Wholesale Real Estate at 21, Generated $500K

Dawson Skorceski: There was a point where, obviously, when I had, you know, $800 left, I was, man, this might be it. At this point, I'm dropped out of school. I was all in. I'm like, I'm not going back to school ever. A degree or anything wasn't an option for me.

For almost a year, I was spending six to eight hours a day on a dialer every every Monday through Friday. Simply, if you just do what's required of you and do the boring work, that's where what will get you where you need to go. Doing the stuff that everyone is not willing to do it.

Steve Trang: You're 21 years old today. Yeah. Meaning you started it when you were 19. Yeah. And the point I'm trying to make here is if you guys are watching this, you guys aren't doing this.

You literally have zero excuses.

Dawson: But if you're willing to go past the extra mile, and picking an industry, not getting distracted and doing what's required of you, you'll you'll, without a doubt, become successful. No matter what it is, you can be selling anything.

Steve: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of disruptors. Today, we have Dawson Skorceski with Sioux Empire Homebuyers, and Dawson flew in from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to talk about how he's earned a half 1,000,000 wholesaling in his backyard at 21 years old. That's right. 21 years old.

Guys, I'm gonna make sure you create a 100 millionaires. The information on this show alone is enough to help you become a millionaire. In the next five to seven years, if you take consistent action, you'll become one, guys. If you get value out of this show, please hit that subscribe button right now. That way we can all grow together.

You ready?

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Alright. So first question is, what's your life like right before you got into real estate?

Dawson: So, actually, I was in college. I was couch flipping actually in high school. Gotcha. Ryan Ryan Pineda model. Yeah.

He's he's awesome. He he put me on the idea. It was couch flipping. Yeah. Was in my college dorm room, was playing college baseball at the time, in a small NEI school in Sioux City, Iowa.

And so I was was in the dorm room and kinda came upon wholesaling as it was the same idea as couch flipping Mhmm. Roughly and, just kinda stumbled upon it with the obvious TikTok and things like that. Right? And so it's kinda how we came upon it. And, otherwise, yeah, I was going to school to be an accountant at the time, and I knew probably a day or two in that I wasn't for me.

So I just I stayed throughout the whole year, just because I was playing baseball. So I had a commitment. But

Steve: So you stayed when you say the whole year, you mean, like, your whole freshman year?

Dawson: Mhmm. Whole freshman year. No. Suck it out.

Steve: First day in college, you knew, like, you accounting was your major. It's like, this is not gonna be for me. Yeah. Because I was gonna ask, like, accounting and baseball don't normally No. Go hand in hand.

No. Okay. No. So you say, like, you stuck it out for the whole year. Mean does that mean that you didn't

Dawson: stick it out for the second year? No. I right after the freshman year, I

Steve: was done. You were done? Yeah. Okay. What happened to your

Dawson: baseball dreams? They got crumbled. You know, I realized I wasn't Bryce Harper by any means. So Okay.

Steve: So you figured that out first year as well?

Dawson: What's that?

Steve: You figured out the first year that you you were not gonna be Bryce Harper?

Dawson: No. No. I mean, yeah, you go in with high hopes in college, and you realize, man, it's very easy for someone else to come in and be a lot better than you. So it's, but it was great. I enjoyed it a lot.

Okay. Time. But

Steve: Did you

Dawson: start? No. No. Not right away. No.

Okay. I'm not even close.

Steve: What position did you play?

Dawson: I was a catcher. K. So yeah.

Steve: I hear that's the hardest position to play, at least physically.

Dawson: Yeah. I mean, it's it's it is, I would say.

Steve: But Gotcha. Okay. So you got in the couch flipping.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: So you you you heard about couch flipping before you heard about wholesaling?

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah. So I literally weird fact about me, I've never had a w two job before, and it was dawned upon me. I was like, well, I need some money. I just graduated high school.

I have probably $700 in my account Mhmm. For everything. I'm like, well, I now have to pay for college and things like that. Need to make some money. And I was like, I I don't wanna work a job.

I have about a month or two. Mhmm. They scrounged some cash and came upon couch flipping, and I ended up doing pretty good. I sold I think it was eighty, ninety couches, and it was all sectional couches. I did pretty good averaging 300 to 400, maybe some 500 if I was lucky on each couch, and I was it was pretty cool.

Steve: Yeah. So couch flipping. For me, it's it's entertaining only because I knew Ryan Right. As the house flipper. Right.

And then he becomes his influencer. It's like, I need to make a YouTube channel.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And what am I gonna talk about? And he talks about cash flipping. Right. And that's what can help him take off. Right.

So did you find cash flipping on YouTube, on TikTok?

Dawson: Yeah. It was YouTube. It was YouTube. I was looking up side hustles, and, of course, came up on Ryan Pineda with his presence, and I was like, doesn't seem bad. Yeah.

Go through Facebook, and I see just a free three seater couch. It looked pretty old. It was sitting on the curb for some from somebody. I'm like, well, I'm gonna go grab this, convince my dad to come and help me and grab this thing, and he was like, this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard. Right?

Mhmm. But, no, I ended up selling it, made a $130, and I'm like You you

Steve: got a 130 from something that you that was sitting in a curve Yeah.

Dawson: It was faded. It was horrible. It stunk. It was it was a horrible

Steve: anything to it?

Dawson: Yeah. I cleaned it. I did the best I could. Didn't have any knowledge about cleaning couches at the time. Cleaned it and put it on Facebook about a day later.

And, yeah, somebody ended up paying a $130, and I offered the free delivery. Right? Of course. Soon realizing, I was like, if I don't have to do that, that'd be awesome. Yeah.

Steve: White glove service.

Dawson: Right. Right. Right away. But, yeah, it was it was cool. It was it was the first time I ever, felt that that rush of, like, wow.

This is the easiest money ever. So Right. Mhmm.

Steve: Okay. So you said you did 80 or 90?

Dawson: Yeah. It was a lot. I mean, I've I've showed other my partners and guys that I know my Facebook marketplace from back in the day, and I'm just scrolling. I I still I haven't gotten to the end of it in a while. It's Yeah.

It's a lot.

Steve: Okay. So then that, springboard you into real estate.

Dawson: Right. Right. So that it was it was taking the idea of it was like, okay. How can I do this at a higher scale, higher ticket? You know, going in that business world, you see a lot of, you know, woman in the red dress fads and whatever Mhmm.

Drop shipping all this stuff. And I'm like, well, the wholesale real estate, that doesn't seem too bad. You can get lucky with that. Right? You know, and spent a lot of money learning how to do some stuff, and then came across just straight up cold calling.

I was like, well, I need to stop watching YouTube videos all day. I need to actually take action here. So I was out of my college dorm room. You know, roommates are gaming and doing all this stuff, and I I have to go to a different room so I could cold call at night, right, on the evenings, five to 6PM. I had one hour a day outside of homework, baseball, and things like that.

And that and I was able to make calls, and I'd probably talk to only, like, two people a day. Right? And just You're able to make that work? Yeah. I mean, well, what happened was is I was starting out with Google Voice and then, just using straight up PropStream right at the time.

And so I was using a Google Voice number as a free number, and I would go in and I would copy and paste phone numbers, and I realized this is really inefficient. So Mhmm. I came across, like, batch dialer Mhmm. And started using a dialer, and that's what really kinda changed it just because of the little time I had at the time.

Steve: Yeah.

Dawson: So that hour a day then turned into from two people to, you know, 20 to thirty first, give or take. People? Yeah. Yeah. So it was pretty good.

It was pretty good.

Steve: How'd you go from, so let's talk about you. You got a second person? Who was the second person?

Dawson: Like, in our in my business?

Steve: Yeah.

Dawson: So it's my partner, Caden. He he deals a lot of our stuff, boots on the ground. He's very good at what he does. He's very highly real estate minded as far as

Steve: Was he already in real estate? Was he

Dawson: He was he actually

Steve: worked at

Dawson: the title company. He actually that's that's where I met him. Was on I did a couple deals with him, and he was at the title company. And he's always been a hustler. He was a good I

Steve: when he the title company. You met him there. He wasn't working there.

Dawson: He was he was working there. He was an employee at the title company. Yep. And that's where we met. Okay.

And then we just kinda stumbled upon things. You know, and I did I know he did some other things. He left the title company, and I know he's doing some other things with other real estate investors and just kinda ended up working out, did a few deals together, and kinda dated before we married, if that makes sense.

Steve: Oh, absolutely. Mhmm. And then you brought in a third person. This is all in your first year.

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the well, my first year was kinda ups and downs. I mean, it was it was mostly just me.

Me and Caden have have been very avid this last year. We we started everything about over a little over a year ago. That first eight, nine months was very up and down. I was cold calling all day, spending a ton of money on mailers. You know, I I spent a lot of money on some dumb marketing tactics.

