Steve Trang reveals his seven favorite podcast episodes from Real Estate Disruptors that entrepreneurs must watch to succeed in 2025. He highlights conversations with industry leaders like Sharon Lechter (Rich Dad Poor Dad co-author), Brent Daniels, Jerry Norton, and others who share insights on financial literacy, business scaling, regulation compliance, and wealth building strategies.
Focus on creating business systems and documentation now that will make your company valuable for a future exit, rather than just generating active income
Build financial literacy and invest wholesale profits into appreciating assets instead of spending earnings as fast as you make them
Operate transparently in wholesaling by fully disclosing what you're doing - if you're worried about disclosing it, you shouldn't do it
1:55:06Josh Stech, founder of LendingHome and Sundae, shares how he built a billion-dollar real estate lending company in just five years, scaling to 14% market share. He discusses the venture capital playbook, hiring at scale, maintaining culture with 500+ employees, and his transition to solving the property sourcing problem for investors through Sundae's marketplace model.
1:47:49Tommy Mello, founder of A1 Garage Door Service, shares his journey from massive debt to building a billion-dollar company. He discusses critical business lessons including the importance of systems, hiring for attitude over experience, and how he scaled from a local garage door business to a nationwide operation that sold for $570 million.
Get a free AI-powered review of your sales calls. See exactly where you're losing deals and how to fix it.
Get notified when new episodes drop, plus a free AI call review.
Invest heavily in personal development and team training, as the compound effect of knowledge and skills drives exponential business growth
Self-regulate your real estate practices before government regulation forces compliance, focusing on ethical operations over quick profits
”“Your wholesaling business is not an asset. Your wholesaling business is the cash machine that helps you buy the assets.”
”“If you're worried about disclosing it, then you shouldn't do it. And if you think that your disclosure is gonna stop you from being able to do it, then you shouldn't do it.”
”“What got you here won't get you there. So you gotta learn financial literacy, financial intelligence.”
”“Assets are sexy. I learned through the process of how to invest in income producing assets.”
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Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Welcome to today's episode of disruptors. We have a very special episode for you today. We're gonna be talking about my seven favorite episodes and why they're my top seven. Now as we do this, some people might get their feelings hurt.
It was really, really tough. There were very many honorable mentions on the bubbles, so we'll go through them here. Now, guys, I am on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. The information on this show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire. If you'll take consistent action, you'll become one.
And, guys, if you guys do get value today, please hit that subscribe button. That way we can tell YouTube our stuff is good and we can create more millionaires. Alright. So starting off, the very first one of seven, and this is in no particular order. First one is Sharon Lechter.
I got to meet Sharon earlier this year, and now she's a good friend. If you don't know Sharon, she is one of the authors of Rich Dad Poor Dad. But from what it appears to be, probably the main author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. Now for me, what I got value out of her was that she not only inspired so many with the book Rich Dad Poor Dad, but she also has a mission in creating financial literacy amongst women. So one thing that, I guess, was not, a problem I was aware of is that there are a lot of women traditionally who just let the man let the man run the show.
Right? They had the career, and they stayed at home. And what ended up happening was if, you know, those men either passed away early and left a mess for, the women or, if they divorced. Right? And now the woman is left with nothing altogether.
So financial literacy amongst women was really, really important to her. And on top of that, had no idea the passion creating financial literacy all across the board. She shared the story of how her son, when he went to ASU, racked up massive credit card debt. Right? Because those schools are just pitching you credit cards left and right.
So her son racked up massive credit card debt, and she made it her mission to make it not possible for students, college students specifically, to rack up crazy, credit card debt. And she got to work with, president Bush and, I believe, president Obama to, remove those, those, what's the word I'm looking for? The taking advantage of vulture behavior of these credit card companies. And the third thing was that she talked about the evolution for all of us as entrepreneurs. So as an entrepreneur, we wanna make money.
We wanna wholesale. We wanna flip. Make a lot of active income, but the next step is creating a business that you can hand off. So we talked about creating trust, foundations, structures, contracts, things that today makes it makes your company feel valuable. But if you ever wanna have the ability to exit at a decent valuation, you need to have these documents in place right now so that you can eventually prepare for a sale.
So definitely check this out. It's one of my top seven favorite episodes this year.
Speaker 1: Interesting story because I grew up in a very lower middle class home. My dad had we lived in a little tiny house between my mom's beauty shop and my dad's used car lot. I was embarrassed by where we lived.
Speaker 2: Mhmm.
Speaker: And my friend's parents were, you know, corporate officers, CEOs, or military officers. And I was like, that's what I wanted to be. So I just decided I was gonna be, you know, become a professional. Right? Sophisticated professional.
But at the same time, I didn't realize that what I was learning was amazing. Because at the age of 10, I've been a real estate investor since I was 10.
Speaker 3: Mhmm.
Speaker: Because I had to go scrub out bathrooms between tenants because my dad had rental properties. He had orange groves that he always said, that's cash flow, Sharon. Yes. We hope the land's gonna appreciate. But every year, it pays for itself through oranges.
Speaker 4: Mhmm.
Speaker: And so all these things were just, like, embedded in my brain. And years later that those orange groves are now part of SeaWorld. So, you know, he's I learned through the the process of how to invest in income producing assets.
Speaker: My favorite word, asset. My favorite word on Earth.
Speaker: And I my latest tagline is assets are sexy. But I, of course, did not give it the due at the time. I wanted to become this professional. So I got only woman in my accounting classes, became one of the very first women in public accounting. I had arrived.
I was very successful. And then at at 25, my parents looked a whole lot smarter because I was working incredibly long hours, having a great time in Atlanta, but not in control of my life.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And so, you know, this is not what it's all cracked up to be because I'm kinda I'm not a really good employee. I I like to be in control of my own life. And that's at 25 is when I left public accounting and started my entrepreneurial career.
Steve: Wow. So being exposed to entrepreneurship at 10 years old, and both sides, mom and dad.
Speaker: Yeah. Exactly. And I did not realize that not everybody else learned about money at home. Mhmm. I just assumed that that was my life.
Everybody's life was like that. And when I got out into the real world in public accounting, I realized how few people
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: Understand money. Yeah. How few people get beyond go to school, get a good job, and get a job that you go to every single day and exchange time for money.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And I also had the benefit of learning how businesses create a success and probably even more importantly, how businesses failed from the inside out as a as a CPA. So it was like, wow. People need need to be educated about money.
Steve: Yeah. Isn't it funny though? Because you're exposed to that and you think you might just roll your eyes. You know? I was like, why are they doing this?
You're embarrassed. Right? But looking back, like, that's what, you know, was the best option. Entrepreneurship really wasn't, to my understanding, really a popular thing. It seems like, you know, real estate's been around forever.
You know? You got the infomercials promoting it forever. But entrepreneurship didn't really seem to be, like, a big buzzword until, like, I it feels like the last ten years. Was that is that accurate? I mean, you're
Speaker: No.
Speaker: You're absolutely right. It was kind of like, you can't get a job, become an entrepreneur. Right? It's like the old term, I'm a consultant because I lost my job. Right?
So, it's all it's all about the the the nomenclature at the time. But entrepreneurship is growing and and particularly for women because know, those women that feel like they've been stopped by the glass ceiling, well, they start their own business. They don't have the glass ceiling anymore. They have the ability to create their future. But entrepreneurship truly is the American dream.
And, you know, for those of you not in America, it still is a dream of financial freedom. Mhmm. And you you can't control what your employer decisions are, but you can control your own. We have we can control three things, Steve. Our thoughts, our words, our actions.
And, unfortunately, when you have a job, you can't necessarily control your actions because you gotta follow the rules.
Steve: So Right. And then you look at movies, right, or you look at the media, really, entrepreneurs. You know, the only ones you really get exposed to are, like, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos. Right? Or, like, in the movies, there's always the guy with his failed business.
Like, oh, you failed this one. Oh, you failed. Like, he's always the black sheep in the family. It's not a lot of movies. Like, maybe the founder and even then, they made him look like a bad guy in that movie.
Right? Where we're really, preaching entrepreneurship. So, you got to see it from the inside, and then you got to look at the books from other people and see how their business is around. So they gave you a lot of insight. So you decide, okay.
I'm not gonna be just a CPA. I'm gonna go off on my own. So what did you do?
Speaker: Well, this one this is kind of a funny story. I my one of my clients at 25 asked me to leave with him. He was buying a company out of bankruptcy Mhmm. As as some new technology. And I still remember going back to my condo in Atlanta with the pros and cons because this was before PCs, before cell phones.
