Choses que chaque chef DOIT faire à l'échelle | Investissement immobilier

Ceci est le spectacle BiggerPockets Podcast 322.

Je pense qu’il ya des chasseurs dans le monde et des cueilleurs ou des agriculteurs. Je suis un chasseur. Vous devez me préparer à tuer quelque chose et ensuite quelqu'un d'autre doit le traiter pour que je puisse tuer autre chose. Bien immédiatement, en faisant cela, je suis passé de 24 transactions à 84 transactions. Cela me faisait passer de 150 000 à 200 000 dollars par an à 500 000 dollars par an.

Vous écoutez une radio BiggerPockets, ce qui simplifie l’immobilier pour les investisseurs, grands et petits. Si vous êtes ici pour en savoir plus sur les investissements immobiliers sans tout le battage publicitaire, vous êtes au bon endroit. Restez à l'écoute et assurez-vous de rejoindre les millions d'autres personnes qui ont profité de pluspockets.com; votre maison pour l'investissement immobilier en ligne.

Brandon: Ce qui se passe, c’est Brandon Turner, animateur du podcast BiggerPockets, avec l’homme en noir, M. David Greene. Comment allez-vous mon pote?

David: Je fais fantastique, mec je suis en fait jazzé. Nous avons réalisé l’un des meilleurs ou des meilleurs épisodes de podcast que je pense avoir entendu depuis très longtemps. Je veux dire que chaque fois que j'écoute ce type parler, je pars inspiré et je pense que les auditeurs vont vivre la même expérience aujourd'hui.

Brandon: Oui je suis totalement d'accord. En fait, je sais que je dis probablement comme tout le temps, mais c’est l’un de mes préférés parmi les trois épisodes de podcasts BiggerPockets de tous les temps que nous ayons jamais enregistrés. Tout comme vous savez vraiment comment un livre vous a frappé au bon endroit, toute l’interview d’aujourd’hui m’a frappé exactement à l’endroit que j’avais besoin d’entendre aujourd’hui. J'ai beaucoup réfléchi et planifié.

Et de toute façon, je suis vraiment revenu de la meilleure conférence jamais organisée à Denver la semaine dernière et qui se présentera comme à l’avenir. Quoi qu'il en soit, lorsque nous enregistrions la semaine dernière et que nous prenions l'avion pour revenir à Maui, cela ressemblait à sept heures d'avion, j'ai passé tout le temps à écrire cette vision détaillée de l'endroit où je veux voir mon entreprise d'investir dans l'immobilier aller A l'avenir.

Parce que, depuis un moment, je m'accroche un peu comme si je me reposais un peu sur mes lorals, que j’ai eu ma centaine d’unités et que je me sentais très bien à ce sujet. Mais je ne sais pas si j’ai eu une épiphanie et j’ai hâte de la partager ici dans un avenir rapproché avec vous tous sur le podcast.

Nous en parlerons davantage, mais je suis en train de peaufiner mon parcours. Mais de toute façon, l'épisode d'aujourd'hui, assez sur moi cependant. Voyons l’émission d’aujourd’hui, mais avant de vous présenter notre invité aujourd'hui, écoutez le conseil rapide.

Les astuces d’aujourd’hui, c’est très simple, regardez dans votre réseau maintenant, regardez autour de vous les personnes que vous connaissez et qui sont comme la personne la plus talentueuse que vous connaissez? Parlez-leur, apprenez à les connaître et demandez-leur qui sont les personnes talentueuses qu'ils connaissent. Et c’est l’une des choses dont Ben parle aujourd’hui: la réussite de toute entreprise dépend de ce que vous savez, que vous pouvez intégrer à votre organisation, qui peut vous aider.

Je ne dis pas que vous devez avoir un employé à plein temps maintenant, mais commencer à établir ces connexions, ce réseautage. Commencez immédiatement à parler aux gens, car c’est le talent que vous apportez à votre organisation qui va déterminer si vous réussissez ou non. Alors, commencez dès maintenant à établir ces relations et cela vous aidera dans les deux ou trois prochaines années. C'est votre astuce rapide.

David: Et si vous habitez près de moi et que vous voulez faire cela, venez à ma rencontre où vous pourrez rencontrer des gens avec lesquels vous pourrez commencer à mettre cela en jeu. Je dis cela parce que je sens vraiment que lorsque cet épisode est terminé, les gens vont se sentir comme si leur esprit était en ébullition. Et je ne veux pas que ça passe et que vous n’en profitiez pas.

Donc, si vous vous en allez comme «Wow, je dois faire quelques changements», connectez-vous à un groupe de personnes et faites ce que Brandon a dit. Tendre la main, parler aux gens afin que vous puissiez en quelque sorte prendre cela et créer un élan que vous continuez avec. Ce n’est pas simplement une expérience momentanée qui vous a frappé puis qui est passé et vous êtes retombé dans votre ancien schéma.

Brandon: Ouais c'est tellement bon. Très bien, écoutons les commentaires du sponsor de l’émission d’aujourd’hui.

Notre sponsor cette semaine est une entreprise dont vous avez beaucoup parlé sur les forums appelé Roofstock. Roofstock est le marché n ° 1 pour l'achat et la vente de maisons locatives unifamiliales. Leur marché d’immeubles locatifs à flux de trésorerie facilite l’investissement dans l’immobilier générant des revenus aux États-Unis.

Ils vous connectent avec des gestionnaires immobiliers locaux approuvés et toutes les propriétés bénéficient de la garantie Roofstock, l'une des meilleures de l'industrie. Vous pouvez donc investir à distance en toute confiance. Pourquoi attendre plus longtemps pour commencer à construire votre flux de revenus passif?

Roofstock vous aide à devenir un investisseur dans l'immobilier locatif et à vous engager sur la voie de l'indépendance financière. Pour vous inscrire à un compte gratuit et commencer à parcourir les maisons de location à flux de trésorerie, visitez roofstock.com/biggerpockets. C’est Roofstock, R-O-O-F-S-T-O-C-K.com/biggerpockets. Créez votre compte gratuit pour commencer à roofstock.com/biggerpockets aujourd'hui.

Brandon: Très bien, passons au spectacle d’aujourd’hui. Bien sûr, si vous ne nous avez pas encore laissé de note ou de commentaire sur iTunes, cela nous aiderait beaucoup, alors n'hésitez pas. Ou si vous nous écoutez sur Stitcher ou autre chose, laissez-nous une note et / ou une critique pour nous, afin que les gens sachent que la série est bonne. Si vous nous regardez sur YouTube, assurez-vous de cliquer dessus. Cela nous aide beaucoup.

Et la dernière chose que je dirai aussi, vous pouvez nous suivre sur Facebook à BiggerPockets, allez simplement nous suivre sur Facebook. Je sais que près de 250 000 personnes écoutent chaque épisode de la série, mais nous n'aimons que 150 000 abonnés sur Facebook, ce qui signifie que 100 000 d'entre vous ne nous suivez pas sur Facebook, ou peut-être que vous n'avez pas Facebook.

Ce n’est probablement pas une mauvaise chose. Très bien, passons au spectacle d’aujourd’hui. L’invité d’aujourd’hui est Ben Kinney. C'est une personne avec qui David Greene s'emballe depuis des années pour lui dire que je dois rencontrer ce mec, je dois lui parler. David a ce coup de foudre incroyable pour Ben Kinney et nous l’avons dans la série aujourd’hui.

Ben est un agent immobilier, un investisseur immobilier, un propriétaire d’entreprise et l’une des personnes les plus intelligentes que je connaisse. Je veux dire comme si c'était si clair aujourd'hui. Il passe comme ça, et il y a une tonne de choses, mais assurez-vous que vous écoutez sa discussion sur le retournement du triangle, cette phrase reviendra plus tard en renversant le triangle.

Il parle des cinq domaines dans lesquels il investit, puis énumère ses sept objectifs réels. Il énumère quels sont ses sept objectifs vers la fin du spectacle, phénoménal. Et il explique comment il décide quoi faire, le syndrome de l'objet brillant, il en a un remède total. Écoutez donc cela plus tard dans l’émission d’aujourd’hui.

