The Biggest Reason People Fail in Real Estate

Zach Booth: If you're saying to yourself, I can't because those are words inside your head. I can't because I'm seeing them all. I can't because I have two jobs. I can't because right? The moment you're able to find someone else that has done it because of those or or in spite of those things, you will never start asking yourself, how can I because I'm a single mom?

How can I because I have two jobs? So If you do not understand, you're not in the business of real estate. You are in the business of marketing. You will not be in business for long. I found that there's some major things that keep people from being successful.

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of real estate disruptors. Today, we have Zach Booth with driving for dollars, and Zach flew in from Salt Lake City to talk about the biggest reason people fail in real estate. And I think this is a crucially important topic. And I was going over, and I saw the last time you were here was January 22.

So we're gonna talk a lot about some of the things that have changed within your business or what you've seen. Right? Because a lot has changed since January 22, especially in real estate. Now, guys, I I am on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. The information on the show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire.

You'll take consistent action in the next five to seven years, you will become a millionaire. And, guys, if you get value out of that show, out of this show, please hit that subscribe button. That way, we can all grow together. Ready?

Zach: Ready.

Steve: Alright. So, again, January 22. Couple of events have occurred in real estate. Yeah. Right?

Some things have happened. Yeah. So what has your life and business looked like in the last two plus years?

Zach: There was definitely some ups and downs. There was definitely some hiccups. Mhmm. And, especially our our market in Utah, we had I mean, you probably know a lot of the guys. Yeah.

There's been some big players that have gone out of business. Right. Very big players and very big players that even though they didn't go out of business, have a good personal friend that I spend time with and I hunt with, and, he had over 50 properties in his inventory that he was selling. He's very much, end up flipping, buying, flipping. Yeah.

He said he lost over $2,000,000 on those 50 properties.

Steve: $2,000,000.

Zach: $2,000,000. Yes. Couple other wholesalers went out of business that were doing 2,000,000 plus a year Mhmm. In wholesale fees. And we actually have made more money every single year

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Year after year. So financially for me, I've been okay. Yeah. But I think there are certain things that I've done differently to position myself regardless of the market, regardless of of, what happens as far as cost per lead and that kind of stuff to make sure I stay in business.

Steve: Yeah. You look at, like, the markets. It's it seemed like and sorry if this is not repetitive for some of you guys with that our regular listeners. It seems like things went crazy in June '22, and it started on the West Coast, mostly California and Phoenix, and it it just rolled east. And Boise and Salt Lake City and Vegas, but mostly, like, Salt Lake City and Boise hammered.

Yeah. It was like an anchor, on the pricing. Yeah. So how did it the you said it affected a couple of, couple of multiple flippers, multiple wholesalers. Your strategy primarily is wholesaling.

Is that accurate?

Zach: Correct. Yeah. That that would be my primary strategy. Yeah.

Steve: So it didn't really affect you as far as assets that you owned? Correct.

Zach: So I own assets. I buy I I got into real estate. I got into wholesaling.

Steve: I mean, it could be up one of the the ones that you were holding on to sell. You you didn't have anything that you're holding on to sell.

Zach: I had I had one deal that I lost $90 on.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: It was a high end home in Sugar House. And as interest rates were climbing, values were tanking, and I had issues with a a contract. I had a lot of issues. I could have assigned I could have wholesale that deal for a 140,000. It would have been my biggest wholesale deal.

I had a cash offer, and I decided to flip it to make 300,000, and I ended up losing 80,000. Everything had go wrong, went wrong. Mhmm. But big part of it was evaluations or the valuations were tanking because of, the hike in interest rates. It was, like, a million 4,000,005 sales price at the end.

So it was a big high end pro project too. So it was my first high end project. Bad timing.

Steve: I think that's normally how it goes.

Zach: Yeah. Those

Steve: high ends were just like, well, I'm ready to to go in the big leagues. Let's let's do this, and it's never as simple as it seems. So everything that can go wrong went wrong. Yeah. What were those things that went wrong?

Zach: Oh, shoot. I did a joint venture agreement with a guy that brought me the deal. Mhmm. Didn't vet him well enough. Also gave him control on the deal where he was the contractor, which I also didn't vet that enough.

So he stole from me.

Steve: Oh, really?

Zach: Yes. Caused lots of issues, put a wrongful lien Mhmm. So I couldn't sell it because I was not making money. Mhmm. He thought I was hiding money because he stole from me, so he thought I would do the same thing.

Steve: Projecting it. Yeah.

Zach: Yeah. So he's projecting his own own fears. So I almost lost my buyer that was locked in on the interest rate Mhmm. As they were climbing. I was gonna lose my buyer, also lose the values that I had it locked in at.

So, attorney's fees, all sorts of other things as well involved paying him out to get him to remove the even though I could have it removed, my deadlines, I had to settle with the guy. So I had to pay him an additional

Steve: from you.

Zach: Yeah. So I had to pay him an addition after he stole $20 from me and completely botched the remodel. Took six months longer than it was supposed to. I ended up having to pay him $40,000 to get him to remove a wrongful notice of interest that I could get removed legally within two weeks. Mhmm.

But by then, the deadline for the appraisal and the, the locked in rates for the buyer were gone.

Steve: Jeez. So

Zach: so yeah. I mean, it was just a bad deal. I made some mistakes, but the biggest thing is is that was just the one deal that I lost money on. Right? Move on.

Right?

Steve: If you could do it over again, what would you do what would you do differently?

Zach: Take the $140,000 assignment fee.

Steve: Definitely number one. Yes.

Zach: Yeah. Yeah. Take

Steve: the assignment fee.

Zach: Take the assignment fee, guys. I was talking to a student today, actually, on our on our coaching call, and he has a flip where he's like, man, I think I'm gonna make a $100,000. Like, well, if you're gonna make a $100,000 on that flip, you should be able to assign it for 40. I was like, you have no experience flipping. Everything possible can go wrong, and you're taking risk.

And he's like, well, don't worry. I have a partner that's flipped a lot of houses. We're splitting the profits. And here's the math. You partner with someone that knows what they're doing, so you guarantee the 100,000 profit.

But now you're 50,000 to him, 50,000 to you. Why not take $40,000 now, take a big portion of that, dump it into more leads, more deals. Mhmm. Mathematically, in three months from now, you're gonna probably have two, three deals from just those marketing dollars. You're gonna make a 100,000 in your pocket for sure.

Mhmm. Right? And so for me, I believe that the business is not flipping. The business isn't wholesaling. It's not buying rentals.

I think people get caught up in the strategy. It's not sub two. It's not creative finance. Mhmm. The business is finding deeply discounted deals.

It's it's marketing, and it's sales. Mhmm. And people people focus on the wrong thing. Yeah. You gotta get good deals.

Steve: So we're gonna talk about the biggest reason why people fail in real estate. And you said the one thing you do differently was actually wholesale it. Yeah. Probably a little bit, they probably go hand in hand with what we're gonna be talking about in a minute. Yep.

What were some other big changes in the last couple of years?

Zach: Well, if I remember right, we had just announced our forty day challenge

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: That we did. So those that didn't catch the last time, I did a, a forty day challenge where I wanted to prove my marketing system, my driving for dollar system, could change your life. Right? And it didn't matter where you lived, didn't matter the market. If you wanted to find deeply discounted properties, I have a way to do it.

So I had a thousand bucks to spend on my business, flew across the country, and I wanted to make the average American income in just forty days.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: I ended up blowing that goal completely out of the water. It's free on YouTube to watch, right, under playlist just for the forty day challenge. But, I've had so many people in the last couple years that have gone through that and watched that, done their first deal because of it. I've seen how hard it really is.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: How hard you really have to work. And I think over the last two years, that's probably one of the most fulfilling things that's happened to me in my professional life is seeing something that I put some blood, sweat, and tears into for for a lot of time that's made such a positive impact in Yeah. In the community. So

Steve: So you're telling me this is not a get rich quick scheme?

Zach: It's get rich pretty damn quick. But it's not a scheme. It it's not done without hard work, and it's also not done without the right skill sets and the right understanding. Right? Like, this is not go send some postcards, and then all of a sudden you make a $100.

Like, it doesn't it doesn't work that way.

Steve: Okay. So so we're talking about, you you looked around your environment because, yeah, we know a lot of the same people in Salt Lake. Right? We've had Jason Lewis on here a couple of times.

Zach: I love him. I'm actually talking to him Friday.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Yeah. You yeah. Good to talk.

Steve: So we had, so I'm trying to think some other people that are in that neck of the woods, but they prefer to be private. They don't really like to come on and and show off. Right? We got, we got Clay and, I wanna say, Brian.

Zach: Brian Martin.

Steve: Yeah. Right? Yeah. There's a there's a lot of guys out there, and, Cody Hawthorne has been on here a couple of times. Mhmm.

And it's immensely competitive. You know, I look at the environment up there. It's not that big of area. No. But it seems like you have as many major operators up in that market.

And what we saw was when things changed was a lot of guys dialed back on marketing. They cut back on marketing. Did you guys see something similar? We need to hire nine salespeople in the next five weeks. We launched our done for you sales service just a month ago, and the demand for it has been absolutely crazy.

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Zach: No. We didn't. I'm actually going to ramp up marketing, like, a lot right now, and there's a couple reasons for that. But I I'll I'll give you some statistics on that. Yeah.

So with my driving for dollars list Mhmm. We add about 2,000 addresses every single week.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And Utah's a small area, so how do I add that many rundown different

Steve: follow-up question. Yeah.

Zach: Yes. So how do you do that? That's the first question I always get every time. And the way we do that is we redrive every area every six months where the deals are being done. Mhmm.

And we do that because we want the list to be fresh. We want that list to be the houses that are that are are in distress that now have a couch in the front yard where they didn't before. Now the grass is long where it wasn't before. We about 80% of the properties we add each week were on the list before.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: But there's always a fresh 20%, and we want those fresh 20%. That's why using Google Maps is not a good way to do driving for dollars. Right? It's old data. So we re drive every six months.

We had 2,000 properties. One of the things that we look at is where is our competitors doing deals? Mhmm. So we're on all their buyers list. So we look at all the wholesale deals that come out.

We compiled about a 100 addresses. This yeah. There's about a 100 addresses of deals that were blasted out via email by our competitors. These are deals that they're doing. Mhmm.

We looked at, was actually more than a 100, but a 100 of them were in our driving for dollars database. That means we tag that ugly house. It was in our Excel spreadsheet of people we were marketing to. Mhmm. Only one of those people had responded to a piece of marketing and were in our CRM.

Mhmm. The other 100 deals never even got into our CRM. They never responded, which meant I didn't reach out to my list enough.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: So if you do the math, our average wholesale fee is $30,000. 100 deals is $3,000,000 I missed out on on a list I already have built. Mhmm. So so

Steve: It's pretty rough.