Right?

Steve: What's the dumbest thing to spend money on?

Dawson: Oh, gosh. I'm trying to think. So it was I because it was a collective a lot of things. I would say sending out 10,000 worth of mailers, $10.10 grand worth of mailers that really barely I did I ended up not doing a deal from it, so it was horrible. That was that was probably the worst investment I ever made, as far as marketing goes.

Yeah. And and, obviously, some bad coaches along the way, but everybody makes those mistakes. But Okay.

Steve: Mhmm. So talk to me about your very first deal.

Dawson: Yeah. So my first deal, I was sitting in my college dorm room. Mhmm. And I remember that day, I didn't make the travel roster, and I was upset, whatever. Okay.

Well, then I'll I have time to cold call tonight.

Steve: Feeling it down. Mhmm. But you didn't just sit in it. Right.

Dawson: Right. Right. I was like, well, I need to take I need to do can't just sit here and wallow. Right? So I'm sitting on my food time, my college dorm.

I'm alone. My roommate may was on the travel roster, so I was like, okay. I got some time. Was able to call that night for three hours, and I remember I was I was had a TV pulled up. I was watching a podcast, and every time somebody would answer on the dialer, I just pause it and, you know, do my thing.

And I remember this is no joke. This isn't, like, just some crazy story. This is real. I I was on my last phone call, and I was like, okay. This is the last call I'm gonna do.

Been already calling for three hours at this point. Yeah. And then it answered and it ended up being a 20 k deal that I ended up j b ing. It was my first ever one. Yeah.

And I ended up having to do it virtually because I was an hour and a half away. Mhmm. But I had good, you know, a few connections, so I could get it done.

Steve: So you're working this what was the school you went to?

Dawson: It was it was Morningside University. It was a small NAIA school in Sioux City, Iowa.

Steve: Okay.

Dawson: So I'm

Steve: in Sioux Sioux City. Mhmm. You're working your area generally, but this is a little bit further out. Mhmm. You don't have a ton of resources.

No. No. You're you're calling what it sounds like prop stream leads.

Dawson: Mhmm. It was prop stream on a dialer, Quintly. That's all it was. Yeah. But you

Steve: started on Google Voice. Mhmm. Right? Mhmm. And then you j v'd it.

And I'm I'm only bringing this up. Right? Because, like, you're 21 years old today. Mhmm. Yeah.

Meaning you started when you were 19. Mhmm.

Dawson: Yeah. And

Steve: the point I'm trying to make here is if you guys are watching this, you guys aren't doing this. You guys literally have zero excuses. Right? 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 the 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.

Alright? Like, so you find this you find this out. This is the last call today, and you Right. So this is it's still PropStream. Right?

Mhmm. You get the guy on the phone. Mhmm. Use PropStream's phone numbers or use a diff use a different phone number?

Dawson: It was PropStream's phone number.

Steve: PropStream's phone number.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: And then you get a deal. You lock it up Mhmm. Virtually

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And then you JV it. Meaning, you did you ever go to his house?

Dawson: No. I never ended up seeing it. I've to this day, I never ended up, seeing it at all. Okay. Inside, I almost have pictures.

So

Steve: So who did you JV it with?

Dawson: It was a guy who I found actually on BiggerPockets. Mhmm. It was a mutual guy that, has been doing deals for a while. So I was like, okay. Yeah.

I have this deal. Like, if I come across one, would you be able to help me? And he's like, of course. So Right. I get this.

And it was once you hear a motivated seller, you know what they sound like, a real one, and you just kinda know. Even though it was my first one, and I called them, I was like, hey. This is gonna be something. Mhmm. Go to this house.

She's ready to go. And it was it was that's all it was. So

Steve: so then once you had it locked up, I mean, was it easy? Mhmm. Mhmm.

Dawson: It was easy. I mean, obviously, the partner I was working with is great at the time. I mean, he, pretty much was a white glove. I mean, he understand he saw himself in me a little bit. And so kinda walked me through the ropes as far as transacting it, understanding, okay.

This is where I got the numbers from because I didn't know how to make an offer. I didn't know what the property is worth. Nothing.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: I I strictly was, taking kind of the Jerry Norton Mhmm. Approach whereas just get a deal. Just just get a lead in somebody. You'll you'll do something with them. Right?

That's just kinda what I I knew nothing about real estate.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. So how did you what did you do after that deal was done?

Dawson: And you

Steve: said you said 20 k's then you split the 20 k 10

Dawson: So I got 10. Mhmm.

Steve: So it's real now.

Dawson: Mhmm. Right.

Steve: Yeah. So what was it like to get your first deal done?

Dawson: It was crazy. I honestly didn't know. I remember I called my dad afterwards. I was like, listen. I might this might happen.

Mhmm. Not gonna get my hopes up, but I might be getting $10.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: It's crazy. Mhmm. And and, you know, my parents are both blue collar people, so entrepreneurship and all this stuff was to them was I mean, they they're very, they understand, you know, but they, work in blue collar jobs. They're, like, $10. This is there's something not right here.

You know? And and it ended up happening. And then just from that point on, I got straight up addicted. I mean, everything. I I was checked out with school and everything else.

I mean, there was

Steve: Grade started slipping?

Dawson: I mean, yeah. I I never ended up actually seeing my final GPA after my freshman year because I didn't care, honestly. So we'll see. I don't really know what it was.

Steve: But Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. As far as they know, like, you had a health scare or you were murdered, whatever. They just don't know.

You're in Europe somewhere. Right. Alright. So you closed your first deal. What'd you do with that with with, that momentum?

Dawson: Right. So I just I took the model. Looking back, what it was what got me here today, but I don't know if I do it the same way. I reinvested all of it. Right?

Reinvested all of it in the cold calling. I actually got two VAs right away. I was like, okay. We need to scale this. We need to do whatever.

Alright. Did all this, and that's what I did. I spent it all. And then that $10 went very quickly. It went it went extremely quickly after I was still dribbling some mailers around.

I was doing the cold calling because at that point, I was like, oh my gosh. I'm going all in. Right? 10,000. I should I should get a deal by the end of this.

Right? Well, down to my last $800, I'm spending, like, $2 a month at this point. Don't have much many deals going on. You know, started using, you know, 0% credit cards. I was starting to get really deep in this.

I was starting to get, really deep into the credit card debt. And so I I at this point, I'm all all the couch money's gone. I have I in credit card debt, and then I was still using the dialer, still had the VAs, all that stuff, and and then just kinda came out of it, started to get some momentum, got one deal done, and then just kinda to stack on again. Mhmm. But I just I took away all the other marketing.

I'm like, we're just gonna do cold calling

Steve: Yeah.

Dawson: Just because of the efficiency, and the cost, of course, and at that time. And so then I just capitalize on just cold calling. And then it got to the point where, okay, that these VAs, they've been with me for long enough. They're pretty well groomed. Mhmm.

They know how to handle things. And so gave me a lot of the time instead of having to cold call eight hours a day. Because for almost a year, I was spending six to eight hours a day on a dialer every every Monday through Friday. And so it was it was a grind, but it gave me the time with those VAs now to learn different skills, right, different marketing skills that, that got us where now we are today.

Steve: So Gotcha. Did you have any doubts along the way?

Dawson: Yeah. 100%. 100%. I mean, I was living in my parents' house doing all this at the time, and and, there was a point where, obviously, when I had, you know, $800 left, I was, man, this might be it. At this point, I'm dropped out of school.

I was all in. I'm like, I'm not going back to school ever. A degree or anything wasn't an option for me. So it was, I burned the boats, if you will. Yeah.

And so that was my lowest point as far as, man, this might not work out because I've been you know, there's a little bit of cockiness in Mhmm. In entrepreneurship where you have to believe all this is gonna work. You know?

Steve: Yeah. It's gonna work. You have to believe that.

Dawson: You have to. And and and I had that until there was a couple times where I was like, this might not actually work.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: Ended up coming out of it. You just get a little bit of momentum, and that's that's really strong when you have some momentum on your side.

Steve: What were some of the big struggles, in in in wrapping up in your first couple years?

Dawson: Right. I think it was just, I don't think it was a volume issue. Honestly, I don't it wasn't I was getting in touch with leads. I was getting in touch with people that were looking to sell. I really just simply didn't know anything about, real estate, and my sales just honestly were pretty bad.

And I know this is where seeing a lot of you and then things like that that helped a lot, but my my sales was bad, and I didn't know how to price things correctly. That was the biggest problem I had. Yeah. And so having resources that, we're able even if it it took me to ask a buddy, hey. What would you know, a cash buyer's you know, you start to develop a little bit of relationships.

What would you pay for this? Like, just being completely honest. And they're just like, okay. If you wanna know, you gotta find one nice enough. I wanna work with you.

