Category: <![CDATA[Podcast]]>

What do you want out of life? What do you want to accomplish in the next 3-5 years? When asked this question, most entrepreneurs give a pretty simplistic answer. Something like “Oh, we’ll get more clients by this time next year” or “I’ll buy two more houses and then I’ll be happy”. How often do we sit down and paint a picture of what we want our life to look like? Today we’re discussing Vivid Visions with their creator Cameron Herold.

Cameron is a veteran in the business world, he likes to say that he was “groomed” by his entrepreneurial grandparents and father to become a success story. By the time Cameron was 21, he had a full-on business that had 12 employees, and at 22 he bought his first rental property. He later became a franchisee for College Pro Painters and was so successful that he went on to coach new franchisees.

He’s partnered with hundred-million dollar companies, grown and sold businesses for millions, coached the CEO of Sprint, a monarchy in the middle east, has written 5 books, and runs the Second in Command Podcast, where he talks to successful COOs. Cameron is someone who clearly has accomplished a lot and has a TON of wisdom to share.

Cameron has serious knowledge on business management and talks about the importance of the CEO and COO relationship. Cameron describes how a COO needs to be a partner to the entrepreneur (the CEO) and operate as the ying to the CEO’s yang. If you’ve heard the terms “the visionary and the innovator” from books like Traction, this is exactly what Cameron is talking about.

If you’ve been wondering where the idea of a “plan” or “vision” comes into play, Brandon, David, and Cameron all discuss their “Vivid Visions” and how it’s led them to success in their life. Cameron coined the term “Vivid Vision” because most entrepreneurs were simply writing down a 1-2 sentence mission statement instead of creating a vision of what they wanted their company and future to look like. This vision not only helps you build a life you want by design, it also entices great executives, employees, and partners to join you on your path to that clear and decisive “Vivid Vision”.

Have you ever had analysis paralysis? Maybe you have it right now and that’s why you’re listening to this episode! Kyle and Lauren Clugston would call that “productive procrastination”, and the only way to get out of it is to move forward! They should know, it took them over 3 years before they made their first move in real estate investing!

In college Lauren stumbled upon Brandon’s old blog about real estate investing. As she read, she gained more confidence in the craft, and knew that real estate was what she wanted to do with her money. She then started trying to convince her partner, Kyle, that real estate investing was the way to go. As someone without an investing background, Kyle was hesitant, but took a leap of faith which paid off!

Now they’re BRRRR-ing their way through New Jersey, with single family and multifamily properties throughout the state. Lauren and Kyle had to learn a lot before they became the real estate success stories they are now. Things like doing inspections, estimating rehab costs, getting financing, setting up systems and procedures, and getting legal documents prepared were at one point a great challenge to Lauren and Kyle. Now, they’ve got them down!

Lauren and Kyle lay out everything they wish their former selves had known, and go through the things that early real estate investors should worry about, and the things they definitely shouldn’t lose sleep over. This advice could save months, weeks, or hours off of your deal analyses and might be just the thing you need to get out of analysis paralysis!

It seems like young real estate investors get more and more impressive every week. Today we talk with Cole Ruud-Johnson, a wholesaler and flipper out of the Seattle area. The impressive part? He’s 22 years old and has done 150+ deals to date! Even at 22, Cole’s journey wasn’t a linear path, he had lots of ups and downs to get him to the level of success he achieves now.

Cole tried to be a real estate agent at 18, but wasn’t getting the hang of it. After failing at a couple of real estate brokerages, he entered into a third and learned how they were creating their own inventory via cold calling. He decided he’d give this a try, and partnered up with his friend to cold call for deals.

After three months, an agent brought them their first off-market deal. This first deal alone netted them $105,000. Yes, you read that right, six-figures on ONE wholesale deal. This wasn’t enough for Cole, he knew he had to get back out there and work on getting his next deal.

Cole’s small business grew to a small empire, but over time this pushed him into a massive burn out. He had to make some BIG changes in his business, many of which even business veterans wouldn’t be comfortable doing.

Now he’s here with us on the podcast, talking through his lean team, his deals, his systems, and how new wholesalers can start getting deals. Cole even throws in the script he uses to get wholesale deals over the phone, so if you’re thinking about getting off-market deals or starting your wholesaling journey, this is the episode for you!