Et encore une fois, si vous aimez ce spectacle, assurez-vous de le partager avec quelqu'un qui, à votre avis, pourrait en bénéficier. De nouveau, il a des histoires très puissantes. Alors, sans plus tarder, je vais vous laisser entendre son histoire, passons à l’entretien avec Ben Kinney. Bien Ben, bienvenue sur le podcast BiggerPockets. C'est vraiment bien de vous avoir.

Ben: Je suis ravi d'être ici, merci de m'avoir hébergé aujourd'hui.

Brandon: Ouais ça devrait être amusant. J’entends donc beaucoup votre nom, je veux dire que je ne suis même pas un agent immobilier, mais j’entends souvent votre nom prononcé dans divers milieux. Donc, pendant des années, je connaissais un peu votre personnalité, nous étions dans des domaines similaires. Mais aujourd’hui, j’aimerais plonger dans votre histoire, puis trouver en quelque sorte qui est Ben Kinney et quelle sorte de votre passé.

Alors, pourquoi commençons-nous au tout début? Je veux dire, dites-nous qui vous êtes, d’où venez-vous et entrez-vous en quelque sorte dans votre cheminement vers l’immobilier au début.

Ben: Sûr. Eh bien, le genre d’histoire simple et rapide autour de cette histoire est que mes parents ont été séparés très jeunes, je crois que j’avais deux ou trois ans. Et une sorte de situation étrange à l’époque, probablement aujourd’hui même… mon père m’a pris à deux ou trois ans et ma mère a pris ma sœur. Et ma sœur a eu une enfance difficile aussi, elle est allée dans la caravane à un seul tour avec beaucoup de drogue et ce genre de choses.

Et mon père m'a emmené dans cette région appelée Oso Washington. Je ne sais pas si vous avez déjà entendu parler de ce Brandon.

Brandon: Je n'ai pas entendu parler de ça.

Ben: Mais c’est là que ce grand glissement de terrain s’est produit il ya deux ans dans l’État de Washington et a anéanti cette communauté.

Brandon: Ouais.

Ben: Nous étions dans une cabine d'environ 270 pieds carrés, dont la moitié était remplie de débris et de boîtes, etc. Et mon père et nous avons dormi dans l'autre moitié, il y avait une dépendance et un poêle à bois. Et nous avons cuisiné sur le poêle à bois quand nous n’avions pas d’électricité et n’avions pas d’eau à l’intérieur.

Brandon: Sensationnel.

Ben: Histoire vraie. C’était à environ 100 mètres de la dépendance et si je devais aller aux toilettes au milieu de la nuit, je courrais là parce que j’avais encore un peu peur du noir. J’ai probablement encore peur du noir aujourd’hui.

Brandon: Oui, je comprends. J'ai encore couru à la salle de bain.

Ben: Oui en effet. Nous nous sommes fiés à la banque d’alimentation, c’était une petite cabine louée que nous ne possédions même pas. Mon père avait cassé ce canapé en deux et j'ai dormi d'un côté du canapé et il a dormi de l'autre. L’inconvénient était que j’allais chez ma mère toutes les deux semaines et j’avais été témoin de ma première surdose d’héroïne à sept ou huit ans.

Maman avait l'habitude de prendre de la drogue, j'ai dormi sur ses genoux et beaucoup d'alcool et ce genre de situation. Et je dis ça mais ma mère était une travailleuse acharnée, elle était concierge le jour et serveuse la nuit. Et elle a fait tout ce qu'elle a pu avec les cadeaux qui lui ont été donnés. Mais elle a traversé sa propre mauvaise enfance et je pense que vous voyez cela.

Et je pense que c’est pour cela que je me passionne tant pour l’argent, c’est que ma mère a été abusée sexuellement, physiquement et émotionnellement dès son plus jeune âge. Et elle a utilisé de la drogue pour faire face à cela. Au fil du temps, j'ai finalement adopté l'idée que je voulais briser le cycle de la pauvreté pour moi-même et pour les générations futures, ainsi que pour le plus grand nombre de personnes possible.

Alors, très jeune, j’ai décidé de courir après de l’argent. Je pensais que j’allais être institutrice parce que j’adore enseigner et j’aime les enfants, cela ne rapporte pas assez d’argent. Alors, j'ai commencé à chercher ce qui me rapporterait le plus et j'ai commencé à devenir un câblo-opérateur, puis à vendre la télévision par câble, ce qui me donnait le cadeau de l'immobilier.

Et j'ai frappé environ 40 000 personnes et probablement le froid, j'ai appelé un quart de million de personnes, ce qui signifie que je n'avais aucune peur. J’ai été poursuivi par des chiens et jeté un coup d’œil sur ce genre de choses.

Brandon: Je pense en fait que c’est probablement l’une des compétences les plus précieuses d’un investisseur immobilier ou d’un agent immobilier: sa capacité à poursuivre quelque chose en sachant que neuf fois sur 10 ou 99 fois sur 100, vous obtiendrez un non, vous vont être rejetés. Mais c’est ce processus que si nous continuons dans cette voie, vous aurez généralement du succès. Alors, comment êtes-vous passé du câble à l'immobilier?

Ben: Ouais, c’est une histoire intéressante. J’ai rencontré cette amie et elle a appelé pour un problème avec sa télévision par câble qui ne fonctionnait pas, alors ils m’ont envoyé là-bas. Et je suis entré et j'ai réparé son câble et j'ai commencé à lui parler. Et elle disait: «Je viens d’acheter cet endroit» et je lui ai dit: «Oh, c’est un joli condo.» Et elle a dit que ce n’était pas un appartement, c’était un duplex.

Et j'ai dit: “Bien, quelle est la différence?” Elle a dit: “Eh bien, je suis propriétaire des deux côtés.” Et j'ai dit: “Eh bien, pourquoi n'avez-vous pas acheté une maison?” Et elle a dit: “Eh bien, les voisins, ils couvrent mon hypothèque entière », et je ne suis pas un enfant brillant super instruit. Je me suis assis pendant une seconde et j'ai pensé: «Cette dame vit gratuitement.» En plus de posséder des biens immobiliers que ma famille n'avait jamais réalisés, elle a vécu gratuitement.

Et j’ai pensé que c’était la meilleure chose que j’ai jamais entendue. Alors je suis sorti et j'ai parlé à un agent de crédit et il m'a dit qu'il me fallait 11 500 $, alors j'ai vendu deux choses, j'ai travaillé un peu plus fort et j'ai économisé 11 500 $ et je me suis procuré une somme de 230 ou 235. Et puis j'ai trouvé un agent immobilier. Et j'ai dit à l'agent immobilier que je voulais acheter un deux-plex et que je voulais la transaction gratuite.

Et il m’en a montré un, mais c’était trop cher, puis il a commencé à me montrer les condos, puis les maisons, mais il n’a pas compris que je voulais la transaction gratuite. J'ai donc commencé à conduire et à écrire les adresses des duplex que j'aimais bien. Et j’ai consulté le site Web des évaluateurs, j’ai commencé à faire le tri et à trouver des propriétaires hors zone.

Les personnes qui ont l'adresse de transfert d'impôt hors de l'état. Et je les ai juste retrouvés, à l'époque, je pense que c'était White Pages ou quoi que ce soit qui s'appelait. Et j'ai appelé cette personne et lui ai dit: «Je veux acheter votre duplex.» Et ils ont dit: «Nous avons envisagé de le vendre.» Et j'ai dit: «D'accord.» Mais j'ai rappelé mon agent et lui ai dit: «Hé L'agent que je veux acheter ce duplex, allez-vous faire une offre pour 228? ”et il a dit que trop bas c'est une perte de temps. J'ai dit d'accord, raccrochez le téléphone.

Et moi, un seul autre agent, elle s'appelait Catherine et elle sortait avec un gars qui travaillait avec l'entreprise de câblodistribution avec moi et elle habitait trois ou quatre comtés au sud d'Everett… Et je l'ai appelée pour lui dire que je voulais faire une offre, voici le nom et le numéro de téléphone de la personne et ils ont déjà dit qu'ils vendraient et voici l'adresse et voici l'endroit.