Zach: So It well, it's exciting though because it's like I know That's

Steve: a positive way to look at it.

Zach: Yeah. It's it's sucks I lost out $3,000,000, but I promise I'm gonna make more next year because of this knowledge.

Steve: So, you look at this list because, like, I have a slightly different experience with this. You know? One is if we're on the list, one thing we did for a while, was we take every property that was sent to us, and we just kinda put it in our CRM and then check to see if it's sold in sixty days.

Zach: Mhmm.

Steve: If it hasn't sold, now we're blown up that list. That's one thing we've done. Another thing is if I see a property that we went to, we didn't get it, I just feel sick to my stomach. I mean, that's just like it's a hit to the ego. Right?

We Yeah. It it wasn't on our list for a drive for dollars, but, like, that guy's in our CRM. Our guys went the the, our team went out there, and we didn't lock it up. Yep. So it's it's it's a big blow to the summit.

So you talk about how you see great opportunity now. So then what's the action plan knowing that you had a 100 people? One of them responded. Didn't buy it. Right?

You didn't get under contract. They just responded. Yep. And the other 99 was radio silence. Yep.

So what's the plan moving forward?

Zach: Well, one of the major changes that's happened is the federal regulations around texting and cold calling.

Steve: Oh, yeah. That's another big change in the last

Zach: Huge change. Right? So your outreach strategies and legalities have changed. Yeah. You gotta register your numbers and do all that stuff, but we're still seeing that we're contacting with texting and cold calling way less than we ever did before.

Mhmm. And then once they've already told us no, with our cold calling platforms, we're not calling them and texting them ever again.

Steve: Right.

Zach: So what what we're having to do now is postcard heavier, which can be hard sometimes because it's it's a more expensive approach to blast more postcards. But, we have not dialed in the most profitable strategy, but we're testing. We're split testing. But our plan right now is to send a postcard probably every other month to that list.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Right? One immediately every other month, and we redrive. We'll start the same sequence over. Or before, we were only sending one postcard.

Steve: Oh, just one total?

Zach: One every six months.

Steve: Now we're

Zach: gonna probably send six

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Every year.

Steve: Every other month? I'm just thinking out loud here. Right? Not not questioning the plan. Any thoughts on maybe hitting that list more than once every other month, but hitting it with a different message?

Zach: It's a great question, and we've thought of that. We've thought of different templates, and putting different tracking numbers on those different templates. We haven't done that yet, but, yes, like, these are these are the things that we wanna test. And I've tested different, mail pieces in the past. Mhmm.

I got higher response rates. It was just more f u's. It wasn't a higher, appointment or lead ratio to response. It was just more responses. Right?

And so it was I just had more stuff to go through that was a waste of time. Yeah. So we've thought about doing a different sequence and, you know, hey. We tried to send you this letter, and then we sent another letter, and we send very vague stuff. Like, I know, Micah with US Leads List.

I've been talking to him a lot. Mhmm. He has some generic stuff where he gets he claims that from the generic postcard, we wanna buy your house at this address to a very vague conversation of, hey. I was curious. I understand you may be the person responsible for this property.

Can you call me?

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Right? And he's getting a five x on his response rate, but then it's like, do they actually want a seller? Are we just Right.

Steve: Spending our time spinning our will? So What are the KPIs we're tracking?

Zach: Yeah. So we're we're testing, and I don't have exact data on that, but that's a fun of it. Right? But I know that there's a massive amount of opportunity out there. I'm already making over $1,000,000.

Mhmm. But now I know that there's millions more just on what I'm already doing. And it's so even though my market's small, even though it's extremely competitive, one of the most expensive costs per click on Google Oh, yeah. So we know it's the most competitive market all across the nation. I'm still crushing it with a strategy.

And the interesting thing is this strategy was born out of the necessity to compete.

Steve: Right.

Zach: I was doing what everyone else was saying to do on, you know, podcasts like this and buying lists and prop stream and listsource.com and and and, PPC, and I was just getting crushed.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: I was

Steve: getting crushed. And I think, my understanding is Salt Lake City, outside of California, is the highest. Like, it's it's way more egregious than Phoenix. If you wanna compete in p p compete on PPC, you got I think you got Brandon Bateman out there. Mhmm.

Right? And you have at least one other major PPC. Like, a person that created a PPC service Yep. For his business and had so much success, he's selling it to other people. Yep.

You have multiple people in Salt Lake doing that. Yep. So it's it's pretty insane.

Zach: Well, then you have, like, you you know, we have, the, Joe Homebuyer's franchise.

Steve: Mhmm. Right.

Zach: So there's there's three different franchises of this wholesaling company right within Utah, all doing over $1,000,000 a year in wholesaling Yeah. Which is crazy. And so, yeah, there's and their most of their strategies online is Facebook.

Steve: Yeah. Oh, it makes total sense.

Zach: Yep.

Steve: So what I liked what you said was you're tracking where deals are done. Right? So it's so easy to just take these email blasts you get and just kinda mark them as spam, whatever you wanna hurt your competitor, this or that.

Zach: Mhmm.

Steve: But you guys are actively reviewing the data. Yeah. So talk to me about how you guys are reviewing that data.

Zach: Well, I I suggest this when like, in the very beginning. So for for someone listening to this going, I don't even know how to start. Mhmm. I'm brand new. Where do I go drive for dollars?

My ninja strategy that I teach people is get on your competitors' cash buyers list, not to try and sabotage the deals, not to talk to their sellers. Don't go do something shady. But there is gold where there's gold. You're not gonna go pan for gold where no one's ever not found you know, found gold. You gotta go where there's gold.

And so if they're finding a deal in that neighborhood, in that ZIP code, there's many, many, many more.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? And there's gonna be more with time as people have the need and desire to sell their house. So those are the areas where you wanna go drive. Mhmm. So we originally did it just to test that where we're driving is profitable.

Mhmm. Because we started noticing there were certain neighborhoods, all of our revenue was coming from it.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: When we did that research and looked and put it on the map of pins of all the areas Mhmm. You know, we used Google Maps and pinned all those addresses.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: We discovered that two thirds of the addresses sorry. One third of the addresses that we were adding every single month were a waste of money. Mhmm.

Steve: So

Zach: we're able to save a third of our marketing dollars and pour it all back into the areas that are actually gonna make us money. Yeah. And so so knowing where those deals are being done, knowing where to drive, knowing where to spend your money on marketing is gonna be huge. And so, you know, getting on those cash buyers list. And and if you're not on the cash buyers list, another thing that you can do is you can go to, you know, Facebook, and there's different Facebook groups.

Search real estate investor, groups, real estate investor in your city, real estate investor in your state. Once you get into those groups, you can search key terms like deal, opportunity Mhmm. The at sign. You can search key terms. And in the archives of that Facebook group, see where people are like, hey.

I've got this deal at this address. Yeah. Yeah. I've got this deal in this city. Right?

And you're gonna be able to see your competitors doing deals.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: You don't necessarily have to sit on the email list and wait till you see the deals. You can go back and find them all.

Steve: Right. So how would one go about right now getting on a bunch of people's list?

Zach: One of the fastest ways is just Google sell my house fast. Just Google sell my house fast, and then it's gonna pull up, you know, the paid PPC. It's gonna pay the sponsored ones. You can call those and then the organic ones. You just call them and say, hey.

You know, I'm an investor. I was wondering if you guys wholesale any of your deals, if you have a cash buyers list, or if you guys, you know, flip all your own properties. Mhmm. How what is it gonna take to get on your buyers list? If you do that many times last, what's your buy box, what's your criteria, basically, is what they're saying.

And and you say, well, anything that's a good deal, I'd be potentially interested in. How do I get on your email list? Mhmm. That would be the way to do it. But also many states, many cities, there's Facebook groups where the deals are being put.

It's a lot faster. Yeah. So

Steve: Yeah. I'm I'm wondering now how many of those people are clicking on my ads.

Zach: To to do your data.

Steve: To be on our list. But I love the the brilliance that we're talking about. Like, as far as, like, figuring out where the deals are because Emer I don't I didn't don't do this nearly as often right now. Right? But this is a long time ago when I was doing my own stuff.

What I was looking at is, like, a majority of my deals are in Northwest Phoenix. Yep. Right? Like, going up to 17

Zach: Those in Phoenix. Now you know where to drive.

Steve: Northwest Right? Northwest Phoenix. Right? Like, you go to 17. You get off around Peoria or Olive or Dunlap, and that's it.

Like, there were spots where, like, it was my go to spot for a smoothie. Like, I go to an appointment. On the way back, I stopped at this one place for a smoothie. Right? That's just how often I was going to that part of town.

And then you just go back to your PPC. It's like, alright. Everything in this area, let's bump it 20%. Everything not in this area, lower the bid 20%. Right?

So I I love the I love the strategy here. So postcard heavy. You were saying you were working with who for for postcards?

Zach: Open Letter Marketing is who we're currently using.

Steve: Yeah. Okay. So, you know, we're talking about the number one reason or the biggest reason why people fail in real estate. Yep. Talk to me.

Like, what you're you're working with how many people have you have you worked with now?

Zach: Yeah. So I started coaching in 2018, and I've coached nearly a thousand people now.

Steve: Thousand now. Okay.

Zach: Yeah. So we're getting close to a thousand mark. I have a picture. So it's a lot of students, but this is where I spend actually most of my time is coaching. Mhmm.

So I have a team that runs my real estate business. I sit on the finance meetings and the KPI meetings and the team meeting. It's about all I do in the real estate company, and I help make decisions and

Steve: The visionary stuff.

Zach: Yeah. It's wonderful. I love it because I actually don't like real estate. I do because I like the money. But I love the coaching.

I love helping people. I love, like just this week, I've had four successful students call me. I had one student, literally, I was just talking to. When you walked in, I was talking to him. And he's got a seller finance, $10,000 down, 0% interest, eight year balloon.

He's got his monthly payment's $500 a month. Wow. $500 a month. It rents for 1,500 a month. Mhmm.

It's like he's like, I can assign it for, like, $30. I got 90 people fighting over it right now. It's a $30,000 assignment fee. Right? It's amazing.

So, anyways, I I love this stuff, but I'll have a picture of all my students, and I've and I take them through four stages Mhmm. To then go out on my success wall once they've closed their first deal. And as I've pushed people through these four stages over the years, I found that there's some major things that keep people from being successful. The the first major, major one is people get caught up in this, maybe you've heard it, analysis paralysis. It's the most common thing you get listening to podcasts like this in YouTube videos, and you're you're watching my TikToks, and you're, you know, you're out out doing research, which is great, but there's a certain point where you have to have a blueprint and start taking action.

Mhmm. And I found that even students that will sign up with a coach or with me or any coach, they still think that they need to be in the research phase. Mhmm. What they need to do is they need to find someone or or something, some kind of a blueprint of what they need to do. So if they want something free, like, go watch my forty day challenge, put my blueprint together.