I know it's hard to imagine, but it was the old yellow legal pad, pros and cons. And it didn't help me a bit. I could argue both sides.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: But my hand took off across the top of the page and wrote, why not?
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And that
Speaker: is still my mantra today. Why not do something different? Why not solve a problem or serve a need? That's what a successful business does.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: Why not take that path less traveled? So I made the decision to leave public accounting. And within a few short weeks, I realized it was a horrible decision because I found all kinds of corruption at this new company. But had I not made that decision because it was still the worst business decision of my life, I wouldn't have met my collector who is we are now celebrating 44 of marriage. So I tell everybody, Napoleon Hill said it out of every adversity comes the seed of an equal or greater benefit.
So my worst business decision gave me my best life decision.
Steve: So Gotcha. Awesome. Well, that's amazing. Congratulations, forty four years.
Speaker: Thank you.
Steve: Another one of my favorite episodes this year is my episode with Brent Daniels. You guys know him as TTP or, you know, the real life version of Johnny Bravo with the big hair and the big biceps. But we talked about some interesting things, things that I don't think a lot of people talk about on the air. They kinda talk about it off the air. Right?
Conversations about what's really happening behind the scenes. So we talked about gurus on social media perhaps not doing what they say they're doing. Right? So that's the first thing. And second thing, how many people get it wrong in the business?
This is whether you're in the wholesaling side or the education side, how they spend it all. Right? And so, you know, he went through that journey himself. When he was younger, he lost everything in his business and then how a lot of people don't have the right financial thermostat. And so they're setting themselves up for failure because they're not mentally comfortable with making a lot of money, how they'll self sabotage them all along the way.
And so they're spending money just as fast as they make it. So I thought that was a really good point. And the last one was hustle season and financial intelligence. So, again, a lot of people wanna hustle, hustle, hustle, and that is so critical. Right?
You cannot get out of the gate without hustling. So you gotta have that hustle muscle when you start. But at some point, the concept of what got you here won't get you there. So you gotta learn financial literacy, financial intelligence. And he talks about building wealth.
Right? And he also talked about the fourth thing. The reason why I originally asked him to come back onto the show was he went on a rant while we're at the Arizona REIA about how rentals, we get it all wrong and how if you wanna create wealth, don't buy cash flowing assets. Buy assets that you know will appreciate. So I believe a subtly, slightly controversial take.
So definitely check out this episode of Brent Daniels and see if you agree with him about the gurus, the financial intelligence, and rental properties. Have you noticed that all the guys that were banging the gongs every time they close a deal or sign a contract? Where are they? I don't know. Yeah.
I don't know what they're doing.
Speaker 5: Yeah. Well, all those big teams got washed out in 2022.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah. Overhead. Mhmm.
Speaker: I mean,
Speaker: that's just financial literacy. Yeah. How much how much income versus expenses and how many assets do you have over your liabilities?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And I'm telling you, your wholesaling business is not an asset. Your wholesaling business is the cash machine that helps you buy the assets.
Speaker: Mhmm. But if
Speaker: you're not taking money home and then buying it into long term investments that's gonna pay you over a long period of time, then you're making a huge mistake. But that's that's financial literacy one zero one.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: You know what I mean? And I think that the biggest issue that we run into is from the time we're zero to 12, that's how that's what sets our financial thermostat.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And in my life during that time, my dad adopted me when I was two. My biological dad and and my mom I mean, my mom's my mom, but my biological dad bounced. He loved partying, so my mom's like, boom. At, like, six I was six months old. So I'm living in a bathtub in my uncle's, house that he rented.
Yeah. And then my mom met my dad at a company called, Garrett that turned into Allied Signal. It turned into Honeywell. Mhmm. And my dad moved us when we were I was nine to Australia to get a pay raise.
So we moved to Melbourne, Australia
Speaker 6: for a year.
Speaker: Yeah. And then, and then we moved in in junior high to get another, bump up. My dad moved to Frankfurt, Germany for a year. I went there for a whole summer, And so just leveling up. During during those prime time years, it was kinda like lower lower income, lower middle class.
I mean, we're doing okay, but it wasn't anything crazy. But that sets certain things in your brain. You You know what I mean? It set when I got out of college and I made a $100,000, I was like, oh my gosh. That is a lot.
This is a lot. It took my dad so many years to make all this. Right? And and and and we just didn't talk about money. We didn't talk about being an entrepreneur.
We didn't talk about sales. We didn't talk about these things. Right? It was like dad goes to work, mom goes to work, and, and and we play sports and and get together as a family and and have dinner every night.
Speaker: Yeah. You know
Speaker: what I mean? And so I think it took me a while to be around people that their financial thermostats were either forced or raised, really high and, to to be able to understand, okay. Wait a second. I need to buy assets. I need to be putting the money into these things that are gonna pay me for a long period of time and think longer term and not just be so, you know, hand to mouth with it.
Because you you get to that that that upper limit of your financial thermostat, and you feel like I don't deserve it. So I'm gonna go buy I'm gonna go, hire people. I'm gonna go spend money on this marketing channel. I'm gonna go and and promote myself and do all these things. Right?
And I think that's the problem that that that real estate entrepreneurs have, and it crushes them.
Speaker 7: Get the crawler man
Steve: to follow you around. Yeah. Get the videographers.
Speaker: Bro, we have a friend that literally put a billboard out Mhmm.
Speaker: When he
Speaker: hit a 100, hit a million, followers. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Steve: Trying to remember who this was.
Speaker: Yeah. Don't worry about it. The the it's not at a million anymore. You know what I mean? It it's it's just I think that, if you focus on keeping your head down, finding really great deals, building a real business, pulling yourself outside of that business and being a real, business owner, making sure that it's raining really good inbound leads at some point, You can have a really great cash machine that helps you buy assets, and then you can teach, and then you could coach, and then you can go from perspective of, hey.
Listen. I know what the worst looks like, and I know what, like, the high life looks like, and I'm gonna steer you in the direction that that makes sense.
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Another one of my favorite episodes was the one with Jerry Norton. So if you don't know Jerry Norton, he's flipping mastery. He was huge on YouTube before I even created a YouTube account over six years ago. Now Jerry has been a forward leaning thought leader on what's happening in wholesaling inside the industry as far as regulations go. Right?
So we had a very long conversation about the real estate world, wholesaling, flipping, and the evolution of wholesaling, and then adding novations, and then finally, adding installment method. If you guys don't recall, I had Devin Robinson in here talking about the installment method in November 2023 saying that you had to learn the skill because regulations are coming. Well, those regulations happened, and we talked about it on this episode. So we talked about regulations. We talked about potentially putting together a wholesale committee.
Right? Something that he's been very, very strong proponent of. And then the other thing we talked about is the actual ways to deal with the regulations. Because installment method with Devon Robinson, I think that's a brilliant idea. It's the reason why I've been promoting it so much.
I do see value in it. But the easiest way to get around all these regulation laws as far as regulation, as far as wholesaling, is just buy the property. And he talked about what he's doing to empower his community to buy all these properties. So you don't have to worry about wholesaling or innovating or installment. You just buy it outright.
So he talks a lot about that. And the last thing we talked about was the importance of realtors. Now realtors it's a fighting situation here. When we first started this podcast, we had realtors and wholesalers. Right?
It was basically the first 10 or 12 episodes, realtor, wholesaler, realtor, wholesaler. And we found out pretty quickly that the realtors and the wholesalers mix really, really well much like oil and water. It doesn't mix together at all. But Jerry and I have been saying for a long time the value in being a licensed real estate agent as your wholesaling and buying property. So we talked about the importance of realtors inside your business and how to collaborate with realtors, offering them a commission to represent you so that they can double lend the deals, which means you get to buy the deal.
So definitely check out this episode with Jerry Norton.
Speaker: Well, I think most of the people that talk about anything related to wholesaling are is the education space, and the education space thrives on, you know, newbies coming in. And if you think about wholesaling, it's like the last it's like the last frontier of entrepreneurship with a low barrier to entry.
Speaker: Mhmm. I mean,
Speaker: think about it. A single piece of paper, an assignment of contract, a single piece of paper, you can make millions of dollars with zero entry into the business and no money, frankly.
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: Where else in the world can you do that? Wholesaling's the last business model
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Where a brand new person with no experience, no barrier to entry, no no requirement whatsoever to get in can learn how to do it and with a single piece of paper and no money transact millions of dollars. Yeah. Well, that's not looked upon very highly. Right? Like, that's that door is gonna get shut, and it's that's what we're seeing.
Right.
Steve: And so
Speaker: So what it means is what it means where I'm going with that, Steve, is, like, I think nobody wants to talk about it because it's kinda like, oh, I don't wanna I don't wanna wanna get discouraged. I don't want I don't want new people coming in the business and not wanna come in the business because now there's some friction.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And I
Speaker: think that's just that's my perception. I don't know if that's true.