Elle fait l'offre et ils l'acceptent sans compteur. J'ai donc acheté ce duplex pour 228 euros, mon hypothèque était de 1 210 dollars et les voisins d'à côté payaient 1 200 dollars. Alors j'ai eu mon presque gratuit, je devais payer 10 $ par mois. Et le bonus était qu'une fois que j'ai emménagé, j'ai réalisé qu'il y avait trois filles de l'université de l'autre côté du duplex, ce qui était super cool. Je n’aurais jamais imaginé que cela soit une option.

David: Le retour sur investissement de 10 $ n’est pas mauvais.

Brandon: C'est super.

Ben: L’agent qui m’avait aidé Catherine, vers 2003/2004, son cadeau de clôture n’était pas une… carte-cadeau volante, ce n’était pas un panier, elle m’avait donné le livre de Gary Keller, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. Et je ne sais pas si c’est le seul livre que j’ai jamais lu. Pour être honnête, je n'ai pas lu beaucoup de livres de ma vie.

Et je l’ai lu et je ne l’ai pas compris parce que je n’avais pas encore lu Quadrants des flux de trésorerie ni papa riche, pauvre papa ou quelque chose du genre. Mais ce que cela disait, c'est que vous pouvez posséder votre propre entreprise. J’avais été licencié à deux reprises dans l’entreprise de câblodistribution, j’ai été licencié à plusieurs reprises par mon personnel. Ma blague, je me suis plus en conserve que le thon compressé.

Homme, parce qu'ils nous licencient tout le temps. Et je pensais juste que tu sais que je ne voulais pas me réveiller comme mon patron qui était là depuis 50 ans, puis arriver un jour et ils te licencient. J'ai donc décidé d'obtenir mon permis d'agent immobilier et je me suis retrouvé à Keller Williams car Gary et Jay ont écrit le livre intitulé The Millionaire Real Estate Agent et j'allais suivre ce plan. Et c'était vers 2004, je pense.

Brandon: C'est super. Bon alors je veux aborder quelque chose ici. Nous en parlons un peu récemment dans la série et j'ai même posté sur mon compte Instagram l'autre jour, juste cette citation de Tony Robbins sur la modélisation. Pour voir ce que font les autres et plutôt que de simplement réinventer la roue, vous modélisez ce qu’ils font et cela fonctionnera probablement de manière assez similaire.

Et David vient de mentionner qu’il modélisait votre entreprise, puis vous venez de mentionner que vous ne faites que modéliser ce qu’ils avaient mis dans leur livre. Je pense que c’est une chose à laquelle beaucoup de gens ne pensent pas, c’est pourquoi je ne vois pas ce qui fonctionne déjà et que je vais le faire. Avez-vous trouvé ce trait comme commun tout au long de votre vie ou êtes-vous un peu plus pionnier dans le choix de votre propre chose?

Ben: Le mot que je déteste le plus, c’est quand les gens me traitent d’entrepreneur. Et la raison en est que 98% des entrepreneurs échouent dans leurs affaires. Et je n'ai jamais voulu être associé à quoi que ce soit qui avait un taux d'échec de 98%, à droite. C'était comme mon record de rencontres. Je veux être associé à quelque chose qui a eu un taux de réussite de 80 ou 90%, à droite.

Donc, je n'ai jamais aimé les entrepreneurs. J'ai écrit un message de John Maxwell qui disait: Les systèmes rendent l'ordinaire extraordinaire. Et je me considère comme un type tout à fait ordinaire, un gars du câble devenu un gars de l'immobilier. Mais je suis simple. Et l’une des beautés de nos entreprises d’aujourd’hui est que je crois que les gens compliquent les choses pour justifier leur inaction.

Et ils proposent tous ces tableurs, ces chats étranges et ces plans gigantesques et ils ne font jamais rien avec, car c’est tellement compliqué qu’ils ne savent pas par où commencer. J’ai donc simplement adopté un plan selon lequel je devrais pouvoir expliquer tout ce que je vais faire sur un seul bout de papier avec un sharpie.

Et dans un monde parfait, j'aurais obtenu cette information de quelqu'un d'autre. J'aurais déjà modélisé et peut-être que je le change à 20% mais il est prouvé que 80% répond à ce genre de question.

Brandon: Oui, c’est exactement ce que je pensais. Je pense que tout ce que j’ai réussi dans la vie, c’est que j’ai regardé ce podcast parce que j’ai regardé un gars du nom de Pat Flynn qui a un podcast sur l’esprit d’entreprise. Et je me suis dit: "Eh bien, Pat réussit peut-être que je vais simplement copier exactement ce qu'il fait."

Nous nous sommes donc inspirés de Pat et de la radio immobilière, qui est une autre émission immobilière. J'aime leur spectacle c'était fantastique, je viens de les modéliser. Presque tout ce que j'ai fait est semblable à ce qui fonctionne pour quelqu'un d'autre. Je veux dire, même comme tout ce que l’on fait de la forme physique aux affaires en passant par tout, c’est ce qu’ils font?

Que mangent les personnes en bonne santé? Que font-ils pour travailler? Et juste modéliser cela. Bon alors qu'est-ce qui s'est passé ensuite? Voyons ce que tu as acheté ce duplex, tu es un piratage de maison qui est ce que nous appelons aujourd'hui un piratage de maison gratuit. Qu'est-ce qui est arrivé ensuite?

Ben: J'ai obtenu mon permis d'agent immobilier et je me suis joint à Keller Williams en 2004. Au cours de ma première année, j'ai obtenu environ six ventes qui ressemblaient à deux ou trois amis au hasard. Et puis, après quatre ou cinq mois, nous étions en janvier et il ne me restait plus aucune pendaison. J'ai commencé à avoir un peu peur et je suis allée travailler dans une compagnie de téléphone.

Et je suis allé à la compagnie de téléphone et j'ai suivi ma formation, puis je suis revenu et j'ai obtenu un emploi de vendeur à la compagnie de téléphone et j'ai toujours mon permis d'agent immobilier. Et j'ai vendu l'un des plus gros comptes jamais vendus dans notre département. Ils m'ont appelé et m'ont dit: «Nous ne pouvons pas vous payer pour cela, c'est un compte trop gros." J'ai atteint mon quota pour les trois prochains années.

J'ai fait ce que n'importe quel autre jeune homme responsable ferait si je n'y retournais jamais. Je ne les ai pas appelés et j’ai arrêté de fumer, je n’ai pas rendu mon ordinateur portable ou ma carte-clé, je n’y suis tout simplement pas retourné. Et comme j’avais déjà quitté la société de câblodistribution, j’avais déjà quitté la compagnie de téléphone et j’ai peur de l’électricité. C’était comme si j’avais besoin de faire fonctionner ce projet immobilier, non?

Alors je suis retourné et ai assis avec mon courtier et elle m'a donné quelques options. Et les options sont: vous travaillez selon votre plan de sphère que nous appelons les Brian Buffini par renvoi, mais mes parents et ma famille étaient toxicomanes et alcooliques et pauvres, en prison ou dans ce genre de choses, ce n’était pas une option pour moi. Je ne connaissais pas la sphère, mes amis achetaient des motos hors route et des camions, pas des maisons.

Ou bien c'était de faire des visites libres qui convenaient ou c'était juste de prendre le téléphone et d'appeler et j'avais l'habitude d'appeler toute ma vie. Alors j'ai juste commencé à prendre le téléphone et à téléphoner. Je ferais appel à la vente par les propriétaires, avis de défaut, avis de vente expirée des syndics, quel que soit mon choix. Et cela a rapidement construit l'entreprise, j'ai réalisé environ 25 ventes cette première année.

Et le livre Millionaire Real Estate Agent disait que la prochaine chose à faire est d’engager un administrateur. Et vous le faites pour pouvoir faire ce que j’appelle augmenter notre salaire horaire. Et je me pose cette question tout le temps, quel est mon taux horaire? Et j’essaie toujours d’augmenter mon tarif horaire en le transmettant à quelqu'un d’autre.

David: Merci Ben d'avoir dit cela parce que c'est un sujet de discorde dans mon amitié avec Brandon, que nous revoyons cela tout le temps où il fait toujours des choses lui-même. Rappelez-vous de la chaise que vous avez préparée pour mon enfant et qui vous a pris environ quatre heures et demie à nous rendre à Hawaï comme le meilleur endroit que Dieu ait créé. Et vous le dépensez pour construire des chaises.