I've had hundreds of people that have just gone and watched that forty day challenge and have done deals. Right? And have that blueprint and go to work. Yeah. Turn off the YouTube.

Turn off the podcast. Kinda funny. We're on a podcast segment. Right?

Steve: There's been irony to it.

Zach: Yeah.

Steve: And and I'm with you on this.

Zach: Yeah.

Steve: You know, we we were talking earlier, like, there's great irony. Like, because I remember my best friend, he was talking about how he's kinda, all over the place. And he's a successful person. Right? Yeah.

Because somebody's all over the place, like, what, you know, what I do. I was like, well, you know, talk to me about, like, your drive to work. What do you listen to? He's like, oh, I listen to podcasts. I will stop right there.

What? I was like, yeah. I don't listen to podcasts. And that sounds, I don't know what's the word, blasphemous perhaps or podcast or we run three different shows.

Zach: And that's why I like you though. Because you're honest and you're and you're you're you're here for them and helping people. Right?

Steve: Yeah. So I wanna get the message out, but, you know, you talk about content creators and content consumers. Yep. I think they were saying, like, it's less than 1% of social media people are creating the content that the other 99% are consuming. Yeah.

It's insane. Yep. Yeah. So analysis paralysis.

Zach: Yeah. So that's that's where it starts. Right? And then since they're in that place, they don't take action on the right things. Mhmm.

Right? I I recently had a student. Thank goodness he went under contract on his first property this last week Mhmm. Which is amazing, right, to coach him through that process. But I you know, he's driving, adding addresses, and he's full time doing real estate, and he adds addresses.

And his only way to reach out to that list is cold calling.

Steve: Mhmm. And I

Zach: found out only he had only dialed as many hours as you could potentially do in just one day Mhmm. Over an entire month.

Steve: Mhmm. Right?

Zach: So we had a a conversation and a heart to heart, and we figured out what he was doing with his time. And I said there's no research needing to be done. Right. And his now his hours are six to eight hours a day of cold calling. Within a few weeks of this, he goes under contract on Yeah.

On a deal. Nice. Right? So so having a blueprint and taking action. And and I also think that people don't know where to take action because what they're researching in the beginning, and I actually remember in my own journey, I was like, where do I start?

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Because you hear about developing Mhmm. And syndications

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And flipping and wholesaling and the Gator method and the and all these, like, wholetailing and, sub two and creative finance and seller finance and lease options. And you and you hear about all these things Mhmm. That you can do when you find a deal, when you find a seller Yeah. How to make money on the deal. And the problem is they never really understand or learn or start taking action on finding the deal.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: So I I read a book when I was starting that opened my eyes to this. And it's it was talking about and it actually kinda what gave me the idea for driving for dollars too, by the way. But it's called Multifamily Millions. Don't remember the author. And there's a paragraph in there, and he was talking about one of the first things you need is a way to find

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Deals. And he's talking about giant multifamily, you know, residential apartment buildings.

Steve: Yeah. Right?

Zach: And he said, what I like to do is drive around and find the buildings. K. This is crazy. Right? Because he he finds the buildings that look like they haven't been painted, that are rundown or old.

It means Deferred maintenance. Yeah. Deferred maintenance. So he's finding property owners that have had these rentals for a long time. They've probably depreciated out the asset, meaning they took advantage of the tax codes, and they've held it for a long time.

And financially, mathematically, emotionally, it makes sense for them to sell it, and they're gonna sell it at current value. Current value is run down. Mhmm. Current value is underpriced rents. Mhmm.

And so then he gets to go in and buy it at the current value, which is underpriced, fix it up, increase rents, increase the value, and make his money. He gets to flip the multifamily. Mhmm. It doesn't matter if it's an apartment building or if it's a single family home.

Steve: Right.

Zach: Right? You gotta start with a deeply discounted deal. And he said, if you do not understand, you're not in the business of real estate. You are in the business of marketing. You will not be in business for long.

Mhmm. What I found over the years is that that is 100% the truth, but we're actually not just in the business of marketing. We're in the business of marketing and sales. Right. Because if you can go find a seller, you can go do driving for dollars, you can go find someone that says, yes, I wanna sell.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: But if you don't know how to communicate with someone

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: You're not gonna

Steve: make any money. Of course.

Zach: Yeah. So I believe that our business is finding deeply discounted deals, getting them under contract. Mhmm. And then, yes, you can learn strategies and ways to make money with a deal. Right.

But, you know, we talk about all these people that have lost money because they didn't get good enough deals.

Steve: Right.

Zach: You get good enough deals, you won't lose your shorts.

Steve: Exactly. And we're we're also focused on building out our tool belt with all the different exit strategies. But you're just saying right now, it's it's marketing themselves. And the one skill that will never go out of business is finding deeply discounted properties.

Zach: Yep.

Steve: Has been true forever. I can't remember a time where this is not true. Right. If you can have that skill, nothing else matters. Like, you look at right now, a lot of loan officers are struggling.

A lot of realtors are struggling. A lot of wholesalers

Zach: Mhmm.

Steve: Are struggling. Flippers, I don't know I'm not sure they're struggling because by this point, they're either still in business or they're out of business. There's no struggling. Right?

Zach: Yep.

Steve: But they're lucky when they're struggling. It's because maybe they're not focused on the one single activity, finding the stress deals. Yep. So is that still part of the analysis for us, or is that something different?

Zach: I think it's a huge part of it. They they they they start researching, and they don't know where to start. They don't know how to start. Mhmm. Right?

So they just keep researching more and more and more. But I think what's important for people to understand is where they need to study and where they need to make their improvements, where they need to spend their time, where they need to invest into their education.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: The sales and marketing. Finding sell sellers that are willing to sell to a pawnshop. Right? They wanna sell their house at a discount. They don't wanna deal with it.

And then the the number two is learning how to sell. Mhmm. And and I know that you can talk on that for days.

Steve: It's my passion. Absolutely.

Zach: Exactly.

Steve: So how much is too much? Because we can't really quantify it. So I've given advice on this before. I'm not sure it's the right advice. Mhmm.

So what advice are you giving on someone who you think is just doing too much researching and learning or so on?

Zach: You know, I don't think there's an exact answer. Mhmm. I don't think that I have an exact answer on it other than the cool thing that I have, if someone's like, Zach, I don't know if I know how to sell well enough.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Zach, I don't know if I'm doing my marketing well enough.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: The cool thing is I know exactly how many leads Mhmm. You should be getting off of x amount of postcards. I know how many leads should equal an appointment. I know how many appointments should equal a contract. I know how many contracts should equal x amount of revenue depending on your market.

Steve: Right.

Zach: So I have a template that I give my students as they go out and do the work. Mhmm. And they, Zach, it's not working. You can literally look at their paper and say, that's your problem, and that's your problem. Right.

Let's let's improve your skill set here and improve your skill set here and get you on your way.

Steve: Alright. So you can look at the pipeline, or you can look at this assembly line.

Zach: Yeah. It's a it's a funnel. Right? Yeah. Top end of your funnel is your marketing, finding sellers.

Bottom end is money, deals closed.

Steve: Right.

Zach: Right? And it's always gonna funnel every business.

Steve: Absolutely.

Zach: And I know exactly what those ratios need to be depending on the median house price of the market. Yeah. So I don't care what market it is. That's why I was able to do the forty day challenge. You can send me anywhere in this country, and I can go make $93 in forty days.

Steve: Yeah. Right?

Zach: And I proved it. Yeah. Right? And it's because it's this funnel, and I understand the ratios. So for my students, I can look at their metrics because I have past experience.

And each person, they're different.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: I listen to camera if there's a book or an interview. I don't remember what it was. This is about three to four months ago, and I think it was someone giving a talk. I think it might have been, like, a TEDx talk. It was someone someone got up and stayed and was like, why is it someone go to a training, go to an event, go to a seminar, walk away and turn it into millions of dollars and actual profits, or someone else can take it away and say it was a scam and they never made any money.

And it's because the person that showed up that made money already had a baseline of skills. Mhmm. The other person had no skills. Mhmm.

Steve: And

Zach: so they were able to take the little bit of increase of knowledge with the base knowledge and turn it into something great. And so as a student comes to me, I have a chaplain, and I have an experienced sales rep that's been doing pharmaceutical sales for ten years.

Steve: Right.

Zach: There's certain skill sets that I have to teach one person versus another. Yeah. And so the exact amount for a general audience of how much time they need to educate themselves and where they need to educate themselves, that's hard to say because I don't have their metrics in front of me.

Steve: So I want your take on this. Because someone asked me, like, you know, how much time. And I basically just put a cap. I was like, you're not allowed to spend more than an hour a day learning. Right?

If you're spending more than an hour at this point, this is just purely entertainment. Because there's no way you can take enough action off that hour. Maybe it's thirty minutes. Maybe it's forty five minutes, but it's, like, an hour max. That's it.

Which for those of you guys listening, it's basically, you know, two episodes of PTD, like, over the course of two days. That's it. Right? You can't really do much more than that because, like Yeah. A, it's taking time away from income generating activities, and b, you can't take enough action off of that.

And, you know, over the course of a year or five hours a week, that's a lot a lot of learning that you can't implement all of it. I mean, just think about it. If you were to rate score yourself on the things you've learned, right, over the let's just say in the last year, how much of that have you actually implemented?

Zach: Not very much. But I fraction. But but hearing you talk, I was thinking about it. I was like, well, how much do I study?

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: How much do I because I read. I read books. I I listen to some podcasts. I I actually follow some people on Instagram. I follow you on Instagram.

Yeah. I do. And, I was like, where do I spend my time, and how do I spend my time, and where do I choose to invest into mentors and coaching? And what I do is I look at what my goals are. Mhmm.

And then I go to work on my goals. And then when I bang my head against the wall a couple times, I go, who can teach me? Mhmm. What can I learn? And then I search to solve that problem, become educated on the process, and implement what I learned, test it, see if it works, and then I keep educating myself if I don't get the results out.

Steve: Alright.

Zach: So I guess that the biggest problem is maybe people don't have a direction.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Maybe like, oh, it would be nice to get into real estate, not I'm gonna get my first real estate deal in the next three months.

Steve: Right.

Zach: Who, how, when, where? What do I need to do? Yeah. Right? So maybe that's the biggest issue is they don't have a a clear, like, determination.

This is what I want, and I'm gonna accomplish it. Maybe that's a big part of it. And

Steve: I was gonna say, like, I've definitely for myself, you know, it's a fraction. You know? And I would say the one thing is I I don't this is gonna sound maybe closed minded, and I don't I hope it doesn't come across this way. I don't need to learn more. I need to spend more time thinking.

Like, my struggle is not I don't know enough. My struggle is I'm I'm making decisions that I have to undo. Right? Like, hey. We did this thing.

It's like, oh, we we were just taking the time. We would've just not made that mistake. A classic example here. I I share with you. Right?

