2024. I was supposed to be buying up an apartment building with a CG person.
Mhmm. And, and it it it was gonna be some depreciation for me Mhmm. For 2024. And it was a lack because 2024 was good. It was building, and I was like, okay.
Great. This was the last piece to it, and it fell out at the last minute. The, it came came back with some issues that we didn't see. And I was like, oh, so I need to buy a new truck. Mhmm.
I was like, buy a truck. My truck was ten years old. I'm just one of those guys. Right? I don't really care.
Mhmm. And, the the truck I went and drove a new truck. And for $75, I was not impressed. Mhmm. And you're talking the last truck I bought was 20.
Right? So to go from that to 75 and blue collar, like, all of this stuff says you can't you can't like, I'm not I can't You don't deserve it. You don't deserve it. Right? What I did deserve is a $130,000 truck, come to find out.
And the truck that I really wanted was $1.30, and, ended up getting it for 90. And through the business, all that, I wrote it off. But multiple people had to tell me it was okay.
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: Right? Because my mind is so on the allocations. Mhmm. And I take my family on vacations, make them like, Candy was like, Joe, you don't you don't ever do anything for yourself. Like, you put money into the business.
You take care of your employees. You take care of your family. Like, I thought she was gonna give me grief about buying a truck. Mhmm. He's like, Joe, you just you bought me a new car last year.
Mhmm. Like, you're driving a ten year old car. You know? And, so, like, that that mindset you were saying with Jason Mendley and of being careful and having a good foundation. And Christina and CFO, like, just all of those things made it so that I could wire $90 over for a truck.
You know? It's just crazy. Crazy. It's crazy. It's like, it's mind it's mind blowing to sit.
You know?
Steve: So then when you say the biggest thing, then the biggest needle mover, on top of, obviously, having a great company culture is that understanding your finances is what helped you be positioned to have, again, a million dollars to make. It's not the hustle. It's not the the marketing strategy. It's not this particular tactic. It's not this particular exit or whatever.
It's just you know your numbers, and you run your business based off those numbers.
Joe: A 100%. A 100%. Everything we do is based off that. We work right set up a a 100%. That's that's like the two things that I told the guy today.
He's a fighter. Right? They're like, dude, these guys, they're not they're not easy to get through. Like, real fighters. Right?
Like, he's in the cage, like, fight and talking to him and and and he's listening. He's open minded. He's listening to me because he respects me, and, and I respect him. And, I and those are the two things that it came back to was I said, dude, it's culture, and I kinda I already know you. There's a you may not have it documented, but you have a culture.
Right? The piece that you do need to get figured out is the finance pieces the finance pieces. You know? And that that's so many people that I talk to that are, like, even even people that wanna do like, that I wanna do more deals with. Like, that's the piece that I can help with too, is, like, to be able to at least coach you and guide you on like, here are the couple things that you at least read profit first for real estate.
Like, have an understanding of what a p and l is. Mhmm. Right? It's it's I don't know. It should be I wish they pump more of that in the in the world of entrepreneurship.
Steve: Yeah. I think so. The it's not sexy. You know, Marcus Kribler is a friend of ours. Yeah.
And his biggest gripe all the time is, like, no one takes that part seriously. And then we talked about it as far as the marketing message. Yeah. He's like, hey. Like, how can I get real estate investors to be more interested?
And my thing to him was like, well, just promise them they can have as much money as they want. Right. Right? And he is like, well, that's, like, kind of like a he just promised to have as much money as he wants. Yeah.
But where I was going with that is that once you're financeable, then you really have access to as much capital as you need.
Joe: That's the game. Right?
Steve: And so if you're financeable, you have as much you have access to so much capital as you need. Right? But the only way to be financeable is to actually have
Joe: A 100%.
Steve: A bank looks at your books. Okay. That guy's bankable or not. Right? Mhmm.
There's stories out here. I can't remember who's who's brought it up. They're like, they had their loans called, and they're like, why are you calling my loan? Why are you closing my accounts? Like, you see my p and l, I'm making so much money.