Mais c’est vraiment difficile à faire si nous avons raison, car si vous êtes un grand producteur ou une personne qui a du succès, vous savez bien faire les choses et c’est parce que vous le faites d’une certaine manière. Et c’est vraiment difficile d’en tirer profit aux autres. Mais beaucoup de gens ne comprennent pas qu’ils ne réussiront pas dans certains domaines dans lesquels ils doivent être bons pour réussir.

Par exemple, que vous utilisiez le profil DISC ou autre chose. Un grand nombre de nos auditeurs savent qu’ils sont vraiment doués pour l’analyse de propriétés, mais ils sont terribles de parler aux gens ou peut-être vice versa. Pouvez-vous donner des conseils sur la façon de surmonter cette peur de laisser aller et de choisir la bonne personne à embaucher en tant qu'administrateur ou de vraiment faire tout ce que vous estimez ne pas être obligé de le faire vous-même?

Ben: La vraie raison pour laquelle j'ai embauché un administrateur est que j'ai obtenu 25 ventes en un an et que c'était mon plafond. Je pourrais fermer deux dans un mois. Il existe d’autres meilleurs agents dans le monde qui peuvent faire plus, mais pour moi, c’était mon plafond. Parce que je suis pris dans la paperasse et les détails, que je laisse des chèques et que je téléphone, je ne suis pas doué pour ça,

Je pense qu’il ya des chasseurs dans le monde et des cueilleurs ou des agriculteurs, je suis un chasseur. Vous devez me préparer à tuer quelque chose et ensuite quelqu'un d'autre doit le traiter pour que je puisse tuer autre chose. En procédant de la sorte, je suis passé de 24 à 84 transactions. Et cela me faisait passer de 150 000 à 200 000 dollars par an à 500 000 dollars par an.

Et c’est parce que j’ai compris la différence entre effet de levier et luxe. Le luxe, c’est quand vous abandonnez un aspect de votre rôle ou de votre travail et que vous utilisez ce temps pour faire une sieste, manger des glaces, regarder Netflix ou vous défouler, ou quoi que vous fassiez, non. Lorsque vous prenez ce temps et que vous le remplacez par quelque chose d’engagé en dollars de l’heure, vous obtenez un effet de levier.

Donc, dès que j'ai abandonné ces choses, j'ai pu reprendre le téléphone et trouver d'autres offres. Et cela a progressé avec le temps pour embaucher des agents d’achat et des agents d’inscription, et ainsi de suite, puis 2008 est arrivé. 2008 était la première fois que je comprenais la différence entre pauvre et fauché. Je suis né pauvre, c’est quelque chose dans lequel vous êtes né, dans lequel vous êtes coincé, c’est un phénomène de société ou que vous ne pouvez pas contrôler.

Broke est des choses que vous faites pour vous-même. Et ce qui se passait, c’est que je basais mes budgets sur les revenus futurs. Je payais des factures dans mon esprit avec des chèques et des listes en attente au lieu de clôtures, d'accord. Et vous le voyez avec les investisseurs immobiliers, les entreprises et tous les types de personnes.

Ils sont tellement optimistes que lorsqu'une chose change ou change, ils perdent tout. Et en septembre 2008, toutes mes fermetures étaient terminées. Je suis passé de 500 000 $ en commission à zéro. Et en octobre, novembre et décembre, il me manquait des versements hypothécaires pour pouvoir continuer à payer mon assistant.

David: C’est un bon point à faire valoir. Et je pense que beaucoup de gens sont coincés dans ce qu’ils vivent actuellement et pensent que ce sera toujours comme ça. En 05 et 06, nous avions la même chose. Il y avait beaucoup de maisons de courtage à escompte qui vendaient une maison à 2 000 $ parce que les maisons se vendaient toutes seules et que tout le monde craignait que cela change le jeu de l'immobilier.

Et puis quand la récession est venue, ils sont tous partis. Et pour le moment, si vous prêtez attention à l’ensemble de l’économie, vous constaterez que l’argent est très bon marché, c’est partout. Il est très facile de collecter des fonds. C’est l’une des raisons pour lesquelles les familles multifamiliales sont si mousseuses que tout le monde y est. Et nous nous plaignons tous: «Oh, les taux de capitalisation sont si bas», mais personne ne demande vraiment pourquoi.

Eh bien, c’est la raison pour laquelle beaucoup d’entreprises apportent beaucoup d’argent à leurs investisseurs mais ne génèrent pas de profit, elles ne gagnent pas d’argent. Et je ne veux nommer aucun nom, mais beaucoup essaient de changer la façon dont l’immobilier est vendu dans le pays.

Et la même chose pour investir. Il ya des entreprises avec une tonne d’argent qui dépensent beaucoup trop d’argent parce qu’elles en ont. Et il est facile de se décourager de manière excessive en tant qu’investisseur de tous les jours qui se dit: «Je ne trouve rien qui puisse générer des flux de trésorerie.» Cela ne veut pas dire que ce sera toujours comme cela.

Et je pense que Ben, vous faites valoir le fait que les choses changent et que vous avez appris une leçon précieuse, mais vous ne l’avez pas laissée vous décourager. Vous venez de dire: «Comment puis-je me préparer pour la prochaine fois? Comment puis-je ajuster mon modèle? »Pouvez-vous partager un peu les leçons que vous avez apprises et comment vous vous êtes adapté pour avoir plus de succès lorsque le marché a théoriquement empiré?

Ben: Ouais. Je me suis assis avec mes relevés de banque et mes relevés de carte de crédit, je suivais ma valeur nette et en janvier 2009, ma valeur nette était négative d’un demi-million de dollars ou de ce montant. Je me souviens être passé à côté de ce type dans la rue et il demandait des quartiers et j'ai jeté un coup d'œil à son truc et il avait comme 68c à l'intérieur.

Et je me suis dit: «Ce mec est environ 500.068c plus riche que moi aujourd'hui.» Et je ne cessais de marcher en réfléchissant. Mais ensuite, je me suis assis avec mes relevés de banque, mes relevés de carte de crédit et je prenais trois surligneurs: un rouge, un vert et un jaune. Et le rouge était ce dont j'allais me débarrasser immédiatement, et le vert était quelque chose que je devais garder pour gérer mes affaires.

Et le jaune était quelque chose que je voulais étudier pour obtenir moins cher ou remplacer ou pour voir si nous pouvions nous en passer. Et je viens de commencer à tout couper. Et je l'ai réduit au maximum. Et puis, une fois que vous avez fait cela, vous ne pouvez plus résoudre vos problèmes d’affaires en réduisant davantage vos dépenses, vous devez alors doubler vos activités.

Et j’ai juste décidé que nous allions nous en sortir. Et nous avons eu plus d'appels téléphoniques, et nous avons frappé plus fort à la porte, et nous avons fait plus d'activités, et nous avons baissé les prix sur nos propriétés aussi vite que possible. Et nous avons travaillé notre sortie de là. La chose intéressante est que vers la fin de 2009, nous avons eu notre année la plus rentable et la plus productive.

Et j’avais mis de côté ces réserves et je me suis engagé à ne jamais me mettre dans la situation que j’étais en 2008 et à subir ce stress et cette inquiétude et à mettre en péril la vie de mon peuple. Je vais garder des réserves et je viens de commencer à constituer des réserves de trésorerie, car le marché peut évoluer très rapidement.

Vous vous réveillez un jour et vos marges de crédit ont disparu, vos cartes de crédit sont gelées et vous êtes foutus. Et avec ces réserves, une grande évolution dans ma vie s'est produite. Et c’est quand je me suis réveillé un jour et que le courtier immobilier où je travaillais était à court d’argent. Et j'avais l'argent et j'ai fait une offre pour acheter cette première entreprise.

Et j'ai proposé de verser de l'argent et de le rembourser sur une période de trois ans. Et j’ai effectué les paiements dus au mois d’août car c’était le moment où j’avais le plus grand nombre de commissions immobilières. Et ils reçoivent leur premier paiement en août et ils reçoivent un autre paiement au mois d'août suivant sur trois ans.

