Scaling From $1MM to $100MM in Assets in 12 Months

Steve Trang: Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. We real estate disruptors.

Steve: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of Real Estate Disruptors. So we've got Nick Marietta with the Nick Marietta Collection, and he flew in from Las Vegas, Nevada to talk about scaling from 1,000,000 to a 100,000,000 in assets in only twelve months. If this is your first time tuning in, I'm Steve Trang, sales trainer. And every month, we help hundreds of people buy more houses at deeper margins.

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Nick Marietta: Let's go.

Steve: Alright. So first question for both of you guys is what got you guys into real estate?

Nick: The crash of two thousand eight got me in real estate. I was a remodeler, and

Steve: all

Nick: of a sudden, there was nobody's house to work on. And I ran into something called investors.

Steve: So you had a supply problem for remodeling.

Nick: Yeah. A supply problem just like today. For remodeling, for sure.

Steve: Okay. So you're remodeling for homeowners then at this time?

Nick: At the time, yeah. I was building new homes actually here in Phoenix and, remodeling them. And then all of a sudden, a bunch of people didn't have money. And I'm like, I have to try to find work. And they're like, hey.

Have you ever worked for investors before? And I'm like, investors? I'm like, who's an investor? Right? Because I didn't know anything about real estate.

And next thing, I started with one, and that's all I do now.

Steve: So you're building new houses as well?

Nick: We're we're building new new houses actually in, Scottsdale, and we had a few going in Apache Junction. And then

Steve: Very different markets.

Nick: Very very different markets. And, we were modeling then, and everything come to a screeching halt in 2008.

Steve: Did you have, in that situation where you're working a lot of houses, a situation where you're doing a lot of work, and then when it came time to pay, they were ghosting you?

Nick: Very much so. We had probably about a $152,100,000 dollars of receivables that never got collected.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So you start meeting with investors. Yeah. What does that look like?

Nick: So, actually, it was kinda funny because, we were having trouble getting work, so I put an ad on Craigslist. And I, just put remodeling and handyman. And, I got a call, and it was from an investor. They're like, hey. We need help wrapping up this house.

I'm like, okay. And then that they had many more and many more and many more houses, and I'm like, this is easy because I get paid every week. You know, I don't have to worry about anything. Didn't pay very good because investors are cheap. Yes.

Steve: They

Nick: are. I just started remodeling and building a crew. And next thing I know today, I mean, we have a 100 plus, you know, construction guys working on flip on, investment properties only.

Steve: So you started then Mhmm. Working with investors, and that's been a consistent

Nick: Never stopped it. I started with stand alone investors. And then in, 2011, a guy come up to I was still swinging a hammer in 2011. A guy come up to our work trailer, and he's like, hey. I'm with American Homes to Rent.

Mhmm. He's like, I got 90 houses. And I'm like, what? He's like, I got 90 houses. I go, you're full of beep.

Right? And he's like, no. And he gave me 10 the next day to go bid. And I'm like, okay. I'll take 10.

He awarded me 10 jobs right after I bid him, and it was me and three guys. Yeah. And that ran into a run of, like, 2,500 homes for them.

Steve: Wow. Yeah. They were, pretty big. I mean, they still are. They're very big.

They when they came onto the scene, it was a big splash.

Nick: Yeah. They they were the first one, really, though. You know? And then Colony behind them was you know, probably next.

Steve: Right. So you you work with investors here and there, one c, two c, more or less. And then you started working with the I mean, what do they call them? Funds?

Nick: Yeah. They call it REITs.

Steve: REITs. Got it. So you start working with them, and you start doing more deals, and it's just a constant drip of just doing more and more construction.

Nick: Yeah. So, basically, what happened is I ramped my construction company up from 2011 Mhmm. To 2013, and I went from, like, three vans. We ended up having 45 vans. We had our biggest year.

We did, like, 12,000,000 in construction between Phoenix and Las Vegas. That's actually what got me into Las Vegas was American Homes for Rent. And, as we were doing it, I made, like, 3 and a half million dollars that year remodeling homes in 2013. And then it changed because they inflated the markets or they were paying so much more in the market, like, a 105% of actual ARV.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And nobody else would, you know, pay that. So a lot of the investors disappeared in 2013. And then I found myself sitting there with all these trucks and all these guys and actually had to downsize them.

Steve: Got it. So because the well, because these guys are buying more houses, though, you weren't getting larger share of the business, or you

Nick: weren't No. They they stopped buying for a certain period of time. Like, they would buy, and they're like, oh, we're gonna halt till we get the next fund. They actually I remember sitting with Wayne Hughes in in, Las Vegas meeting when he had six guys when American Homefront was there. That's how early in the stage I got.

And they had, like, like, 1 or 2,000,000,000 in that fund, and that fund ran out of money. And then they were going through a big shift, and then they they would basically halt until they got everything caught up, and then they go back at buying again.

Steve: So they would basically price everyone out of the market Yep. And then pause, and you're back in the same situation

Nick: Yep. Where

Steve: you got nothing to work on.

Nick: Absolutely. Then I'd have to go back and reinvent myself with investors again.

Steve: Yeah. So when did you start buying properties?

Nick: I started buying properties in 2011 in Las Vegas. That's where I started investing. And, 2012, I started buying in, Phoenix here.

Steve: Got it. So you're working with American Homes for Rent in Phoenix. You expanded to Vegas, and then you said that you're buying in Vegas. So were you living in Vegas at this point, or you're still in

Nick: Vegas? I I actually moved to Vegas in 2009, and then I was still working in both places. But a majority of my business was down here, and I was trying to grow that. That's why I moved up there, and I had crews here. Then I left here and, was trying to grow that.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So you're buying properties to flip yourself?

Nick: Yes. It was kinda funny how that actually happened. So, we were paying 18% interest. I think it was, Rod something, RLS Capital here in in, Phoenix. And I actually went to one of my flippers in, Vegas.

I'm like, hey. We don't have to put anything down. We can get these houses a 100% financing, but it's two points and 18% interest. Can you if I do the construction, will you front the construction? I got 12 and a half percent of the net profit and got paid for my construction.

That's how I got started.

Steve: Mhmm. Got it. Okay. So because I see a couple different things. Right?

I I've seen guys that are in construction. Then once they start flipping, it's like, well, why would I ever work for a customer again when I'm a much easier customer to work with? I've also seen other people say, oh, I'm already flipping. I might as well start a construction company. So you're one of the very few I've heard that was successful construction and still kept that going as as you were buying houses.

Nick: Yeah. So, actually, as of this year, I no longer work for any other customers. Mhmm. It took me many years to, you know, build up the capital and and to do everything. And I when I did it, I wanted to be able to make sure that I had enough capital that I never had to go back, you know, to work with somebody.

Because once you flip that switch on, you have to have all these you have to have bigger teams. You know, every your whole dynamic changes. Right? Your cash flow changes. Mhmm.

I always loved working for flippers because I got paid every week. Right? How could you beat the cash? Right. But construction always makes me a million dollars a year plus.

So it was a good income, and flipping was a side, but now it's my full time thing.

Steve: Got it. So talk to me about the challenges, of running a construction company because, like, we have you know, it's very therapeutic. Right? We kinda share. We commiserate.

Yep. You know, managing salespeople and so on. But I don't think anyone knows how hard it is to flip. You know, the one thing I I hear from time to time is that contractors are crooks. Right?

Yeah. And but I kinda wonder, is it because they're immoral, or is it because they thought that since they are good contractors, that they should be good at having a construction business, and they don't understand sales, marketing, finances, books, and so on.

Nick: Well, I was always really a businessman, not a contractor. Yeah. And I treated it as more of a business than what most contractors do. And, you know, there's a place for everybody. And when I say this, I don't I'm not saying this because of anything.

But a lot of contractors actually own the companies, not the actual workers. It's an easy place for them to go say, hey. I own a business and get cash flow, right, and be able to have cash in their hand, but they just don't know how to manage a business. They're great at construction, but don't understand the business part. And that's really the biggest failure in contractors.

It isn't that they're bad people or crooks. They just don't know how to estimate. They don't know numbers. They don't know how to schedule, you know, and and run balance sheets and look at profit losses.

Steve: Cash flow management?

Nick: All of it.

Steve: Managing subs?

Nick: All of it. You know? And Yeah. One of the biggest things in my business is I, or I have employees and I have vans. I refuse to hardly use any subcontractors, and then I can really control my destiny.

Because when you're when you're, you know, having subcontractors, it gets hard, to rely on them because somebody else might pay more money or do this or they might not show up. Or my guys, they've been with me a long time. I know they're gonna be there and they're gonna show up.

Steve: Yeah. So then going back to my theory Mhmm. They're not necessarily crooks that, really, they just don't know how to run a business. Do you say that's more accurate?

Nick: I I would say that's real accurate. Yeah. I a lot of contractors are really good people.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: You know, they just they don't have a lot of education. Their skill set is really with their hands, not with experience, you know, using, you know, using their head would be a best way to say it because a lot of them just don't think. You know? They they just don't wanna educate themselves. It's construction is always known as an easy way to make a buck.

Right? Mhmm. It's everybody's fallback for an easy way to make buck. That's what a lot of the construction people are.

Steve: So you've been in the wholesaling side. You've been in the flipping side. You've been doing this luxury development now. Mhmm. What are some of the parallels?

Or what is you know? Or maybe let me ask this another way. For someone who's watching that hates contracting, because it doesn't appreciate the work that is involved in being a contractor, can you, shed some light for them to know, like, why things are the way they are?