Right? Right. But they'll tell you, this is this is what I would sell it for after it's all fixed up. You know, they kinda run you through the numbers. Mhmm.

Steve: Go through

Dawson: it a few times. And, obviously, with help with my business partner, Caden too, I mean, he's he's awesome in what he does is and prices out things very well. But that that was a big help too because, obviously, him working at the title company was, he had every connection in the world. Right. Right?

And so he knew, I mean, a full ocean of of these people that I never would even came across. So that was a big deal too.

Steve: Yeah. That was kind of a a shortcut, like Right. Like a a cheat code.

Dawson: Oh, it was. It was. And I would I would definitely grant the reasoning of why we ramped up so fast, is because the marketing was there. Mhmm. But then the ability to dispo a deal for the absolute most amount was also there very quickly.

Steve: Right? Okay. So underwriting, get some good friends.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: Develop some relationships. Right. Sales. So you said you weren't good at sales. So how did you get better at sales?

Dawson: Right. I mean, for me, it was just trial and error. Okay. On cold calling, this worked well. This didn't.

I didn't really pay for that many coaches for sales. I was paying for coaches for marketing, and I was paying let's just and I was focused on let's just let's just get leads. Let's just get the deals. But getting those leads and not knowing how to convert them, that was a big problem. You know, obviously, it doesn't help you don't know what things are priced out to be.

You don't understand. But that was a big deal, to answer your question. It was honestly just going on appointments with others too. I would bring cash buyers with me, which I don't know if I recommend for everybody. You gotta have a good relationship there.

But there's, just seeing other people. I honestly and and to me, it was a lot of trial and error and seeing other YouTube videos, and just that was that was probably I didn't take it the right route. I would I would say maybe get a coach for that. But

Steve: I would completely agree with that.

Dawson: Right. Right.

Steve: So you also mentioned that you hire some bad coaches. Mhmm. How are you, I don't know, defining what were these coaches doing that you would describe them as bad?

Dawson: If you wouldn't trade your business with them, don't take advice from them.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: And it's just I think it was straight up just being sold by, you know, I guess being sold by the vacation instead of the TSA and the you're not you're not told about, oh, this is it actually stinks and sucks for a little while, but you sold the vacation. And then you actually get it, and you're like, oh, this isn't as much resources I thought I was gonna get. Oh, so you don't answer my text during the day? Okay. You know?

But it's one of those things where, if if you wouldn't if if you don't actually know that they're doing deals or you don't actually know that they hold value or there's no credibility there, I I would double down on just understanding, okay, would I would I have his business?

Steve: So you go back two years ago. Mhmm. Are you talking to little Dawson's

Dawson: Right.

Steve: Sitting in the dorm room?

Dawson: Right.

Steve: What questions would you ask him beg him to ask any coaches he hires?

Dawson: Oh, gosh. How many deals have you done this year? I would I would ask year to date how many deals have you done.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: Okay. Show me addresses. Show me, you know, how I I guess you don't have to ask marketing if you don't buy their coaching, but just credibility just goes a long way. I think that stands for itself. They're like, hey.

I've done 20 deals so far in the last three months. Mhmm. Okay. You know, do you have a few examples? Okay.

This is it's a few of them. Okay. Awesome. Or if they have a team or whatever the case may be, because I know some aren't always involved. But if they show just some proof as far as what they've done, I think that goes a long way.

Steve: So just the recent transactions. For you, that's the number one most important thing.

Dawson: Right. I mean, I guess there is some exceptions. I mean, I don't mean that every coach has to be doing 20 deals every three months. Right? I was

Steve: just asking if there's other things. So it was just transaction history.

Dawson: Right. Yeah. For me, that was the biggest thing. Okay.

Steve: Yeah. So then going back to 19 year old Dawson Mhmm. Would you feel comfortable asking someone, like I guess, how many coaches did you hire?

Dawson: It was, like, three or four.

Steve: Three or four coaches? Mhmm.

Dawson: Okay. How

Steve: did you find those three or four coaches?

Dawson: One was a forum, and it was the local one, but the others were all social media.

Steve: Social media. Instagram predominantly? Or

Dawson: Some there was, like, two YouTube and one Instagram. Yeah.

Steve: YouTube and one Instagram. Okay. Was it a situation where, like, you you were advertising, you clicked on it, and you talked to a sales guy, or is it like you were DMing with, like, the actual coach?

Dawson: It would be the actual person most of the time. I never did any, like, bigger ones that had, like, sales calls. It was always directly to them, and it was mostly it wasn't really ads. It was mostly, they would post on their story, like, oh, yeah. You know, their their other student did this, and that was a big so that that always hit me right for some reason, but that was a big thing.

I'd slide up on the DM and be like, okay.

Steve: I I get it. Mhmm. I mean, the the Would you work? Successful case studies. Right?

Oh, it works.

Dawson: It works.

Steve: It works pretty well. So would you, at 19 years old, feel confident talking to someone over the DM or whatever is, like, hey. How many deals have you done?

Dawson: No. Absolutely not. And that's where it goes back to is knowing what I know now, I would ask that, but would I have two years ago? I don't know. I I don't know if I woulda had the balls to do it, to be honest.

Just knowing cause you don't want at the time when you're not in the real estate game, you don't wanna be disrespectful. You don't wanna come across that, oh, I'm a know it all, whatever. You know? And you obviously, in my case, I was just looking for opportunity. I mean, I was looking for everything.

I'm just I wanna learn everything. I was hard worker. I did everything I wanted to do. Yeah. But it was, you know, at the time, what I have no.

Steve: Yeah. And it because and I bring this up because it's it's it's interesting. Right? Because, like, we know what questions we should ask later.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: But before, like, will we have the courage? Like, I would answer. If someone's like, how many deals we've done, I would answer that question comfortably.

Dawson: Oh, right. Yeah.

Steve: Many people, even people that are doing the deals Mhmm. Would tell you to kick rocks.

Dawson: Exactly. Yeah.

Steve: Right? So it's tough Mhmm. In that spot. Mhmm. And then you're you're kinda letting a little secret out of the bag here with with, you know, doing deals in Sioux Falls.

Mhmm. Any concerns about, like, letting letting the message out?

Dawson: I mean, not really. I mean, we're always willing to partner with everybody. I mean, we we double down on that market, and we know it like the back of our hand. And we see it as, you know, whatever the case may be. Cool.

You know? Do whatever you wanna do there. Just know that we can we can get it done for you.

Steve: Yeah. And I only ask because, like, you don't hear some of these markets. Right? People talking about I do this many deals in this particular market. Mhmm.

A lot of times when I hear something like, you know, Sioux Falls or, you know, something Iowa Mhmm. Something and maybe, try to think some other states in in the area or even, like, Ohio. A lot of people do virtually in Ohio. Right? So there's there's a certain markets where, like, there's a lot of virtual deals.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: Right? No one's like, hey. This is my neck of the woods. Mhmm. So what's that experience been for you?

There are two types of salespeople out there. They're the convincers, and they're the sales professionals. For the first nine years of my career, I was the convincer. Convincers are always out there trying to convince people to meet with them and buy from them. Their strategy is to try to push hard and never take no for an answer.

And by focusing on this strategy, they spend a lot of time on cold calling, the next marketing gimmick, features and benefits, how they and their company are the best, following up until the prospect buys or dies. All of this requires time and energy. The problem isn't the model itself. It's that their approach pushes prospects away. And this is the same exact thing that happened to me before I figured out the close more sales formula.

The solution, sell customers exactly what they want to buy. That's right. I said it. We sell customers exactly what they want to buy because I would rather get an easy sell with a happy customer instead of a difficult sell from a customer who felt sold. No.

Thanks. I did that before, and it sucks. So here's the deal. I explain everything in the closed mortgage sales course. It's an 11 module course that shows you everything you need to know to close mortgage sales.

The best part, you can use this in any industry, not just real estate. So no matter what you're selling and to who you're selling to, this formula will lead to easier sales. Go to closemoresales.com/sales master class, one word, closemoresales.com/salesmasterclass.

Dawson: I mean, honestly, there's a lot of nationwide wholesalers that'll come through, a lot of innovations or things like that on investor lift or things like that. And we see it as opportunity. We, by no means, know that we're not gonna capitalize. We're not gonna monopolize this market. We can as much as we can.

And we argue that, hey. Sometimes we have it unlocked. Right? But there's gonna be some nationwide people that come in on other marketing channels, that we just simply just didn't get lucky. Right?

Mhmm. And there's other deals that will come in, and that's just part of the game. But we see it as an opportunity. Hey. We'll make it easy for you.

Just with all these other people, virtually, we confidently can say we'll get you way more than what you think you can get for this. I promise you you can get more.

Steve: And, what's the population today?