I was late today, right, for our scheduled podcast time because I'd take my daughter to go get X rays. Right? If I would've just called the place to see if they're the right place and open, I would've saved that drive there. But I get there. They're like, this is the wrong place.

There's these little things that we we would just be more cognitive instead of being reactive. We could say sometimes. So, anyway, so you talk about the direction, and I think that's really critical. Right? Do they know I'm I I that where I wanna go in real estate is the vehicle, or are they're, like, kinda wandering?

I mean, you're dealing with people like, I I guess, I would look at two different groups of people. Yeah. Those that have expressed interest in your coaching and those that have purchased your coaching. Like, where do you kinda see their mindset at? Most business owners waste their time and money on solutions that never fix the root problems.

They'll address all the symptoms due to slow revenue. And because they're only fixing the consequences, the real problem stays hidden and the cycle of wasting time and money continues. It's like having a lingering headache that won't go away despite trying every over the counter medicine when reality should have just gone to the doctor and had them figure out exactly what was causing the headache. And that's what's so difficult about business. You can see and feel the symptoms and yet struggle to find it.

Now imagine you can find a prescription that doesn't just mask the symptoms but actually addresses the root cause. Where would your business be if you address that right now? That's what our sales event is about. Your marketing doesn't suck. Your leads aren't bad, and your operations aren't terrible.

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

Our event is happening soon and is available for you to join only if you're willing to take the pill.

Zach: Man, it it's it's hard to put them in just two boxes. Mhmm. Right? Because, I'll I'll I'll I'll explain it this way. If I'm gonna coach anyone anymore, I wanna know for a fact that I can guarantee him a deal within three months.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And I found over the years of coaching, there's five exact things they have to commit to for me to be able to make that happen. Right? So the way it works is if I put their picture on my wall Mhmm. And they do exactly what I say and they don't get results, I will take 100% responsibility. Like, I I have that amount of confidence in what I coach, and so I have to get them to commit to five things

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Before I can make that kind of commitment to them. And I found the first thing is the time and the willingness to to spend the time Mhmm. On the business.

Steve: You need

Zach: a bare minimum of fifteen hours.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: So a lot of times, people are either in a position they can't or not willing to dedicate the time.

Steve: Mhmm. Right?

Zach: They're not willing to make that sacrifice, that investment.

Steve: Right? Right.

Zach: The next one is the financial commitments to get this business off the ground. Mhmm. It's not done for free.

Steve: Alright. So there's

Zach: a lot of people that don't have a job. You know? So I don't wanna say anything rude here.

Steve: Mhmm. But

Zach: they're they're not very productive members of society.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: That's as professional as I can say that.

Steve: They're not contributing members.

Zach: They're not contributing members. Thank you. And they they have never invested in themselves to be valuable to the economy and be valuable enough to have money to to to, develop themselves. And I remember on the last time I was here, if they don't if someone doesn't have the ability to go out and make $5,000 in the next month or two that they could use to start a business Mhmm. They probably don't have the skill sets to grow a business.

Steve: Right.

Zach: Right?

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: And so that that's very important. You have to have some financials, stability. Mhmm. And and I found that I need someone to have exactly $850 a month for at least three to six months for me to get them a deal. Mhmm.

Right? They cover for marketing and everything else. Right? So those are the financial commitments. Mhmm.

So sometimes that holds them back. Mhmm. Right? The ability or desire or personal situation to be able to make something like that. Mhmm.

Right? The next one is, people are coming to me after they've been doing research, and they're really good at binge watching.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Right? And this is like what you said, spending more than an hour a day studying.

Steve: Right.

Zach: And so my commitment that I require that they make is that they implement each action step that I will be giving them before they're even allowed to watch the next video. Mhmm. If they get stuck, they can ask me. If they have questions, they can come to me. But most questions I get, and most most of my students learn quickly, you don't ask Zach hypothetical questions.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: What I mean by hypothetical question is, Zach so I gotta build my buyers list, but I was thinking when I get a contract and I'm signing the title company and it's like, I was what what do I do there? That's a hypothetical question. You're creating problems that don't exist in your in your life right now.

Steve: Right.

Zach: And your time, your energy, your effort is going to a problem that doesn't even exist. Yeah. Let's focus on the task and the problem at hand, do the work. That's where your time and effort needs to go. So the commitments, they have to implement the action step before they even watch the next video.

Mhmm.

Steve: Because

Zach: I am gonna pull them out kicking and screaming from analysis paralysis and getting them to take action to make money. Right? And then the fourth one is they're not allowed to do a hybrid of what I say and what someone else says. Right? Because, yes, there are other people that know wonderful things and maybe even know a lot more than I do.

Steve: Alright.

Zach: 100%. And they may have a different approach. But the biggest thing is I have an exact system and exact process that I know for a thousand percent works. Mhmm. And so if they're gonna do a hybrid of what I say, what someone else has a requirement, they have to talk to me first.

Yeah. Because I need to know what they're doing and how they're doing it. So if they're doing something different, I can look at their numbers Mhmm. And make sure they're getting the results that are good enough or better than what I'm gonna have in the beginning.

Steve: Right.

Zach: Right? And then the last requirement is selfish of me, but they are not allowed to be a student unless they're willing to share their success story in my podcast and their testimony. Yeah. So

Steve: So are these all agreed upon before before you sign them up?

Zach: Yeah. I won't even offer the I won't even say you're welcome. This is how much the program is. This is how it's structured. Then tell they've 100% given me the commitment.

Steve: So you're asking a lot of information, and you're getting commitments from them

Zach: Yeah.

Steve: Before, the offer to work with you is even presented. Yeah. I love that. That's awesome. A couple things you're saying this.

I'm thinking of you as you're saying this. Right? Traction. They talk about GWC. Do you remember that part?

Zach: I remember reading traction. I do not remember GWC.

Steve: G, GWC, get it, want it, capable. Okay.

Zach: Oh, yep.

Steve: Alright. Like, do they get it? Do they get what their role is? Yep. Do they want it?

And are they actually capable of doing it? And that capability goes back to the resourcefulness. You can't go find $5,000 in the next thirty days. How badly do you want this? Are you able to scale this business

Zach: Yep.

Steve: Or build this business? So as you're saying all these things, I'm just going back to to traction in GWC. Yep. Yeah. Okay.

So someone those are the five things you're looking for. And you were saying, with those five things, you can a 100% guarantee that they're gonna have success and do a deal in the first three months.

Zach: It's average of three months.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Some of my students take four to five months, but it's usually because I have a little heavier lifting. Like, I had a a guy that was working full time Mhmm. As a chaplain. And then, on the weekends, he was doing hospice. So he told me to do fifteen hours.

I think he's doing about seven to ten Mhmm. A week. But then he only had one car, and he had a 18 year old kid in college that he was shuttling back and forth. Yeah. And so he didn't have a lot of time Mhmm.

To dedicate to it. And so it took him about four and a half, five months. But he worked every evening. He'd work his lunch breaks. He'd work when he when and where he could.

But, but, yeah, it usually takes me on average three months. My faster students do it in about forty to forty five days.

Steve: So you're saying that analysis paralysis, is that different than inability to focus?

Zach: I think it is. Okay. I think inability to focus is just a label we give ourselves to give us an excuse. Mhmm. Oh, you're just born that way.

Yeah. It's not my fault.

Steve: It's not my fault. I'm not responsible for it. Yeah. So then analysis paralysis, you're saying that is the number one reason why people fail. Yeah.

So what are the things you're seeing? Or Or is it when you say people that succeed, is it those five things or you're seeing other things where people are succeeding?

Zach: Well, I think what makes them succeed is, like I said, they get a blueprint. They get out of the analysis paralysis. They hire a mentor. You know, I'm I'm may sound like I'm saying that because I am a mentor, but go get a different mentor if they think I'm saying that. Right?

Like, I took

Steve: Oh, regardless whether you will whether you're a mentor or not. I mean, that's something I preach on this thing all the time right now.

Zach: Okay.

Steve: Good. Our non core value is growth mindset. Like, for me, the number one thing you can do to be dead to me is to be close minded and unwilling to learn. Yeah. The moment you're like, I don't need a mentor, it's like, well, you clearly have life figured out.

Get out of my life because you're only gonna hold me back. Yeah. That's my mindset. So I'm with you on that.

Zach: Well, you you hear it a lot. You see it a lot. Like, I I was while I was sitting in the waiting room today, I talked to a gal and very nice gal.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: But she's a real estate, agent. Mhmm. She knows everything. And I said, well, why would you get into wholesaling?

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? You're an agent. You know a lot. You you know, you kinda already got things figured out. You just have a couple questions for me.

Like, well, you know, why not just be a real estate agent? Like, well, I haven't done a deal in four months. Okay. Well, do you have a bunch of savings? Like, how are you I got $1,500.

So many of you are unemployed. Mhmm. Right? You're not a real estate agent. You're not making any money.

Right? And I think that there's too many and then she was also then telling me she didn't need help. It'd be one thing if she's like, yeah. This is my struggle.

Steve: I'm struggling. I need help.

Zach: I need help. That's one thing.

Steve: That'd be great.

Zach: Yeah. It's like, wonderful. I would love to help you. But the moment she's like, well, I actually don't think that I need help. Mhmm.

Like, okay. Good luck.

Steve: Yeah. Go

Zach: bang your head against the wall. No life humbles you enough that you're ready and be teachable. Right? And so I I I think that that's that's very important, but, you know, it's the combination of finding someone and getting a blueprint. Mhmm.

You don't have to necessarily pay a a mentor. Like I said, like, there's the forty day challenge. That can give you a blueprint. But find something that that you've seen that is proof that other people are being successful following that blueprint Mhmm. And go do it.

You know, so many people have this idea that you have to come up with a new idea to become wealthy. Yeah. You know? And they look at, Bill Gates and Uber. Uber and Yeah.

These giant monster companies that reinvented the wheel Yeah. And changed the industries. Right. Right? And put giant industries and, you know, market changing type companies.

Steve: And if you're in a situation that you can do that, great. Yeah. But most of us Yeah. Aren't in that situation.

Zach: Well, and the the funny thing is is those guys that built those things, it wasn't the first thing that they touched either.

Steve: Right.

Zach: And the people that helped them build those things, it wasn't the first thing they touched either. They had experience of building this is how you build a company Mhmm. To then take that knowledge and the new idea to market.

Steve: Yeah. Well, there's also a couple of other things. Right? There's a the book, it's Malcolm Gladwell. I think it was is it Mastery?

The name of the book. We talked about, like, ten thousand hours. Right? Like, everyone our outliers. Yeah.

Right? So outliers is, like, you know, everyone that seems like a genius, you find out, like, actually, they were in a situation where they get to benefit from a unique circumstance. Right? And then you got, I just recently, listened to a book, How to Fly a Horse. Crazy title.