Steve: Yeah. Well That's
Speaker: part of why
Speaker: I don't think people are talking about it very much.
Steve: If that's their perspective, that's slightly irresponsible.
Speaker: Yeah. Right.
Speaker: I have a moral dilemma with that.
Steve: Yeah. What's your moral dilemma?
Speaker: Well, I don't wanna be telling people, hey. Get into wholesaling. It's a great business, which by the way, it's not gonna work out so good for you because they're they're stopping the newbie from getting into the business. Instead, I wanna say, hey. Here's what's happening happening.
You can still get into this, but we've gotta do things differently now.
Steve: Yeah. Like,
Speaker: your barrier to entry is gonna start to go up some here, but you can do it, and let's figure this out. Yeah. And I've got ideas around what what we need to do to figure it out. But
Steve: So you start in o four. I started in o seven. Right? So we've got a chance to, like
Speaker: like a dinosaur.
Steve: We got to experience a few different things and the market shifts and the regulations that occurred.
Speaker: Yeah.
Steve: And one of the ones that really pissed me off, probably the one that pissed me off the most, was the Dodd Frank Act. Yeah. Right? And because the Dodd Frank Act came out to protect homeowners from, these, people that are quote, unquote, equity stripping and this and that. And so we were doing short sales.
Right? Shout out to Matthew Potter. He's the host of part in the disruption. I would go out there and market myself as a short sale expert, but then he would do all the paperwork. Like, he was the one that was on hold with the banks.
He had the bad he had the worst job. He had the worst, and we had the penny marketing expenses. I took care of all the marketing. Right? So, but we did a lot of short sales.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Steve: And when Dodd Frank passed, the thing that passed in Dodd Frank was that twenty one days within foreclosure, they could not start a short sale because they considered that to be predatory.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Steve: And so after that passed, we had so many homeowners. Because, like, you know how it goes with denial. Yeah. I'm in foreclosure. I'm in denial.
This isn't a big deal. There's no big deal. And then there's a window where they're like, crap. I'm in a bad spot. I need help.
Speaker: And it's the eleventh hour.
Steve: It's the eleventh hour, well past the twenty one day window, and they reach out to us, and all we can say is, I'm sorry. Yeah. Because of Dodd Frank, I can't help you save your house. And they go to foreclosure. And they go to foreclosure.
Like, it was, like, it was so painful. It was so mindless. As a professional, I'm frustrated because you're holding my hand or you're you're preventing me. You're holding my hands on my back, preventing me from helping people. Yeah.
And, like, that's the thing that I thrive on. That's what fulfills me. So I can't do that. And now we got these regulations.
Speaker: Those are doing the same thing. Because if you think about it, let's say that they get rid of the assignment of contract and we double close.
Speaker 8: Right.
Speaker: Okay. Well, when you double close, you introduce more fees. Right? You gotta you gotta pay fees when you buy it, pay fees when you turn around and sell it, and you gotta pay transactional funding. Where are those additional fees coming from?
Steve: Not to mention potential transfer taxes depending on other states.
Speaker: Some states have high transfer tax. So where that that additional fee those additional fees to double close, who's paying those?
Steve: The homeowner.
Speaker: Not the business owner.
Speaker: You gotta you gotta make
Speaker: a profit. Yeah. You gotta you're in business. Right? So that gets passed on to the homeowner, the very person that is supposed to be protected.
Steve: Yeah. So you and I are are still gonna have the same targeted profit, same profit targets because we have the same marketing expenses. Our marketing expenses didn't go lower because of new regulation. Right? So our profit target is still the same.
So the money is coming from somewhere. It's coming out of the home market. What we could pay went down because of these costs. Because because of these rules and regulations are coming in place.
Speaker: Yeah. And if they stop wholesaling altogether, like, let's just hypothetically say and everyone's gonna think this is, like, outrageous, but there's some things going on that very well we could start to see this happen real soon. South Carolina's, like, right here.
Steve: Mhmm.
Speaker: But let's just say that they did that. Let's just hypothetically say no more wholesaling. Like, you can't do it. License or no license, you can't do it. Well, what's gonna happen now?
Well, I mean, the number one method to still acquire discounted properties is gonna be to buy the property. Like, just actually close and buy it.
Steve: The way it used to be before wholesaling for begin buying.
Speaker: So now if I have to actually buy your property homeowner and I gotta now introduce all kinds of fees because now I have to fund that purchase, Because what's not gonna change is people are gonna buy properties, and and then there's a you have people over here that wanna sell at a discount, and they have people over here that wanna buy. The middle there of acquisitions is always gonna exist.
Steve: Mhmm.
Speaker: Whether it's directly to the flipper or or some type of some type of wholesalers in the middle of it. Well, now you're introducing all those fees. And so that's again, it's just gonna push this this it's gonna come out of the seller's pocket.
Steve: It kinda says it's gonna come
Speaker: out of the seller's pocket. It kinda says it's gonna come out of the
Steve: other thing too is, you know, I'm a, you know, shocker to people that are watching the show. I'm a free market capitalist. Alright? And But I did not know that. And bring a free market capitalist as irritating as it is to have a bunch of wholesalers in your market.
Right? We're in Phoenix. This is the guru Yeah. Capital of the world. It's also, like, all like, real a wholesale per capita, I gotta imagine, is the highest here with a lot of competition here.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Steve: Right? So as irritating as it is, have a lot of competition, it still serves as a function to create demand and that we have to be our best doing the business. With the regulation, you know, it's kinda like, it's really hard to go start, like, an oil company. Right? I mean, Chevron, Mobil, all these other guys, they made it pretty hard.
Start a bank. Right now, it's pretty hard. Like, the bank we're a part of took them seventeen years. Yeah. When they started, the bank was launched.
Right? Takes a lot of time and effort because of regulations. And with the regulation in place, you were saying a moment ago, like, all the holes doesn't wanna come in. They can't really get in anymore because the the the restrictions gonna be in place, making it easier for people like you and me to buy properties. And who doesn't win in that scenario?
The homeowner.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, if you think about it, this is exactly what's happening with the NAR settlement right now where, you know, it's predicted that a million licensed agents are gonna leave the industry. Well, there's only 1.5, so what's gonna happen to the other 500,000 that do figure it out?
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: I mean, they're gonna kill it. They're gonna absolutely annihilate their business because you've you've made the entry harder. Right? You made the business model harder. Right?
So wholesaling is gonna be the same thing. If if if the newbie can't come in today and get a contract and assign it with no money, and it's now left up to just the people with money and with capital, then the the highly capitalized investors are gonna be the ones that Yeah. Get all the deals.
Steve: It's a funny time in the real estate right now. Right? So in the realtor world, the rich can get richer, and the less adequate are gonna be gone. And wholesaling and flipping, really, the rich can get richer, and the less competent are gonna be gone. Yeah.
Another one on the list might surprise you. It's RJ Bates. He's crazy. He's an insane person. We've been going back and forth on social media.
He's accused me of making wholesaling illegal. Right? He's accused me of passing legislation to outlaw wholesaling. And, you know, I've been a little nicer to RJ recently and these days because it appears that if RJ doesn't like you, he will have you investigated by the federal government. So be careful with RJ Bates.
Be nicer to him because he wields a lot of power. So what we talked about on our episode was what happened that led to the cancellation of his TV show. Because he was on A and E TV, and he recorded a full season of zombie houses, and then it all kinda disappeared like it never happened. So definitely check out the episode for that. Also, we talked about other gurus in the industry bashing his name.
I wouldn't say bashing his good name, but it's RJ Bates. So they were bashing his name. So definitely tune, tune in for that. And then we also talked about how he did 50 deals in 50 stays in fifty days again. So he did it one year to tool up for close his Olympics, and then he did it again.
And this time, he carried a lot of momentum with him. Been really happy for him to see his success. So he talked about how he he was able to do it again. And then, you know, the key to my heart here, we talked about sales. So he's got the King Closers formula, right, which is pretty cute, and then we have our sales process.
And so we talked about the differences, the nuances between his sales process and my sales process. Now, truth be told, his sales process is pretty good. It's pretty effective. I see what he's doing with his community, and it works for all of them. I think it's a little bit harder to scale with that model, but it certainly works.
I I will not question that. And so we talked about the difference between his sell style and our sell style, so definitely check that out.
Speaker: It was crazy. I mean, you know, to have Pilgrim Media reach out to us and say, hey. We want you to be on zombie house flipping on A and E and establish show. This is gonna be the fifth season. It had always been in Orlando.