Dawson: We think it's two seventy five. Two seventy five? Mhmm.

Steve: Okay. So what are some of the biggest victories? I know you're still earlier here Mhmm. Journey. Describe some of your bigger victories.

Dawson: Some of the biggest victories, I think, there's a couple of them. I think the biggest victory, and I know we'll probably talk about this later, but one of our marketing channels is SEO, organic SEO, and that was, something where it was I mean, we set it up. It took me forever to figure out how to do it and get ranked because I did it all myself. I didn't really pay for any coaching or anything like that. And I had it set up, took about six months or whatever at the time, and then got a lead, and it was, like, my second lead.

Came in. It was a couple in divorce, and they were going through the whole shebang. Mhmm. And we went in there, and I know, me and my partner went in there, got it locked up, and we ended up assigning it six, seven hours later for $25.

Steve: Nice.

Dawson: And that was as far as the cost per lead goes, it was a lead that came to us, was a really cheap to get, and it it was really quick turnaround time. I mean, there was no I didn't have to follow-up. I didn't have to you know? Mhmm. And there you'll get leads like that naturally, but that was the coolest thing to me was like, wow.

Six hours later, let me just just print it. You know? That was the coolest. I think that was the biggest victory that I can think of.

Steve: Gotcha. So let's talk about SEO. Mhmm. So did you just one day decide, like, alright. I'm an SEO expert.

I'm an SEO nerd. Like, let's rock in SEO. Right. What was your SEO journey?

Dawson: Yeah. So right now, I mean, at the time, you know, you talk about old Dawson where I I was at that stage. I had the VAs. I delegated everything, and I was like, I'm not cold calling anymore. Well, I was like, okay.

How can I fill up my day, learn other marketing? And SEO just seemed to me, I came across, so, you know, I was familiar with Carrot. I was familiar. And I'm like, this would be really valuable. I mean, somebody who searches up, in a Google search looking to sell their house.

Mhmm. That's gotta be crazy valuable. Right? And to me so then I just went all in on it, to be honest, and, just I did it straight up by trial and error. YouTube, 100% just seeing what worked, what didn't.

Right. And it took a long time.

Steve: How long is a long time?

Dawson: Well, I know from the time that I started the site, launched it, after keep in mind, I had to learn how to do it for, like, a couple months, and then I launched it. So it was probably eight months from the time I launched it, to the time I got my that second lead with that deal, I would say.

Steve: And if I were in your market

Dawson: Mhmm. You know,

Steve: what are some of the keywords that you're doing pretty well on for SEO?

Dawson: Right. So sell my house fast. Mhmm. Just simply sell my house. Mhmm.

Sell my house cash. We buy houses. There's also cash home buyers. Trying to think of any other commercial ones. But that's one main law.

Steve: You said it's predominantly from Google or from YouTube you were learning?

Dawson: Yeah. All YouTube. Mhmm.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. So and but you're doing using Carrot.

Dawson: Yeah. I was using Carrot. They're an awesome tool.

Steve: So at which point did you know this was real? Because, like, with SEO

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: There's like, alright. I'm gonna do a little bit of work.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: And then, like, six months later, it might work. Right. So how were you tracking your efforts leading into results?

Dawson: Right. And so a lot of it was just simply belief at the time. Mhmm. Okay. This might work.

This might not. But a lot of it, I would do it, and then I would go you know, I'd keep researching, researching, researching, and then I'd realize, oh, this was wrong. I shouldn't do this because I I tracked as far as where it would rank and sell my house fast, that keyword. Mhmm. And I was getting it indexed, and then it would, oh, this would it would severely drop if I did this.

Or, oh, it gained it went up, like, two spots if I did this. Okay. It was a lot of just Mhmm. Nip at the bit a little bit.

Steve: So Yeah. So you're using a tool Mhmm. To track where you rank Mhmm. Daily, weekly, monthly?

Dawson: It it was daily. Yeah. I mean, now it's we have it pretty locked, so it's not as avid. But at the time when I was learning and doing it, it was daily. I mean, it was twice daily almost.

So it was became an obsession for a little while.

Steve: I understand it. Mhmm. I completely understand. You used to do a lot of my own SEO.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: What tools were you using to to track your your your rankings?

Dawson: Right. So right away, I was just using Google Search Console as just impressions and seeing, okay, how many people are clicking on my stuff with this keyword. Mhmm. Obviously, in the beginning, it's it's really hard. Simply in the beginning when you're when you're gonna go to cheat mode, you'd look up your keyword in incognito mode Right.

And and scroll all the way down because you're probably down there, and just count it up. But you can obviously use different tools like Semrush or there's Ahrefs. I I use Semrush now, to do all my stuff. But, yeah, that that the freeway is simply just to look up your keyword, see what happens that day. But the

Steve: keyword in incognito mode, do you wanna explain this, to the listeners why incognito mode?

Dawson: Yeah. So incognito mode, it's basically a private browser that takes out the bias of it. And so because Google obviously has their algorithm of what you're looking up and maybe the best search results for you. Because Google, all it is is just a relevancy platform, that brings up the most credible sites for what you're looking up. That's all it is.

It's a business in itself. And so they're very good at knowing what you like. And so that's why incognito mode is so nice. You can look it up, and it's completely unbiased. It it's gonna be on

Steve: It's not based off your search history, what you're clicking on, or your email account.

Dawson: Exactly. Exactly.

Steve: Yeah. I remember, when I was doing on SEO back in the day, like, I was feeling pretty good. You know, I was like, alright. I'm up there.

Dawson: Right. I was

Steve: like, oh, crap. I wasn't logged out.

Dawson: Right. Right. Right. Right. I mean, your own click through rate.

You know, you go click it 10 times thinking it's gonna do something with yourself. It's like, I don't know.

Steve: But so you're doing oh, crap. Where else do I go with? So you're doing your your own, SEO. How do you know which keywords to target?

Dawson: Right. So it was more so just seeing, you know, there's there's a lot of YouTube, and things like that that I went off. It wasn't completely all my knowledge. Like, oh, these are the keywords that are searched up the most. But, it was a lot of YouTube and other resources that gave me, okay, sell my house fast is pretty obvious.

Mhmm. You know, you wanna have these high motivating keywords. For me, it wasn't as much of how much it was being searched up. Mhmm. I was in a small market, so a lot of those things in Semrush weren't trackable.

They weren't they would pop up as just an unknown. Right? Because there were so few people looking it up. Right. But it's one of those things where if you if you have the motivating keywords, that's all you really need.

At least some at some point, somebody will.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: So

Steve: And then you're doing this yourself. You're not paying anybody else.

Dawson: No. 100% myself. Yeah. Okay. I couldn't afford to pay anybody at the time.

Steve: So Right. Mhmm. Okay. Are you still doing it yourself, or do you have a team now that's helping you with it?

Dawson: I'm still doing it myself. Honestly, it's been something where, I haven't really touched in a while. Okay. So it's it's been pretty locked for a while. I check it every once in a while.

Mhmm. You know? But it it does pretty good.

Steve: Gotcha. Okay. And then, you're saying that right now, you're doing 50 k a month

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: But you're only spending 3 k?

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah. 3 k total in expenses now.

Steve: How does that work?

Dawson: So a lot of it is organic SEO. I mean, we're doing, on average, three around three to four deals a month Mhmm. Just an organic SEO even in a 275,000 people market. Mhmm. And, obviously, those are stretched out throughout the whole year.

So, like, I I mean, it depends on the deal, but, SEO is a big one. I mean, we only spend $200 a month doing SEO, which is it's my favorite.

Steve: Bucks you tell me, like, is that just does that include SEM rush?

Dawson: No. So I guess SEMrush, which is not necessary if you're a real estate investor. I do other digital marketing for other people in my market. So if you're just a real estate investor, I I 200 just for Karat. I pay, like, 100 for Semrush.

I think it's, like, 120.

Steve: The 200 for Karat. So 200 for Karat. Is for your website. You're buying karat.com.

Dawson: Yep. Yep. Yep. Right.

Steve: If you guys haven't watched that episode, Trevor Mak,

Dawson: great. It's a great episode. I watched it too. Yeah. So

Steve: Mhmm. Awesome. Okay. So 200 a month for a Karat site. Mhmm.

And you're doing all your SEO. Mhmm. So SEO, there's a few different ways to look at it. Right? Mhmm.

Actually, you know what? We we didn't really do a good job breaking this down. What is SEO?

Dawson: So SEO is it's called search engine optimization. So it's just the process of, trying to, I shouldn't say, manipulate Google, but, show Google, that you are relevant and credible Mhmm. To certain keywords that you wanna rank for. So it really goes with any business. If you wanna rank as a landscaper, as a window cleaner, it's the same thing.