Nick: Well, the the first thing is is if you get a good person, what you have to do is you have to put a little bit of trust in them. Right? Typical thing as investors is they're scared of that somebody's gonna run off their money, and they're not gonna get their job completed. If you don't take a little bit of risk and you don't, like, actually help somebody, a lot of these contractors don't have money. So working with them financially and rewarding them that way, really changes the the way that they work for you.

You know? And being a contractor, my my biggest thing is is whoever pays the best is who I gave you know, pays the best, has loyalty, and always keep kept me busy was the people that I never had problems with.

Steve: Right.

Nick: So when you're vetting a contractor and you're looking for a contractor, you need to look for the qualities in that person. Don't don't look at all of their flaws. And if they do have flaws, identify the flaws and see if you can, you know, take the flaws away from them. And you you actually help them manage that, right, in the process of working with them. And, usually, you can gap that, and that's a great place to start with somebody.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. So, what are some other things? Like, I'm I'm sure you get complaints from here here and there. Yep.

Right? What are some of the top complaints, that either for your business or someone else in the contracting space?

Nick: From the contractors or from the investor side? Sorry.

Steve: From the investors that are hiring you.

Nick: So the the biggest the biggest complaints I get is is there's never nobody's on the job, and they're they're never on time.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: So if you say you're gonna be on time, I always, used to give, like, hey. I think I'm gonna be done around here. And if I'd run into a snag, I'd be like, hey. I'm gonna be two more weeks, but it's gonna be right. And I and the communication always kept me, you know, in the safe zone because at least if I could call, they know I'm working on it.

You're good

Steve: to go.

Nick: So the delays is really the biggest thing and no no people on the job. That's a constant problem for investors. Because when when you pull up to your property and there's never nobody there working, you may not understand as the investor that, oh, well, you know, maybe the tile guy is busy on another job, and he'll be here in two days. But their first instinct is, why why don't you have anybody on my job? It's not how it works.

Right? The the scheduling things and when things run over, then everything else gets delayed if you don't have another crew available.

Steve: Sure. So I guess the big thing to look at is if we're looking at the order of things

Speaker 3: Mhmm.

Steve: And if one thing's getting delayed, then it says everything else back.

Nick: Yes. It it sets everything back. And, you know, in my own properties right now, I had a few delays, with different things going on. A couple of projects went, you know, went sideways on me on my own projects. And I'm the contractor.

K? I have, you know, 28 assets worth $50,000,000. And, you know, she's doing all the design. And I literally just told her, I'm like, look. Nobody's gonna like this, including our money partners and everything.

But I have to stop the machine for two weeks, and I gotta get house one, house two, and house 3100% complete because they're just sitting there, and I just have to do this two week delay in our entire thing. So I just had to push back my entire schedule on all these houses two weeks. That's a lot of money when I'm paying $300 a month in interest. Right? Yep.

But doing that, we just reset the machine and move forward. And it still happens to me, so it's gonna happen to other people

Steve: for sure. Yeah. So, what was it? So there's nobody on my at my at my house was the other one?

Nick: Nope. Nobody's at my house.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: Right. And and, not being on time, meaning if you say you're gonna be done, you're not done.

Steve: Got it. And then what about communicating with the contractor? What what recommendations we give our listeners that are working with contractors?

Nick: What I recommend is, when you're working with your contractors is is build a solid relationship with them. K? Take them to one or two of your projects that you currently have going and set the expectation upfront. K? Make sure that when they walk in, you should see that guy, like, checking things.

I when I go in a house and I actually have other contractors working for me now, I'll be like, what do you what do you see in this house that is not up to your standard? There's gotta be something. Right? So ask what their standard is and and say, it's okay. Go ahead and tell me whatever.

But make sure that their standard is what you want your standard at. Alright? And they know that. That's number one. And then they know upfront what your expectation is.

Next thing is is make sure that you get them paid no matter what it takes. And if you can do those two things and build that relationship and get them paid, you can do about anything with contractors.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: Because remember, contractors quit showing up because they're out of money or somebody's gonna pay them more. That's the 99% of the rules of why they don't show up.

Steve: So let me ask you this. Right now, you're saying that you got your guys in in your vans in that deal with subs because subs can just bounce.

Nick: Yep. They can bounce anytime.

Steve: So are you finding then that it's a lot harder to post your talent because they work for you?

Nick: No. My guys have been with me. They're for me, I pay everybody piece rate. So when I pay everybody piece rate, they get paid for what they perform. So if it was an hourly situation or whatever, I I keep a competitive system in what I do so that my guys are constantly always wanting to be better.

They wanna make more than the other guy because they tell how much they make. So they keep themselves competitive inside of my operations. So, therefore, I think I have the most competitive, you know, operation in the construction business.

Steve: Yeah. So, I first heard about you, you know, Carlos Reyes, Ryan Panetta, Casey Ryan. They're like, man, like, you guys don't know you don't know Nick? Like, this guy's killing it. Like, he does a lot of our floats.

He's done a masterful job. So how did you get to a point where you had this kind of reputation where you have multiple people in my ear talking about what you're doing?

Nick: You know, the biggest thing for me is is I always do what I say I'm gonna do. At any at any cost, I just whatever I say I'm gonna do, I do it. And even if that cost me money, if I lose money, whatever it is, and just being a man of your word and integrity is everything in this business. Yeah.

Steve: So last year, right, for all of 2021, how many flips did you manage?

Nick: Did I manage on my own, or did I flip or did I do construction on?

Steve: Construction on.

Nick: Construction? I think yes or last year, I think we completed about 85. But of, I would say, about 40 of those, those were luxuries, and the rest were all, you know, three, four, five, just medium price housing. You know? Yeah.

But, you know, in my bigger years, it's not really so much how much I completed. My construction company runs on a volume. K? So we we were doing about 800,000 a month, which is about 10,000,000 a year in construction, and now we're running at about 1,000,000 a month, which is about 12,000,000. So if you if you look at the volume side, if you're a flipper and you say, hey.

My average rehab is 30,000. Well, you take 30,000 into a million. You know, you get x. Right? And if you'd say, my average rehab is 400, you get x.

You know? Like, right now, my machine on luxury side can probably do $30.35 a year. But if I was doing, you know, the median price, I could probably do a 150 to 200.

Steve: So you

Nick: have to look at the volume side.

Steve: Sure. And what are the, like, different challenges? So I've never done a luxury flip. Someone brings me to something, hey. Are you interested in this?

It's a very fast no because I wouldn't even know what I'm looking at. I don't know what to look for. Yep. So if someone's had some success flipping and they wanna step into luxury flipping, what are some challenges they should be prepared to to look at?

Nick: First one's gonna be a lender issue. Mhmm. Lenders never believe my ARVs ever. Ever. They're like, there's no comp.

I just have I have one right now that I was gonna refi. I paid 1.5 for it. I'm putting 1.8 in it, which I'm gonna have 3,300,000.0 in it, and I'm gonna sell it for 5 to 5.5. They wouldn't even they wouldn't even value it halfway done on a refi at a million dollars. And I paid 1.5 for it, and it had been six months.

So first one's ARV. Yeah. Because when you go to lender, they're gonna say it ain't we're the first things everybody gets scared. They go, well, if they they ain't gonna lend it, I'm not gonna do it. So you better be ready for a big down payment.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: That's that's the first thing when you go into it. If you're prepared for that, the next thing you wanna look for is finding something with really good bones, sits on a really good lot, and has a super open floor plan usually with high ceilings if you can do it. That's that's the type of houses I like to buy.

Steve: Gotcha. Anything else to look for as far as luxury?

Nick: Luxury is really I mean, the biggest thing is is look for, new and upcoming areas

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: Like Spanish Trails in Las Vegas. When I went in there, there was one other flipper, Jason Abrams, in there, and there was nobody else in there flipping. And I'm like, if he's doing it and I looked at his margins and he was really quiet about it, I'm like, I'm gonna I'm gonna own this neighborhood. Now we have, I think, six or seven going in there Yeah. You know, at a time.

So it's like, I I'm always looking for the next it's kinda like developing. Right? When when land's running out, you start getting pushed on the outskirts. Well, you have to look at the same thing when you're flipping luxury. If you can find just that next bump over, that's usually where the deal's laying.

Steve: Yeah. I think part of it too is I I started in 2007. Mhmm. I still have, like, scar tissue, right, from, like, that whole watching everyone in as a realtor and as a contractor getting divorced. Like, I mean, it was just a really bad situation.

Like, when I look at a luxury flip, it's not just the dollar margin, which is uncomfortable, but there's also, like, hey. This could take twelve months. Right? So how long are your typical luxury flips?

Nick: Right now, our typical is running about four months in construction and then selling. I mean, some of them sell seven days in cash, and I got some now that, have fell out, went back in, and we're going on three, four months on the market. So I still today, I say if I'm gonna buy a luxury, it's one year. Yeah. I have to predict it one year.

Steve: And that's the thing. It's like, it's not just the price, it's the interest.

Nick: Yeah. Mhmm.

Steve: On that price.

Nick: Yeah. It's it's very expensive. I mean, it's like, right now, everybody goes, are you scared? And I go, no. I'm gonna keep pushing.

Mhmm. I'm gonna push harder. Because in the luxury market and where I'm at, the the all the California buyers, New York buyers, even Florida buyers are coming in, and it's still so undervalued. I have to keep pushing the machine until it changes. And when it changes, I just have to adjust.

You know? Right. Because when you're in it for a year, you're in it for a year. There's no changing it.

Steve: Yeah. So how many flips then did you do last year?