During childhood, Jim Kwik experienced a traumatic brain injury. As a result, he lacked focus in school, wasn’t able to read properly, and at one point, a teacher told him that he had a “broken brain”. So how did a kid with a “broken brain” become the leading mental coach for athletes, CEOs, and movie stars? Simple: Jim looked into how to learn instead of what to learn. Soon enough, Jim was reading faster, memorizing with higher accuracy, and doing well in school.

His friends asked him for some tips so they could improve their grades as well. With some success in his inner circle, he decided to make a flyer for speed reading and memory improvement classes. He put up the flyer at his college hoping one or two people would show up to his impromptu class. Over 100 students showed up, of which 71 signed up for a full course with Jim. After that, Jim knew it was his life mission to help those who wanted to learn, memorize, and live better.

So why is it so hard for some people to memorize things? We forget details all the time, whether it be names, addresses, phone numbers, or other important information. Jim goes through a simple method to memorizing any piece of information, called the M.O.M system. He also outlines 10 tips for a limitless brain, many of which you can implement soon after you finish this episode!

Even something as simple as reading slightly faster can allow you to save weeks worth of time each year. So if you’ve been beating yourself up over forgetting that one seller’s name, check out Jim Kwik’s podcast and his new book Limitless. As Jim puts it, increasing your memory and reading power not only adds years to your life, but life to your years!

Hearing Bryce Stewart’s story may sound familiar to long-time BiggerPockets Podcast listeners. That’s because Bryce was on Episode 276 where he gave the great metaphor “vacuuming out the truck” relating to real estate investments.

Bryce is back to talk about being a great mentor/mentee, what every contractor needs before working on a rental, how to go from active to passive real estate ownership, and his new book House-Hacker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

Bryce understands what it’s like to be a new investor. Every step seems hard, the end result seems almost impossible, so where do you even start? Simply, take a step forward, no matter how small it is. Even just starting to save a few hundred bucks a month can be your first step towards becoming a real estate investor.

As time goes on, these small steps become giant leaps, and what seemed impossible at first, can now be doubled since you have the know-how. Bryce takes us back to a time where he didn’t know how to get his property taxes lowered, but through very incremental steps was able to make a case and save himself thousands of dollars in the long run.

Looking for a mentor? Stick around to hear Bryce’s top piece of advice for any new real estate investor. This simple tactic can help beginner investors know more about what they’re getting into and also show the mentor they’re serious about their new interest.

When most people think of professional athletes, they usually think of superstars being paid millions every month (or even every week). Most people don’t come to realize that for everyone on an NFL team, that pay grade isn’t as high. That too, is what Hakeem Valles found out after being signed on by the Cardinals.

Hakeem wasn’t making a lot, and realized that he was essentially throwing away $2,000 a month on rent. After one season with the team, he decided to go on BiggerPockets and ask around for agents and leads in the area. Hakeem ended up with a LOT of responses and found a great agent who helped him close on a fourplex, which he house hacked while practicing with the team.

It’s hard enough to house hack when your tenants know you’re the owner, but it can be even harder when your tenants know you’re an NFL player. Hakeem’s advice: be a tenant of your own property and don’t let the other tenants know that you own the place. Doing this can help reduce some awkward encounters you may have.

After retiring, Hakeem went on to do bigger real estate deals and partnered up on a 40 acre farm! He also owns Perspective Global Media, where he counsels other real estate professionals on how to grow their reach through social media platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn. Hakeem drops some gems towards the end of this episode on how you too can use TikTok to gain followers, clients, and partners!

Believe it or not, TikTok isn’t just teenagers doing dances; there are actually some pretty influential investors on the platform. Meet Daniel Iles, a TikTok and Youtube creator who bought a staggering $1,000,000 in real estate during his first year of investing. Daniel was able to amass this serious sum of real estate while only putting $23,000 down. Now that’s impressive!

Due to an aggressive goal of reading 60 books a year, Daniel picked up a book that many of our listeners have heard of, Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down from our very own Brandon Turner. This unlocked the potential of investing in real estate for Daniel. He took advantage of FHA loans, using equity as down payments, and building his credit to get loans from small credit unions and banks.