You just wanna show Google that your website is relevant and also credible because that's what gets you high in the

Steve: ranks. So search engine optimization. Mhmm. And really what we're doing is we're trying to help Google Mhmm. Tell people that we're one of the best Right.

Websites. Right. Right? And so you have when you Google something

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Or with PPC, these are the Right. Ads on top that says ad or sponsor.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And then you have, like, the map. Mhmm. And then you have the first 10 results

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: If it's still 10.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: Right? So you're ranking for the results.

Dawson: Right. Yep.

Steve: Are you ranking for the map? Yeah.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Because you're ranking from the map and the results, but not PPC.

Dawson: We also do sprinkle in PPC. Okay. I think it's nice. We spring I mean, it's not much. We now with the spend, I mean, we're more flexible in the spend.

I say we spend $250 a month in PPC, just search campaigns. I don't do any other Google advertising, but it's it's sometimes can be different when somebody looks up sell my house fast. They see your PPC ad, your Google link Mhmm. Or your maps link as well as your organic, and it's like, okay. You know?

So It's like a

Steve: triple triple package.

Dawson: Right. Right? So

Steve: so you're you're sitting up there on the sponsored ads. Mhmm. You're on the map, and then you're on the, the the website results.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Any different efforts between the two?

Dawson: Yeah. So, obviously, with, Google PPC and as well as organic, very two different things. But I

Steve: mean between the map and org and and the website.

Dawson: Oh, I mean, I say they go hand in hand, to be honest. I think Google likes to see local maps that are also linked to a website. I definitely show that, if you have a website that ranks and you also have a Google business profile that has some reviews or has some activity Mhmm. I think they go hand in hand with each other whether vice versa, which everyone's bigger. Mhmm.

I definitely you can see as far as the click through rate goes, I think it definitely helps out, with traffic and showing Google that, hey. There's people clicking on this. This this is a legit company, and that's what they wanna see.

Steve: How many reviews do you have for your your company right now?

Dawson: We're close to 40.

Steve: Close to 40. Mhmm. Okay. I was talking to someone the other day

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And they were telling me, like, you know, there's always white hat and black hat.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: And for everyone else to see my elaborate white hat and black hat is.

Dawson: So white hat is known as more of clean tactics of trying to rank your website Mhmm. As as far as SEO. I would compare it, you know, guerrilla warfare to gentleman's warfare. Gentleman's warfare is more that white hat. Mhmm.

It's it's more respected. Mhmm. But then the guerrilla warfare is more black hat where there's a lot of, very shady tactics you can use, which it it depends. I mean, there's there's ways of doing things in SEO. Some things work.

You just gotta understand what to do. Yeah.

Steve: And the risk for black hat is you get in trouble. You get you get taken off and you're pay and you're you're not even in the first 10 pages.

Dawson: Wiped out. Wiped out. I mean, it I would say I'm not against black hat, to be honest. I think it's one of those things in the SERP, in Google. You have to show if if your top competitor Mhmm.

Is doing some black hat, yeah, you can outrank them in white hat. It's just gonna take a lot longer. So it depends what your risk to reward is.

Steve: So I was talking to somebody. I can't remember who it was off top of my head. But, basically, what they have found was some of these guys have it where you could pay for a service

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Where they would go to your city

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Google your result Mhmm. Drive to your office. So it shows a person searching it from their home

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And then they drove to ping all the towers that they went to your building.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: Right? And then drive back

Dawson: Mhmm. And

Steve: then leave a five star review.

Dawson: Wow. Yeah. I mean, that that's about as black as it gets. I don't

Steve: know how much more black as

Dawson: you can get.

Steve: I was like, man, that's pretty cool. I don't I don't think I'll ever do that.

Dawson: But it's cool. Right.

Steve: Right? Like, someone there's some genius out there that that's

Dawson: No. It's smart. It's smart. I mean, especially it helps to having real people give you reviews, and it also does a big thing to

Steve: It's almost like, the Amazon verified purchase. Right?

Dawson: Right.

Steve: So I'm sorry. Continue.

Dawson: No. That's all all good. So with Google My Business, if you have, like, some reviews that are at real people, people, local people that gave the review in that city or gave it in wherever Mhmm. That helps a lot too. Because then if you link that website, to this Google page showing, hey.

This person gave review on this business, which is related to this website. Right. So then Google is like, okay. The credibility starts to grow. Right.

Steve: It grows together. Mhmm.

Dawson: Yeah. I would say so.

Steve: Yeah. Absolutely. Alright. So, so, again, 50 k Mhmm. From 3 from 3 k spend.

Mhmm. So then what does the 3 k break down to?

Dawson: So, it's cold calling with VAs. Mhmm. We also do SMS texting. Mhmm. We do we sprinkle very, very little direct mail.

We also do very, very little pay per click Google pay per click. We also hone down, very intensely on foreclosures, which is free. Mhmm. We also do which is unique. We we put bandit signs outside of every deal that we do with all of our buyers.

So we made a deal with all of our buyers. Hey. If we do a deal with you, just be okay if we put a bandit sign out there. It's simple. All yellow.

I buy houses. And you'd be very shocked. I we do probably one deal or or two deals a quarter Mhmm. Just off of putting bandit signs outside of our our buyers' places, and they agree to it. As well, if if we're, you know, doing some random door knocking or whatever with foreclosures, we have we have door hangers as

Steve: well. Gotcha. So buyers. So you sold a deal, and then while they're doing whatever, they let you stick a bandit sign.

Dawson: Mhmm. So right when you close on it, they we we have I mean, shout out to our buyers as well because they're they're very cool. And they they let that fly. I mean, they agreed to it. That's cool.

Steve: That's that's different.

Dawson: Yeah. And so we we have a we ban it sign where they agreed. They're like, hey. Yeah. We just tell them, hey.

If we get a call on it and it's a deal, we call you.

Steve: Mhmm.

Dawson: So you get first dibs.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: And so the only thing it's gonna do by having a little sign in your yard is just get you more deals. And they're like, you sold me. So Yeah. We right when it closes, we stick a little yellow bandit sign in there, right in the yard. That way, it still follows the rules with the city regulations because every city can be different.

Mhmm. But, yeah, it it works pretty well.

Steve: Yeah. I like it. Right? I've never seen another wholesaler do that. Right.

We've done that, in the realtor world.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Right? And then, I've coached a few flippers

Dawson: Right.

Steve: To do the same thing. Right. I've never heard a wholesaler do that.

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's good also being in a local market in your backyard. Mhmm. People get to know you pretty well, and then you start to use the same buyers over and over and over again, and you build a pretty good relationship.

And that's what's good about it.

Steve: Yeah. That's awesome. Mhmm. Anything else?

Dawson: I that should be it for now.

Steve: Okay. So then, talk to me about your journey. Right? So number one, by yourself. Number two, you brought in a partner from your title company that you were using Mhmm.

To close your deals. Mhmm. And then what was your third hire or, I guess, your third person hired into the company?

Dawson: So we have as far as hiring, they're more of people in our market that know us pretty well. Mhmm. They know that, hey. These guys are the go to wholesalers, the go to flippers. So we get a lot of people, that younger kids that'll come in and say, hey.

I wanna learn how to do this. They'll call us up. We'll be like, here's the deal. We're not gonna charge you nothing. Simply drive for dollars.

Here's truepeoplesearch.com. We're gonna make it free for you. Yeah. Do this driving these streets right here, and I guarantee you, you make a 150, 200 calls, you'll probably get something. And more times than not, if if they take action on it, we had a guy, in a matter of two weeks.

Mhmm. Did it make I think it was a $27,000 fee. JV'd it with us, and, he went on a vacation right after that. And so he was like, dude, that was crazy. Right?

So the I shouldn't as far as, like, hiring, we more have a lot of people that will

Steve: come up and network. Mhmm.

Dawson: We have a good network as far as that goes.

Steve: Okay. So let's talk about that then. Mhmm. Because you obviously run a very lean business. Right?

Like, we're talking about doing half a mil. Some people might look as, like, half a mil. Like, who cares? Right?

Dawson: Right.

Steve: But to me, there's two reasons why this stuck out. A, you're extremely profitable.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: Right? Which makes more which is way more important. You're running a half mil company. It looks to be more profitable than

Dawson: Right.

Steve: A million dollar business. Yeah. And then beat you 21. Right. Freaking crazy.

Right? So, like, for you guys watching, like, if this isn't for you, like, send this to some younger people you know. Right? There's literally no excuses. There's no reason why you can't make this work.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: So then talk to me then about how you're able to network your your market, your relationships to build a lean profitable business.

Dawson: Right. I mean, it was more of just obviously, when you when word gets around, when you do enough deals, people know. But it's doing deals with a lot of different people. I mean, we've done deals with realtors. We've done deals with straight up cash buyers.