Nick: Like, 80 some. Like, of my owner

Steve: Of your own.

Nick: Of of my own. I think last year well, we have a Kansas City market. I think we did, about a 100 wholesales there and something like 50 or 70 flips.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And then in Vegas, I think we turned, like, 30 flips ourselves.

Steve: Wow. Okay. So, that's a really well, how what's what's what's I'm looking for? That's a lot of work involved. So what does your organization look like to support all of that?

Nick: That's a that's a great question. And it's what does my organization look like today, and what does it need to look at or what does it need to look like in the next ninety days? That's a very skewed thing for me to to answer only for the fact that I probably need to answer it in the fact of what does it take to do a 100,000,000, or what does it take to do with, you know, 30,000,000 in assets. Right? So currently, right now, I'm I'm basically the CEO, the owner.

I run everything. I do all of I do all of the buys. I walk every single house. And then I do all of the construction just in the Las Vegas, California, Saint George, and Sedona markets. And then in our KC market, we actually have a construction manager that handles it.

So right now, if you were doing what I was doing before, you probably need, about seven people. That's what I have. I have three acquisition people, two in Kansas City, one in Las Vegas. I have a TC in each place, so we're basically, you know, five people. And then I basically have a GM in both in Kansas City, I have a GM, and then I'm basically the GM in the Vegas, you know, and the surrounding markets.

So I run a really lean team, but I'm also probably one that pays two to three times more for the people that work for me. I like really high sky or right really high skilled people that I don't have to do a lot of work with that make a lot of money, and they're enticed by it, and they're very experienced. That's Yeah. Everybody goes, you pay way too much. I mean, like, my acquisition guys and Casey are making $2.50 to 300 a year.

Steve: They're living like kings. Yeah. I

Nick: mean, I could be paying them 7 70 or 80 and babysitting them, but I only go to Kansas City twice a year, and I buy and sell a 150 to 200

Steve: homes a year.

Nick: Right. So either I take my time or I pay for it. Right?

Steve: Yeah. No. And I think that's something that Ryan and, Panetta and I have talked about. You and even Casey Ryan. Right?

Like, we've talked about, like, you got talented people, and you overpay for them. Right? But you also don't don't have to worry about turnover. You don't worry about managing them. You don't worry about replacing them, training them.

Like, there's a massive, tax, like, a missing that you don't notice every time you replace somebody. Right?

Nick: It I and that's a big thing is a relationship takes at twelve months, the cultivation actually starts, you know, growing something. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: You sit in there and you're nurturing this thing, and you're just going over and over and over. And I always say, if you're gonna replace somebody, plan on taking two years of your life to get back what you have now if they've been with you for, you know, two, three, four years. So you have to make a big decision. Can I work with this person, and and can I deal with it, or is is the alternative worth it? And most of the time, I find that the alternative isn't worth it.

Steve: Yeah. So, and you mentioned that right now, you're unwinding some things and you're focusing on your luxury. Can you expand upon that?

Nick: Yes. So doing the luxury and making decision the first year, actually, last year, I was on a car accident. And when I was in a car accident, I got a real bad concussion, and I just met my wife. She'd been with me about, two months at that point. That was in March.

And, I couldn't really do much. My with the concussion, I couldn't, like, think. I couldn't talk on the phone. I couldn't even look at the computer. She was trying to do everything for me.

I couldn't even talk on the phone. I would just get immediate anxiety and headache. Like, it was the ringing. Anything like that really bothered me.

Speaker: Screens and sounds were really he was really sensitive to it. Yeah.

Nick: It was really and I'm still recovering from that. And what I found was is, I can't be in this position ever again. And she goes she literally says she says, everybody's taking advantage of you. She goes, they're paying you, but look. They're taking advantage of you.

And I sat there on Memorial Day weekend, and I had a nervous breakdown. And this was about three months in, and she was right. So she changed my life. And what what I decided to do is I said, I'm not gonna do this anymore. And I said, I'm gonna wrap up all the construction jobs I got for everybody that I have.

And I said, I'm gonna become my own investor. And I says, I I know I'm smart, and I have to I have to figure out how to be, you know, in 10 different places, you know, with, you know, other people and show up all over the place with half the effort. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: So I decided with her that we were gonna build our luxury brand and that we were going to, replace ourselves permanently in the business. And so what we what we did was is at the time, I was telling you, you know, I've got my people in Kansas City. I'm doing everything in Las Vegas. What we did is is we basically have worked for the last eight months, something like that. Literally, I've taken one day off.

I even work Christmas, and I work Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. And I told her, I said, I'm not stopping, and I'm not taking a day off until I get what I want. And last week, we finally we finally reached that point where I was like, what am I gonna do this week? Like, everything's getting organized. And she's on the tail end because she does the design.

And I said, okay. I go, it's time to replace ourselves now because we've built up the inventory. We've built up the systems. We've built up the employees, the contractors, the money, the everything. And so I actually went to a team.

What was it? Last Friday I called. I've been I've had them pegged, and they're a they're a team of, like, 10 realtors. And, we cut a deal with them this week, and they're starting on Monday. And we're actually going to put people in all of our positions in our real estate in Las Vegas, and I'm actually stepping out.

Yeah. So the the biggest thing is is, now I need to have a COO or CEO, COO, CFO, VP, and then I have to have all the different positions because, I need them to be able to manage anything at cert any certain time. So we're replacing every single position. We've got five people. I call it my execution team now.

My execution team will be with me anywhere I go and anything I do. We'll travel together. We'll go to events together. If I'm on vacation, they'll be with me. And, basically, we're gonna constantly be cultivating new ideas for the business with the execution team.

And the peep the 10 people that we're replacing are gonna or the 10 people that we're working with are going to replace our current team, and I'm gonna elevate the people that started with me. And we're going to be doing many different businesses and, being on top of it. So in this whole thing, my my thing is is you've heard about, you know, the the what is it? Three hour work week or the four Four

Steve: hour work week.

Nick: Hour work week. So you've heard about the four hour work week. I say I always said it never existed, and I didn't believe that concept, and I finally have faith in that now. And the whole goal for us is is I'm actually going to just focus on social media, like, three hours one day and a couple hours on the business. On Wednesdays, I plan to work five hours a day.

And if I don't wanna work anymore, I'm gonna be 40 years old, two two, let's see. Yeah. Two more months, July 16. And at that point in my career, I wanna hold a $100,000,000 worth of assets. And the reason why I grew this to a $100,000,000 worth of assets is so that I could afford to have the people, have the infrastructure, and know that I had enough profits coming in in order to afford it and to live that lifestyle.

So I had to get 10 times what I had going before because I knew what I made at that margin.

Steve: Mhmm. I

Nick: had to 10 x that in order to live the lifestyle and pay those people. So we're literally I think we're we're gonna probably be six weeks we're hoping to have that put in place.

Steve: So you mentioned that people were taking advantage of you, and I've been told this of me myself. Right? And I've had people tell me multiple times, like, Steve, they're they're just taking advantage of you. And I ignored them, right, for the most part. Turns out they were right.

So, let me ask you, like, what were some things that were happening that, where they were taking advantage of for someone else, you know, to to kinda recognize that?

Nick: So he I'll I'll let her what what is my famous thing that always happened to me?

Speaker: Well, I, you know, I think he he has a hard time saying no. He always says yes to work. He oh, and anything anyone asks him when it's work related, for sure, he always says yes. And I think he had such a a hunger in him and such so much fight in him for so long of to, like, oh, I have to grow the business. I have to do this.

So he never said no. And he's just saying yes to everyone. And you have all these people that are like, all these investors, and he's it's not like he doesn't know everything they don't know. He knows even more than them. And they he's getting yelled at because of nonsense, and he's doing great work for them faster than anybody else in Las Vegas was doing.

And they're getting amazing returns when they sell their houses. And he was the one that it, like, quite often is the one designing the house, actually. And it was to me, it just was, like, obvious. Why are you doing this? Why aren't you using your construction machine for yourself?

Just yourself. I was an investor that hired him, actually. And I know the quality of his work is amazing. So Yeah. He

Nick: So so the biggest thing is is there was it went two ways when you started this podcast. You said, I'm a contractor, and why am I making these people rich? Yeah. And then the investor goes, why in a contractor I should do that? Because they're making money on me.

Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And the biggest thing for me was is what I found is they always in my business, investors always had a gun to my head because they knew that they had me, you know, cornered because I was I only worked for them. I was loyal to them and everything else. And they would get to the point where, you know, they threatened, well, I'll do this. I'll go do this, and I'll do that. So I would constantly get taken advantage of by giving in.

Right? Well, they're a good customer. Give them a discount. Well, they'll do this. And when they turn around when when I gave, I wasn't getting the giving back.

Yeah. And that's when I really realized that I was getting taken advantage of. And exactly the biggest thing where I was getting taken advantage of was is I did a TikTok video and an Instagram video on the power of saying no. Mhmm. And if you can't say no, you have no power.

That's my saying. If you can't say no, you have no power. So if you say yes to everything, like me, I used to say yes to everything, that's where I would lose. So the biggest thing is is whether you're investor or contractor is is you actually need to change your mindset because it's not good for either party to feel that way. And I hate seeing relationships with contractors, investors because the constant thing I see is is very rare do they last together for very long.

Steve: Right.

Nick: And the fact that they don't last together for very long shows that both sides are wrong. This is a big thing. Both sides are wrong. So if you're the investor and you're not keeping your contractors, you need to do your business differently, in my opinion, and you need to make a win win on both sides, and then they won't feel that way. And and, really, I don't I don't even feel good taking advantage of people.