I have this much money in the bank with you. Why are you closing my accounts? And, like, because we can see your runway your your runway. We can see because at the rate you're growing, you're gonna be out of money in three months. And we're gonna protect ourselves for when you're out of money.
It's like, how can I be running out of money? Like, I'm ultra profitable. They're like, yeah. We get the p and l part. You don't understand cash conversion cycles.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: You don't understand runways. Right. You're about to be bankrupt, and you have no idea
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: We're closing your accounts. 100%. That's real.
Joe: That's very real. Especially if
Steve: you're flipping. Even harder for flipping.
Joe: Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Like yeah. That and I don't flip as much as we used to.
Probably got two or three, yeah, two or three going right now. Yeah. All on the all on the backside. Thank god Christina would be anytime I do a flip, Christina's always giving me grief. And and she's like because I'm just like, get it done.
Like, I'm not great at staying in the rehab bumper.
Steve: You need a lot more bumper. You need a lot more buffer
Joe: Yeah. Flipping. For sure. For sure. You know?
Steve: So looking right now with everything is going, what would you do right now if money was no object?
Joe: Oh, it's a it's a serious question that, that I'm trying to figure out because money is not the object anymore. Right. I am bankable and financeable, and I walk into the bank. And the bank loves us, and they love my employees. Right?
And the relationships. You asked actually about CG. What has CG done for me? The relationships Mhmm. Right, of like, I know we can go get anything done within, like, skyscraper type stuff.
Right? Anything reasonable. Two phone calls away. Yeah. One or two phone calls away.
Right? Like, that opens up Sky. Right? So there's there's a a thing to go to Puerto Rico for six months out of the year. My son's almost out of school next year.
Mhmm. Six percent tax rate sounds really attractive. It does. So and surfing, something I used to do in jujitsu and yoga fit really well in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Mhmm.
And having something there would be great. So there's that type of a thing that's going on. I've started to look at opening a fund and, but opening a fund for the business that I already do, not opening a fund for something I haven't done
Steve: Yeah.
Joe: That would allow me to, grow that more Mhmm. And either maybe get more market share and where I'm already Massachusetts, I don't have market share. I have a portion, but not nearly as much as some of the other guys do.
Steve: Yeah.
Joe: So I could grow that, and, obviously, that spins off some more. There's a there's a rebrand that we're trying to get to happen right now in, inside the company. IPS cash comes from I was the inherited guy for a long time.
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: So inherited property solutions. When we went to TV, they were not happy with me with Inherited Property Solutions. Mhmm. We shortened it to IPS cash. Mhmm.
That really isn't a great name, for a business that's buying houses. K? So there is a couple things I'm working on right now is, the fund of get looking and seeing, does that actually is that the thing? The Puerto Rico thing and the residential assisted living type of a a thing is all kind of there. There's this there's this concept right now that I have in my mind where I like to I don't like to take too much risk nowadays.
Meaning, even when I left ten years ago, I went in the real estate, but I went after probate because I could see nobody was there. Mhmm. That's really there's a whole portion that around probate that it's a whole other podcast. But, the where what do they call it? A a charity?
What's the what's the what's the word? Foundation. Yeah. Foundation. Of we deal with it a lot in New Hampshire.
We in in natural right now, I'd be surprised in a population of about a 150 if there's a total of 20 houses for sale. Total. And most of them of those twenty, ten ten maybe 10 will be under $500,000. I think last time I checked, truly, it's probably two houses were under $500,000 Mhmm. In Nashua.
There's New Hampshire has a affordable housing crisis, hands down, like everywhere else, but there's bad That's bad. It's really, really bad in New Hampshire. New Hampshire, we are the top. New Hampshire, Manchester, New Hampshire is the top real estate market in the country.
Steve: Wow. I didn't know that.
Joe: Yeah. And, from, from a standpoint of, like, whatever those Zillow charts are right now, growth and whatever. Not not like we beat San Diego or something like that. Like, let's I'm gonna make sure I get that right before people, like, Joe's an idiot. But think that I'm an idiot for different reasons, not because I said that.