You know? And I think it's also a network of, knowing other people in the space as well. So other flippers or realtors, have sent us people who are like, hey. This kid is interested in wholesaling. Mhmm.

I don't know what I'm doing with this, and and I I want him to be a realtor on my team or whatever the case be but, you know, just show him the ropes and see whatever. And I'm we're like, okay. So that's a lot of it is just straight network of just knowing a diverse, of buyers and other people in the space. Also, competitors do the same thing. And so some competitors don't want other kids.

Like, we we don't wanna deal with this. Like, we just wanna do our business. Right? And so that's that's a lot of it too. That's the

Steve: one to go to if we if you have a young person who's interested.

Dawson: Right. Yeah. I don't I don't charge. So it's, yeah. I mean, it's good.

I mean, it's it's it's good because it's a mutual benefit. You know?

Steve: But you also have to be willing to help.

Dawson: Exactly. Exactly. And so it it's the big thing for me is, will I spend, you know, nine hours with you? No. But I'm gonna be like, hey.

Call them. This is what you say. Go in these streets. This is where you get the data from for for free. Right.

And you then call them. This is what you say. All you need to do is set the appointment. Get these points of info, you know, price, timeline, condition, you know, and and all those things and and reason for selling. Yeah.

Get those pinpoints, set an appointment, call me, we'll go. That's that's all it is.

Steve: Mhmm. Mhmm. So one thing that was interesting, right, we were talking about earlier, is that you have found yourselves to be kinda like the go to resource for investor lift.

Dawson: Mhmm. Yeah.

Steve: For the wholesalers. Yeah. Explain to me how this came to be.

Dawson: Right. So, obviously, I I would say in our market, you know, with it being smaller and things like that, I think there's a lot of these flippers and cash buyers and and people that aren't quite up to date as far as the new thing Mhmm. Of people getting deals, you know, with, they they don't really understand that there's people from other cities getting deals here. You know? And they haven't wrapped their head around that.

Like, how do they do that? Mhmm. And so finding it, obviously, we've heard of it. We know about it because we're avid in the space. Mhmm.

But it's simply something where being on it all the time, there's not a ton of deals that come through. Mhmm. But when there is a deal, we see it. Obviously, it's sitting there for a while, whatever. We reach out to them and say, hey.

Here's the deal. This is our credibility. We do this many deal. You know, nice credibility factor. We think we can get this done for you.

Like, we we can get you way more, and that's the part that's also benefit of being in a small market. You can real use realtor buyers. You can use all these other buyers, and get the absolute max, for something. But that's kinda where it comes in as far as investor lift is when these deals will come by. We just pitch them, say, hey.

I know I understand. If you don't want a JV, that's fine. We're here. If if you can't sell this, you know, in a couple weeks, just let us know. Alright.

And, usually, we'll get a callback, and that's just kinda where it goes. In a

Steve: couple weeks?

Dawson: Yeah. Probably, I would say a few days.

Steve: Few days? Mhmm. Alright. So do you look for, like, older, stale listings, or are you, like, this as soon as it hits investor lift?

Dawson: I mean, we'll reach out, right, when it hits investor lift, depending on whatever the deal looks like. Mhmm. But when it when it hits investor lift, we reach out, say, hey. Do you need help on this? You know, whatever.

We'll give our opinion as far as, okay. What do you have it locked up at? Like, what can we help you with this? And then if they don't wanna work with us, we're like, okay. That's fine.

You know, we'll just stay in touch with them every few days. It's kind of just a follow-up system.

Steve: Like any other motivated seller.

Dawson: Exactly. Yeah. Mhmm.

Steve: So how many deals do you think you're getting from the reviews? So you're talking just taking a step back. We're talking about, you know, search results and reviews. How many deals do you think you're getting? With only 40, how many deals do you think you're getting from that?

Dawson: Right now, this year so far, year to date from January, I think we've done four referral deals, and that's the biggest I would say. Credibility, is people word-of-mouth. Like, we these were motivated sellers that came to us from people that we knew. Right. Everyday people.

It's very unheard of to get a motivated seller from referral, but we've done already four this year. Right. And I think that's the biggest thing is I shouldn't say that from the reviews that somebody is, you know, seeing that because I I I'm not a 100% sure where they see the credibility. Obviously, we have a lot of reviews and things like that. When people see our Google business profile, we've got I've gotten told multiple times, like, you have the most reviews.

Steve: You Mhmm.

Dawson: You seem like you got it going on. Like, I don't wanna play any funny business. Let's just get this done. Yeah. Cool.

So that that's I I've heard that already twice this year come out of a couple people's mouths as well as having word-of-mouth referrals.

Steve: Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. So you're getting referrals from people that went to your website and then connected them with you.

Dawson: Yeah. So they're crazy enough. There's also people that I know that in my hometown and things like that, you know, chiropractors Mhmm. Dentists, things like that. They all know what we do, and they will come across people.

They're like, hey. They were telling me about this problem. And I and I gave them your number. They might be giving you a call. And it's simply it it's almost like the realtor Mhmm.

Play where everybody you know want you need to tell everybody that you know that you sell houses. Right? It's almost the same thing, almost the same idea. And you kinda in that way, once you have the Google reviews, the Google presence, they kinda send them a link and be like, here, this business, you can give them a call. And then they're like, oh, I heard from you from so and so.

Mhmm. That's kind of a lot.

Steve: So, I used to be in a coaching program. I was Brian Buffini. Mhmm.

Dawson: That's a

Steve: realtor program.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And he had a guy in there. His name was Joe from Chicago, I believe. And he was the mayor. Mhmm. So, like, anytime you wanna sell your house, oh, you call Joe.

Right. The mayor of Chicago.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: Not a real mayor.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Everyone knew him. Right. Kinda sounds like you're building your business in this way. It's like, oh, yeah. You got a deal.

Like, call Dawson. Mhmm. He's the mayor of Sioux Falls.

Dawson: Right. Got it. That's the goal. Anyways, and I I think we've we've gotten there quite a bit. And, honestly, it's to the point where even with our SEO presence and and things like that, we've gotten, a couple hospitals, which is crazy enough, to reach out to us and say, hey.

Saw your website. You know? I asked somebody about you, and they said you were legit. You know? Can you help us with this one patient we have?

And they we've gotten already, three of those this year That's awesome. Which is super interesting. Right? And that's that's the power of in such a niche market.

Steve: How are you working that one?

Dawson: It's more so it it's it's patients that basically are are obviously in hospice or whatever, and the family is deciding they wanna sell. Mhmm. And so then that's when they say, here here's the contact info.

Steve: Well, I was asking that because Steven Hunt, he was on the show. Did you watch that episode?

Dawson: No. I didn't.

Steve: I would definitely go recommend going watch that episode. He was on here, like, three, four months ago. Mhmm. And I would say, like, hey. Go meet Steven.

But he literally moved out this Saturday out of this suite. So he was here.

Dawson: I was

Steve: like, go talk to him because he's figured out.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: How to how to work, repeat business, from those kind of businesses.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: But since he's not here, then I would say, you know, go listen to that podcast.

Dawson: For sure.

Steve: And then you mentioned, offline that you've learned a lot from Michael Francke as well.

Dawson: Oh, yeah. He's great. He doesn't know who I am, but, he he I I hope so.

Steve: I think he watches these. So

Dawson: Yeah. I I hope so. Yeah. Michael, you're you're great, man. Yeah.

I love you. But no. He, he I love what he does. I think something to be said about him is you can just tell that you can tell when somebody does it right. Mhmm.

And he's a man that that just does it clean. He works hard, and he does it right. And he makes a lot of money doing it. Yeah. And he just and there's a reason for that.

And there's no funny business magic pill anything. And and what's so cool about him is he's still giving as far as what he's willing to put out there for people. I mean, even us, we've benefited, an insane amount Mhmm. From his information. So he's an awesome guy for sure.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I'll make sure he sees this one.

Dawson: For sure.

Steve: What was the biggest thing you learned from him that was instrumental in your business? 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, he 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 installment payments, you have full control of the

Dawson: property as your

Steve: name is now on the title. Any decision the seller wants to make now has to be approved by you. No longer can they pull out equity, go with another buyer, or change their mind. Imagine combining the best creative

Dawson: finance with the flexibility of marketing the property

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Dawson: What's the

Steve: biggest thing you learned from him that was instrumental in your business?

Dawson: I think was pulling the right data. That was the biggest thing is pulling data that not everyone's seeing. Anybody can go on the county website, but those people are getting called a 100 times an hour. I think it's getting the data from, the right sources that not everyone's seeing. And and the harder it is to find it Mhmm.

Then then the better it is.

Steve: Do you have resources, or do you have ways of pulling data that other people don't have?

Dawson: Yeah. For sure that we've learned from Michael. Yeah.