Eh bien, nous avons immédiatement retourné cette maison de courtage. Réduire les dépenses, augmenter la productivité des agents, recruter de nouveaux agents. Et au bout d’un an, d’autres maisons de courtage nous appelaient et j’ai commencé à acheter des maisons de courtage immobilier. Certains sont dans notre marque dans laquelle nous existons aujourd'hui et d'autres que je les ai pliés po

Mais je me suis retrouvé avec six maisons de courtage dans l'État de Washington, qui ont réalisé l'année dernière un profit d'environ 3 millions de dollars. Et nous avons également reversé environ trois millions de dollars à nos agents. Mais ces sociétés de courtage dans nos activités de vente sont devenues la base de notre capital pour faire ces autres investissements alors que nous grandissions pour ainsi dire.

Bonjour, je voudrais faire une pause dans le podcast d’aujourd’hui pour vous inviter au webinaire de cette semaine, Comment faire de vos premiers 5 000 euros par mois grâce à l’investissement immobilier. Je veux dire, ouais 5.000 c'est un peu arbitraire, ça pourrait être trois ou sept. Mais je suppose que cinq mille dollars par mois pourraient changer votre vie.

Et c’est l’objectif du webinaire que je vais aborder selon trois stratégies clés pour y parvenir, quelle que soit votre situation financière aujourd’hui. Par exemple, si vous n’avez pas d’accord en ce moment, vous n’avez pas d’argent que vous n’avez pas d’expérience, ne vous en faites pas. Allez quand même, allez simplement sur pluspockets.com/5000webinar. Donc, pluspockets.com/5000webinar. On se voit là-bas.

Brandon: Oui, alors je veux entrer dans un instant, mais je veux simplement souligner quelques points. Une fois que vous avez vu l’opportunité, vous vous êtes tout d’abord préparé à l’opportunité qui, à mon avis, est intelligente sur le marché actuel. Je veux dire que l'économie est vraiment bonne en ce moment, je veux dire que l'immobilier est vraiment bien en ce moment. Les gens gagnent de l'argent, etc.

Et je pense que c’est un bon rappel que je ne serai pas toujours comme aujourd’hui. Ce ne sera pas toujours comme ce sera le cas aujourd'hui. Je veux dire que nous en aurons éventuellement un autre. Peut-être que ce ne sera pas aussi mauvais que 2008, peut-être que ce sera aussi mauvais que 2008, non? Encore une fois, rappelez-vous que les réserves ne sont que vitales, même lorsque vous vous sentez vraiment confiant et couronné de succès.

Mais deuxièmement, vous avez mentionné que vous avez essentiellement payé ces personnes avec le temps. Cela s'applique aux investisseurs immobiliers et aux personnes dans toutes les entreprises. Vous ne faites que capitaliser sur le financement des vendeurs. You said hey I’ll put a little but down and I’ll just pay you off over time. That’s actually how I bought my first apartment complex the same way.

I just paid them off over time. But what’s really cool about it is how you controlled the terms of that deal. You knew that there was a certain time of the year you were going to be better off, you knew that seller financing would work and you knew that you could capitalize on it.

So I guess three just interesting points there just to point out, that you I guess went about taking advantage of that. I mean I’m curious why would they sell to you? Why didn’t they just turn it around? Why did you have success with turning those brokerages around when they couldn’t?

Ben: Well they were in financial trouble and they had gotten to that position because of the way they were running that business. And either they were trying to save themselves by selling real estate so they weren’t focusing on that brokerage. A lot of them took on too much space and they were in bad lease deals.

Which caused me in some situations I bought the assets and not the business because I had to renegotiate out the lease. So I had to move the business if I couldn’t. But they had no choice. One situation they were going to close the business on Monday and I found out on Friday and I jumped on a plane and flew back here and stopped them from closing.

Because at that point we lost all the agents which was really the asset in that business. I paid terms for those businesses because back then I didn’t have cash. And a lot of people would have used I don’t have the cash as an excuse to not invest or not have business. I just found a way to do it and from that it gave me cash to do some of these other future deals.

David: Ouais. So I think something to highlight out of what you’re saying here Ben is that you did a few things that a real estate investor can do just as easily. a) You targeted distress. And I usually talk about there’s three kinds of distress in real estate. You’ve got property distress, personal distress and market distress. So you were in a rough economic time so it’s probably quite a bit of market distress.

And then there was some actual like property distress, as in the business itself was not being run right. And just like a good hunter you’re like a cheetah, you smell that blood and you knew right where to go. And you got there, you made the kill and then you probably handed it over to somebody else to figure out okay I need you guys to help me turn this thing around, right.

But that’s why you got a good deal. So for the people that a listening saying, “Well yeah it must be nice if you find a business like that.” But Ben knew people in the industry, he had his eyes and ears out there he was out hunting for something. And when he saw that distress he had an advantage.

Then you were smart enough to do like Brandon said and get it with seller financing so that you didn’t say, “Well I don’t have money I can’t buy a property.” You said, “Well I found a person who doesn’t want to own a property, they’re losing it to the bank, right you said they were going out of business.

They’ll give you a screaming good deal if it’s not a foreclosure. Right, when you find those people that are in some form of distress, you can get a deal. The key though is that you didn’t wait until you saw opportunity to go learn your craft, right. For the people that are saying, “Well there’s no deal so I don’t want to learn how to analyse a property or manage a property or rehab a property.”

You’re going to be behind the eight ball when the market does turn and you’ve got the Bens of the world and the Brandons and the Davids who are studying this every day. And when that opportunity is everywhere, we’re a like a highly tuned cheetah that’s going to go take after whatever we want and bring it down.

And that’s why we’re always preaching you got to be prepared because we don’t know when the market is going to correct we just know at some point it will. And when it corrects and people are struggling with holding a job and saving money, there’s a whole new set of problems that come out of it, it’s going to turn around.

I mean I remember in California in 2013, it turned around so fast I literally went from writing like 20% under asking price on every house to 20% over asking price, wouldn’t get the deal done. It was that fast like one spring time and boom it was gone. And that’s why I had to learn long distance investing.

So there’s a lot of lessons that we can learn from what you’re doing here and how it does well. What did you end up doing once you started buying the business? And like you said you built the foundation of real estate sales. What was next for you?

Ben: Well first thing I did is I knew if I bought a real estate brokerage and if I failed at it, that I still knew how to run a real estate business. So I put my own banking and real estate teams in each one of those brokerages. And I did that because I knew if the brokerage had a bad month we could at least close a couple transactions.

And that’s I think really how real estate expansion came into my world is I wanted to prove that I could do my business model from… and any other city and I might as well do it in another business that I own. That meant that I paid for sales in that location, those sales agents paid a split to the brokerage.

I owned the brokerage and over time I started buying the buildings that those brokerages were in as well. And we had additional services like mortgage and so on. So you ended up getting paid four or five times along that path.

Brandon: That’s cool. So you actually started buying the buildings that your properties were renting. Is that what you’re saying?

Ben: Ouais. And I did it because I learned about something that I’m sure you guys talk about often, accelerated depreciation. I had an income issue and I needed to solve my income issue because I didn’t want to give all my income to taxes. And if you buy a commercial real estate you can do accelerated depreciation and then write it off over seven or eight years.

And that reduces my taxable income and it’s much easier to do that in commercial and residential with the notes available. So I started doing that. And I think people buy real estate for three reasons; one appreciation, two would be tax benefits and three would be cash flow. And you buy different types of properties for each one of those three situations, right. And I try to have a diversification of those types of things.

Brandon: Alright so what else have you done? I mean I want to talk a little bit more about the commercial thing too but what else have you done? I mean in terms of investments, you bought some commercial properties, do you own any single families, do you own any multifamily or anything like that as well?

Ben: Yeah I own quite a few houses, vacant lots, commercial buildings, ranch in Texas, those sort of things. And I try to buy a property every couple of months or a couple of times a year at least. And I have a full time contractor that’s always remodelling and improving. I don’t believe in flipping properties.

I’m in the mind set of building assets over time and real estate is the foundation of my wealth and I want to make sure that that’s secure. So I do that to build assets and keep so I’m a holder not a flipper. And I’m always looking for deals nonstop whether it’s a business I’m buying or real estate or hire. I’m kind of a deal junkie I’m always out there looking for the right one. And I turn down a hundred of them to do one but I’m always looking.