And so they were like, the new idea is there's gonna be a team in Tampa, Orlando, Dallas, and Fort Worth. And you guys will have a run of, like, five episodes, and then we'll go to the next team for five episodes. And then that way, we keep the show running basically year round. And it was awesome. I mean, we were super excited to do it once we'd made the decision to do it.
There there was some apprehension at first, you know, especially for me. I was like, I am who I am. If you want me to be scripted, I I can't even do a script on my calls with sellers. It's not gonna happen. Like
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: And they were like, no. We the the hilarious part about me being canceled is is the reason why they reached out to us is because they called Brent Daniels Mhmm. And asked Brent to to do it. And Brent said, I don't wanna do it. And then they found out Brent lived in Arizona, and they were like, we don't wanna go West Of Texas.
And Brent said, Texas. You seen RJ? And he was like, go check out RJ's YouTube channel. So they went and watched my YouTube channel and said, that's the guy we want. Like, that personality.
Steve: That personality is uncastable.
Speaker: Right. So what they got, they canceled even though that's what they wanted. So, you know, we we were in the middle of flipping, like, you know, you know, I I couldn't show up to pardon the disruption a lot. Mhmm. Because of the amount of flips we had going on.
We were in the middle of flipping, you know, 10 houses at once. We had completed multiple episodes. We got the honor of being the season premier of all the teams, So that was, like, a big deal. They looked at the footage and they said, hey. Fort Worth is gonna be the season premier.
And it aired 12/03/2022, and feedback was amazing from everyone at A and E and poker media. And, you know, some people said it was good. Some people on social media said it sucked. I got to Twitter, you know, where it's like, who put this fat guy? Yeah.
Who decided to go get a big white guy with a big beard that's fat? That'd be on TV. You know? I saw some of that, and it was like, okay. This is the reality of being on TV.
And I was like, alright. This is this is what I expected. Like, this is gonna be the new norm for us. And, the middle of that week, second episode's coming out on Saturday. I get a call from the executive producer, and she said, there's a tweet from a gentleman, that says that the hoodie you were wearing in the episode had a white supremacy logo.
And I'm like, that's clearly not the case. It was a gift. It was a hoodie that was given to me that had Viking symbols on it, and the symbol is a vaut nut, which is a very common Viking symbol. It's on almost everything Viking related. But this person with three followers on Twitter at the time, sent that tweet out, and it red alerted A and E, which then red alerted Disney.
And so then they had to ask me questions. They wanted to know, was my name really RJ Bates the third? Why did I name my son Trinity? Why did my contractor put a Roman numeral three on one of the projects? And she was doing it as, like, a symbol.
Like, hey. I did this for you because you flipped this house and did such a great job. I put a Roman numeral three on this back deck, and they thought that was me showing that I was a part of the three percenters, which I guess is a white supremacy group.
Steve: Oh, didn't know that.
Speaker: And I'd be either. Then when they told me that, I was like, can you explain what this is? What group did I join? And they asked me those questions. I told them the truth, the next Saturday.
I mean, there was no concern about us being, like, canceled over
Speaker: this.
Speaker: This was kind of like, hey. We're just asking. Gone.
Steve: Our eyes crossed the truth.
Speaker: Okay. We're all good. The next Saturday, my son had a hockey game at 10:30. The episode's supposed to air at ten. So I'm walking around outside the building with it on my cell phone, and a rerun of Orlando from the season before airs when our second episode is supposed to air.
And so I start texting people, like, hey. What's up? And then I start getting texts from, like, the contractors and vendors that were supposed to be, you know, featured on that episode. Like, what happened? Where's our episode?
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: And everybody's like, we don't know what's happening. We don't know what's happening. I got that sinking feeling like, oh, this is not good. Yeah. And two, three hours later, me and my son are driving in the car, and I got the call.
You've been canceled. We don't know why. We'll have answers for you on Monday. So Saturday, Sunday, I have to go with no answers. That Monday, everybody on our team, every single person lost their job.
I I had to see people pack up out of their apartments.
Steve: Oh, Oh, like, the media team?
Speaker: Yes. Production team. Every single bird I mean, a cameraman the the cameraman that were our team were the original cameraman of zombie house flipping. They had moved from Orlando to Florida, moved their or to Fort Worth, had moved their entire families. I mean, they were fired.
You have no job now. I mean, it was ruthless over a harmless hoodie that meant nothing.
Steve: Over an idiot tweet.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, that that's really what it is because the the hoodie itself means nothing. The symbol is not racist in nature. I'm not racist. There's no proof of that.
And, basically, what I've been told is is it it went to, one attorney at Disney, and he basically said, how many episodes have we aired of this guy? One, just pull the plug.
Steve: Yeah. It's crazy to me. Because like you said, the consequences. Right? Because I didn't I didn't even think about, like, their team.
I'm just thinking about you and your debt and your your contractors, your hard money loans, and all these other things. Like, it's a it's a setback for you and your operations. You just stopped everything to focus on this. But, yeah, there are a whole bunch of other people they got.
Speaker: Oh, dude. And they paid a lot of money to fire us.
Steve: Mhmm.
Speaker: Because, like, there was trade outs. So, like, for example, a, you will mention Steve Trang flooring.
Steve: Mhmm.
Speaker: Steve Trang will donate $10,000 worth of flooring to this house. Mhmm. And so the flooring company says, absolutely. I'll do this to be on A and E over and over and over again because this is the whole thing about these shows. They just keep getting aired over and over, and then the episode doesn't air.
So now you're coming to me going, you need to pay my $10,000.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Well, a and e just took care of it. They they stroked a check for every single person. They paid us for every single episode that we filmed.
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: To not be aired. I mean, over nothing. And the the most disappointing part for me was one, the people getting fired over something that I felt responsible for. Even though I shouldn't feel the responsibility of wearing it, but that's still every day that I filmed, I wore a black T shirt that said titanium, except for one. That one day was my birthday.
I wore the Viking hoodie because it was a gift that was given to me. And it only made the scene for, like, three seconds, and it was because they showed the back of it because we did floor to ceiling marble on the fireplace. They wanna get a cool angle of me looking up the floor to ceiling, and that's when it showed. It just it bothered me that so many people's lives were impacted by it. And then the next thing that that really bothered me was, the fact
Speaker: that
Speaker: I had to explain to so many people what happened. And no matter what, when you look at someone and say, I got fired, I got canceled, then the immediate question is why. Mhmm. And it's not like me. I have to tell the I have to say why.
And and that's why Cassie always gives me a hard time. She's like, stop talking about you being a white supremacist. Stop stop saying that, you know, you know, you got fired for for being racist, and it's like but that that's what they said. It's not true. But I think a lot of times we wanna run from that.
And the first couple of months, man, I mean, it it impacted me. I mean, I I probably first three months of 2023, go look at my YouTube channel. Go look at my podcast. There's nothing. I sat at my desk staring into abyss going, did I just kill my business?
Did I just because, dude, the moment this happened, our team, people started quitting. I mean
Steve: Why?
Speaker: I don't know. I mean, was it an icky situation? You know? I mean, imagine if you're a black guy that works for me, and I come in and I say, I got fired because I wore this hoodie and it was a white supremacist logo. And then you go home and you have to tell your wife why your boss got fired.
I mean, suddenly, it starts to like and then business is not doing good because, like, I'm not being proactive. Cassie's not being like dude, we were, like, emotionally, like, distraught. And then, also, we had all these houses that we had to finish flipping that were supposed to be for the show, so not super profitable because you're basically over rehabbing them. I mean, there there was a lot of negative energy in in the building. Even though we were trying to, like, keep it going, it was it was a full reboot of, like, everything.
A lot of people left. The ones that stayed didn't surprise me. The ones that left didn't surprise me. But also just me and Cassie had to hit a reset button on, like, up here and how we were gonna overcome that.
Steve: And I remember you shared with me, when it went down, and I was pretty upset about it as well. Yeah. And I went to the team. I was like, hey. I'm gonna record a video.
You remember what what I was talking about? Yes.
Speaker: Right.
Steve: I'm gonna talk about how my wife's a premises. Yes. Like, Steve, you're not we will not, like we will not support you in this venture. Right?
Speaker: You were like, you said that? And I was like, bro, I love you, but I I don't know if this is the right move.
Speaker: I don't
Speaker: know I don't know if you should do this or right. You know, I I freely talk about it now. I mean, when it first happened, I got told by a lot of people, like, hey. Keep it under wraps. You know?
You don't want Disney coming after you. But at this point, I think everyone needs to know why it happened. You know what I mean? Like, we just were hanging out with Dolmar and Keisha, and they were like, we still get people asking what happened to the Fort Worth team. And I'm like, oh, we got canceled.