Alright? Yeah. There's there's something that I'm toying with right now that I'm trying to move through the the fun thing and this residential assisted living thing and some of this Puerto Rico stuff where I would I would like our marketing message to change Mhmm. Where it's we're a nonprofit to a certain degree, and a home buying business is able to spin off cash that helps Yeah. Decrease the cost of living for seniors in residential assisted living facility.
Like so there's, like, something going on there. It's, like, a bunch of different stuff. I know that's, like, so I, wishy washy.
Steve: Like Have you met the matchups? No. Because they're in CG. They just recently joined from Indeed. I had coffee with, Evan.
Joe: Okay. I've heard that name now that you say it, but I don't know them.
Steve: Yeah. That's what he's done. That's what they've done. He said that's the most fulfilling thing. Like, they make so much money on the wholesale side.
Uh-huh. He spends all his time on the nonprofit side. Interesting. It's funds, nonprofit side, where they're helping distressed homeowners. What were they doing exactly?
They give away houses.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: They build houses
Joe: Mhmm. Give them away. Yeah. That's that's fits in my my bucket of Yeah. Who I am as a person, who Candy is, where where I'm at.
I have everything. Like, if ever you woulda asked me, what what now? What? I got another apartment building or a storage facility or whatever. Like, you you woulda asked me I woulda gave my right fucking arm to get where I am sitting with you at this table right now.
Right. Yeah. Eighteen years ago.
Steve: Yeah. I was and that's the thing. You know? Like, I've said this before. I was on someone else's podcast.
It's like, it's hard for me to walk away from the things that I would dreaming to have another point in my life. Mhmm. It's hard Mhmm. To to to give those things up. Right?
Like and and appreciate it's really, like, important to appreciate what we have
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Front of us. What do you wanna be remembered for?
Joe: Mhmm. It's I wanted I wanna be remembered to be that that guy that that gave me everything he could that, like, he helped me in my life. Right? Like, I'm doing it now. Like like, I don't I don't have a bunch of what's that question that people ask?
They ask it in CG every now and again of, like, who's your, who's your person or your idol that, like, influenced your life? Mhmm. And I didn't have that. I didn't my my parents growing up, don't get me wrong, like, my dad went to work every day, like, put a roof over our head, you know, all that stuff. But, like, there wasn't anybody in my life that told my business partner that stuck out in Olive Branch to me.
And it was like, even though we divorced, he still he still was there every time Mhmm. That I called him. Right? Like, to be remembered as that guy that made a difference in my life, that he made a difference for me. That that to me is just like, he made a difference.
No one else gave a shit. Yeah. You know? I love that.
Steve: What's your biggest struggle today?
Joe: Everything we just talked about to a certain degree. Right? Like, all of that of getting out of my own way, getting out of my own way right now. That's really what it is. Right?
It's, when you you get to a certain point, I'm I'm on that precipice again, right, of, like, I gotta I gotta jump again. And it's like going into that unknown, whatever it may be of, like, I gotta I gotta jump again. So that's, like, I'm I'm in the way.
Steve: Like I'm in the way. You know? It's funny because, like, if you met me a couple years ago, I would say, like, you know, people that talk like that are weak. Mhmm. They mindset stuff for
Joe: the for the week. Mhmm.
Steve: But I recognize that every single one of us has something in our way. It's us, but, like, we're doing something to get in our way.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Because if we weren't, there's no reason why we couldn't be, you know, Elon Musk
Joe: Yeah.
Steve: Or Zuckerberg Mhmm. Or Bezos. Right? Or any of these other guys have done it. They have problems too, but they don't have the things in their way that we have in our way.
Mhmm.
Joe: It
Steve: took a lot to really open my eyes to that.
Joe: What's your superpower? Vision, which sounds cheesy because you're visionary. You're in real estate. Like, everyone says it. Yeah.
But I have truly done it. What'd you say what'd you say? Kryptonite? What'd you say? Yeah.