Brandon: J'aime ça. And I think it’s interesting to hear that the connections like as you talk about certain things like buying businesses how similar it is to buying houses. And then you mentioned people like deals. It’s almost like business is business no matter what the asset that you’re buying is or that you’re obtaining, which is kind of fascinating.

So how do you balance that with focus right? I mean you bought a ranch, you bought some commercials, some houses, how are you focusing that? Is it because you’ve got all these properties already now you can diversify like that? Or is it just you’ll buy whatever comes across your plate?

Ben: I tend to buy in areas that I want to be or areas that I’m at so locally as much as possible. And I buy those deals because I see something in the property that others don’t see like a duplex that I can turn into condos or a house that I could short-plast something off of.

Or a property that I could get some extra lots or I could add square footage to it. I’m always looking for something that other people don’t know about that property or even that business as well. I’m looking for how do I walk into this situation with instant equity?

David: Yeah and Brandon and I talk about in today’s market, you don’t find deals you got to make deals and that’s kind of what you’re describing. In a higher end market that’s what you have to do. In a lower market if you have the capital and you have the opportunity you can find the deal pretty easy but you’re not really getting better or learning when you do that.

You’re just taking low hanging fruit and if that’s what you’re dependent on well when the market turns around you have nowhere to go. But I think that Brandon to your point, I see this all time when I watch these TV shows the guys come in and take a struggling bar or a restaurant and they turn it around. They’re using the same principles we are.

Somebody owns an asset that they’re not managing well for various different reasons, it could be a lot of stuff. It would be profitable if somebody did something different. Maybe someone recognizes this bar is not doing well because they could be serving food as well or they can be charging more for alcohol if they change their ambience or whatever.

And a more experienced person steps in, buys it, turns it around and makes it profitable. And then if they refinance it which is kind of our BRRR Method that we talk about they can go buy another one, and that’s all Ben’s doing, is he took an industry he understood which is real estate because he could sell houses because he was a cable guy and wasn’t afraid to being told no.

And he learned a little bit more and it gave him opportunity and he took advantage of that, and he learned a little bit more and it gave him opportunity. And now I mean Ben we didn’t really talk about it but you’re either the top or one of the top agents in the entire country. You got expansion teams everywhere.

You’re buying companies like left and right. I mean we’ve kind of focused on your beginning but you’re basically like the second coming of Warren Buffett at this point with what you’re buying, right. But you started from a very small place and you just took advantage of the opportunities that you had. And that is one of the things that’s so inspiring about you, is you didn’t say, “Oh I can’t do it, here’s why.”

You said, “How can I do it?” and Brandon loves that too. And everybody listening could do the same thing, right you started with the house hack and that opened doors. You started selling real estate and that opened more doors and you just kept walking through them.

Ben: About six years ago we started investing in technology because I believe that technology was going to be the thing that could disrupt my agents and their families in their way of life. And that’s led down an interesting path for us, we’ve just acquired our eight real estate technology company last week. And we have about 150 people that work on our software space.

I think over time, I’ve had this real mind shift on wealth building and I’ll probably be known for buying businesses not real estate because I never talk about my real estate investments or people just don’t hear about it. But when Donald Trump was running for president couple years ago, he was talking about not sharing his taxes or whatever.

And Warren Buffett sent a tweet out or a message out that said here are my taxes I’m willing to share mine. And one my ahas and looking at Warren Buffett’s taxes was that I paid more taxes than him. And I was sitting back here thinking which one of us two guys has more money? And I’m not a fraction of a percent of what Warren Buffett’s worth.

But what he did is I call it Flipping the Triangle. If you were to take a triangle and divide it into four chunk, the vast majority of the world’s triangle looks like this. At the base of the triangle here is salary and hourly, and that’s where they make the majority of their money. They’re exchanging time for dollars.

And the reason they hit income caps in their life is because they only have so much time to exchange for dollars. As you move up the triangle you have bonuses and you have profit from the businesses that you’re in. and if you do good in your job maybe you get a bonus or if you do good running your business maybe you have some profit left over.

And that right there maybe that’s 90% of the world and that’s why they have such limits of their income. As you go up to the third piece you have residual incomes, that is money made from work done in the past. Whereas the first two pieces of the triangle are money made for things you’ve done in the present.

Well residual for me is rents above and beyond my mortgage interests. If I do loans, dividends on stocks, profits from businesses that I invested in but I don’t necessarily run myself. And that’s money that comes in every month whether I show up or not. And then at the top of the triangle is assets. And that’s what people have the very least of.

The stats that I think about around that is just the average American who is a renter has a net worth of $5,200, the average homeowner in the United States has a net worth of $238,000. You see the big difference in those two, the net worth is really through real estate for most people.

I wanted to flip the triangle so I wanted to get to the point like Warren Buffet where the majority of his wealth is in assets that are not realized unless he sells his stocks, sells the business, sells the real estate or cashes out. So it can continue to compound and grow and grow.

But when you’re flipping properties or when you’re always taking that money out and moving it somewhere else you end up with that having to be taxed on it. And you give up 40% of your income. So I wanted to flip the triangle and I want my assets to grow and then my residual income to grow.

And the things I don’t really care about might be what I do with my actual time. Now that led for me this idea of what’s going to grow fastest. What would be the average cap rate in the US for you guys? Je ne sais pas.

David: Like five and a half or so I’d say right now in the commercial space.

Ben: Ouais. And last year the SMP500 if you put money into the SMP500 it may be went up 11% or 13% or whatever. That’s that range, five or 10% that you can grow annually. But all the businesses that I’ve bought, I’ve been able to grow them 40%, 100%, 200%, 150% year over year. And that’s allowed me to have massive compounded growth.

And with that excess income, I take that income and then I buy fixed assets like real estate to be the foundation in case… hits the fan and I need to survive. I put that money into I call it the five buckets; extra cash reserves, real estate that I’m going to hold, financial instruments like retirements, 401Ks or ways to defer taxes.

And businesses that I invest in that other people run and then I save the last bucket which each bucket is 20%, to give away each year to our community specifically around homelessness and hunger. And I take all the excess of those as well from all the businesses and I put them into those buckets so that I can grow my assets not just my income.

Brandon: Yeah that’s a fantastic way of looking at it. I think everyone needs to hit that rewind button on their podcast player and go back and listen to the last two minutes again. Because yeah the five bucket thing, the flipped triangle, all that just fantastic. So I want to explore this a little bit more, this idea of buying businesses.

Because again here on the show we typically focus on real estate but there is a benefit to crashing it in business. This is actually one thing I love about real estate is like you can crush it in business somehow whether you hopefully own the business, right.

You can make a ton of money and then dump that into real estate into fixed asset. Why do you do that and do you also I guess why do you do real estate not just the SMP500? Why not just throw everything in the stocks or whatever? Do you diversify? Do you focus mostly on real estate? What’s that look like?

Ben: Alright. I think our business whether it- I was talking to David about his real estate business, I think his business should be like a chair. And the more legs to the chair the more stable the chair is. And if you got all of this business from referrals if that went away his business would fall apart. If you got it all from cold calling.

So it’s about having a lot of legs to your chair. Whether you think about our parents that had all their money in their company stock plan, or the person that put all their money into real estate or all into their 401K or all into their business, one little thing could completely disrupt their retirement, their livelihood or their family. And I don’t want that to happen.

I’m not going to be in a situation, I’m okay being poor I’m not okay being broke where it’s my fault. So I try to evenly divide that out and I have adopted that for over 10 years now. And in the beginning it was $50 a month that went into each one of those buckets and then it was $200 a month that went into each one of those buckets. And over time it’s grown.

Which means 10 years ago it took me a year or two to save up enough for a down payment on the next property. And then now it can happen every month or every couple months if we choose to do so. But it’s about having that discipline of putting money into those buckets to take care of you and your family.

You can’t just be this individual that’s chasing money because money runs too fast. And you’ll never actually catch it, you’ll wake up having an unsatisfied unhappy life. You need to make sure that you’re doing things to build wealth not just build the number of doors or the number or real estate transactions or whatever those things are. Because that’s a really unfulfilling life to live you’ll wake up unsatisfied all the time.

David: Well on one hand having several legs on your stool does make it a more safe stool where it’s like a defensive metric. You’re going to lose more difficultly that’s a horrible way to say that. But it’s harder to lose. On the other hand having all these different things working together actually creates a synergy to where you’re more successful with venture F because you have venture G as well.