These people would literally do it to me, and they would laugh, and I would hear things. And, you know, when I got in my car accident, that's when the real that's when the real people stuck with me and when the other people didn't. You know? And there's a few people that stuck it to me. I'm like, okay.

Do it. I'll never do another deal with you. And to this day, I will never do that.

Steve: Yeah. It's crazy. Right? Like, it's just how shortsighted, you know, these decisions that are made. Yep.

Yeah. Like, you might make some more money on this situation here. And but in the long run, it doesn't help.

Nick: Yeah. I mean, I had some people I had one customer, the Bokeleys. They're really good friends of mine. You were on a live with them yesterday. Mhmm.

And, literally, at one point, my accident, they had a house sit they had one in Red Rock Country Club, and they had one in Anthem Country Club. It sat for three months. They're cranking interest way on it. They're like, we gotta get this done. Where are you?

Where are you? I'm like, I'm trying. I'm you know, I just everything's behind because I got an accident, and nobody was there to run the company. And I'm there's I can't really work. Right?

And they were super good to me. And, fortunately, the market was going up.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: I think they made probably another 100 or 150,000 more on each house. So at the end, it wasn't so bad. But in the normal market condition, it would have been a bad situation. But the big thing they said is, we've been working together for ten years. If this is all that's ever happened, we're gonna stick by your side.

Steve: Yeah. And I think that, you know, talking about the all the goodwill that you put out there. Right? The find the ones that stick with you. I mean, it's it's it's it's absolutely telling.

Right? And that's the reason why you put in that good work. So, now that you're pivoting, are you working with any of your clients anymore, or are you just a 100% on your your what you're sourcing?

Nick: That that's actually a really funny question because at first, I wasn't working with them at all. Mhmm. And, you know, when I did that, it kind of really upset everybody because in a way, they're like, you're not gonna do my work anymore? You're what? And they know how competitive I am, and they know how, when I do something, I'm all in.

And, I mean, I'm a 100 mile an hour everywhere. And I go big or go home, anything I do. And now that it's been some time, you know, it's been four or five months, I actually I'm doing a YouTube video, and I'm doing a thank you for all of my customers that have got me where I'm at. And I'm gonna name all of them, and it's gonna be really cool. Kind of like, you know, it's it's my out video.

Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And I'm I'm starting to actually see those people come back around, and I'm starting to do deals with them. But when I first did it, they didn't like it.

Steve: Right.

Nick: But it's kinda hard to not do a deal with somebody if they always do you right. If they don't ever do you wrong, it's it's like it drives you crazy. He's doing that. Why don't I do that? They gotta get close to you.

So I just keep pushing. And what I come to find out is is they watch, they get quiet, they talk, and then they act. Mhmm. And when they act, that's when actually the iron's really hot, and we can actually probably do the best business for both of us, and both of us get the best deal

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: Is what I'm finding now. It's starting to circle back around.

Steve: And the power of no is such a powerful thing. Was there anything because it it sounds like this was a big switch for you.

Nick: It was a huge switch, but I had to change my life.

Steve: Yeah. So what the car accident sounds seems like a blessing in his eyes in in disguise. Is there anything else that kinda, like, a tool, a mentor, something else that helped you say no? Because this, Jim Rohn talks. Right?

Don't let your mouth burn your back. Well, we all do because uncomfortable to say no. Yep. So what was what were some of those things?

Nick: The biggest thing was is I I guess I was I was so into work, and I was so caught up in myself. Meaning, not, like, not, like, arrogant or anything, but I'm caught up in myself. Oh, you just work harder. You work harder. You work harder.

Not smarter. Right? You just work harder and harder. You're gonna get there. The harder you work, the the, faster you're gonna get there.

It's so false. Yeah. The number one thing I recommend is is do your research, be educated. And before you start the move, you need to be 10 times smarter than the guy next to you, and you do it by educating yourself and having a game plan. So if you're having issues, like, the biggest thing that you need to do is is you need to learn who you wanna be.

I didn't know who I was. K. Who do you wanna be? I wanna be a fun, loving, kind person in anything I do. So I wasn't fun most time.

I was always loving, and sometimes I wasn't kind. So if I wanna be a fun a fun, kind, loving person, first thing I do is I had to change me.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: Right? So you have to put love in everything you do, and I didn't put love in everything I did. So as you look at it, if you're broken, everything's gonna be broken. And if your if your life, your friend, your health, and your business, and your, you you know, all of those things in family, all those things together aren't healthy, nothing else is gonna be healthy. So my first recommendation is is you need to understand what a balance is.

And I didn't understand what a balance was because I was the guy working fourteen, sixteen, eighteen hours a day. And, once I realized that I had to change, okay, I had to be very disciplined. And if you're not willing to change, you're not going to get anywhere because I was I was stuck in that, and I said, I'm not replaceable. Nobody can do me. And I, you know, I wasn't training and, you know, I wouldn't train people and things like that.

So if you can if you can love people, love yourself, and know what you want up front, build the game plan, educate it, then execute it, that's, like, the number one tool in winning in life Yeah. At anything you do.

Steve: Why were you working fourteen hours a day?

Nick: You know, I there was such a I felt like there was such a demand.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: Right? And I felt like I had to please people. Right? I don't have to please anybody but myself anymore.

Steve: Right.

Nick: And when I got in the accident, and I'm sitting there, I was sitting in the hospital room, sitting in a bed pan. She's wiping my butt. I'm like, I'm freaking 38 years old. I go, I literally can't get out of bed. I can't walk.

It changed everything. And I realized, like, you have to quit being a people pleaser, you know, because I was too nice. So it's just that no. Right? Just have to say no, and you have to be strong.

So if you just get that down, you're gold in my mind.

Steve: So you talk about going from a million to a 100,000,000 in assets in twelve months. Massive jump. Yep. So for clarity's sake, when you're talking about million to a 100,000,000 assets, what kind of assets are we talking about, first of all?

Nick: All real estate, and they're all flips. I'm starting to do some Airbnbs and some I'm getting ready to do some multifamily. I also have a few rentals we're doing right now, but strictly flips. Flips and new builds. I'm sorry.

I should say that. It's flips and new builds, not just one. I have a ratio. We're about, 30% new builds Mhmm. And 70% flips.

So the assets when I a year ago right now, I had about 6,000,000. And when I decided to change and I got healthy, I had 1,000,000 in real estate. And that's when I started the growth. And from about October October, early November last year, we had 1,000,000 in real estate in Las Vegas. And today alone, we have 50,000,000 there, and we have, 24,000,000 in Saint George, and we have about 5,000,000 in Sedona.

And we have better than 3,000,000 in Kansas City. So we're we're about 80% of the way to the 100,000,000.

Steve: Okay. So when you were talking about earlier, you need to get the 100,000,000 so you can pay your people, your top people, would you wanna pay them and keep them, retain them, and so on. So that's what you're talking about. You want if you're able to consistently flip a $100,000,000 in real estate, then you can have the the revenue necessary to afford, the top talent.

Nick: That's exactly right. My overhead, just to run that operation, just in just in labor and no no interest, basically, just labor and insurance and a building per se. Right? Cost me about a $150,000 a month. And that's no bonuses.

That's just as a base, not including me.

Steve: Right.

Nick: And I want a lifestyle of 5,000,000 plus a year just for myself. And we make about 15% is what we're averaging, on our luxury flips right now.

Steve: That's really good.

Nick: Yeah. So if you figure you figure we can get them done in I I wanna have them down under six months. So if I can do 200,000,000 a year, that's $30,000,000. Okay? And if my overhead's 2,000,000, that leaves me with $28,000,000.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: So it's a pretty easy number. That's a very steady number. And you know what? If if we can only flip the 100,000,000 a year, that's still 15. And with $2,000,000 of overhead plus paying them well, I'm still doing good.

Steve: Right.

Nick: Like, my goal this year is to make 10,000,000 on my flips without no new builds, and we're on track to do that.

Steve: So what were the things I mean, obviously, it looked like you shifted your focus. Mhmm. What did you shift your focus to to to get yourself in that direction?

Nick: Into having freedom in my lifestyle or the 5,000,000?

Steve: To have this many assets under flip.

Nick: So, you know, the first thing I did is is I didn't have the credit lines.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And I says, I'm gonna buy everything I can. I'm gonna raise any dollars. I'm a put all my money in. And I got to the first 15,000,000. I was stalled.

My hard money lender was out of money, and I was out of money. So I had I had all his money. He's been a good friend of mine for a long time. I had 10,000,000 of his and I had 5,000,000 of mine. And I'm, like, out of liquid money at that point because I had money tied up in other assets and in other businesses.

And I and I stalled, and I was just stalled there. And I just kept posting on social media. I kept posting on social media. I said I'll get in front of the right people. So when I was stalled, we literally I had two of my projects sitting.

We were out of construction money, everything. And I think that was, like, probably first of January, something like that. And, actually, John Gafford put a post on, and I'm like, okay. There's a good hit. You know, he's, like, number one luxury in Las Vegas.

You know, some Broker. Broker.

Speaker: Yeah.

Nick: And I go, okay. He's like, hey. I got, you know, xed. I'm like, okay. Great.

So we deployed that, and then he starts posting on social media. Then one of my really good friends that I was actually competition with next to me, he's like, hey. I can hook you up with this $100,000,000 line. I'm like, what? He's like, yeah.