Like, hey. Hey. Let them know. Like, I mean, it it it is what it is. I think Jamille had the best perspective out of anyone.
He said, what does being on TV do for you? It gives you the opportunity to build your brand by saying you're on TV. You are on TV. No one can ever take that away from you.
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: He goes, in fact, you probably got the better end of this. You got one episode, and then you're done. You're like, move on with your life. I mean, it's like, you could be like me where you just have to do it over and over and over again. And, I I will say there was a part of me that really enjoyed it, though.
I mean, it was like a new creative side. I mean, you create a lot of content. It was like, once I figured out how much goes into it and creating it, like, me and the executive producer were really, like, clicking on finding new ways to bring energy to a show. So I I missed that, and there were some really funny moments that'll never be seen. I wish they would just release it.
Like, come on. Let us see it. But yeah.
Steve: But now you can officially put the asking on TV. Yeah. On your Yeah. Postcards.
Speaker: It's on my song. Is it? Yeah. Have you have you heard those songs?
Steve: I have not heard your song.
Speaker: You have not heard the King Closer? No. Did you know that I released a song? No. Well, let's let the world know.
As of 05/03/2024, if you go on to Spotify, Apple Music, you search the king closer, There's gonna be a song, RJ base the third and the dropout kings. That's, it's my official song. It's my first ever single.
Steve: Alright. May maybe I'll download it. We'll see.
Speaker: It ends with explicit word as seen on TV.
Steve: There you go. Hey, disruptors. If you're struggling to scale your business due to a lack of capital for your deals, this message is for you. I've been part of the Collective Genius Mastermind for over four years now, and one of the biggest benefits I get as a member is access to 100% financing for fix and flips. If you're doing at least 10 deals a year, want to network with top tier investors from across the country, and need access to 100% financing to continue scaling, go to 100percentmoney.com.
I've had my friend and CEO of the collective genius, Jason Medley, put together a short video with all the details. That's at 100percentmoney.com. Another great episode we had was with Santini Lancioni. This is one that just came out a couple of months ago. He flew in all the way from New Jersey to talk about his humble beginnings.
Right? How he came up with absolutely nothing, was living in his friends' houses in high school. We hear about that happening in college and so on. He was living with his friends in high school. And so how he came from nothing to where he's making millions of dollars a year in net profits.
So I love that part of the story because he is as he is the most transparent guest I believe we've ever had in the show. Now there are a lot of people that talk about the number of deals they do, how much revenue they drive. He came in to talk about profits. And really, at the end of the day, that is the most important number. So he came in as transparent as possible.
He shared how he's building a brand, become a local celebrity, leveraging social media for deals. For example, in one month, he had 11 deals that came in where you didn't have to spend a dollar on marketing and then how he also basically, what feels like an event business. Right? He's spending tens of thousands of dollars a month in events for people to come to his live events where they can talk about real estate much like a meetup. But, man, I don't know a lot of people that are spending more than 10,000, let alone $38,000, and how he's also getting a sponsor.
So even though it's $30,000, it's all at no cost to him. So we talked about that. Definitely check out this episode with Santini.
Speaker: When I was growing up, we grew up very I would I mean, it's relative what you think poor
Speaker: is. Mhmm.
Speaker: For
Speaker: us, it was poor compared to where we lived. Yeah. And, yeah, we it was like my outlet, you know, since probably, like, the fourth grade. My brother was he's three years older than me. He was good growing up, and I always followed him around and, you know, see how hard he worked.
And, you know, we became obsessed with basketball. We're like, you know what? We wanna go to the NBA or go get scholarship somewhere. So we really bought into that. And, you know, throughout the years, we would, you know, wake up 5AM and shoot 500 shots a day and just really commit to just becoming the best players in our area.
Mhmm. And I think that really built that foundation for me because I know how hard it is to like, we didn't I didn't even go division one, and I worked my ass off
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: As a division three basketball player. So, like, the amount of work it takes to be great at anything is incredible.
Steve: You know?
Speaker: Obviously, height and all that stuff plays a factor, but, you know, luck isn't always on your side, so you gotta work. You gotta outwork everybody. Yeah. And, you know, it also comes with leadership and a lot of people liking you being coachable. So all of that really helped me become, a good business owner and entrepreneur.
Steve: So you think that all translated from basketball onto your business?
Speaker: I think so for sure. There was a lot of work I had to do as a leader with business, but I think it was more, like, of a natural flow for me. Mhmm. Because, as a point guard, you know, you have to lead people. You have to lead by example.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: You have to, you know, keep them motivated and encourage them and, you know, obviously, find the right pieces and have the right chemistry. So all those things literally translate to our Tell them
Steve: where to go. Tell them what to do.
Speaker: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And you have to have confidence. You know?
You gotta and you have to believe that things are happening before they do. And you gotta exert and impose your will. Exactly.
Speaker: You know,
Steve: I got I got, you know, three kids, and my oldest one, like, she just doesn't wanna play sports. Like, she plays volleyball, but she's like, it's fun to play, like, pick up, but she doesn't wanna go anymore. And I'm, like, pushing her. And she's like, I don't wanna do it. It's like like, why is it so important?
He's like, it actually has nothing to do with sports. I just want you to learn leadership skills.
Speaker: Yeah. Exactly.
Steve: Alright. I want you to learn, like, you know, when you lose, like, you can be introspective and figure out why you lost. And, like, let's figure out the lessons here and how to give you a better team player and a leader. Yeah. I'm losing this battle.
Right? Yeah. But Exactly. But that those are the things that I picked up. Right?
Like, I'm not don't have your experience or your skills and success. But, you know, playing a lot of intramural basketball is the same thing.
Speaker: It's like,
Steve: you know, it's my bad. Like, you you drive home. It's like, that's the shot I missed. I missed that pass. Why did I turn that turn it over there?
Like, that was such a stupid turnover. I can't believe I did that. Like, those are kind of things. I don't know. I imagine you had those same things.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, for sure. You gotta learn how to control your temperament and Yeah. Your, you know, your emotion
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And be able to live for the next game or the next play.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Make sure that your your opponents don't see that emotion because they they'll attack you, you know, if you're playing defense, whatever. So, yeah, there's there's so many things that just may if you work on your, you know, whatever sport you play, if you can work on your emotion, that'll translate over to the pressure that you deal with every day in business. You know? Or You know?
Steve: Getting your mask your last minute shot to go take your next one. Yep. So your last deal that you lost
Speaker: A 100%.
Steve: Refocus on the next deal.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. So for for me, it was a matter like, this was the only thing I had growing up, basketball. Like, when I tell you we had nothing, like, this saved our lives because coaches took us in. Like, when I was 15 years old, my mom, had severe diabetes.
And I remember coming home from school, and she was on the couch having a seizure. And she was never the same since. Like, something happened to her mind. And from that point on, I'm like, I gotta I moved to my friend's house, and I moved to another friend's house. And, you know, at that time, I was one of the best players in South Jersey.
So, like, if I didn't have basketball, no one would have probably helped me. You know, I would have ended up who knows where. So and my brother was off to, like, college or prep school at that time, so it was just me. So luckily, there was a private school, like, one of the best private schools in South Jersey. They, basically paid for me to go to their school, and I played basketball there.
And that was a game changer because I moved in with this millionaire family at that time. I'm 15, 16 years old. I'd never really had discipline growing up. You know? Basketball was what caught what made me disciplined, but Yeah.
There wasn't, like, parenting going on. Like, I could stay out till midnight. No one would care what I was doing. But when I got to school, it was, like, I got to see, like, families, how they function. You know, how you know, they have three kids and, like, how they're doing their homework every day, and they're getting up early, and they're having you know, there's nutrition.
Steve: Same routine and
Speaker: Same routine. Yeah. And then, just parenting. You know? And I'm then I go to a private school where there's all, you know, wealthy people, and I'm like, alright.
So I gotta act. Like, that's how you're supposed to behave. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Speaker: So,
Speaker: yeah, that was a that was a great time in my life to grow as a human being. You know? And if it wasn't for the game of basketball, like, those doors wouldn't be there.
Steve: You're gonna be exposed to it.
Speaker: No. At all. And, being popular because, obviously, you're an athlete.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: You know, just
Speaker: it
Speaker: was a great experience, and then it also got me to college. Right? I was terrible at school. Like, literally, I barely passed. I did had no interest in it.
Yeah. And, same thing in college. You know? I only went to college to play basketball to to literally have a roof over my head and have meals and, be able to play. And that's that's all I cared about.