I know. Right? But they talk about, like, everyone that's had this major innovation really just did a tiny iteration, but they were in an environment where the iteration was massively impactful. Again, you and me and most others, we don't get to do that slight iteration that turns into a $100,000,000 company or a billion dollar company.

Zach: And and it will happen Mhmm. If we're putting ourselves in the right rooms

Steve: If we're in the right rooms.

Zach: The work. Right. And and yeah. And it's and the cool thing is is I struggled for years as a a broke window cleaner. Right?

And then I was studying, and I was doing the work, and I bought my first rental. And I was like, okay. This is cool. And then I tried flipping a house, and it really sucked. I lost money.

And I kept trying, and I kept trying, and then I was in the right room. And I met Cody. I met Cody Hoffine Mhmm. Right, in my market when he was part of Wholesaling Inc and Tom Kroll.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And they taught me how to wholesale, and they changed my life, dude.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: They changed my life because of amazing mentors. Like, I preach this stuff because it was my journey too. Right? As it wasn't just, I wasn't I wasn't smart. I didn't I don't consider myself very smart person Mhmm.

Generally. I have knowledge now because of experience, but but, you know, wonderful people gave me the action steps, gave me the blueprint. And, yes, I've taken that and tested and split tested and tried to find creative little tiny tweaks to my marketing and my approach.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: And then throwing in teaching hundreds of people over the years, you really have to learn and master your craft if you're gonna get people results. And so the combination of all that's been the And of course,

Steve: you need to master your craft also along the way. Yeah. I wanna ask some more follow-up questions on this. But before we do that, you're talking about the free forty day challenge. Where where can someone find the free forty day challenge?

Zach: Yeah. So you can just go to my YouTube channel. Mhmm. So just search Zach Booth, real estate investing Zach Booth on YouTube. Yeah.

Check it out. We're we're doing a lot of fun YouTube shorts right now as well. But we have a bunch of long form content on there. But if you just go to the playlist

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And, you find the forty day challenge there. Okay. Completely free.

Steve: So I might sound like a complete novice here. Okay? I'm gonna ask this follow-up question.

Zach: K.

Steve: I heard you say couch on the lawn. So I've looked at you know, I've never done driving for dollars. Right? Fortunately, I'm in a position where I didn't have to do a lot of driving for dollars. Mhmm.

So couch on a lawn is a new is a nuance for me. I I hear, like, broken windows, cars with flat tires. Right? Roof where the tiles have blown off. There's all these other things, but is an is an is a new one for me.

Zach: Transition.

Steve: Right.

Zach: So if you watch the forty day challenge, you'll see me jump out of the car a couple times. And I'm like, that one's that one's getting moved. They're moving out of here. This one's being done. This is a rental.

It's like I would click it, and it was a a an LLC Mhmm. And it looked vacant.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: I'm like, I gotta get a hold of this guy. Mhmm. And I jumped out of my car a couple times, and I went knocked on the door, and the landlord's there cleaning the floors. Couple couple times

Steve: this afternoon.

Zach: I could immediately see what the property was or how it looked compared to the neighbors.

Steve: Okay. So this situation where it looks like someone's moved out, you're hoping the tenant just moved out Yep. And you can cash the landlord. Yep. Perfect.

Zach: Yep. So I just I'm looking for physical science and neglect. I'm also looking for transition. You know, we we also this is a little ninja trick with driving for dollars. We we with the the app deal machine, DealMachine's amazing, by the way.

Steve: Absolutely.

Zach: Yeah. It's a piece of technology. You've probably have you had them on your podcast? I've

Steve: had, David Letko on multiple times. He was, last time he said, I was able to give him the plaque for the million dollars. Right?

Zach: Beautiful.

Steve: Yeah. Absolutely.

Zach: Beautiful. So mister David Letko, love the guy. He has an app, right, for the listeners who don't know. It's it it empowers you to do driving for dollars on steroids. Yeah.

Right? So imagine you have a Google Maps image on your phone. You see the ugly house. You wanna send mail. You wanna cold call it.

You literally just touch the house on your phone, and you know everything there is to know about the person. Right? It's beautiful. So you can send mail, call, whatever. So with with DealMachine, you know, as I'm driving around, I can tag the property.

I see it's an LLC. I can see if it's, you know, those kinds of things. But the cool thing is this let's say I see a house. Doesn't have a lot of deferred maintenance. There's no signs of life whatsoever.

Grass a little longer than normal.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: There's, like, five to 10 newspapers. Like, there's no car. There's nothing. There's, like, an open carport, and there's nothing inside of it at all. It's like, alright.

House looks vacant.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? So I tag the property, and sometimes on Delmasheet, it'll actually say if it's part of the vacant list Mhmm. With the city. Many times, it will not show vacant with the city. Mhmm.

These are the most cream of the crop properties you're ever gonna find. They're not being flagged as vacant. They are vacant.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? And what we'll do is we'll add that property with DealMachine, and it'll pop up like you can add a tag. Mhmm. There's like a little like a little price tag. Once you add it up, it'll pop up the owner's information right there.

Mhmm.

Steve: And

Zach: you just touch the tag, and then you can create your own tags. You can create as many as you want, name them what you want. We have one we call it our Hayden's list, just because he's our our he's my business partner.

Steve: Okay.

Zach: But it's, like, the our main acquisition guy Mhmm. For my branch in Utah. Gotcha.

Steve: We call

Zach: it the Hayden's list because it's Hayden's list. Right? Because he's gonna go get those people.

Steve: Right.

Zach: And when we pull that up, we wanna make sure we spend extra efforts to call, text, postcard, and then even door knock the neighbors Mhmm. To get the story. So this happens all the time. We did multiple deals, including a $100,000 wholesale deal on door knocking. And we door knock very little because it's a very small section of our driving for dollars list.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: But I have story after story after story on my own podcast of my students doing huge deals, crazy situations, inherited the dudes in jail, estranged from his family, helped him with probate, like, just crazy situations. And so, you know, it's one of the one of the ways that we'll we'll look for those those types of properties.

Steve: So I saw David post something recently on on Instagram. Mhmm. He talks about, unlimited skip tracing.

Zach: Yes. Very exciting.

Steve: Talk about that.

Zach: Very exciting. So DealMachine in November Mhmm. For their Black Friday promotion. They actually told me earlier I was not happy that they did because then I had to keep it a secret. They're like, don't tell anybody.

I was like, why did you tell me? It's way too exciting. So, a deal machine came out with free skip tracing. Those who don't skip tracing is that's where you get phone numbers for the addresses. Right?

And used to have to spend anywhere between 30¢ to I think Dominochins is pretty expensive, but it was it was quite a bit of money to get phone numbers. So you had to spend even more. Mhmm. Dominochins has now made it where the addresses you add, you get the phone numbers for absolutely free. Comes included.

So absolutely huge.

Steve: Yeah. Incredible value. The guy's always always innovating. So another thing you talked about was

Zach: Can I actually say one more thing about the machine? Sorry. So you can edit this if if you need to. Right?

Steve: Sure. Okay. We all edit two episodes ever. So

Zach: Okay. So we have a a discount code PIN. Mhmm. You get the free skip tracing. Mhmm.

They also get an extra $100 Mhmm. Of in app spending. So you guys get a $100 worth of postcards for free. Also with that discount discount code pin, you get my driving for dollars criteria, what to look for. Mhmm.

You also get my cold calling script, and you get a free training on how to build your cash buyers list for free, and my real estate wholesaling contracts for free. Yeah. So you basically get the whole package of everything you need to go out and do driving for dollars Yeah. And do wholesaling Yeah. Completely.

Just Incredible value. Yeah. So a lot of value if they wanna use that if they wanna try it.

Steve: If they wanna try it. Yeah. So but I think absolutely. Right? If you guys listening, you guys think about drive for dollars, I mean, that's your specialty.

Yeah. I should definitely definitely look at it. Yeah. So you made made the comment too many exit strategies. Right?

They're focused on the wrong things. So one thing we talked about is too many exit strategies. So, I was actually, at at a an event, and this guy was speaking about something. It was for me, it was kinda profound. Right?

Because it kinda spoke to me a little bit as far as the struggles I've had in the past. We talked about, like, if you want to build a giant audience, you wanna build you wanna get a lot of views and this and that, focus on the tactics. Because the tactics, you're gonna catch all the shiny object people. Mhmm. Right?

But if you wanna build a list of high caliber people that, you know, can take action or are more likely have success, Talk about strategies. Now your audience is gonna be a fraction of the people that are teaching tactics and tools. Right? They're like, you you know, one more tool to add to your tool belt. So that was a fascinating thing.

But what happens is the guy that's interested in this extra strategy is not fascinated by this extra strategy. They're fascinated by this extra strategy. And so on, like, all these different tactics, even though we call them extra strategies, they're just tactics. Right? They're focused on all these different things, and they're becoming good, decent, and all these other things, but never getting good at sourcing deals.

Yep. Do you wanna talk a little bit about that? It was it was it the fact that you said that, I was like, yes. Maybe something we should explore a little bit more.

Zach: Yeah. It's it's it's just kinda like the student that I was mentioning. He could flip it and make all this money, but then he's he doesn't have the team to manage a flip properly. Doesn't have a project manager. He doesn't have his painters.

He doesn't have all of his subs lined up. He's gonna overpay. He doesn't have that strategy mastered.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: So it's gonna take him more time, more energy than if you and and he would make less money at the end of the day. Even though he's gonna make more money on that deal Mhmm. He'll make less money because he's not focusing on what matters. The problem is our business, like I said, is marketing and sales. So if we're not doing marketing and sales, we're not doing the business.

So what happens is people get focused on their exit strategy and start spending time and investing time and researching how to do this stuff, and it takes them away from their marketing and sales because they're the only entrepreneur. They're the only employee of their own business.

Steve: Right.

Zach: So they spend all this time on the extra strategy and the flip and the remodel, and they don't have any more leads. They don't have any deals in the pipeline. They don't have anybody to go negotiate with. Yeah. So the only time I would say advance your marketing strategies, I actually sold a bunch of my rentals.

I took a hit financially

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: So I could focus on putting my systems and my structures in place. What happened is back in 2018, I was doing amazing. I had a bunch of rentals. I had become a millionaire. Mhmm.

Has changed my life in just a couple years. Go broke window cleaner to a millionaire. I was pinching myself, and I started flipping houses, and I had rentals, and then I started coaching. Mhmm. I had no time for anything.

I sucked at everything. So I looked at where I was at, and I said, what do I need to do? I said, well, I need to get my marketing back into shape. I need to make sure I have cut stuff coming in whether I go do it or not.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: And I have all these rentals, and I have all my students. I have two businesses. What am I gonna do? Or I have three businesses. What am I gonna do?

Yeah. I sold all my rentals.

Steve: Sold all your rentals. All of them. It was That's commitment. Yeah. That's burning the boats.