And I that that’s something that a lot of people getting started don’t understand that that’s kind of when we talk about the rich getting richer this is why. You actually took a real estate sales business and leveraged that into buying brokerages which leveraged that into bringing deals your way. Then you had this capital that you could then use to invest in technology companies which made it easier to sell more houses, right.

And the whole ecosystem that you’re building helps all the other little piece, so A) you’re safer and B) it’s easier to grow bigger. And that’s really how smart business people think. Now the problem is once you’ve built that ecosystem you can’t be in everywhere at one time. You’ve got expansion offices here, you’ve got investment properties here.

You’ve got companies that you’re buying that you really probably don’t even understand what they’re doing, you don’t need to. You’re the investor. Can you help us understand a little bit about your leadership qualities, what you had to learn, what you had to develop and how you run all these different businesses as just one person?

Ben: Yeah so my coach Gary Keller has always been clear with me is that I can do anything I want as long as I start with a person. So he says first who then what. Right so if I want to buy a business, the first question I’m going to ask myself; who do I have that could run it? And if I don’t have that person that would be the very first thing I’d go and do because I do not need another jump.

Well over time you start learning about leadership. And the easy thing to say is I’m not good at managing people or I’m not a very good leader. But I found that nobody is an amazing leader of marginal people. And you end up getting the wrong people on your bus, you look like a crappy leader and you feel like you’re unsuccessful. And I’m not saying they’re bad people.

But if you get the right people for you, you can do anything. And you walk in and everybody thinks you’re a genius leader, truth is we’re just actually pretty good at hiring. And we’re good at hiring because we take the time to look at enough candidates. When you have one candidate that you’re taking through the hiring process, you spend the entire time trying to proof that that’s the best candidate to yourself.

When you have three candidates, any of which you would say I would any one of these right now in my heart, right you spend the entire process figuring out which candidate is the best candidate. As they say the enemy of great is good or however they say that, right. You can’t settle, you got to make sure that you’re investing that you can balance I like to say love and results.

Meaning that that you could see yourself having that person at your kitchen table for Thanksgiving that you love them and you care about them, which means they got to have integrity. You got to like them you got to like being around them, and they got to get good results.

Any time it’s out of balance between love and results meaning you care a lot about them but they aren’t succeeding in the role, or they succeed a lot in the role but they’re kind of buttholes you end up creating resentment and it doesn’t work. So I look for this balance between love and results in all my hires and then I just let them go do it. And I get back involved if they need me but I tend to step away and just let them succeed.

Brandon: So here’s something I struggle with a lot because I’m hiring right now for both internally at BiggerPockets we’re hiring for a number of people that are going to be working with me and the marketing team. But then also I’m looking at my own real estate business looking to hire as well and try to expand the real estate investment side of things.

And both of those I get people that apply, right. And you look at their resume and everyone looks good on a resume. I mean everybody looks good on the resume and I talk to them and I get the same thing you just said. I could hire any of these people. Like at a surface level, even just talking to people the first time everyone generally looks pretty good.

I’m struggling with that right now, I got five people I’ve talked to that all could probably do the job well. How do I narrow down then like to really know that that’s the one out of the five? Like you say you look at enough people but that’s what I struggle with right now a lot.

Ben: Here’s what I do is that I make a list of the 10 or 20 things that you want that person to do in their role. Then I’d organize them one through 10 or one through 20 and then I’d go and I just cross out everything that’s below four. You are hiring for the top four not for the bottom 20. You need to find somebody that hits it out of the park on those top four things your biggest priorities, and don’t worry about the rest of the stuff.

The rest of the stuff anybody can do or you could just knock it down or get an assistant or they figure it out. Always hire to the most important priority. And then compare each person to each other just say, “Hey I got three great candidates, how do they stack up?” and we go through this multi-process hiring where we have a screen interview, a face-to face interview.

We go through what’s called a life story where I go back as far as time and I ask them what they’ve done and what they’ve made and what they’re most proud and how do they succeed. And I understand their whole history. And then we go through this process of understanding their goals, what do they want to want to accomplish in the next year, three years, five years?

To make sure that they can be on that trajectory or they’re thinking big enough or they’d be a good match with us. And then we go through a little bit of behavioural testing to make sure they’re the right behavioural map for the job by giving them a Meyers Briggs or whatever that might be. And you combine all those things into a collection of about eight hours.

And when you’re done with and you’ve done that through a couple of solid people, you’re going to feel real confident about one or two of those people. But when you rush it or do a couple of interviews and then you high five you’re just kind of playing craps and you’re going to get what you get, wherever the dice land.

Brandon: I read the other day that 50% of all hires end up being a mistake. Like that manager said that 50% of on average of the people they hire were wrong. Which means that it is just a gamble, it’s just 50/50. They might be good, they might be bad. And that’s how most people in the world hire.

Ben: Sounds like marriages and dating to me.

Brandon: It does, right.

Ben: Like if we put a little bit more time and energy into choosing who we spend our time with, I always say that we have three relationship in our life and they’re extremely important. Who we work with, right, who we love and marry and our mattress. And we should spend time and energy choosing all three of those things.

David: I mean that’s why Drake says I only love my… because that’s what’s important in life. Yeah as far as people who are wanting the opportunity Ben can you share a little bit about because you’re hiring people all the time, right? So this is an interesting dynamic is that Brandon, I and Ben our frustrations are we can’t find people that can do the job the right way.

Well there’s a lot of people out there that are like, “Oh I really want this opportunity tell me what I need.” And I’m trying to figure out how you marry those two worlds. Do you have any advice for the people who want the opportunity but aren’t sure what to do in themselves to be good at the role?

And then the second part that I wanted to talk to you about was we interviewed Robert Greene and he had mentioned how one of the things that he believes is people don’t change. Like who they’ve been is who they’re going to be, right. So how much do you factor that into your decision making process when you look at somebody’s track record?

Ben: Sûr. I think highly successful people succeed at something in their life. So what is that track record or success? It could be that they’re number one on band camp, it could be that they’re number one in athletics. And I ask that question when I interview them, what have you been number one at in your life?

And that’s important to me, right. And then I understand that a leader has three fiduciary duties. Number one, to clearly set the standards and expectations for how that person succeeds in their 20%, not the bottom 16 things, in those four things. Number two, to inspect what we expect. To provide a layer of accountability.

And when we first get into business with somebody we meet with them and look at what they’re doing on an hourly or daily basis. And over time they earn the weekly touch and over time they earn the monthly. And over time you really just get together to give the high fives. The number three thing as a fiduciary duty as a leader is to make sure we provide the coaching, training and mentoring that they need to be successful.

And whether we hired somebody to do it or we do it ourselves, if you are not doing those three things, that person’s failure in your business is your fault, it’s not their fault. So I always ask myself before I let somebody go, “Did we do our fiduciary duty?” I take ruining somebody’s lives and putting their family in jeopardy very seriously.

So if it doesn’t work I sit back and say, “Did we set the standards? Did we inspect what we expect? Did we train them? If not we start from scratch on day one and we take them a 306090 process to get them back on track. So before we think that people can’t change I always sit back and say, “Well where is my DNA on that situation?

What could I have done to make sure that that person was successful? Or in the place that they were before were they given a fair chance? Because I found people that were very unsuccessful in their previous role but when they worked with us they flourished.

Brandon: Yeah and that attitude is what attracts me to Jocko Willink’s book, which one David that you love Extreme Ownership.

David: Extreme Ownership.

Brandon: Right, which is like when somebody is bad, the first question to ask is what have I done wrong or how could I have fixed this or how am I causing this. Because a good portion of the time it is probably that. Like I know when I’ve had bad employees in the past I’ve not set standards, I’ve not inspected what I expect and I’ve not trained them very well.

I’ve done all three of those things poorly and so it’s no wonder they didn’t work out. And then I feel really bad because now I’m looking back I’m like, “Yeah that was totally my bad or that was totally my fault.” Anyway just really good reminder. What were you going to say?

Ben: The first kind of question about how people go and find the opportunities I think is their responsibility to chase what they want in life. And it takes a lot of effort. I’ll give you an example of the reverse of that is I ended up in a situation where I was missing an important person in my company. And it was going to be the technical demise of our world.