So so by the time I when basketball was over for me, I had two years of school left. And you could imagine, like, this is my identity. So I had to reinvent myself. Mhmm. Still have two years of school that I literally hate going to class, and I just buckled down.
Like, you know what? I have to do this. It's either that or I I go to the army or who knows? I end up a blackjack dealer in Atlantic City. Real estate had no I had no clue about real estate at this time.
And, also, by that time too, I had no financial literacy. I maxed I had, like, six credit cards, maxed them all out, didn't even pay them. And hospital bills, didn't even like, I ignored them. Like, so I was in collections. Yeah.
So no one to guide me really through that that time financially. And I was scared to tell people, like, I was just dealt with it. You know, I didn't I I didn't deal with it actually. So when I graduated college and got I remember I was, at the park. It was like I forget where I was.
I was playing basketball. My phone rang, and I was applying to a bunch of jobs. And, the HR manager calls me. She's like, hey. We wanna offer you this position.
Steve: It
Speaker: was a $40,000 a year position. And you would think that someone offered me, like, a million dollars. Because I was like, this is, like, another breaking point in my life where
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I have another opportunity now to make something of my my life. So, like, I was just so grateful to to take that job. So and I don't care what I was selling. I was selling office supplies, but I didn't give a shit. I was like, I'm gonna make the most.
I wanna be the best at
Steve: it. Right.
Speaker: So that's that gratitude, and that adversity just growing up. I think that's it all shapes you.
Steve: You know? Oh, absolutely shapes you. Simple. And then we had one of my all time favorite episodes, Stuart Denyer with New Western. Now I first heard about New Western in 2019 when I went to Dallas, Texas for WeLive nineteen.
This is when I got to meet, Gary v. I got to speak on stage at Max Maxwell's event in front of a thousand people. An incredible event. As you guys know, I've been following my story. One of the most impactful moments in my career.
Well, while I was there in Dallas, Texas, I did not hear a lot of great things about New Western. As a matter of fact, at one point in my career, I actually got a cease and desist notice from New Western, which we talk about on the show. But with all that being said, I got a chance to meet Stu, the founder of New Western, and they're doing anywhere between 15,020 wholesale deals per year. A wild number. It's really hard to even fathom it.
So we talked about how he dislikes the term wholesaling and how it's ruining the branding of our industry and that if we don't begin to self regulate, we're all gonna be out of business in the near future. So he talked a lot about building a brand, having a reputable business, and making sure that you're transparent and fully disclosing to all parties involved all the time so that you can operate ethically. And then the other thing too, which, you know, why this is one of my favorite episodes, is in the comment section on this episode, there were a lot of negative comments. Maybe not a lot. There were a handful of negative comments saying he was not sharing enough.
He wasn't talking about how he built his wholesaling business or how he's doing wholesaling specifically today. Right? And I think people missed the point. It's one of my all time favorite episodes because he talks about how to run an enterprise business, how to build a wholesale company you can actually sell. Right?
He's not gonna talk about where he's pulling the list. He's not gonna talk about where he's sourcing, salespeople in the front lines to run new Western. That's not his thing. If he knows what list they're pulling from, he's not gonna be at 15,000, 20,000 wholesale deals a year. The struggles he has that we talk about on the episode are the answers to a lot of questions that a lot of us who are trying to scale our business to the next level.
We talk about that. How to source talent from Wall Street to be your executive c level talent. It's one of the episodes where I've had multiple successful people reach out to me. It's like, wow. Thanks for that episode.
Because he closed a few loops. He connected a couple of dots for them that were still open. So definitely check this out because you wanna build a company that's doing millions and millions and millions of dollars a year. Stu Donner talks about that.
Speaker: You mentioned the word wholesale before. Mhmm. I don't like that word, and it's not because I don't specifically, I haven't got an issue with the word wholesale.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: But but there's probably a number of bad act there are a number of bad actors out there Right. That do nothing but I think cast a very large shadow Mhmm. Over this industry. And, I think that that word is synonymous with particularly that section of the industry.
Steve: Right.
Speaker: And, you're not always gonna get every business practice right all the time. And, frankly, you know, I spent a lot of time around reading the law because of situations that you've highlighted before and trying to understand, and there's a lot of gaps in it. Mhmm. And it's just not clear. And you can call and ask for answers, and you won't get it.
And so sometimes you've gotta make judgment calls, and sometimes you make a wrong judgment call. Mhmm. But there's a lot of people that know what they're doing. Mhmm. It's just simply not correct.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: And I think that they push forward or they justify it somehow. And, that tag wholesaler is used so much on social media.
Speaker: And, you know,
Speaker: I look at a guy dressed like a rodeo clown or or something like that that's whooping around on the stage. Yeah. And I do have issue with it. I don't think it looks good on us, and, I don't think that anyone that's in investment real estate Mhmm. At some stage, everyone's gonna get tired of it.
Everyone's gonna get dragged in for somebody else's behavior, and and you're gonna get tired with the same brush. And I think that at some stage, we've gotta say, okay. I think that I don't wanna be associated with that. Right.
Speaker: I
Speaker: think we're at that stage now.
Steve: What are some of the most egregious things you're seeing that are gonna get us all into trouble as an industry?
Speaker: There was a change in, this is just one example. Sure.
Steve: There's
Speaker: there's a lot of them out there, and almost everybody will know what we're talking about. And nobody's perfect. I'm sure that I got agents and and people that are doing things, so I'm not trying to say that we get it right every time. Not at all. But but there are some people out there that I think go out of their way.
So so there was a change in law in South Carolina. I think that's probably well documented, and there are different opinions. And I have mine, and I know that they're different to some. But there was a thread that I was reading in which a guy said I just got a letter from the state, and it was saying not to behave in a certain way. Mhmm.
And then the next five or six comments were just like, screw it up, throw it in the trash, carry on, they'll never come for you. And I just was in shock.
Steve: Wow. That was the advice.
Speaker: That was the advice? Somebody's finally stepped in and said, I don't know who these people are, but you you can't listen to that sort of advice. And, you know, I don't know what we're supposed to do Free
Steve: legal advice on Facebook.
Speaker: Come get it here. You know, again, stuff like that. Mhmm. It's just, you know, that's on social media. Mhmm.
That's gonna live forever. And What's your
Steve: name on it?
Speaker: And and, yeah, and you just tagged it. And and, again, if that's the mentality of I don't know how many comments now. Again, I don't do that thing much, but, you know, that that that's not good. Mhmm. That's not the approach.
Find out what it is you did wrong. Maybe you knew what you were doing wrong and change it. I don't know. But Right. Just throwing in the trash and imagine what and everyone else just laughing about it.
Mhmm. That that's an example, but there are so many.
Steve: Can You think another one is too off the top of your head?
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, I think you're gonna make everybody just hate me or something. I I you know, there's lots of instances out there. There's lots of different approaches to do real estate. Let's just stick with the one we've already discussed.
I think if you're doing a certain behavior, you should disclose what you're doing. Mhmm. And if you're worried about disclosing it, then you shouldn't do it. Right. And if you think that your disclosure is gonna stop you from being able to do it Mhmm.
Then you shouldn't do
Steve: it. Yeah.
Speaker: And I don't that that would be one right there. I can just go with that one.
Steve: It's pretty good rules of thumb.
Speaker: And and and yeah. So so that would be
Steve: Yeah. We have, Jerry Noren. He's been on the show a couple of times. And one of the things that we talked about because he's also a licensed real estate agent, was a broker owner. I'm a licensed real estate agent.
I was a broker owner. And the things we've talked about is, like, when someone says don't go get your real estate license, that just increases your risk. The answer that we both ponder
Speaker: The last few words of what you said. Yeah. Increases my risk? Yeah. What are you suggesting?
I agree with what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. Like That's that that should immediately bring it into frame what we're discussing. Right.
Like, if you have already got a risk that you're trying to hide in the shadows with and you're worried about getting license, it's gonna just make you more of a target, then you've already got the problem. Right. And and, you know, not everybody. I I I'm not trying to say everybody.
Steve: Well, but the point is that there's always a few bad apples that spoil it Yeah. Right for everybody else. And that's basically the message. It's like, hey. Like, no one's saying don't wholesale.
But if you're gonna wholesale, don't do things egregiously where you know you can get in trouble.
Speaker: Yeah. And and you don't always know. And, again, I was trying to make
Steve: But it was, like,
Speaker: intentional earlier.
Steve: Like, intentionally.
Speaker: Didn't know, and it's it's not always to understand and interpret the law. Uh-huh. But when you intentionally know yeah. And and there's there's too many people doing that.