Steve: Kryptonite. What's what's your superpower? Kryptonite. Okay.
Joe: No. Kryptonite's the bad side. Yeah. Yeah. Superpower, you said.
Okay. Because I have and he has done a superpower kryptonite act exercise with me. So it's at least being able to have, so it is vision. It's being able to stay 10 steps ahead Mhmm. And being able to see and keep it's truly, it's being able 10 steps ahead.
So I'm always looking and seeing and trying to move those pieces to to be like, okay. What's coming down the pike? What's I'm very analytical with people. Yeah. Well, you know, I'm like, truly, I am.
You just don't know it because I don't talk to you about it.
Steve: Right.
Joe: But my mind is constantly looking and and seeing and analyzing and seeing how Steve's sitting. He just crossed his arm. What's going on there? Does he actually like me? Like, what's the deal?
What's he think about? Right?
Steve: There's, there's elements of pattern recognition.
Joe: Mhmm. Mhmm.
Steve: And then seeing the things happen before Yes. They happen. Yeah. It's, it's funny because, like, I've had people call me calculating.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Alright. They're like, you just you knew this was gonna happen before it happened, or you're you're putting things in motion before I was like, I can't be held responsible because I can see what's gonna happen well before you can see it's gonna happen.
Joe: Yeah. It's not my fault. Right.
Steve: It's not my problem. Like, because I can see before you Yeah. Doesn't mean it's my fault that, like, these things are happening.
Joe: Right. Right. Yeah. For sure.
Steve: And then what lesson did you which failure did you learn the most from? Hey, disruptors. If you're struggling to scale your business due to a lack of capital for your deals, this message is for you. I've been part of the Collective Genius Mastermind for over four years now, and one of the biggest benefits I get as a member is access to 100% financing for fix and flips. If you're doing at least 10 deals a year, want to network with top tier investors from across the country, and need access to 100% financing to continue scaling, go to 100percentmoney.com.
I've had my friend and CEO of the collective genius, Jason Medley, put together a short video with all the details. That's at 100percentmoney.com. A whole different podcast.
Joe: That's a whole jeez. Like, and there's so much there. Right? You know what I mean? Like, one lesson, I mean, is is the the more I mean, you and it's so it's so cliche to say the more you fail, the more you know, fail forward.
Right? And but it's it's true. And, you know, working with your spouse full time, that's that's a that's a that's a that's a beast of a thing has has really pushed me forward
Joe: to be
Joe: a better person. You know, the business divorce, that was a that was a, you know, business partner buyout. Like, that was a big deal. Like, that took me a year to get done. That was a 30 page document with attorneys involved and brain damage.
Brain damage. Right? Like, wasn't a failure, but it was still got divorced. It was a failure to a degree. You know you know, going back, I mean, having a daughter that lives in California, that's still, I don't let it bother me every day, but that's still that's still there.
You know? That's still, you know, part of part of failure.
Steve: You
Joe: know? No doubt. Right? You know, real estate, there's not too many failures. I it's I don't look at it as failure in real estate.
It's just another and I'm not taking big swinging risks right now either of going and buying a 50 unit that, you know, I'm turning into a residential assisted living facility and Mhmm. Like, I'm so No more big place. Yeah. I'm not taking those big like, there are I don't have that. I already don't sleep.
Right? I got like, I already struggle with sleep. I don't wanna go do those things. I'd be hedging and bringing other people Yeah. To the table till I had that experience.
I don't wanna go massively fail again.
Steve: Yeah. So then what was the biggest lesson through all of those things? What's the biggest lesson?
Joe: Keep showing up. Right? There's a book called, you hear a book called Slight Edge?
Steve: Yeah. Right, Tracy? I don't remember who wrote
Joe: it, but I keep telling the employees to write it. And I go I go back to it. I've been I've been preaching it quite a bit to them of I'm not necessarily great Mhmm. At anything, but getting up and going to work every day.
Steve: And and That blue collar attitude gets you too far.