Zach: I burned the boats, and it was a huge I did I wrote a check for well over a $100,000 to the government. Mhmm. It sucked. I in the memo, I said spend it wisely.

Steve: Wow. You knew that wasn't gonna happen.

Zach: Yeah. And so, you know, I had I had to make that decision of where to spend my time, but but that was the big thing was making sure I had that marketing that would run without me, that the business would run without me. And then I was able to spend my time on my students. And so I actually went from $1,200,000 to $700,000 a year I started coaching.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: You know how much money I made as a coach? No. $50. At the end of the day, I'd spent so much on growing and hiring people. Mhmm.

So I took a huge pay cut and then sold all my rentals and paid a ton of money to taxes Mhmm. Just so I could focus on what fulfilled me. Right? But but it also allowed me to then spend the time where I needed to to get things back in order and build up my portfolio.

Steve: Oh, definitely.

Zach: And I don't run any of it now.

Steve: I don't need to. Completely in line Mhmm. With the point of today's show. Right. The biggest reason why people fail is their inability to focus or they got too many different things going on or they're too busy researching, too busy analyzing, and not enough doing or at least doing where the efforts should be applied Right.

Focused. So for someone listening right now, they've never done a deal. Right? And they're thinking about driving for dollars. What's the first thing they should be doing?

Zach: They can go watch my forty day challenge. Right. Right? They need to see what they're committing to. Mhmm.

Because there's a lot of people who say, go do driving for dollars. Do you first still? And they're like, okay. And they go and they don't even know what that means. They they think, oh, I'm just gonna go add some ugly addresses, then I'm I'll be in business.

Steve: Yeah. Go

Zach: watch the forty day challenge.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: You see the exhaustion

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: In my face at the end of every day.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? Go watch this so you know what you're committing to. Mhmm. If it doesn't scare you, if you're not like, oh my god. Like, that's I don't know I don't know if I want it that bad.

Mhmm. Then you'll be like, okay. That's not what I want. Go find something else. But if you're like, okay.

I can do that. Zack's a goober. Mhmm. I can work that hard. I'm smarter, Zack.

Like, totally great. Yeah. Then then go do it. Right? That would that would be my suggestion.

Steve: What are the things that are exhausting about driving for dollars?

Zach: I get really carsick.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: So you have your phone. You're driving. You're stopping. You're going and looking down, looking up, looking down, looking up, stopping and going. Mhmm.

I get extremely carsick, and then also hurts my back. I remember on the forty day challenge, there was a four fourteen hour stretch. I never left the car. And then the other thing that's really exhausting is reaching out to that list.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: I never left the house for four days straight. From the time I woke up till I went to bed, I cold called.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: For four days, it was, like, fourteen hours a day of cold calling. Mhmm. And while I was cooking my food, my computer was right here, and I was cold calling. Mhmm. While I was eating, I was cold calling.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? And so, it's exhausting because it's boring work. Mhmm. It's extremely boring. Like, it's not fun to do.

It's not stimulating. Right. The exciting parts is when you find a seller.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And you get to go talk to seller and build a relationship and communicate with them and sign a contract and help them. When they have a problem, they don't know what to do and don't wanna deal with it, getting buyers and then obviously getting paid is pretty awesome.

Steve: Yeah. Oh, for sure. That's the best part. Right.

Zach: But it's but it's a lot of hard work. That's why it's so exhausting, and it's not fun. Like, you don't want to do it.

Steve: So you're saying four days of consecutive quote calling. So was it one day of driving and then four days of calling?

Zach: Yeah. So what I did in the beginning is I would drive in the middle of the day. It was the most efficient times to drive. No one's in the neighborhoods. The streets are emptied.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: I don't have anybody, you know, chasing me down saying I'm casing the neighborhood. So I do

Steve: that driving houses in the morning.

Zach: Yeah. So I do I do that in the middle of the day, and then best times to get contacts and actually get people on the phone is morning and evenings. So I was cold calling mornings and evenings and then driving in the middle of the day. Right. And then I had one day where I I had kinda, like, driven.

I I worked the Brandon area in Florida. Mhmm. So I was, like, working the outskirts of Tampa, and I'd hit all the area I wanted to hit. And so I drove south to Sarasota, and it was, like, a two hour drive ish one way. So I was like, okay.

Well, I'm gonna drive that far and try that market. I'm gonna

Steve: drive

Zach: all day. Mhmm. So I drove all day. And, well, then I had all these addresses, and that's actually how I finished out, the challenge. I actually did a $53,000 wholesale deal in that one day of driving.

Wow. Yeah. Incredible.

Steve: So the question that comes to mind is you don't have to be brilliant. You just have to be willing to put in the work. Yeah. But most people are unwilling to do the monotonous work. Yep.

Do the work that's required. They'd rather go do things that are exciting, is different, is innovative.

Zach: Yeah.

Steve: So how are you coaching or identifying people that are willing to put in I'll just call it the grind.

Zach: How are

Steve: you finding people that are willing to grind?

Zach: They watch the forty day challenge. Yeah. Yeah. That was one of the greatest things. Right?

It's because I would have to kinda spend a lot of time on the phone and explaining how hard this was before. Now if they want me to help them through the process and have my cell phone and answer the questions as they go through the process, they know what they're up against before they even sign up because they got to see me do it.

Steve: Gotcha.

Zach: So that's been very helpful.

Steve: Mhmm. You got to pull the curtains back. It's like, here's how much this sucks. Do you still wanna do it?

Zach: Yeah. That's exactly what I wanted. Like, I remember being up late at night. The whole reason I did that forty day challenge is I I was like, how do I get people to do the work? Mhmm.

How do I get people to understand what they're up against? But more importantly, how do I get them to believe in themselves? Because there's certain people that have the work ethic, but they're they're unwilling or afraid to make that kind of emotional financial time commitment because they don't know that they're gonna be successful.

Steve: Right. They don't.

Zach: They don't know. So that's really hard to do if you don't know you're gonna be successful. I knew I was gonna be successful.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: So it's a little easier. Right? So Tony Robbins talks about the number one thing that actually gets people to do the work Mhmm. Or to follow through is belief. Right.

It's not their potential. Mhmm. It's their belief.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Because if you believe that you're gonna be successful 1000%, you're gonna give a 110%.

Steve: Mhmm. And

Zach: then you're gonna get results. You're like, see, I knew. And your faith grows. And you know your confidence grows. And you cycle upwards in life.

Mhmm. And and so I was up late at night, and I'm like, how do I give this belief? How do I give this belief? Because if they don't have belief, they're not gonna even if they're capable Mhmm. Of making that kind of commitment and work that hard, They don't believe that it's possible, so they're not going to.

Yeah. So even students that had signed up, they would work for a day and be like, this is hard. I don't know. And then I'm chasing them to get them to take action. Yeah.

And so that's why I did that forty day challenge, and it kinda was inspired by Undercover Billionaire. Mhmm. Have you seen that before?

Steve: I'm aware of it.

Zach: Okay. I watched the first season. I haven't watched second season. Not as big of a fan of Grant Cardone. I didn't say that.

Anyways, the That's right.

Steve: We've blasted him on the show so many times.

Zach: Oh, have you? Okay. Good. Good. I I love that.

That's why we're friends. Like, it's it's interesting how many similarities we have. Anyways, you know, the first season is Glenn Stearns, billionaire. He he wants to show the American dream is alive and well, has a $100, and wants to turn it into a million dollar company in ninety days. It's inspirational.

He's cleaning toilets. He's sleeping in his car. It's beautiful. Mhmm. Right?

He gets a car, a smartphone, and, a $100.

Steve: Mhmm. And he

Zach: has to go build a million dollar company. By the end of it, he has a full blown restaurant, employees. Wild.

Steve: In ninety days?

Zach: Ninety days, dude. You gotta watch it. You'll like it. You'll like that one. Yeah.

Anyways, so that inspired me. Like, it brought me to tears. It was inspirational, and his mission, and what he was doing, and why he was doing it. Yeah. So when I was up late at night and couldn't sleep because this is the turmoil and the problems that I had inside me of, like, how do I help these people and give them belief?

Well, then I ended up watching that. I'm like, that's it. That's what I need.

Steve: You need your own undercover boss.

Zach: Undercover billionaire.

Steve: Undercover billionaire.

Zach: Except I wasn't a billionaire.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Well, not yet. So Yeah. This is a major problem, though.

Getting people to have the conviction Yep. And then willing to put in the work. Yep. Because that's something where I've struggled. I mean, the one thing I think is pretty consistent in my message, I never say this is easy.

Right? I say, put in the work. You if you're consistent for five to seven years, that is not a get rich quick. That is like, hey. You gotta put in the work.

Put in the work. You'll get the results. Yep. So, a, that's not a sexy message. That's not the easy button.

Yep. But, b, we have people that reach out, and then we wanna help them. But, again, they don't have that belief or there there there's something there to to stop them from doing the work. Mhmm. I have not figured out how to connect or get through.

Right? Because I think there's a lot of, whether it's mental baggage or it's a lack of self belief. Maybe it's upbringing, whatever. I haven't figured out how to get that through. Yeah.

What are you doing apart from the four day challenge, to get someone to have that belief? You spent countless weeks going back and forth with the homeowner only to lose a deal because the seller changed their mind, another wholesaler made an unreasonable offer, or what the seller needs from the sale, you just can't pay. Now imagine you've got the ultimate control on a property that you just locked up, meaning you're on title and every decision has to go through you, eliminating virtually every external threat. That's why the installment method was created. Through installment payments, you have full control of the property as your name is now on the title.

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So visit wholesale2024.com to learn more so that you'll never have another deal blow up.

Zach: I think it's very important that people see their peers Mhmm. Doing it and accomplishing it. One of the reasons it's a requirement to be a student of mine Mhmm. You I literally will turn people away. They're like, well, I'm a private person.

I won't be on the podcast. I won't do a video.

Steve: They say that.

Zach: I've had it. Yeah. Couple times. Not very often. Sometimes, like, it would be an honor.

Mhmm. Right? But sometimes That's

Steve: an essential answer. That's that's That's that's what we think. Even think about the possibility that people will say no.

Zach: And the reason I made it is I had multiple people now that I've coached Mhmm. And they make good money. And I, like, invested into them. And they say, hey. I'm just uncomfortable doing that.

I'm really shy. And it makes me upset. It actually makes me very angry, not because of a selfish reason that I need their testimonial to bring on a new student, but because their story will be relatable to their peers.

Steve: It'll be relatable to somebody.

Zach: Yes. A single mom with five kids Mhmm. That is broke and now has a $30,000 savings account Mhmm. Because of what I taught her will speak differently to different people than my story could.

Steve: Right.

Zach: And it is it is our jobs as successful people to share our success, to give that faith, that belief, and hope. And so that's why it's a requirement is because their story will give subconscious permission to go for their dreams to other people where where mine can't. Because I'm coming from a place of you're gonna pay me to help you. Mhmm. So my story can only go so far.