Steve: Right. So I had the honor, a couple weeks ago to, we had an event. Chris Iman was on a show a month or two ago, big player here in the Phoenix market. He was hearing murmurs that wholesale, he was gonna get regulated in Phoenix.
Speaker: So he
Steve: has this bright idea. Why don't we just bring the real estate commissioner into my real estate investor association event, and then let's have a conversation about it. Brilliant. Right? And so I'm standing in the back of the room, and I'm listening to her talk.
And which as she was speaking and personally, I already disliked her before. Like, I even met her because she's already cost me money in in other things. Yeah. But as she's speaking, she was saying, I don't know why they asked me to become the commissioner. I'm like the last person they should ask.
I come from a family whose wealth was created from real estate investing or not I I'm not real quote, unquote realtor friendly. I'm like a real estate investor sitting there. And so then they started asking questions. What are you looking for? What are you opposed to?
And she says, I have zero problems with wholesaling. I think wholesaling is totally fine. Here are my three problems. If you guys could not do these three things, there won't be any problems. And if you have friends doing these things, maybe slap them upside the head and ask them to stop doing these three things.
Speaker: I know.
Steve: First, the contracting properties, when there is zero chance you will ever close on it.
Speaker: Sounds like a great one
Steve: to start with. Right? And I think that's was it fraud by deceit or it's it's whatever. But it's it's clearly an immaterial fact Uh-huh. To a contract.
She said, if you're contracting properties
Speaker: If you don't have the money to buy it Mhmm. Don't put it on the contract.
Steve: Or know someone, like, have the that can fund it. Right? If you have a hard money lender, something.
Speaker: Yep. But
Steve: if you have zero intention to ever close on it, that's fraud. I echo that. And she she will forward your contact info to the attorney general. She says that's not a real estate problem. That is a criminal activity, and she just forwards all those complaints to the attorney general.
Speaker: Okay.
Steve: Second, if you contract the property and you don't close on it, and you refuse to release your memorandum, now you've put the homeowner in a in a bind that they don't deserve to be in. Because you promised to buy it for, say, for example, 200,000 Mhmm. And you wanna do a price drop to $1.60, and homeowner says no, you have an obligation to close at 200,000. Seller's unwillingness to lower the price is not their problem. It's your problem.
And, again, that's not a real estate thing. She redirects you to the attorney general. Again, sounds reasonable. Sounds reasonable. And the third one, I don't agree with, but she's the commissioner, so she has a stronger voice
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: Is, she believes sub two is a problem. She thinks that if you are, what's the word, the moment you buy a property, buyer and seller have an obligation to notify the mortgage company immediately. And she says failure to disclose that is a violation of the due on sale clause. I agree with her. Alright.
So on that one, I didn't agree with her.
Speaker: I don't know that I think that that is actually written into,
Steve: Is that written into the mortgage?
Speaker: Yeah. It's in there. There's no other part. Is in there. You agreed to it, to do that.
However
Steve: I need I might need to look at it again. I
Speaker: haven't looked
Steve: at it for a long time.
Speaker: It's been years since I looked at it too. Yeah. But I believe that that language is in there. Mhmm. However, if you do mail that letter off Mhmm.
And disclose Mhmm. I'm not aware of one person in The US. In fact, I'm aware of, like, very few cases. I think it's less than a handful
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: Where they have called that note due.
Steve: Really?
Speaker: So so that was what I found. Again, it's been a long time, but
Steve: I think
Speaker: it's been a long time.
Steve: But I think it's
Speaker: been a long time.
Steve: But I think it's
Speaker: been a long time.
Steve: But I think it's been
Speaker: a long time. But I think it's
Speaker: been a long time.
Speaker: Disclosing. Yeah. That was kinda what I was trying to. But, yeah, I I am aware that when you sign on that dotted line, I believe that you do say, let you know. Right.
If have you ever done a hard money one?
Steve: Yes.
Speaker: Would you like to know if somebody did something like that to you?
Steve: You mean as a lender? Yeah. Oh, no. I haven't done it on the lending side.
Speaker: Okay. Again, I think if you were a hard money lender and you did that and someone did something like that to you Mhmm. And completely changed the documents, I think you'd wanna know. If I let you know Mhmm. And put you on notice, I'll let you know.
Steve: You've done your part.
Speaker: I've done my part.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker: So so I looked into and and, again, this is probably yeah. It's it's it's probably more than a decade ago when I looked into this because it was a fascinating subject. But I am I'll go ahead and say I'm a 100% that that documentation, that language is written into the paperwork.
Steve: Well, I will sit here and tell you I've never studied it.
Speaker: I I I I did, but, again, it's been a long time ago.
Steve: I am aware of a due on sale clause as a paragraph. Right? You got the black bold font, due on sale clause. And And my understanding was they reserve the rights when it changes hands.
Speaker: Yeah. And and and, you know Yeah. You can balance it.
Speaker: Sure.
Steve: And and But I'm with you. If it says you must disclose, then you must disclose. I just don't remember it saying it must disclose, but I'm not a big sub two guy either.
Speaker: I'm not a huge sub two guy, and and there were many reasons why, but this was one of the main reasons why we never sort of did it. And because we wanted to really focus on what we were doing. But but I think they're there. You will find a lot of that when you're signing on the line. I think that there is language that suggests that that that
Steve: So you're okay with her positions?
Speaker: I'm okay with her positions. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. And so when you're saying stop monkeying around, like, that is kinda what you're referring
Speaker: to. Yeah. Examples of things like that. You know, when it's really obvious. Most of those were pretty obvious.
Mhmm. If you didn't close on the deal, I understand the use of memorandums, and and if if there was a fault on your end, it seems for you. It's not?
Steve: Yeah. I mean, I've got no issues memorandums. If they change their mind, we sign a legal agreement.
Speaker: Yeah.
Steve: But if you can't honor the contract, like, what are you doing?
Speaker: What are you doing? Yeah. And and a lot of those are kinda like that. When you we start looking
Steve: at Unfortunately.
Speaker: You're kinda like, golly, what were you doing? Yeah. Like, in what world are you justifying this? Yeah. But but, yeah, most of them are really obvious.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: But, yeah, that's that's why I have a bit of a problem with that word. Not because I necessarily disagree with it. Don't like the word. Just because I think a lot of things that are associated with that. Right.
Steve: And the people are screaming about it.
Speaker: Yeah. Right.
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Steve: And finally, we got Michael Smith. Now Michael and I, we work together quite a bit. He's one of my favorite people. This guy takes what I do and what I believe to be true and he 10 x's it. Right?
I believe in coaching. I believe in mentorship. With the amount of money I spent in personal development, I could probably buy a really, really nice house. Right? Well, he spends significantly more than that.
And so we talk about the importance of personal development, and I actually got to witness it firsthand. We just had an event, two weeks ago, and he flew his entire acquisitions team into our office so we can train him together for two full days. Not only does he believe in personal development, he also believes in investing in his team. So we talked a lot about how he was able to do 700 k in his very first year and how he attributed so much to personal development. Right?
He's basically paid to be in every room possible so he can get the best information and implement it inside his business. So we talked about that. We talked about the sales process. He's been one of the best salespeople his entire career, and he talked about how incorporating our sales process has helped his team take it to the next level. As a just a quick plug, we had his team come out here, like I said, a couple weeks ago.
On the first day back, they did a 100 k in revenue. I thought that was pretty awesome. And we also talked about how his motivation was his grandfather talking about don't blow money on expensive cars. That's not for people like us and how that was the fuel to push him to go so hard. And we also gotta talk about, you know, the fun stuff like cars.
There are a lot of people, gurus you follow, you respect, people I look up to and listen to where we disagree, where they talk about how you should never spend money on cars. Michael and I have different opinions on that, and we talk about it on this episode. Check it out.
Speaker: Pickup Poison. I am a car fanatic. Mhmm. I've loved cars. I remember seeing, like, Lamborghini Murcielagos and Gallatos when I was a kid, and my grandpa would be like, you can never afford that.
And so I I'm just a car fanatic for sure.
Speaker: Does that
Steve: stick out in your head when you said that?
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Definitely. It's that and just, like, expensive things in general. Mhmm.
I remember my grandparents were my grandpa was he's super modest. Never understands the the the high life Mhmm. Kinda thing. And and, yeah, I remember every moment he's ever told me, like, oh, that person's the only showboating and all that stuff. And don't
Steve: get me wrong.
Speaker: There are definitely people who have Ferraris, Lamborghinis, all those things in their showboating, but there are definitely those people, and I'm one of those people who just enjoy the car. That is my art. I appreciate it for what it is, not for anything else.