I can hook you with a $100,000,000 line. So I sent him my financials. It was, like, I wanna say maybe March, we got the $100,000,000 line. And then I started using another lender out of Newport, and I started raising gap funds. And next thing I know, between him, my lender, Newport, I have, like, 15,000,000 with them.

We're starting to grow now, and we put his money in. Now the money just comes out of the woodwork. And I knew it would, and I knew people would wanna invest with me because once they seen what I was doing, it's it's inevitable to not wanna be part of it. Right? Yeah.

And I actually have flippers now. They're like, can I just you know, I pay 12% usually in, like, a point on gap funds? Like, can I just give you my money at 12%? They're like, this is too hard to work now. Like, if I can get a 12% annualized return, I'll just invest with you because they come to my project to see what I'm doing.

And that money just kept going and, you know, and then everybody see me doing it. And I was I'm bye bye. Send deals at deals at Nick Marietta. And I just kept posting and posting and posting. And I knew if I just kept moving at a fast pace, that it would drive people wild.

Right? And it drove them wild enough. They just had to be part of it. So the phone starts ringing. My DMs start coming in.

And it's a point now where I can't buy anymore. Like, we're so we've grown so fast that and we have so many assets coming at us. Like, my deals at Nick Marietta has anywhere between five and fifteen deals a day, and I don't even post anymore coming to it. And we're right now, we're stabilizing for a couple weeks, and then we're gonna go back. We're gonna buy to get to the 100,000,000, and that's basically how we did it.

Steve: Got it. Okay. So you're talking about you wanna focus this year more on social media. Mhmm. What does that mean exactly?

Nick: Well, I I let's see. What was it? I wanna say December 2020. Someone says, you need to get a videographer. Alright.

Great. I got this camera. They're staring at me. I'm like, what am I gonna say? Like, I don't know how to create content.

Like, just be yourself. Okay. So I just start posting stories and dumb videos. Right? And I knew the same philosophy with social media would happen for me.

If if I did that philosophy with, you know, with the real estate, I knew do a social media, and I says, okay. Let's let's just post anything we can. So our contents right now really is, more to help people and show what we do. We aren't selling anything. Right?

And I knew if I went hard enough, long enough just like that, I would get some attention. Now the attention and the views is so strong that we have such a product, or such a demand for mentorships, courses, books, investing with us, teach them how to, you know, even do the social media and everything else. So we actually, cut a deal last week. I'm not gonna say it right now, but we're actually partnering with somebody. And we're gonna go from I think we're somewhere around, like, two posts a day right now.

So we're doing 60 a month, and we're gonna go to, like, 800 a week

Steve: Wow.

Nick: In less than two weeks. And the whole the whole thing with social media is is we're gonna build products around that. And we're gonna, you know, obviously, sell on the ladders and help people along the way. But we're gonna try to franchise all of our businesses. And that's really the big mode the big model for us is to get the following and to franchise every business we have.

Steve: Wow. And then where are all those businesses?

Nick: Well, that's a good question. That's, right now, I have, four HomeVestor franchises. I only use one. That's in Kansas City. We're dumping them, which I don't really care if they do this.

They're gonna try to sue me and everything else. Who cares? Come after me. Like, what are they gonna get out of me? Nothing.

Yeah. That's the first thing.

Speaker: The,

Nick: so the first thing is

Steve: I see a four, but only one up and running?

Nick: Well, I only use one because I'm knowing so well in my other markets. I don't need to market.

Steve: Got it.

Nick: Our Kansas City model is HomeVestors has that place cornered. You know? Got it. So we use it there. It works really good.

But I I do all my own wholesales and my own one on one marketing. And I do also do off, you know, or, off market marketing in, you know, many different ways, driving for dollars, you know, door knocking, you know, cold calling, whatever. Right? Yeah. So the first one's gonna be a wholesale model.

We're basically going to do all the things that we think should be done, and we're going to franchise basically a wholesale franchise. With that, we're gonna allow that to plug into a rental franchise. So we're gonna show, with people we're partnering with, they already have a ton of rentals. So we're gonna kinda offspring what they do so that, basically, now you can take the wholesale down. Right?

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And now you can turn it into rental. Because I wanna teach people long term wealth. That's been one of my biggest mistakes is not, holding property, which I wish I would have held a lot more, and flipping it. You know? And then I'm going to go from that to the luxury model.

So we're gonna have three. We're gonna have the the wholesale side. We're gonna have the rental side, then we're gonna have the luxury one.

Steve: Got it.

Nick: And then we have tons of business. We have our construction company, our mechanical company, which is electrical plumbing, HVAC. We have a glass company. She has a design company. And then we're also gonna have a product line for our staging.

So we're going to franchise all of those, and they'll all they'll all commingle. No matter if you're doing a rental, if you're doing a luxury flip or a regular flip or whatever, these are all things that need inside of that. And then I'm going to do a fund. And with the wholesale bank line people that I have, I'll be able to get people large lines of credit, and we're actually gonna start the mortgage side so that when the people work with us, we can do that, and we're gonna have funds and show them how to raise gap funds. So these people don't even need money, okay, other than to get into the franchise to be able to do these things, and we're gonna be partners with them on all these deals.

So the biggest sell for me is, on the social media, is getting all these things helping people and then being in partner with them on all the assets they hold. That's going to just blow me up, and I'll have a ton of

Steve: assets on it. That's huge. What is the Marietta collection?

Nick: The Nick Marietta collection is her designs and, my years in the business and, construction knowledge. And it's just our luxury brand in Las Vegas, Saint George, and in Sedona.

Steve: Got it. And then, so you have did you come here in a jet?

Nick: No. I'm I'm spoiled since I got the jet. I actually had to bring my Mercedes Sprinter today.

Steve: Oh, okay.

Nick: The jet's getting serviced. It's in the hangar. I'm hope I'm hoping down hoping to fly down on Friday in it

Steve: when you

Nick: come down to freedom.

Steve: Gotcha. Oh, so you're gonna drive back, and you're gonna fly back for freedom.

Nick: Yeah. I gotta fly back for freedom. And I told her, I'm like, my god. So we left this morning out of Vegas at, like, 04:45, and we had to go to Sedona to

Speaker: Sedona. I'll check out on one of our projects there.

Nick: Yeah. So you're there, and then we drove here, and then I could drive home. So I left home at 04:45, and I'm gonna probably get home at seven. Right? I coulda left at noon, come here, had lunch, did this, stopped at Sedona, and been home by five.

Yeah. So what takes me fourteen hours, I can do for five.

Steve: So a Jets.

Nick: Mhmm. That's an interesting business.

Steve: Yeah. So why do you have a jet?

Nick: Well, number one, I do things that people tell me I can't have or I can't do. So I actually did it.

Steve: I have that similar problem, but continue.

Nick: Okay. I actually did the jet just because peep I've been wanting one for, like, four years. And I I told her, I'm gonna buy a jet. She's like, oh my gosh.

Speaker: I didn't say, oh my gosh. You always say that. I did not.

Nick: Okay. So well, she about killed me through it because it was taking me

Speaker: Because and then it was about twenty hours a week going into him going through this process. It's not an easy process to acquire a plane and to get the financing and everything. And he figured out how to make it into a business model, actually.

Nick: Yeah. So So anything I do, it's like I think it's anything like an Airbnb. If I do it, I want it if I'm not using it, I want it to make money.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And, last August, I said I'm gonna go do it. I got turned down by six banks. They're like, you've never owned a jet. You you don't know the cost of them. It wasn't really a qualifying part as it was a banks are really goofy with jets because, like, you don't even have a business that really needs a jet.

Mhmm. And, my biggest thing was I knew if I got the jet, it gets attention. K. Attention's good.

Steve: Right.

Nick: It drove it grew my social media brand, like, tripled it, if not quadrupled it in the last six months just because of the jet. And then I knew that if I got that, that I could then advertise on my social media for opportunity. Yeah. And some of the biggest opportunities are now. Right?

So I wanted to have a jet available that if the opportunity was there, I could get there. And it was also a mindset shift. I said if I have a jet, I have to do big things because they're very expensive.

Steve: Yes. They are.

Nick: So those were the two major things. And then I looked at it, and, we're actually building a fleet of 12 of them now. And in the next eighteen months, we're hoping to have 12 of them in the air. And we're gonna have, you know, midsize, long range, you know, and then we'll have our smaller jets like we have now. We have a Dassault Falcon 50.

Steve: So what is what can one expect to pay to get one of those jets?

Nick: To get one of those jets like mine, it's a 3,600 nautical mile, three engine, nine passenger, two, pilots. You can look it up. It's Falcon 50. For that, right out of a sea inspection, which a sea inspection means, it just went through all the inspections. It does have another major inspection or overhaul for six years.

Mhmm. You can expect to pay about 2.5 to 3,000,000 for that jet today. I got mine for 1.7, and it was at that stage.

Steve: Distressed sell?

Nick: No. Off market. But once again, my social media found that. Right?

Steve: Got it.

Nick: And then you can

Steve: exchange it. For itself?

Nick: Yeah. It it's very well paying for itself. And I actually made mine we have, four pilots. It runs nonstop Yeah. And two Sturdises.

And we originally projected to get about 3,800 an hour out of that, and we're getting, like, 5,500 an hour right now. So we're making really good money. And the jet fuel is only about $300 difference from October to now, and it's basically stabilized. And once I seen it, I was like, I can make almost more money with jets and do no work because I'm not in the aviation business. I'm just the investor now.

Yeah. So I'm actually more excited about the aviation business than I am real estate now. I think it's got a I think it's got a bigger upside because with COVID changed everything with aviation. Right? And since it changed it, more people are doing it.