Joe: It does get you really far of just show up. Just show up. Just show up. Whatever it is. Go to jujitsu.
Just show up. Don't wanna go to jujitsu. Just show up. Don't wanna go to the office in the morning. Just show up.
Don't wanna deal with your wife, just show up. Mhmm. You know? Like, just show up. Yeah.
It's like that compounding effect is what he talk what he talks about. Mhmm. And then, there's another book, The Flywheel Effect. It's in our circles.
Steve: Good to be right.
Joe: Yes. Yes. Yes. And, like, all of a sudden, boom. Like, that flywheel falls over.
It's like, boom. Yeah. And then and it's like, it's going. And and now it's
Steve: it's Because you showed up.
Joe: Because I showed up. Right? And I just keep showing up. That's that's that's that could probably be a superpower in itself. Right?
Steve: It absolutely is. It's, there's a reason why Cal Ripken's in the hall of fame.
Joe: Right. Right. He showed up every day. He showed up every day. You know?
Steve: Yeah. So what are some last thoughts you want to leave all the listeners?
Joe: I don't know. Like, expand on that. Give me give me something. What a what a what do we where do you go with that question?
Steve: What's the message you think people need to hear right now?
Joe: Just show up for sure. Right? Like, it's okay to, you don't you don't have to be that, like, yeah, the message of, hey. You know, machinist to millionaire. Right?
Yeah. Rah rah rah. Right? It's okay. Like, you look around and see and compare yourself, and I'm guilty of it in CG.
Right? You see these 20 Mhmm. 25 year old fucking guys, and they're killing it. And you're like, what the? What the?
And, you know, like, it but then you come to find out everybody has their battles, and a lot of people's lives aren't always square. And they might be killing it financially, but maybe their marriage is a mess. Maybe their health is a mess. Maybe their emotions a mess. Maybe they're drinking and drugging.
So many times, I see over and over and over that if you just keep doing the right next thing and you keep showing up in all aspects of your life, it's to me, that's more important in being a good person and doing those things than it is come and tell me how much you have and how many apartments you have. I really don't care. Right? Like, to me, I'd rather care that you actually invested across all of your life. Mhmm.
Like, I've just seen it over and over again. In CG, it just is a reminder of Yeah. When I see different people that are, you know, chest pounding or whatever it is. Right? Like, just, like, just showing up and and being you and being authentic is, undervalued, I think, sometimes in a lot of entrepreneur type settings
Steve: Mhmm.
Joe: Is, it's do more, be more, make more money. And, yeah, all that it's easy. And, again, I've heard people say, on on the flip side, well, well, you got money. It's easy for you to say that now. Right?
It's okay to have a job and work Mhmm. And get financeable and bankable with a w two job Mhmm. And buy a couple rentals. It's that is okay. Right?
Like, that's fine. You're gonna make it. You're gonna have a good life. Mhmm. Then you probably won't have as much headache as I do.
Right? Like, I think it's just undervalued in entrepreneurship, and it's just not talked about enough.
Steve: Yeah. That was, again, you know, different version of me ten years ago. It's like, stop being a girl. Stop being, you know, whatever, and, like, quit your job and go do this. Mhmm.
But now imposing my values on somebody else. Mhmm. Right? Like, people are happy living the lives that they live.
Joe: Mhmm.
Steve: Who am I telling them to live differently?
Joe: A 100%. Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: So, again, someone wants to get ahold of you. What's the best way?
Joe: Yeah. Look me up on Facebook. Joe Theriault. That's one way. Just direct message me there.
Direct message me on Instagram. Yeah. I think my candy will kill me that I gave my cell phone out on, on a podcast. So I'm not gonna do that twice. But, yeah, Facebook, you can most you know, if you're connected to anybody in real estate, you can find me, on Facebook and Instagram.
Alright.
Steve: Well, thank you so much, Joe.
Joe: Brother, I appreciate you. Pleasure. Alright. You as well.
Steve: Thank you guys for watching. See
Joe: you guys next.
Steve: Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.