My promise, my commitment can only go so far. So I I have hundreds and hundreds, and I know you probably do too. But Mhmm. Making sure that people can access those readily, and I'm I'm constantly uploading those every single week into my website.

Steve: Yeah. I love that. And because you're right. Your story, they might look at you as, like, well, he's a white man. Obviously, he was figuring.

He's Yeah. Right. For me, it's like, well, yeah, like, you know, either you're educated or you're parents or whatever. Yeah. Of course.

Of course, you could do it. Right? Yeah. But they don't necessarily know our struggles or they may not relate Yeah. To our struggles.

Zach: And they can't relate.

Steve: Right. Yeah. So, yeah, you gotta have other, other, testimonials and so on. Talk to me about, like, you know, you don't have to say the name, but someone that was, like, really near the bottom or at the bottom that you're able to help someone out.

Zach: Well, if you go to my website and just click on the testimonials, you can scan through. There's many, many, many, many, many. One that just watched the forty day challenge.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: I'm so embarrassed that I forgot his name. It's on the tip of my tongue. You it's on I only forgot because you asked me. I feel so bad. I feel bad because he's gonna know that I forgot his name on the spot.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: I'll think of it.

Steve: Okay.

Zach: It's it's in in my video testimonials, but he's a a black man.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Right? So different background than mine. Mhmm. He has three children. He was living in a pay by the day motel

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: With his wife and his three children. He was doing Uber Eats, broken down horrible car, no money. You watch the forty day challenge. He went out and not did did more than just one deal. He did 10 deals from

Steve: that. Wow.

Zach: He bought his very first house cash

Steve: Jeez.

Zach: Within a year Yeah. Because of the forty day challenge. Yeah. Right? And so he didn't even pay me.

Mhmm. That is the coolest thing ever Yeah. Is that the work that I've put into just helping people because I wanna help people is making that kind of a difference. Yeah. Right?

And so but there's every background, everything. I've, I even, shout out to Aaron Gaunt. Has he been on here?

Steve: Not yet.

Zach: So Aaron Gaunt and Mikaela Gaunt, they have a a newer podcast. They're in Temecula, California. Aaron came to me, and I can share the story because I've seen him share it publicly on his on his podcast, but he came to me. He was a fireman. Right.

And he was fighting for custody of his daughter. He's in a major custody battle. She was very problematic. He ended up getting full custody. She was blackmailing him, basically trying to bribe him to get money and Mhmm.

Extort literally was extorting Aaron. So very bad situation. Aaron was fighting for his daughter. That's why he came to me. Mhmm.

I don't wanna get emotional telling story. Sorry. So when he was a fireman, he he came to me and said, I don't have a lot of money, but I gotta make a lot of money because I gotta pay I gotta get my daughter. I can't even imagine, right, being a father too, like, having to fight for your children and, like, being in that financial position. Like, I I've been broke.

I remember fighting with my wife over a $20 DVD player when we're first married. Right? But, like, fighting over your children, like, having so little money that you can't even keep your kids, like, it's it's painful. Right? And so when I started teaching him, he started cold calling from his car when he's in the fire station and working.

Within a few months, he made $50. He quit his job, started dating Mikaela. Mhmm. And I started coaching him at a higher level and helping him scale out his business. How he's an amazing business.

Yeah. He got full custody. As on one of our coaching calls, Mikaela got emotional. And she said, Zach, I wanna ask you something. Sure.

What's up? And she's like, she's like, I want you to officiate our wedding. And, I had the honor of of being able to do that. Flew out to California with my wife, Karen, and, was able to do that. I was very nervous.

I've never married anyone before. Right? And, but it was it was I remember crying like a baby during the daddy daddy daughter dance

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: When Aaron was out on the floor dancing with his daughter. And I have a picture. I was just hanging out with him, just sitting there, and this little girl randomly, I didn't really talk to her at all, came up behind me and gave me a big old hug, and I have a picture of her giving me a big hug

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Around my neck. And, anyways, you know, there's moments like that. There's there's so many stories over the years. Sorry. I get emotional talking about this

Steve: stuff because

Zach: okay. You it's it's one thing to it's one thing to make money. Mhmm. It's a whole another thing to make money when you really need it for your family. Mhmm.

And then it's a whole another thing to do it for other people's families. Right? And and I look at, you know, Tom Kroll who made a massive difference in my life. We're mutual friends with him. Incredible.

And, it's just an incredible human being. And I remember I hired him to teach me how to coach. Right? Because he coached me how to change my financial life. And I said, Tom, I've decided to put a million dollars in 10 people's pockets.

I wanna give back. That's why I started coaching. It was just a project. It was it. There's no plan to be a coach.

And I said, will you teach me? So first rule of thumb, you don't ever coach for free, so you're gonna charge each 1 2,000. You're gonna give me $20. I'll show you that. Now he followed his own rule.

Mhmm. But, anyways, I flew down to, his office and, sat down with him. And he looked me in the eye, and the first thing he said to me was nobody's coming to your funeral. Yeah. And I said, well, that was a little harsh.

What what do you mean, Tom? And he said, if you live your life so that people will come to your funeral, no one's gonna come. Mhmm. But if you live your life to make sure that that other people have people at their funeral, the streets will be full.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And I see Tom living his life to serve and to give back, and it's inspired me to give back.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: And I am now finally starting to see students teaching and coaching and giving back that I started coaching years ago.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: You know, seeing Aaron do his podcast now and seeing other people do wonderful things and helping people and seeing Tom Cruise goodness snowball, because of what he gave me. You know? Like, that's, like, the the fulfillment. Like, money's good. Money's good.

But fulfillment and purpose is is, you know, it's it's why I do what I do. It's why I flew down here. It's it's why I do podcasts. It's why I do content like the forty day challenge.

Steve: Yeah. And and then it's a big blessing, and I think Tom is probably the best model, right, in our industry. The best. And then just going back to what we were talking earlier, I was, listening to I'm going through Clockwork right now by Mike Michalowicz. You know?

And, there's something he says in there. Says that, he's quoting somebody. He didn't know who it was, an unknown source. So I'm just quoting him, quoting an unknown source. But something along the lines of, like, we have a responsibility that when we get to the top to send the elevator down to make it easier for some for the next person.

Right? So I'm thinking about your your story with the testimonials, like, how it kinda really rose you the wrong way. Like, your story will help somebody. Yeah. I think about that.

Right? Like, you have a responsibility. When you're successful, get us an elevator down for the next person.

Zach: Can I say something on that?

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: I remember I remember when I started teaching other people, I felt really inadequate. It's because I read a self help journal or self help book called Living Your Best Year Ever.

Steve: Mhmm. And in

Zach: there, it said you had to give away whatever you wanna receive. So it helps you create three big goals, and it says who you have to be, what you have to do to accomplish goals. So I'd done half $1,000,000 in my wholesaling business 2017. I was pinching myself. Only a few years ago, I was a window cleaner, right, a few years before that.

Mhmm. So I created a goal of doing a million dollars in my wholesaling business that next year. Well, then it goes on to say, okay. Now you have your goal, million dollars in income. Now you have to give it away.

Mhmm. I had to give away a million dollars. I was like, well, okay. How? I went to my wonderful wife, and I said, how do we do this?

And she came out. She says, well, you're good at teaching. You have a heart for teaching. Just teach 10 people how you made a half 1,000,000, you you put a million dollars in their pockets. Easy.

Yeah. Like, it's genius. So So I started teaching for that purpose. Mhmm. But I I didn't realize that I was able and capable of giving back.

I don't think you ever hit the top. Mhmm. I don't know that the top exists. I think we're all on a journey. Mhmm.

Steve: We're all

Zach: on a journey of progression in all areas of our lives

Steve: Right.

Zach: And that we should always be lending a hand. And the beautiful thing is is the more we give, the more we receive. Dude, I did $1,200,000 in my wholesaling business that year. My very first student, Michael, Michael McLeish, Greenville, North Carolina, he texted me eighteen months after. He said, I now alone have made over $1,000,000 from what you taught me.

Mhmm. Right? Like, those one of the original students, Scott Dowager, his first deal, $113,000.

Steve: Pretty good first deal.

Zach: Dude, I was blown away. I was blown away by the success they were having, but the craziest thing was is because I'd made the choice to give back Mhmm. And to help, I found so many mistakes in my own business. Right. One of the mistakes is I had a student, like, hey.

I put the tracking phone number on the postcard. I tested it, but when I call it, it goes through to my phone. But when I texted, it doesn't go through. How do I set that up properly? And I'm like, I've never received a text message.

I missed out on hundreds of thousands of dollars, Steve, from people that texted my phone numbers. I went into the back end. It was callfire.com. Went into the back end, and I had text message. I wanna sell my house.

I wanna sell my house. I'm like, no. And I and I went in. I actually pulled over a $100,000 out of the leads in there, but I missed out on many, many, many more.

Steve: Alright. Right?

Zach: And so it's just one little silly example of how giving back and teaching immediately put an ROI in my pocket. So I think as people go through the journey, they shouldn't think that they have to hit a certain level of success before they're worthy of helping Mhmm. Of answering questions, of giving back in some way.

Steve: I agree with that. I think that the the where he was going with that was not necessarily that you've finished your climb. Yeah. Is that as you're climbing, right, to help back? Because he even says in the book, like, he still screws up all the time.

Yeah. Right? And I'll share just your thing about the the whole texting or the postcard. You know, when people ask me, like, why I feel qualified to to teach sales, it's not that I am the best salesperson. Right?

I would never make that argument than the best salesperson. I feel like I'm pretty adequate. I feel I'm pretty good. Right? But I'll I'll never say I'm the best.

But what I do have in my in in in my you know, as a feather in my cabinet, no one else can say, is I actively work with the best wholesalers in the country. And you better believe I'm being tested about every possible objection, every possible scenario. Right? So for us, we've been able to come up with the best solutions as a mastermind of sorts because like you. Right?

Like, I've never thought about that. No one's ever asked that question before. Let's take a pause. Yeah. Let's all kinda mastermind and brainstorm this come with the best solution.

Right? So, yeah, I think that's that's that's powerful. The part about teaching, helping you become a better operator.

Zach: Yeah. Been huge.

Steve: Yeah. So, what is your biggest struggle today?

Zach: Dealing with cash flow recently has been interesting. Right? I'm running three, very successful companies, three different sets of employees, three different sets of problems, three different sets of marketing campaigns, and, you know, it it costs money. And so learning to manage things, I finally brought in an in house bookkeeper.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: And someone Really? Finally. Yes. Waited way too long. I know that now.