And there's more people, like, going well like Carlos Sirday is like, bro, if you have one we're just talking Saturday night till, like, one in the morning, me and him. And we're on the phone for three hours. He's like, bro, if you have one, he's like, alright. I gotta look at this quicker. Right?

And then he it was funny because two days prior, he he made that post about it. And when I started looking at it and now that people see me have it, I actually have people wanting to invest in my airline business.

Steve: Mhmm. And it

Nick: really doesn't take that much money. About $7.50 liquid, and you can get a jet. That's not that much money. And you'll have that money back in about eighteen months, and then it pays for itself and it's making you 50 to $100,000 a month.

Steve: Yeah. I not in investing yet. You know, I just kind of played around, see what it's gonna cost. Right? I was actually shocked.

For just a few $100, I can fly each way between here and Vegas. Right? It's crazy how much more prevalent they are today. Yep. Right?

It's not as crazy as it was, you know, years ago. And the cool thing is you can actually take a picture in front of your jet. Yep. It's not a picture of you walking up in someone else's jet.

Nick: It's pretty good flex point.

Steve: Yeah. It's a massive flex. So, I'm gonna jump into questions. Before I jump into questions, guys, we do have our, Closers Lab blueprint in a couple of months. Actually, no.

I take that back. It's next month. We do have the Closers Lab blueprint where Max and I can go over our entire business from a to z, hiring, sourcing leads, sourcing deals, pipeline processes, sales. Everything about our business, we spent two and a half days. If you guys are interested, go to disruptors.com/blueprint and see if it makes sense for you to come out to our office and see our whole operation.

So let's go ahead and jump into the questions. So Lotto on, YouTube, I hear Airbnb is becoming legislative legislatively more popular in Vegas. Is this something that you've considered?

Nick: Yes. I actually was going to do that. A really good friend of mine, Jason Griggs

Speaker: Mhmm.

Nick: Really focuses on that. And it doesn't sound like it's gonna be in our favor with legislations coming out, And they're saying, no. It's gonna be very regular more regulated than it is now, and it's not looking too good for Vegas.

Steve: I mean, you guys are very much a tourist destination.

Speaker: Well But the casinos control

Steve: the legislation.

Nick: And the casino is control

Speaker: They fund everybody Yeah. That runs for office.

Nick: Yeah. Yep. So So it's not looking good there.

Speaker: Airbnb's are

Steve: So what's gonna happen? Competition.

Nick: Don't know for sure. But what we're hearing, they're not gonna allow it or it's gonna be heavily taxed.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: You know, like, Henderson's the only city you can have it in now legally. And, you get there can't be another one with a thousand feet at any direction in a sphere. Right? So and then it's did you you have to go through the whole permit process with it, like, everything?

Steve: Living and all these other facilities.

Nick: It's ridiculous. It's easier it's easier to go to the my recommendation and what I'm gonna do is with mine, I'm not really gonna do Airbnb. I'm going to do furnished, short term rentals

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: In in the luxury space. That's a really hot market right now.

Steve: Yeah. You know, you mentioned that you found Nick as an investor.

Speaker: Mhmm.

Steve: Were you always an investor, or did you do something before investing?

Speaker: I wasn't always an investor, but I'd say, I had caught the bug, in 2005. I was opening I I took this, eighteen hundreds, like, brownstone in Washington, DC, gutted it, and I opened up a salon. And that's where I caught the bug, for design and for flipping because gentrification was occurring in Washington, DC, and you could just flip everything. Right? Yeah.

It makes so much money. And then I love architecture. And then come 2007, I made a mistake. I bought a property in Miami in South Beach, and, you know what happened. Like, oh, the market's softening.

It's a good time to buy it.

Steve: It was softening. You weren't wrong.

Speaker: Yes. And then it softened for a very, very long time. And I was actually, like you mentioned, the scar tissue that you had. I had scar tissue for another eight years a little bit also because of my, having a foreclosure on my Yeah. On my, like, credit.

But I was also just scared. I stayed away from real estate altogether after that. It was such a painful, scary experience, and I just didn't have the guts to do it again until eight years later. And then I started inching into buying a property myself and moving in and remodeling it and then selling it at a profit, and that's what I did. And then, the year before I met him is when I just decided to go all in

Steve: Mhmm.

Speaker: And to just go full force. So Yeah.

Steve: So how was that, like, that that you said before him? You know, what was that like that year that you went all in?

Speaker: I remember I had sold the house that I, was living in at a profit, and I took that profit. And I basically said, okay. This is what I'm gonna live off of if I have to. And, and I moved into this, like, tiny little apartment, and, so I could have, like, my cost of living really low. And I just I had my real estate license, and I was just trying to I didn't know how to do wholesaling.

I'm not good at sales and, like, calls and cold calling, so I just, figured out the MLS, and I would source houses on the MLS. And then, and then, another realtor introduced me to him because he was the best, contractor in town. So

Steve: And your superpower, it sounds like, is making is is the finishing touches, is the the

Speaker: Yeah. The design side of everything. Yeah. Aesthetics, I guess, or, but I'd say go a little bit more than just the finishing touches.

Nick: Yeah. The designs, that's where she's

Steve: Yeah. Top for sure. And then

Speaker: all the luxury, we have our team, but all the luxury properties, him and I are always the ones that walk it because for some reason, people can't figure out the numbers on it, and they don't see the value. And but him and I are always the ones that figure it out.

Nick: She she was a key, part to my luxury brand because it was like, I I was doing it, but and, you know, I was a contractor and, you know, he always calls it, like, you can tell a dude lives there. Right? And I was I was the dude designer. Right?

Speaker: It wasn't

Nick: it wasn't appealing.

Speaker: It's like, oh, that's cool. Let's do that there. Let's do this. Right? And it doesn't make sense to the whole thing in the

Nick: luxury space is making sure you have it.

Steve: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I think that's incredibly valuable. Something is one of the other reasons why I don't flip is that I've got horrible taste.

Right? I'm I'm an engineer. Right? Like, white looks good everywhere. Right?

So not such a good, eye, for for flipping. And you guys worked on a project together. We were talking about this offline. You know? I had a friend of mine.

He's like, yeah. You know, I did this did this deal with Nick, and I crushed it. It multiple 6 figures. Like, what was that deal? And so you wanna talk about that deal real quick?

Nick: One that we were talking about earlier? Yeah. Yeah. So, I got a call from a referral. Mhmm.

Guy calls me. He's like, hey. I've heard nothing good things about you, and he's a friend of yours. And I'm like, okay. And I go over and bid.

I'm like, this guy is full of crap. Like, he's, you know, typical investor. And, he's like, no. No. I'm serious.

I need this done. I'm like, well, I'm and I just played hardball. And this is the way it is. And he goes, okay. I went over.

I gave him a bid. He's like, okay. He goes, I'll wire the money. I'm like, where are all these out of town investors that make it easy like this?

Speaker: Yeah. I wish all clients were the way he was because he never questioned anything we did.

Nick: So Not once. I literally did ask him

Speaker: to say wanted in there.

Nick: I literally he goes, go and just tell me what you'd do to it. I went. I took her. I gave him a bid. She designed it.

Sent him the bid. He never even asked the finishes. Nothing. He goes, yeah. That looks good.

And, literally, we had it for about six months. He bought it for $7.50. We put $2.50 in it. Never met him still to this day. He never met me, never came there, and he sold it for $1.06 or something.

Made, like, 3 or 400,000.

Steve: Yeah. Ross is an incredible guy. You know? Yeah. Look at

Speaker: him on the phone.

Steve: He's a great guy. I love Ross.

Speaker: Really chill.

Steve: And when you say, like, yeah. That sounds good. Where do I wire the money? That's exactly what Ross sounds like.

Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly how he plays.

Nick: He's he's a I'm very intrigued by what he does Mhmm. Because he can flip in so many different places, and he's super proffle at it. And he's got the most patience out of anybody I know.

Steve: Yeah. He's a saint.

Nick: Well, I'm, I'm I'm in that one, and, yeah, you know, I'm eight months in that one, and I'm, like, I I don't have this kind of patience. So maybe that's his key.

Steve: Oh, he's he's he's an incredible human being. So, alright. So the other question, are there truly an abundance of higher end long term renters in Vegas?

Nick: Well, right now, since the luxury market is, so strong, I wanna say about six weeks ago, there was a article on the front of the of the review journal, which is a local newspaper there. And then just last weekend again, there was another one, and all they're talking about is how strong the luxury market is in Vegas, and it's not being affected. And that's basically the California exodus. Right? So, yes, it's very strong for the fact that all these people leaving California.

The houses I'm selling them for 1 or 2,000,000 are costing 8 or 10,000,000 in California. Right? So absolutely. Because they need a place to live. And when they come here I just sold one that, we had an issue and we had to get a permit on it and whatnot.

I had it in escrow for three months. Okay? And it was the only buyer I've ever had that said, okay. We'll we'll give you a six month extension. We're in no big hurry.

But most time when these guys or when these people move from, you know, their city, they need it now. Right? Well, if they don't they don't have something, there's nothing available. That's where that luxury rental is available to them.

Steve: And then a follow-up question from Lotto again is, where do you see luxury investors fail or could potentially fail?

Nick: I think they fail in, not well, it's two two places. Okay? And it both comes to money. One, not having enough money set aside to do whatever you gotta do, making sure you have enough rehab funds and you can sit on the project. And then the second one is not spending enough money on the rehab and going too cheap.