Daniel now owns 9 units and a combined valuation of almost $1,500,000, still with almost no money down. Daniel stresses that his success comes from systems. Whether it’s systems about credit cards, loans, tenant management, deal analyzing, or anything else related to real estate investing, systems are the key to keeping your sanity when things go wrong.

He also has some tips for new investors trying to acquire a lot of real estate, in a small amount of time. Creating these systems for scaling will allow you to make smart decisions and invest in a way that doesn’t push you to burn out.

ast week’s show with Marie Forleo was so good that Brandon and David are back with a special guest, BiggerPockets’ senior producer Kevin Leahy, to unpack all the wisdom from the “figureoutable” show.

Kevin learnt about Marie Forleo though his wife suggesting he take some of her advice when transitioning into his current position at BiggerPockets. A simple trick from Marie helped Kevin make some big decisions: see if your body expands or contracts when you think about two different options. This trick, along with her insight on writing your options down in order to take a step back from your situation, has helped Kevin make some hard decisions.

If you listened to last week’s show, you’ll remember that Marie touched on how important marketing is in any industry. Whether you’re a real estate agent, a buy and hold investor, or a flipper, you have to be marketing to get clients, deals, and even employees. How are you differentiating yourself in the market, and what can you do to be “that guy” or “that girl” in your specific industry?

You’ll also hear a special tip on how Kevin lost a deal to another buyer, and the exact tactic that the other buyer used to get the property under contract. Kevin goes through why this is such a great tactic for making sellers comfortable and how you can deploy it in your future deals as well.

Anson Young’s voice may sound familiar to you, that’s because he’s been on the podcast four times! Every time he’s back we learn something new, and today, Anson is talking about how to find and fund great deals, regardless of your schedule, or budget. You don’t need to be a full-time real estate professional to find great deals, just be sure to follow Anson’s advice.

If you haven’t heard Anson’s prior episodes, here’s a recap. Anson has touched on almost every aspect of real estate investing. He flips, he wholesales, and he sells houses as an agent, meaning he has a huge amount of knowledge to share to BiggerPockets listeners. On average, Anson is doing 12-15 flips a year, 10 wholesale deals a year, and a dozen or so sales a year as an agent.

Anson has some great advice on finding off-market (and on-market) deals that include driving for dollars, door knocking, and list building. He also shares how to build a profitable list, what neighborhoods to look into for deals, and how to specify what type of home you’re trying to get depending on your goals.

If you’ve been trying to get your foot in the door to real estate investing, Anson shares why many people have trouble at the start. It all comes down to consistency. If you’re new, it may be fun at first to start driving for dollars, but are you doing it consistently? Do you have an accountability partner that can hold you to a high standard to get the work done? Are you systematizing your leads or trying to juggle them all in your head?

We also talk about Anson’s fantastic book Finding and Funding Great Deals, where you can find everything you need to find and fund your next real estate deal. We’re also happy to announce the BiggerPockets Book Club, where you can hear from Anson live and ask him questions about his deals, his book, and his portfolio!

Marie Forleo, world class coach, marketer, and author, grew up with a mother that did everything. Whether it was retiling the bathroom, fixing a leak in the roof, or performing electrical engineering on small appliances, her mother seemed to be able to figure out almost anything. One day she told Marie “everything is figureoutable”, which became the mantra for her career.

Fast forward a decade or so, Marie is working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, surrounded by the mega rich. She was stressed out and felt that she wasn’t in the right place. After a prayer and a cry, Marie knew she needed to get out from a job that was slowly killing her. She made the jump and went after coaching, without any experience, money, or clients.

Before she left her job she asked herself, “what is the worst case scenario if I leave”. She calculated it out, wrote it down, and realized, the worst case scenario really wasn’t all that bad.

Marie strongly believes that although you can be a victim of circumstances, you should never victimize yourself and tell yourself that you “can’t” do something. Everyone has the ability to reach their full potential, but once you start putting up excuses, it’s hard to get there.

“Feel the fear”, that’s what Marie told herself in those trying times, and continues to tell herself and her clients that everyday. As she puts it “Fear is really trying to tell you to move towards something”. As real estate investors, this is something we can all relate to, but often don’t put into practice. Well, now’s the time to!