Steve: Okay. You wanna share what the the biggest one that's

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's there's different ways, but the biggest one is just trying to see what law firm, mostly handles all of the foreclosure transactions. And sometimes it is there, sometimes not. There's usually probably multiple per city that handle them.

Yeah. Sometimes if you reach out to them, if they don't have it already listed, but sometimes they have it already sitting there. Mhmm. But then there's other times where you might have to reach out to them, you know, and and that can get a little difficult because they don't wanna deal with you. But that's where we built that relationship also with that credibility of knowing a guy who knows a guy, and being able to show our credibility that, hey.

We're not funny business. We'll we'll help these out. And so we actually what's funny too, we also have, a few banks, local banks that work with us that any, loans that are going to list pendants or things like that, they give them the option that, hey. Reach out to Dawson if you want to do something, and that that happened actually, yesterday. So we got we got a call saying, hey.

Judy at the bank referred us saying that, hey. That you you kinda can help us out here. It's been in our family for a while. We didn't we didn't even really remember about this, you know, the whole spiel. That one was going to foreclosure, so that's a big that's that's probably the best data you can get right there.

That's huge. There's no list that shows those properties, but, yeah, there's I would say the biggest one is just finding the law firms that actively are doing.

Steve: Yeah. As we're talking about this, there's one law firm that's huge in Phoenix

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: That process a lot of foreclosures, Tiffany and Bosco, and, actually got to become friends with the owner of one of those. And looking back at this exact moment, I kinda regret that I've neglected that relationship.

Dawson: Right. Right. No. That's huge. I mean, it's, just being able because even obviously, they're gonna have the same data that's gonna go on the county website.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: But if you have that two week, three week head start, that's gonna I mean, you're gonna blow people out of the water.

Steve: Absolutely. Mhmm. And then you got out houseslipseo.com. What is that?

Dawson: Mhmm. So houseslipseo.com, it's kind of a program that we're doing right now for other real estate investors. A big part of our business is organic SEO Mhmm. And and just having a Google presence, in general just because of the cost per lead. And I know you had a podcast recently with Ryan Pineda Mhmm.

That was very, very well done. I mean, Ryan's a super smart dude. Yeah. And so a lot of value in that podcast if you need to go watch that. But he talks a lot about cost per lead.

Mhmm. Right? And he's a big believer in the cost per lead. And that's why he's doing a lot of social media stuff because that's what works for him Mhmm. Financially.

Right? And that's where we found the best cost per lead for the most return was organic SEO. Obviously, for us, trial and error to learn it a lot was very difficult. So that's why you don't see a ton of real estate investors because and real estate investors aren't digital marketers. Mhmm.

We're out here chasing it.

Steve: We're patient.

Dawson: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, it's it's very difficult. Yeah. And so that's where HouseFlip SEO kinda comes in where we're willing, basically one on one show you exactly the ropes on exactly how to make a website, how to get it to rank.

And and in only three hours is kinda what we like to say. Three hours of your time setting up a website. Mhmm. That way it can get ranked. So

Steve: But it's not three hours one time?

Dawson: No. So it's three hours obviously over the course of you're not gonna unless you wanna sit down and and set it up in three hours. Mhmm. But we kinda have the process where the hard stuff, we don't like to have real estate investors do, like, the design Mhmm. And the the backlinks and all that stuff in the background.

That is where it's like you can't real estate investors don't have time for that, and that's where we, learned how to do it. And so it's it's more of like a one on one. We'll show you how to set up the website so they own it. So you own it. You own the website.

You built it. And we we showed you exactly what we think by also consulting on, like, okay. Here's your competition. Mhmm. This is what we think is gonna get you there.

And, obviously, with check ins and be like, okay. This is good. Let's launch it. And then we have our own designer that designs the site for you Mhmm. As well as our own in house backlinks that do all the backlinks for you too.

Steve: Right.

Dawson: So it takes out all the the BS Mhmm. Of the SEO.

Steve: So it's three hours in their part, but you're doing a lot of the lifting as well. Yeah.

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah. So we that's where

Steve: I was

Dawson: at least

Steve: it. Mhmm.

Dawson: Yeah. So it's it's we do all the heavy lifting as far as the stuff that nobody wants to learn and and understand. I hate design. That was for me. I was like, why am I designing a website?

I should be cold calling a neighborhood right now. And that was where I think it it can benefit a lot of people with the resources that we've already done because I do SEO, for other, local companies in Sioux Falls as well. So I do have a marketing agency. But with this approach, I I'm thinking I I would like real estate investors. They can make their own site, build it.

I want them to own it, and then just make it 10 times easier for them.

Steve: Gotcha. So it's only been a couple years. Mhmm. Right? So tell me what your business looks like today versus, like, when your friends are gaming in the room.

Dawson: Oh my gosh. So it's crazy. And and I think the biggest thing that I think it changes from, you know, two years ago is Alex Hormozi talks about it a lot. It's volume always negates luck. Right?

And I think it's the ability now two years later to be able to dabble into all these different marketing streams. Right? When you're starting out right away, you're not gonna be able to do that. You have to pick one, and for me, it was cold calling, which I I recommend is the most efficient and and cost friendly way to get started. Then you master that way, delegate it, go on to the next thing.

Build that next thing, go on to the next thing. Mhmm. Build that,

Steve: go on

Dawson: to the and it's just a process after that. Obviously, it takes a a while. Took us two years to get where we're at now. Mhmm. But I think that's definitely the the difference is just being able to have that volume out there just because we've learned how to do all those marketing streams.

Steve: Gotcha. What would you do if money was no object?

Dawson: Gosh. I mean, honestly you mean in just everyday life? Mhmm. Honestly? Or business.

Right. Right. If money was no object, honestly, I I think I would be doing something that it just involves working hard. I I I do enjoy working hard, and I don't say that just to toot any horns or anything like that. I do enjoy it.

I think it brings purpose. I think it, makes your life a lot more enjoyable when you know you work for something. Mhmm. Honestly, if if money wasn't an object, I'd be, you know, living, in the woods, you know, chopping wood and and killing animals for food and just doing all that. So

Steve: Gotcha. Mhmm. And what is your epic life goal?

Dawson: Honestly, my epic epic life goal is to just have an all around happy life. You know, whether that's money, whether that's anything like that, it's it's having all facets of okay. My family life's good. Relationships are good. Friends life is good.

Mhmm. Money's there. So for me, it's not money definitely plays a part. It I I I mean, you could argue it brings you happiness, but I think having all facets of, you know, having great family life relationships, money, going on vacations, you know, taking break from work every once in a while, I think that's true happiness, and I think that's my ultimate goal.

Steve: And then what is your biggest struggle today?

Dawson: Biggest struggle? Not enough time. You know? I wish I wish there was, infinite time. Mhmm.

And that's for me, it's, I I like to work, very efficiently, and I wish that, my biggest struggle, I think, is just not, not being able to for things to be easier to learn quicker. You know? It it takes always the hard way to learn the things that you need to learn to get where you wanna go. Yeah. And so you but flip side of that, if it's hard to learn, it it's usually got a pretty good upside.

Steve: Absolutely. Mhmm. What are you doing to get better at fitting more things into your schedule?

Dawson: I think it's just, setting at least a calendar. That was a big thing for me as I as I built a kind of a Google Calendar and things like that that structures out my day. I know my business partner, he he's like, you're crazy with your schedule. I mean, it's it's very detailed. That way, I wake up in the morning, and I don't have so much going on in my head that's misses you from doing what you're actually supposed to be doing.

I know because you can think about other things or, like, oh, maybe I should be doing this instead of this. That's if you set your schedule the night before, that's a big thing that I have writing get writing down exactly what you're gonna do the next day. That's the biggest thing because there's nothing you wake up in the morning, there's nothing else to think about. You just do what's on there. That's all you need to do.

Steve: Oh, you avoid the chaos. Mhmm. There's a few different resources. Have you read buy back your time?

Dawson: I've heard of him. No.

Steve: So that's a pretty good one. There's a training by Cameron Herold. He wrote, Second in Command. He has a training. I think it's called Invest in Your Leaders.

That's, like, $800. It's one of the best, trainings Mhmm. I found. And then my personal favorite is Insane Productivity by Darren Hardy.

Dawson: Nice.

Steve: I think it's $3,000, but it's, like, hands down, like, it's 12 modules.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: 12 modules while being productive. Wow. So it's, like, hands down the best time management Mhmm. Training I ever gone through. I've, I was going through it multiple times a year for for a while Mhmm.

Dawson: With

Steve: as many things in my calendar.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: How do you stay motivated?

Dawson: I think I just go off of the idea of, you know, the man who loves walking is gonna walk further. I I truly do enjoy doing what I do every day. I wake up on a Monday morning, and I love it. Mhmm. So having that, I think there is a part where, hey, you're gonna do things you don't like doing.