Those are really the only two places to fail. You can take a house. All my houses, I buy at retail right now. So whatever's on the I buy my house even on the MLS right now. I'm buying it full retail, gutting them, remodeling, and selling them for, you know, 50% higher than I bought them.

Right? So it's kinda hard to fail when I'm paying retail, buying them on the MLS, and, you know, doing that. So those are the two places where you're gonna fail in the trade.

Speaker: I will I will be, I guess, the devil's advocate on this one. There isn't one other way you can fail, I think, is over improving. And you may not fail all the way, but you might have, you know, stronger profit margins, which we have been guilty of that because he loves the structural side of things and, like, oh, do that and that. And and, of course, I love finishes. And and, so we have over improved in a couple of them, I'd say.

Yeah. Where there were smaller margins.

Nick: There there's enough money in them. I like and that's why I built, actually, John Gafford helped me build the Nick Meredith collection.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And, I'm partnering with him on some deals. And one thing about what I'm doing, we're making enough money that I I I you know, you always gotta focus on focus on the money. Right? Because if it doesn't make money, you're gonna lose. But there's no focusing on the money with what I do.

Mhmm. There's such a margin, and we're turning such a beautiful product. It's actually warming to your heart to actually give a good product as an investor and to actually give them, like, what they're looking for if it doesn't look like show. And now that we can actually do that, it it's not like work anymore. It's completely changed.

So over improving, if I could have made a 100 more thousand let's say I make $3,400,000 on deal and I could have made a 100 more. I don't really care because if that person's happy, it that's worth a lot to me.

Steve: Well, the thing that I see, I don't do a ton of luxury. You know? But when I've been in some of these homes, just missing some of these details is make or break.

Nick: Yeah.

Steve: Right? Like, if you try to save 50,000 here, which is an understandable desire, but not spending the right money where they can tell a corner was cut

Speaker: Mhmm.

Steve: It's so damaging a luxury.

Speaker: And I think that was one of the things that, to me, coming from the East Coast when I moved to Vegas, what I noticed from the housing market that there was a lot of shoddy work.

Steve: Mhmm.

Speaker: A lot of, you could tell that houses were flipped a lot there. And I could tell that there was just no, I guess, ethics behind it almost. And, and since this is my chose chosen city for living, I I really wanted if I take lots of a profit and I create a good product and make my city better, it makes me happy.

Steve: Yeah. You can get away with cutting corners. Right? Below median price.

Nick: Yeah. It's

Steve: we not not not recommended. You can get away with it.

Speaker: We don't even do that. That's good. That's what I mean.

Steve: That's what

Speaker: I mean. That's what I mean. That's what

Steve: I mean. It's crazy.

Speaker: Which is why we, for the most part, end up sticking to luxury because we I don't know. We're we have a hard time cutting corners.

Steve: So this is a different question, but sounds like one they're very passionate about, is after you buy a jet, what's the first step in creating an airline?

Nick: The first step in creating an airline? Okay. You don't really create an airline.

Steve: K?

Nick: So, basically, chartering a jet is like a property manager. K? They basically manage the jet, and they farm it out. So you have to have two things. You have to have a a charter service, and you need to have a a plane manager.

So I have a plane manager. I pay him $6,000 a month. He takes care of all the maintenance. He hires all the pilots.

Steve: He really he really is a Jim Millie property manager. Yeah. He does what

Speaker: he is. Yeah.

Nick: And then it's it's like a broker. Right? So now you have a broker. The broker takes 15% of the revenue. Okay.

So I pay a plane manager plus they take 15% of the revenue, but they're responsible from the plane from a to z. I put a quarter million dollars in an operating account, and they handle everything. So what I did is is I found somebody who's really good at it, and then I made them my partner in the jet. So the jet is really sits in a holdings company. It's like a it's like a basically, like an Airbnb is the way I look at the jet.

Yeah. Is it sits in a holdings company. It's an asset that's actually going up. Debts really don't devalue once they're at the point where they're at now because you rebuild them every six years.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: You paint them. You redo the interiors. You rewire them. Right? So it's like remodeling a house.

So they're really an asset that don't ever devalue. So it's literally like an investment company to me.

Steve: Alright. Well, maybe I need you to look into this.

Nick: It's I I have mastered how to do it, and everybody's like, x. I'm like, I'm not telling you all the secrets. You can partner with me.

Speaker: Part of the key is that property manager because that's not an easy skill to learn. It's it's taken him probably twenty years in the business to know all that.

Nick: Yeah. He's twenty years. And another thing I get asked all the time is or or I get asked by other people is, how's your experience? And I find eight time eight times out of 10, the experience of a jet owner is like a boat. It's really bad, right, or a motor home.

My experience has been really good. Yeah. Even even when I was 300,000 over my original budget for startup cost that I thought it was gonna be, I'm still okay with it because the experience was good. Right? And that comes down, once again, to that property manager.

Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. Absolutely. That makes total sense. The the who who is in is is in that seat. Adrian on YouTube is, have you done any mobile home parks or self storage?

Nick: Don't do any mobile homes. I've worked on them. Don't know anything about them. I do residential real estate, and that's it.

Steve: And what other current what other market that you're currently not in do you consider is prime for luxury rentals?

Nick: Luxury rentals? Mhmm. I would have to say California and Miami are really two hot markets right now from the people I talked to.

Speaker: Oh, Washington, DC area, for

Steve: sure. Yeah. There will always be money in Washington, DC.

Speaker: Yeah. Always.

Steve: On YouTube, how can we find a $100,000,000 funder like Nick did?

Nick: Email me at invest@nickmarietta.com Mhmm. And I can get you hooked up with that.

Steve: Yeah. There you go. Simple enough. And then that's all the questions I see here. So, you know, you got a lot of things going on, and it seems like you got a lot of clarity since your car accident.

Nick: The most clarity in my life.

Steve: So has it have you figured out what your why is?

Nick: My my why is basically to to leave a legacy behind. And I'm actually going to, I'm going to name our business Legacy Builders. And one thing that I see so few people doing is they just they care about today.

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: They don't care about generations ahead. They don't care about our future of the country. They don't care about the future of actually their their generations and just other people in general. So, I don't really care what I get out of the rest of my lifetime. If I can help people

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: And build legacies, that's, like, that's my purpose in life. That's what I love.

Steve: That's awesome. Yeah. Brutus on YouTube. Shout out to Brutus. Love that guy.

What is, how do they send their wholesale deals to you?

Nick: Deals at nickmarietta.com.

Steve: Simple enough. What's your biggest struggle today?

Nick: Time. I wish there was forty eight hours in a day.

Steve: What are you doing about that?

Nick: I am hiring. I I'm figuring out how to be in 10 more places at the same time

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: With half the effort, and I'm hiring qualified people and replacing myself as fast as I can.

Steve: How is that going?

Nick: It's going actually really good right now. I've been handed some unbelievable relationships. Mhmm.

Steve: And I

Nick: say it's because of the grace of god. The timing was right. I feel like, I'm helping Chris Crown with his breakthrough foundation. I told him I would help him raise $500,000. Mhmm.

And, I'm about 220,000 over the way. I got another, you know, three weeks. And then I offered to I offered half of my jet. He was gonna split it with me, and I'm gonna pay for the other half. We're gonna go to Ukraine and deliver a bunch of medical supplies and food and different things.

We're going the June. And I feel like when I did that move and I did that bold move with after I met Chris a few weeks ago, I've had the weirdest shifts in my life and the biggest opportunities ever in my life. Yeah. And, by the way, if anybody can help us help us with that, that would be great. Just shoot me a DM on Instagram at thrillnickmarietta, and I'll I'll help you with that.

But, you know, right now, giving back is I'm just receiving more than I'm giving. And, I'm giving more now than I ever have in my life.

Steve: It's crazy, how how that works. It's the way the universe works. What would you consider to be your superpower?

Nick: Oh, gosh. Seeing things before they happen. Meaning, I I'm really deep into spiritual things and psychology, and I can usually see a pattern, of something happening in business, life, events in the world, and those kinds of things. And I feel like I'm a pretty good predictor of if I do this, this will work because of this is what's happening. Mhmm.

So I think my biggest superpower is, you know, seeing things before they happen. I you know? And that really comes from experience.

Steve: When you're saying seeing things before they happen, is it, like, just, you know, like, this will be, like if I do a, b, and c, d will occur? Is that is that kinda what you're talking about?

Nick: That, but also just a human alone. Right? The humans are very interesting species. Right? And one thing I've learned about is I know how to sell the idea so that the brain likes it.

Right? And they do what they actually want to be doing, but they don't know how to do it, and they didn't think they could do it. So when I meet people, I can find their superpower in them, and I can see it a mile away. When I can see that in them, I can set them up for success Yeah. If they'll listen.

Steve: That is a massive gift. Right? You're actually influencing people in the right way. Yes. The reason I was asking about, you know, if you if you a, b, c, and d, you'll get d.

That too. That's Is that I've been told myself personally that I'm a calculating person. It's like, it's not my fault that

Speaker: He is that way. Yes. 100%. Yeah. It's it's a superpower.

Steve: I know this will happen if I do these three things. Like, don't Yeah. Judge me Yep. Six seconds to see the future.

Nick: When I bought the jet, the bank literally told, told my jet manager and partner now that this guy is either going to be, like, the next NetJets

Steve: or

Nick: we're gonna have this thing back in three months.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: I've made eight payments on it.

Speaker: Yeah.

Nick: And now they wanna be my partner, and they wanna back me in a full airlines business

Steve: That's awesome.