Steve: Yeah. We had that conversation. You were here for ourselves leadership training a week ago, week or two ago. And we're talking about, do you remember what I said about Lamborghinis?
Speaker: I don't remember exactly, but it's definitely a knock on Lamborghini owners.
Steve: Yeah. I mean, all I was saying was the only there's only one reason why a Lamborghini, and so they can post about it on Instagram. Right? And and there's a marketing expense at this at this point, but it's it's My CPA won't
Speaker: let me write them off, sadly, because he doesn't say they're he's he says they're not ordinary or necessary.
Steve: He's probably protecting you.
Speaker: He
Speaker: is. I'm okay with it too.
Steve: So, you know, a principle I learned along the way as far as marketing and sales goes is, like, you bar you there's there's three levels. Mhmm. There's the the mind, the brain. Yep. Right.
That's the logical. Doesn't sell very well. Right? And then there's the heart. Right?
And the heart is, like, you know, how do you feel and this and that. Mhmm. And then the lowest level is the loins. Yeah. Right?
And this identity. Mhmm. Right? Like, people will pay a premium for identity.
Speaker: Oh, yeah. Totally.
Steve: Right? So Lamborghinis, I put in that in that category.
Speaker: I agree with you, but something about a revving natural aspirated v 10 engine just brings out an emotion.
Steve: Oh, I completely agree with that. I love the sound of Italian cars. Yeah. I completely am on board. Both my life.
Cars. I love cars. But I'm bringing this up because you have more than a few. I do. That is correct.
Right. So I just kinda wanna drive into this point. Uh-huh. You know, like, the the things that might might have driven you.
Speaker: Yeah.
Steve: Right? So your grandfather says, that's that's not for you or you'll never afford it. Or if they have it, it's because you're showboating.
Speaker: Yep. Those were the
Steve: Like and those are the things that are etched in your brain?
Speaker: Yeah. Definitely.
Steve: You think that leads to your car collection today?
Speaker: I I
Speaker: think so. I remember when I bought my first I had two Shelbys, a GT three fifty r and a GT 500. I didn't tell anyone about them for two years. Like, I was embarrassed that I had these cars. I was embarrassed that I loved them and that I and and me and my girlfriend would take it out all the weekends and, like, I didn't tell her her stepdad was a lot the same as my grandpa.
Mhmm. I didn't tell him for, like, three months that I had this car. He was so mad that I because he was a car guy. He just didn't see, like, it logic he was very logical brain. Mhmm.
Didn't matter. You could have $10,000,000 in the bank.
Speaker: He's
Speaker: not gonna spend a $100,000 on a car.
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'm like, what's the point of having $10,000,000 in the bank Mhmm. If you're not gonna go have fun? Like Right. To me, that's fun.
Steve: Go
Speaker: ahead. So what I yeah. It definitely affected me. Like, I I still haven't told my grandpa that I have a Lambo. I've had it for four months.
He has no idea. Yeah. I have a Porsche. He has no idea that I own a Porsche. I've had that thing for almost a year now.
Mhmm. So, yeah, it's I I do it for me, not anyone else. But I think, like, it's always in the back of your mind that someone else is gonna judge you for this one way or another. And I've learned too. Those cars inspire people.
I'll be out driving and someone will be like, dad, I wanna have that car. And and I've corrected the dad's like, oh, you'll never get that. It's like, no. If he wants that and he puts in the work, he can get it. Like, there's trillions of dollars printed.
Why can't he just have his 200,000? It's not that much.
Steve: It kinda reminds me of Wolf of Wall Street. I don't remember this thing exactly.
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Steve: But it was, like, you know, if you can show me a check, whatever, like Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: Yeah. Is that you can inspire people.
Speaker: Yep.
Steve: And my dad, that was the same thing. You know? Like, it's 2024. I wanna say, like, five or six years ago. He finally sold his 1998 Dodge Caravan.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right?
Steve: He had that Dodge Caravan for, like, twenty years. I remember growing up, same things like that. You know, how come we don't have nice cars? You know? Because we had like, my first car was a Pontiac 6,000, which is is an awful car.
It was 85 horsepower. They had the, let's see, Oldsmobile six was it Oldsmobile silhouette? Alright. Dodge Camry. These are these are just not the funnest cars.
Yeah. And I was like, like, dad, why don't you work hard. Like, you have a really nice house. Like, why don't you have a nice car? He's like, oh, those are for people that just want to put it on their credit.
Yeah. In Showboat. In Showboat.
Speaker: Yeah. That's my grandpa is the same thing. His I think his only vehicle that he's bought new was a 99 f one fifty. He sold that to me in 2015. So, what, twenty six years Mhmm.
For, I think, a thousand bucks. I sold it for a thousand bucks two years later. But it had 380,000 miles, all original everything. Yeah. And so he literally drove that thing into the dirt.
And even when he got another truck, when he bought it a year old, because, like, I'm never buying a new truck again. I'm like, it worked out. What's the big deal? Just go buy a new truck, man.
Steve: Yeah.
Speaker: He kept the old one because he didn't wanna put miles on a new one. Yeah. So I think it's scarcity mindset, though, too.
Steve: Oh, there's definitely a scarcity mindset. And I think, you know, it comes up with your upbringing. Yeah. Yeah. Like, my my dad came over here.
I mean, he's had everything taken away. Like Yeah.
Speaker: They had much harder lives than we did Yeah.
Speaker: When the
Speaker: grants came with things.
Steve: The the adversity that my parents went through, your grandfather went through, way harsher than adversity Yeah.
Speaker: That we
Steve: went through.
Speaker: Like, we got to see all the people who
Speaker: went through adversity and overcame it due to the Internet and things like that. They didn't have that.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: So, like, my grandpa was been in Ohio his whole life. So, like, he had tough times, but he didn't have, like, the adversity of coming into a new country like your dad did. Mhmm. But he definitely had adversity, and he never saw other people overcoming adversity. So we they were always scared that mobility
Speaker: Yeah.
Steve: Was not as much of an option.
Speaker: Yeah. We like, we all we
Speaker: can go look on the Internet when there's a problem that we've run into. Oh, has anyone overcome this problem? Yeah.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: I mean, there's always people who don't overcome it as well. Sure. But you get to choose which side you wanna follow.
Steve: But there's a road map you can follow.
Speaker: Yeah. Whereas our my grandparents and your dad didn't have that.
Steve: Yeah. There's just w two Yeah. Forever.
Speaker: Yeah. That's all I thought.
Steve: Yeah. So one of my pet peeves
Speaker: Yeah.
Steve: Is when someone says you shouldn't spend money on cars until you have x. Yeah. You wanna speak on that?
Speaker: Oh, well, I'm assuming it's gonna talk about x amount of real estate.
Steve: X amount of real estate,
Speaker: x amount
Steve: of income, x amount of dollars in the bank account, all these things. Right? Like, they judge you on buying cars, but they'll never judge you on the house or the vacations or anything else or the watches. Yeah.
Speaker: That's what I do. I'm going through right now in my child support. They're like, why do you have all these cars? Because my tax return doesn't show I'm actually making any money because I'm sure it doesn't shock you. But my argument is, hey.
If I go on a vacation and spend $10,000, it's gone. Poof. I can never sell that vacation. I can't go, hey. Here's this picture of me in Jamaica.
I paid $10,000 for this experience. Write me a check for, I'll sell it to you for 9,500. I'll give you a great deal, and you'll have that doesn't work that way.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: The Lamborghini in in particular, I bought it for, I think, $3.15.
Speaker: Mhmm.
Speaker: I could literally sell that thing for $3.90, and I put 2,000 miles on it in four months. Mhmm. You can't and that's a ton of fun to me. Like, that gives me more fun than a trip to Jamaica ever will
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Personally. I I get it. It's not for everyone, may not be for you. That's okay. But my argument is I could as long as I can always afford the payments on that thing and and I put 50% down, I can sell it and be out of it.
Steve: Mhmm.
Speaker: If I go on a vacation, I can't ever sell that and get that money back ever. Yeah. And a lot of people are paying for vacations credit cards, by the way.
Steve: They won't they won't tell you that.
Speaker: They won't tell you that.
Steve: That's it. Those are my seven favorite episodes this year. Like I said, it was really tough to pick through all of them, how to really select just seven. There are a lot of honorable mentions. There are a lot right there on the bubble.
It was kinda hard to figure to it's hard kinda hard to figure out which one to go with. So I hope you guys got a lot of value, and I wanna say thank you so much. You guys are watching these episodes. You guys are listening on iTunes and Spotify. It means a lot.
So thank you very much. I appreciate you guys for continuing to watch our videos, listen to our podcast, and sharing it with all your friends. Thank you.
Speaker: Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.