There is a part to that, but as well as if you enjoy the overall mission Mhmm. That's a big thing. And I and I enjoy every day the the mission that we have on growing. So

Steve: And how do you, measure success?

Dawson: I think I definitely measure success. I've I've seen different successful people monetarily, and, also, I've seen people who maybe don't have a ton of money, and they're so happy. Right? I definitely measure success on, being able to pass it on to other people, whether that's knowledge, money, whatever the case may be. Mhmm.

I'm just being able to provide an an impact to other people. That way people can have somebody something to look up to, whether that's your kids, whether that's other people that, you know or things like that, making other people better. That's where I've seen the most successful people that I know, even very, very wealthy people. There's still some of them also why I consider them very very successful is because they're able to pass on information. You know, not their dead secrets, but just a little bit of hand holding.

Steve: Oh, yeah. You know? Definitely. There are no secrets, but

Dawson: there's a

Steve: lot of knowledge that is left to be uncovered.

Dawson: Right.

Steve: What is your superpower?

Dawson: I I mean, I guess, probably my biggest superpower is just the unwilling power to to work all the time. I I would consider myself a machine as far as ultra focus. Mhmm. I don't get distracted at a time. I I would say that I when I'm working on something, I have tunnel vision.

Mhmm. It's a good and a bad thing sometimes. You know? When I'm when I'm sitting there scrolling on my phone even at home, you know, someone's talking to me. It's I I don't know.

I I have very selective attention. And so

Steve: So if I had a chance to hang out around quite a bit Yeah. I think he's got that same thing.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: Right? Like, we had dinner, and his wife's like, yeah. Like, he'll just walk into people.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Because he is so focused, like, inside. Right. Whatever's going on inside his head. Do you you're ever walking to people?

Dawson: Yeah. I mean, it's just for me. I I catch myself daydreaming a lot about just what whatever I may be doing if I'm not doing something, just about maybe how I could do this better. How how could I you know, I think I I I'm constantly running all the time twenty four seven.

Steve: So Gotcha. And then what is, your biggest regret?

Dawson: My biggest regret, honestly I mean, I know you probably hear it a lot. It's just not starting earlier. '21.

Steve: I'll probably know. Could you have started?

Dawson: But I I say this on the terms of, hey. If I if I didn't have to go to college for that year, I mean, it was great. I learned I learned some different things in school. Not really in school, but I'm saying outside of school, about myself and things. But I think the it would be just not having to pay for school.

Steve: I think there are a lot of really, really wealthy people that happily trade places with you.

Dawson: Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: Which they even started at 21. There was a meme that was going around for some time, I wanna say about a month ago, maybe three weeks. I was like, look at me, nine years old, wasting life when I could have

Dawson: been Right. Working on building

Steve: a business.

Dawson: Right?

Steve: Mhmm. So, how did you learn your greatest lesson?

Dawson: Just huge failure. All I'm a big believer in trial and error Mhmm. And huge failure. My biggest lesson, was when I was in my lowest point there, you know, not much left in my account. Figure it out.

You get some momentum. And my biggest lesson there was, hey. If you keep pushing for something, you just gotta do it smart. Don't start randomly spending money on this, that. Be smart.

Mhmm. Have a collective, plan when you're going about it, and just be conservative. Just do the boring stuff right away Mhmm. And just keep grinding. I mean, that's really all that it is.

Steve: Yeah. You you you know too much for your age. What book have you gifted more than any other?

Dawson: So, actually, one that I gifted recently was Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. Not business related really, but I think just the epic work ethic that that guy has. Everybody has seen David Goggins. Yeah. That's insane.

But he is wild. And I think his biggest message is saying, when you think you're at a 100%, you you are at 40%. Mhmm. And so that's, like, a big thing for me is, just having that thing where you think you're tapped out, but I guarantee if you looked at somebody else's problems, you would you would take yours back in a heartbeat. And so that's a big thing for me is just knowing, okay.

I I have no reason to be unhappy. This went bad today. I'm I guarantee you somebody's going over something worse. You know? That's a big thing.

It helps kinda where I'm at mentally too.

Steve: I got a chance to watch I was at in Collective Genius last week.

Dawson: Oh, yeah.

Steve: And there was a keynote speaker. Mhmm.

Dawson: Have you

Steve: heard of the Iron Cowboy?

Dawson: I have. I haven't seen much, but I have heard a little bit. Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: So the guy did 50, Iron Mans in fifty days Yeah. In The States. And So Yeah. And, like, it wasn't like, here's a here's an inspirational story.

Dawson: Mhmm. I was

Steve: like, look at how much, like, I was struggling, and I kept going.

Dawson: So it wasn't like

Steve: I'm this powerhouse. It was like, look. On day 18, I was literally having a mental breakdown. Right. Right?

Like, the doc it was they they were, recording it to document it.

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: And it's just wild, like, to

Dawson: see crazy.

Steve: What a human being can endure.

Dawson: It's crazy because I think people some people can see those people as, oh, they're just trying to flex that they work so hard. And I think for me, it's it's more of just a mentality of also showing other people that it is possible that you can do way more than you think you can. And also showing that, man, a lot of there may be everyday things in your life that you may think, oh, this sucks. This is hard. Mhmm.

But if especially working hard and and seeing those guys too, and they talk about this, it's like, man, my life really isn't as hard as I think. Or it's

Steve: not bad.

Dawson: Building a business isn't as bad as I think it is. You know, and I think that's what some people need to put in perspective because because a lot of people see that as, they're just flexing because they wanna work so hard. Right?

Steve: Well, he talked about in that presentation how there was one day he was challenged right after the fifty Ironman Mhmm. To ride a bike up Mount Kilimanjaro.

Dawson: That's insane. Sounds insane. Right?

Steve: And, like, he was riding his bike up and, like, his legs were on fire. Yeah. Right? And, he's like, he took a break. It's like end of the day, and he's complaining about how his legs are on fire.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: And then he noticed that one of the girls he was complaining to

Dawson: Mhmm.

Steve: Who has who was on her way down Mhmm. Didn't even have, like, both legs.

Dawson: That's insane. That is, like insane. Crap. Mhmm.

Steve: Alright. Talk about putting your your your foot in your mouth.

Dawson: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Like, it there's always somebody going through worse. I mean, you think that's probably the peak that it gets riding a bike about Kilm Kilmajaro.

Steve: Yeah. I

Dawson: mean, you see that? Crazy.

Steve: Right. Yeah. So, I wanna think about, last thoughts I wanna leave all the listeners with. Right? Guys, if you guys have value today, please subscribe.

And then, again, I don't think I can emphasize this enough. You got some young ones in your life? Share this with them. Right? I it's important to me.

We've had a lot of, we've had Jaylen White on the show. We had Alex Sainz on the show. I can't think of other, like, some really, really young people, but, like, it's really important to show, like, there's not just only one track success. Right? There's multiple ways to be successful in the business.

So if you have someone young in your life that has maybe asked you a question about entrepreneurship, asked you a question about real estate, please send them this episode. That way, they can have a taste of it. They can have an idea of it. What are some last thoughts I wanna leave all the listeners with?

Dawson: I think last thoughts for everybody, especially this is gonna pertain to anybody, but people my age, especially, you get distracted with a lot of different industries. Oh, where do I start? How do I start? Just start. Do something.

Mhmm. None of these business fads that you'll see on TikTok or anything like that are gonna be easy. Just have to know that going in, pick one thing and go all in. And that's all you need to do. And simply, if you just do what's required of you and do the boring work, that's where what will get you where you need to go.

Doing the stuff that everyone is not willing to do, and and I know Alex Hormozi says it a lot where, he quotes where he's like, this is where most people stop. And I would pertain that there's a lot of moments where I I have realized, oh, let's make six hours of cold calls today for the fifth day in a row. This is where most people would be done. Right? But if you're willing to go past the extra mile, and picking an industry, not getting distracted and doing what's required of you, you'll you'll, without a doubt, become successful.

No matter what it is, you can be selling anything.

Steve: Alright. So And you're proof of it.

Dawson: Yeah.

Steve: There you go. Thank you

Dawson: so much. I appreciate it.

Steve: Yep. Oh, I forgot. If someone wants to get a hold of you, how is the best way to do that?

Dawson: Yeah. So I guess if you wanna go through I I have an Instagram, Dawson, d a w s o n, underscore s k o r on Instagram. You can DM me there or follow me, whatever. And then also if you wanna check out houseflipseo.com, you can go ahead and do that. But, yeah, it's kind of the best way to get a hold

Steve: of it. Perfect. Thank you again. Thank you guys for watching, and we'll see you guys next time.

Dawson: Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. Disrupt us.