Nick: After eight months. And I predicted that if I got the jet and I did it and they they questioned me. Right? Mhmm. They questioned me.

I knew if I did it and it was bold enough, it would happen. It's happening right now. That's that's incredible. We're going in escrow on our second plane. I mean, the LOI is in now.

Steve: How about you? Superpower.

Speaker: Superpower. I might say two. I think that one that you told said already. Yeah. For sure.

I probably since I was a tiny child, I could make decisions based on visual things and aesthetics and and art, fashion, design, all of that. I just have a good eye. I have a good eye for predicting the next upcoming trend with anything almost, dealing with visual arts, I guess. Right? And then is to be a, like, a pusher almost, where I, like, I can see what he's capable of, and I'll push him.

Yeah. And sometimes he doesn't like it when I push him, but I push him anyways.

Steve: Yeah. You push me on

Nick: the ground, man.

Speaker: Because I I don't I just don't let people

Steve: You gotta get the job done.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, not even that. I'm not the kind of person that is gonna tell you just things to, to make you feel better. Right?

Steve: Right.

Speaker: I'm gonna tell you

Nick: Reality.

Speaker: Yeah.

Steve: What you need to hear, not what you wanna hear.

Speaker: Yeah. Exactly.

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

Nick: Relationships. It takes so long to cultivate something good

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And to establish it. That one decision to ruin it is the biggest mistake you can make in your life.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: My biggest mistake is sometimes burning a relationship because of my pride, And I won't burn relationships anymore. I don't even get upset anymore. I just let them talk. And what I find is they come back, and they're the ones usually wrong, because if you argue with them, you don't get anywhere. So keeping my relationships is, like, the most important thing and the biggest lesson I've ever learned in my life.

Steve: There's a lot of wisdom there, though. Right? And not arguing with somebody because Yep. That doesn't generally go anywhere.

Nick: No. You don't you don't win. Nope.

Steve: Ingrid Hernandez on, Instagram, he's asking. So Carvana just announced that they laid off 2,500 people yesterday. I didn't know that. What do you believe wholesalers or flippers not in luxury should be preparing should be doing to prepare for the softening in the market?

Nick: I think you should double down right now, on your marketing and your, acquisitions team. And I think you should start the engine now because I think the opportunity because the scarcity of people are gonna wanna sell. Mhmm. And they think they need to sell now and get what they can get when I don't believe the market's in any kind of trouble. Even with high interest rates, it doesn't bother me.

Steve: I mean, I I

Nick: have a I have my own opinion on that. But, I would be turning up the heat right now. That's what I'm doing. I'm turning up the heat, looking at more deals because I've always found in a market trend when it shifts like right now, there's an there's an opportunity window usually of about forty five to sixty days where people don't see the trend. If you're on that trend, you're gonna make a ton of money.

And then whatever the new new wave is, you're the guy in front of it, and you're gonna make the most amount of money in the next trends usually last six to eighteen months in real estate. Right?

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: Anything. That would be my biggest recommendation. Well, I

Steve: mean, we kinda saw that. We got a glimpse of it with beginning of COVID. Yep. Right? Like, everyone was, like, freaking out, and we're talking about, like, Ryan Pineda

Nick: doubling down.

Steve: He's like, I don't care. I'm buying more houses. Right? Yeah. Everyone wants to cancel.

I'll just buy all of them. Right? Like, he did adjust his buy percentage. Yep. But for the, like, four to six weeks, where he was buying it 10% cheaper than everybody else, and he sold it for more Yeah.

Because the market didn't go the way that

Nick: everybody thought it would. Yeah.

Steve: Yeah. So he he crushed it in that window.

Nick: In in any market, even if this is 2,008, I would say buy as many as you can because which you gotta remember, buy as many as you can and turn them as fast as you can because what happens is as you make money on the down, you can make the money when it's flat, you can make it when it's on its way up. Yeah. And if you're strong and heavy and consistent with it, you might have a little weird time and, you know, you might not be your average, but I find out I find the biggest wins that way.

Steve: Well, it's not just that. Right? I mean, as it's going down or it's flat and you're not making as much, the reality is everyone else is making zero.

Nick: Yep.

Steve: And as you as they're making zero, you're still gaining steam. So when things do kinda level out, you've got a massive advantage.

Nick: Huge advantage to that.

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

Nick: You know, that's a funny thing about me. I've read two books in my

Steve: life. Really?

Nick: I don't read.

Steve: Alright. So what are those two books?

Nick: I've read Traction

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: And I read the I read the 10 x rule by Grant Cardone.

Steve: Grant Cardone?

Nick: Yep. Love Grant Cardone. I'm a watcher. Yeah. I'm actually I have a hard time reading and comprehending.

Steve: Sure.

Nick: So since I'm not a reader

Steve: Mhmm.

Nick: I'm one of the few that everybody always has a book they recommend. I don't have any books I recommend.

Steve: Sure. Alright. So is there anything you watched that you highly recommend?

Nick: Find the most wealthiest person in two ways. One, the way you you like the or one, that you like the way they act, do things, and approach things, and find one in your industry. Study them, nothing else. Study them, study their trends, and do exactly what they're doing, and you'll be at the top.

Steve: Who do you study?

Nick: I study, Grant Cardone, and I like Donald Trump. I love Donald Trump's ways.

Steve: Yeah. I was gonna say Elon right now. I'm a very Yep. Very big Elon fanboy.

Nick: I I can't keep up with Elon, but he's kind of a he reminds me of a Trump because he does bold moves. Right? But I like how Trump just nothing fazes him. Like, I I'm not in his industry even though he does, you know, commercial and golf courses and big high rises, whatever. You know?

I don't do any of that. But the way that he does business is the way that I do business. When some when somebody says something, I just keep going on camera what they say. Right? But then I like I like Grant Cardone.

I like I like the way that he does business in the real estate space.

Steve: Yeah. Someone sent me a video of Donald Trump. Right? And he was talking about options and assigning the contract.

Nick: Yep. But,

Steve: like, you can do that in hotels? Like, this thing's been around Forever. Forever. Yep. Right?

Like, when I when I was, in real estate school back in 2007, it was, we were talking about, optionee, assignee, and or assigns, like, all these things. You You had to learn these things in real estate school. What's funny is once you get licensed, you hate those people. Right? But you learn about this in real estate school.

So it was it was humorous to me. They're like, hey. Donald Trump was assigning properties back in yeah.

Nick: Yeah. He was back in the eighties.

Steve: Yeah. So alright. I wanna make a I want you to think about what you wanna leave the business with while I make just a couple of quick announcements. Guys, if you got value today, please like, subscribe, share, comment. It helps us reach more people.

And we do have ClosersLab tomorrow. That's, Max doing live calls. Right? And then we got Blockchain Whales, coming up on Friday. Oh, you know, actually, we have, Ryan Pineda coming in tomorrow to do a special episode.

So be sure to check-in, then, and then we do have our sales master class. Go to disruptors.com slash, master class for that. And, well, that's it. So last thoughts you want to leave the listeners with.

Nick: If if I had one thought that I would wanna give to anybody, stop what you're doing today and look at where you're at and really ask yourself really ask yourself, are you at your true potential? And if you're not at your true potential and you envision more, and you believe in yourself, and you know you can do more, figure out what that is, and make an action plan immediately and do it.

Steve: Wow. That's awesome. It's straight to the point, very clear.

Nick: Very clear.

Steve: Clarity you had not too long ago.

Nick: Yep. It it's, it was a point that I had to come to in life.

Steve: Yeah. But, I mean, you know, it's unfortunate the way you had to get there, but it's

Nick: And there there's one thing about it is is if you're not failing

Steve: k.

Nick: If you're not failing I fail every day. You wanna know why? Because when I fail, I'm I'm hitting my true potential.

Steve: Yeah.

Nick: When I'm when I'm not failing, I'm just skating by in life. So, make sure that you're failing. You you need to have at least one to three failures. My goal is to have one to three failures, whether it's with my spouse, if it's with myself, a client, an employee, a buy. Find out what it is and keep working on

Steve: it. You know, something I started asking my kids, they thought it was weird when I started asking them, was two questions. What are you grateful for today? Right? Because they're getting, you know, a little spoiled.

So what are you grateful for today? Right? Second question is, what did you do today that was uncomfortable? So failing. I don't wanna jump into failing.

Yep. Yeah. But, like, you know, what did you do today that was uncomfortable that got you outside your comfort zone? That's the

Speaker: right way to think.

Nick: Yeah. Today that got me out of my, comfort zone was coming here because I I don't do that many podcasts. Yeah. And, you weren't intimidating, but you're really, really good at at catching people off guard and asking off the wall questions. Right?

And I and I come, and I was like and she was like I was telling you the the winter walking stuff. Right? So today, that that made me uncomfortable. You know, that was the thing I did today that made me uncomfortable. And what was the other one?

Sorry.

Steve: Oh, no. I was just saying, like, that's what I like to ask because I think these are really important things. Right? You tell me, like, what it like, did we fail? Because I screw up all the time.

You can ask anyone on my team. You can ask my wife. You can ask my kids. Right? I screw up all the time.

But because we're trying to like you said, we're trying to push and reach our potential. Yep. For sure. Yep. Awesome.

If someone wants to get a hold of you, how would they do that?

Nick: You can find me at YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok at the real Nick Marietta.

Steve: Awesome. Perfect. Thank you very much.

Nick: Thank you.

Steve: Thank you. And I'll see you guys next week.

Steve: Shout out to Steve Trane. Jump on the Steve Trane. We real estate disrupt