I did not know that then, or I would have hired sooner. Yeah. And, putting all those systems in place has been been very important, to not have as much of a roller coaster ride with cash flow. Following the profits first model

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Has been very good. But I'm a ADHD all over the place ready fire aim guy. Mhmm. And so having someone that, you know, is capable of organizing the cans in the grocery aisle

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Or managing the stuff that needs to be managed properly, that's been a a huge thing. But I think that and then the constant I feel like my my team has an amazing set of core team members that believe in the vision, believe in the mission, believe in what we're trying to do. And then there's there's a filtering process just like with our marketing.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Not everyone you reach out to is gonna be the perfect client, and every client that you talk to is not gonna be a perfect client. It's the same thing. Every hire is not perfect. So there's always that ongoing of hiring a new two, three people, and one maybe works out maybe. Mhmm.

Right? And so filtering through, and then we finally find this rock star, this amazing guy, and it takes time. You know, we just hired a guy that I love to death. He's been with us close to eight months. His name is Jamie.

Mhmm. And he was the, head producer for the reality TV show, relative race. It's a BYU, TV show, but he's been absolutely amazing. So our content's getting better. It's adding more value.

It's more you know? And so there's there's great things like that. But, yeah, those are probably the main two issues, probably cash flow and and, yeah, scaling with the right team members.

Steve: So let's talk about this. So three businesses. What are the three businesses?

Zach: So I have my holdings company Mhmm. And then I have the real estate wholesaling company, which is a transactional company. I keep them very separate. Mhmm. And then I have the coaching comp consulting comp.

Steve: What's the holding company?

Zach: The name?

Steve: No. No. What is does

Zach: it Yeah. The holding company is is crypto. It's gold, silver. It's my rentals. It's basically my assets.

Steve: Gotcha. Yeah. Okay.

Zach: My long term assets.

Steve: So you look at it as a business?

Zach: Yes. Very much so. Okay.

Steve: Has it should be cash flowing in theory. Yes. And you shouldn't have to be mad like, be concerned with the cash. Is that is that accurate with

Zach: the No. That that one's the cash flow is not so bad.

Steve: That one's not so bad.

Zach: That one's great.

Steve: Okay.

Zach: Plus, I take I take, distributions from these other companies, and it

Steve: goes phew. It goes there.

Zach: Yeah. So that that one's growing beautifully.

Steve: Okay. So that one's not

Zach: really distracting. Yeah. But there's also there's also where and how to spend that money, how to use

Steve: that money. Allocation.

Zach: Yep. And and then there's the management of the assets, Right? And the property management, and I have someone that's doing that for me and, like, making sure they're doing that properly.

Steve: So you are buying real estate again?

Zach: Oh, yes. Yes.

Steve: Okay. So, really, it's just the balance between the education company and the real estate company. And I think that's true for a lot of people. Right? It's that, you got sales and marketing for this side and sales marketing for one business and sales marketing for the other business.

Zach: Yes.

Steve: So, I'm gonna push back on you a little bit, not to be a jerk. Right? But we're talking about, you know, the reason why people struggle is focus. Yep. So are you finding this to be a problem for you and your business?

Is it tearing you?

Zach: Yes.

Steve: Okay. Oh, yeah. Alright. Yeah. So then have you considered shutting down the real estate company?

Zach: Have I wanted to? Yes. The reason I don't Yeah. The reason I don't is me being able to do what I teach Mhmm. Makes me a better teacher.

Steve: Yes. Absolutely.

Zach: Yeah. So I believe that having that real estate company supports, sustains, and makes the coaching business even better.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: If they weren't sister companies, if they didn't build each other up Mhmm.

Steve: Like, it was like a laundromat.

Zach: Yeah. If it was like yeah. Exactly. If it was like a window cleaning company

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: And coaching, window cleaning's out for sure. Right? And I did shut down the window cleaning or I sold. I got rid of it. Right?

But Yeah. The, it's it's definitely a distraction, and I have actually put things in place like strategic partners. Mhmm. I now have partners. I share equity and profits off of the real estate company Mhmm.

So that I am not the main person. I don't run the team meetings. I don't necessarily run the KPIs. Yes. I'm very much involved.

Yes. I have a voice. Yes. I definitely have an opinion.

Steve: Right.

Zach: But it runs whether I'm there.

Steve: Gotcha. Do you you said a strategic partner. Do you do you sell a percentage of it? Not. Okay.

Zach: Nope. I did a, basically, joint venture, where he gets a percentage of the profits.

Steve: Mhmm. Right.

Zach: It's a

Steve: profit share.

Zach: Profit share. Correct. Yep. It's Hayden Greenwood. He's absolutely amazing.

He loves death.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. So what is the biggest lesson you've learned in the last two

Zach: years? Probably the importance of leadership. Mhmm. Because when I first started coaching in 2018, it was very much like doing wholesaling. How to do your first deal?

How to do your second deal? How to do 10 deals? How to just keep doing deals and just hustling and grinding? So that's where all my time was. That's where all my students were.

But as I've developed and had to automate that business so I can really grow my coaching business and spend more time with my students, how do I scale and automate things? And you don't do that without leadership skill.

Steve: Right.

Zach: But then those other students that I've been building up, they go to Zach. How do I build a company that runs without me? And I've been able to coach and scale those people. Mhmm. Right?

And so I had to learn not only how to grow and run a company that I don't grow and run Mhmm. And also then teach it to other people. And so I think that has been probably one of the the biggest things that I've been studying and learning and developing.

Steve: Oh, where are you learning about leadership?

Zach: Lot of experience. Mhmm. But someone else I really love and respect as far as, that goes is John Maxwell. Mhmm. One of his books, principles that I love is 21 irrefutable laws of leadership.

Mhmm. There's been other books that I read for, like, structure and management, like, never split the difference, for disciplines of highly

Steve: or Disciplines of execution.

Zach: For disciplines of execution. Thank you. Attraction, a little heavy for me, but I like more disciplines. So those are some good books that I've used for strategy and that kind of stuff, but but I have a mentor. Tom Kroll still coaches me, actually.

So

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: If I find myself laying on the floor crying because I don't know how to fix the problems, I call Tom.

Steve: Yeah. Tom's great for that. Yeah. So I had Larry Ash come through here.

Zach: I don't

Steve: know if you've seen that. I had him come on the podcast, a year or so ago. He was a former Navy Seal. And, he came in, and he raised the love of leadership within our organization so much so that people were quitting because you couldn't get away with things anymore. Right?

Who is this? Larry Yatch.

Zach: Did you hire him to to implement hired him. No.

Steve: I was like, hey. You take your Navy SEAL practices, and you get them in here. Right? Because as a Navy SEAL, it's, Were

Zach: were you making people do push ups when they piss you off? Or

Steve: no. There were no physical things. There were no physical things. But, basically, like, if you look at the the idea of what we do on a day to day basis. Right?

Because I give you a plan. I'll I'll give you a plan. I give you an outcome. Here is my desired outcome. Mhmm.

Go execute it. Mhmm. Right? That's it. That's my desired outcome.

You come up with a plan. You execute the plan. And the best way to illustrate this is, like, if you're the the guys on the ground and you go in door to door, you know, to kill terrorists. Right? Let's say not terrorists.

Maybe not kill just now right. I can't see what you're seeing. I don't know what you're hearing right. I might think my intel might tell me that there's no one in the buildings nearby. But you get there, and there are people in the buildings nearby.

You've gotta operate differently. Right? So I can't coach you on all that. All I can do is prepare you. Right?

But as you're giving me information, hey Steve. We're on the ground now. Here's what's happening and you communicate this information back to me now I can allocate resources differently right we can get choppers in there right we can get a gunship in there or whatever or we can bring an extraction team. I don't know. Right?

But there's lots of communication that's required. So what we did was not for our leadership wasn't to, we thought we'd be better leaders, which we eventually became. But the first three months was becoming better communicators so that when you're on the ground, you can relay to me very quickly what's going on versus you being on the ground, and then you might not like what you see. And then I don't know about it for three months. And now we just lost three months of production.

So, anyway, leadership, I love John Maxwell. I've gone through I think after, like I loved his first three books. By the time I picked up the fourth book, kinda felt like they're all the same. But, yeah, if if if if leadership is is something that you've learned a lot from, I was I would highly recommend. I I think that was probably my best investment in the last five years of my business.

Zach: That's amazing. Thank you for sharing that.

Steve: Yeah. So, I have right here dfdmastery.com. What is this?

Zach: It's my website.

Steve: Okay.

Zach: Dfdmastery.com.

Steve: Right. So is that the best one for someone to get ahold of you?

Zach: Yeah. Yeah. If they wanna talk to me about mentorship, they can book a call there. Also, down on the bottom right, has my link tree with all the different social media platforms.

Steve: Gotcha.

Zach: Testimonials, all that stuff. So, yeah, it's probably the best place to go and

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Get access to everything I'm doing.

Steve: Gotcha. Yeah. So before we wrap up, what is a message you wanna leave all the listeners with?

Zach: To believe in yourself. Right? If you're listening to this podcast, it's probably because you wanna get into real estate.

Steve: Yeah.

Zach: Right? And believe that it's possible. Go find someone that has a similar story to you that's gone and had success.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Lean on their success. Believe in yourself and take action. Right? Without that belief, if you have doubts, get rid of them.

Steve: Mhmm.

Zach: Quit telling yourself that it's not possible because right? I think I think a very common thing to do a a filter to know if you're doing this is if you ask yours or if you're saying to yourself, I can't because if those are words inside your head, I can't because I'm a single mom. I can't because I have two jobs. I can't because right? The moment you're able to find someone else that has done it because of those or or in spite of those things, you will never start asking yourself, how can I Because I'm a single mom?

How can I? Because I have two jobs and sucks. How can I? Because I'm broke and I don't wanna be anymore. So you have to be able to change that thinking.

You have to change what you're telling yourself and actually believe it and follow through. I think that's the most important.

Steve: Yeah. I think believe the you know, this might be a ridiculous, you know, idea. I still remember this conversation I have with my best friend in college. And they're like, what's the one thing? You pass off just one thing, right, to your kids.

What would it be? And I was like, my confidence. And they're like, really? Of all things, like, man, the power of belief, I can get things done not because I'm smarter, not because I'm better, just because I believe in myself. Yeah.

Right. That confidence is immensely because

Zach: you're gonna do the work. Because you believe.

Steve: You and you were saying earlier. Right? Because I have full faith that I will achieve the outcome, I am willing to do the difficult work.

Zach: Yep.

Steve: Yeah. That's great. How can someone get ahold of you?

Zach: Shoot me a DM on any of the social medias. If you wanna talk to us directly about, about the the the mentorship Mhmm. Right, and and see if it makes sense to join. You can you just book a call right there on the website, but or shoot me a DM. But I talk to people too.

Like, I'm not, like, in some hidden vault where you don't get to

Steve: talk to

Zach: me. So I jump on the phone all the time with people.

Steve: Awesome. Very cool. Well, thank you so much. I appreciate it. It was awesome, and I love hearing all the different stories.

Thank you. Thank you guys for watching, and we'll see you guys next. Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. We real estate disrupt us.