And the previous month in that particular company I’d lost $430,000, for the month. And I knew that there was a problem. I started off on Monday with a commitment that I was going to find a replacement and I sent over 1000 LinkedIn messages. I made hundreds and hundreds of calls and hundreds of texts.

And I finally found a person that was located in another country that was right match, and I flew him and his wife over. And we got them hired in our firm. But it took six days of me only doing that one thing to solve my biggest problem.

And a lot of times why people don’t solve their biggest problems, why they don’t find real estate deals, why they don’t lose weight or whatever that is, is they give 1% effort every day over a long period of time, and it never amounts to anything.

If you have a big problem in your life, go fix that problem. Just go jump on it and you only do that until you get it out of the way and then you work on your second problem. So I’d put that back on the person that if you want to change your life, make that the only thing you focus on.

Brandon: That’s so good. I gave a speech last week at a conference and I talked about this analogy of building a tower. Let’s say you had to build a tower out of little blocks, the little toy Jenga blocks. And success was out like three feet high, right or in this case solving your problem is like three feet high.

So you start working on one little tower and then you go start working on another tower and then another tower and you’re adding one block to each tower. And pretty soon you got 30 towers but none of them ever get higher than six inches. Where if you just focused all your effort on building that one tower, I just got to fix this as the most important tower.

And that works for both problems like you’re talking about problems and for solutions, right. This is the most important thing in my life if I can just get this level I’ll be alright. But instead people are like, “I want to be a real estate agent,” and then two weeks later they’re like, “I really want to sell Tupperware on MLM,” then two weeks later they want to flip houses because they listened to a podcast on that. And they’re building 50 towers at one time and never get there.

So before we move on to the Deep Dive, do you have any advice on how people can know what is that thing that helps them identify what is the most important problem to focus on or what is the most important thing they can do? I mean when there’s a million things that a person can do, how do you focus?

Ben: I would hate for somebody to hear this call and hear that my message is do a bunch of things and get a bunch of businesses and that sort of thing because that’s not really how I believe. I believe in building a business to its maximum potential and replacing yourself with a great and amazing hire that’s proven and then taking that excess time to do something.

And this a 15 year journey for me I had three sales teams up until four years ago. Now I have 22. It’s because I put 11 years into building the foundation and building the systems and building the models and proving that it was profitable before I did that. So we’re careful we don’t do too many things at once. You do one thing, you get it going as profitable and then you add another thing.

So I would hate for that message to get mixed up. But back to your question Brandon, what we do should provide a clear path to our business, financial, relationship, health, personal and spiritual goals. And I’ve had mine written down for many years and I look at them often and I ask myself the question, “Is what I’m doing now setting myself up on a path to accomplish those goals?”

And I found a lot of time that people make those choices because they aren’t clear on where they’re actually going. So I want to share my goals with you guys because it’s on my phone at all times. Number one I want to be leveraged. I want to hire somebody for all the things that I do not enjoy, which means I had to make a list of what other things I enjoy.

I enjoy negotiating deals, recruiting talent, creating things and making them a reality and coaching training and mentoring. So I built my life around doing those things and everything else I hire somebody for. Number two, security, I want to have a certain amount saved in the bank in case the zombie apocalypse or economic whatever the thing might be.

Number three I want a net worth of a certain amount of money and it’s a big number. Four, I’d like to be married but only once, five I’d like legacy, I want to create things that I’ll be remembered for. Six I want to help 10 people become millionaires and seven is I want to donate a minimum of one million a year back to our communities that we operate in.

And I ask myself the question when somebody says, “Hey should you go do this opportunity or should I do this?” I just open up my goal sheet and say, “Is that something I’d enjoy? Is it going to affect my savings? Is it going to increase my net worth? Is it going to affect my ability to have a healthy relationship?

Is it going to be something I’m going to be remembered for? Or is it a park shop or a bar? That might make money but it’s not what I want to be remembered for so I’m not going to do that. Is it going to help somebody become a millionaire and do I love them enough to want to do that?

And is it going to affect my ability to give? And if it doesn’t hit one of those things, I bail out. So it’s important that they have clarity what they’re actually trying to accomplish. And with that, it should help them to make better decisions.

Brandon: That is so good, fantastic. I don’t have anything to add to that. So I’m just going to shift us and turn us over to the next part of our show which we call our Deep Dive.

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Brandon: Alright this is the BiggerPockets Deep Dive. It’s the part of the show where we dive into one particular deal that our guest is working on. So I hear from Kevin our producer that you’ve got a little bit different style of a deal today for today’s deal Deep Dive. What are we going to be talking about today before we jump into the questions?

Ben: Well what I think is interesting about deals is that deals are all about terms, and terms for real estate or terms for businesses are about the same. So I’m just going to talk about a business or two that we’ve purchased in the past and how we went around structuring that deal. Because when we went into those maybe we didn’t have the capital to even do it but then we figured out a path into making that happen, if that makes sense.

Brandon: Cela fait.

David: Yes so. This specific deal, what6 kind of deal was it?

Ben: So this was an opportunity for us to buy a software company. And when I met with the individual I said, “Are you will to sell this company?” and I he said, “No I don’t think I would.” And I said, “Well why wouldn’t you?” and he said, “I haven’t been able to get the amount of money that I want.”

And he gave an amount of money let’s say it was a million dollars. And I said, “Okay, can I ask you another question?” and he said yeah. And I said, “Well what is it about that million dollars that’s important to you? And he said, “It’s that I think I need that much money to replace the income that I get from this business to take care of me and my family until I die or pass away.”

And I said, “I don’t want to be morbid or nothing but how long do you think that is? How many years do you need?” and he was quite an older gentleman and he said, “I need at least 10 more years of income.” And I said, “So it’s not the million dollars at all that matters to you, it’s a certain amount of net income for you.”

And I said, “But what have you been making currently?” and he gave me a number, it wasn’t a large amount of money let’s say it was $50,000. And I said, “How about instead of a million dollars, what if I just gave you $50,000 a year paid in monthly payments over the next 10 or 12 years? And would you go home tonight and talk to your wife about that?”

I’ll personally guarantee it that you get that income, you don’t have to work anymore, you don’t have to show up you get to enjoy these 10 years of your life and you get to retire.” And he came back and he said, “You know what, that would work.” For me I looked at the business and said the business was already making that much in net income.

If I added what I do, we would easily replace that and I just made that a line item on the budget was paying the previous guy out. So we bought that business for zero down, paid him over a 10 year period and it was what I consider a win-win. That individual got what they needed out of the situation and it wasn’t the price.

Now he could go and tell anybody he wants that he got a big price for the business and that’s fine and that’s a win. And if that makes him feel good that’s great. But what it really did is it took care of him and his wife. And I think a lot of times we negotiate numbers but it’s not, it’s what’s the story? What are they really trying to accomplish with that?

And then you go back and you solve that problem for them. And I’ve done that in five or six if not 10 different situations where I’ve been able to put deals together that otherwise could have been undoable.

Brandon: Yeah I love that. And that applies again to yeah, any deal that you’re working through whether it’s a business, whether it’s a specific real estate deal, there’s usually something that people say that they want, right. And it’s very different from what they actually want. They just don’t know how express necessarily.

So by asking those questions you can get there. So do you mind if I dive a little bit on let’s say this particular deal and for confidentiality reasons if you can’t say what the company is that’s fine. But I’m wondering like how did you even come across the opportunity like how did you find this?

Ben: So I’m always looking for opportunities and I tend to do that a lot. I call it eight to eight, eight to eight. So from 8AM to 8PM I have to do things that make money now. That’s either taking time for family and loved ones or working out and eating or working in my job to make some money. But from 8PM to 8AM that’s my time.

And during my time I can do whatever creative I want. So at night you’ll see me often Googling companies, looking up websites, researching people. And I send hundreds and hundreds of LinkedIn messages to businesses and emails reaching out trying to find deals.

And the vast majority of deals I’ve gotten I bought a company from Zillow called Active Rain because I sent the CEO a direct message on Twitter. I bought one other company from LinkedIn time and time again because I reached out to them.

Brandon: That’s cool.

David: It might be the first time I’ve even heard someone say they used LinkedIn effectively as opposed to how most people do. So that’s awesome.

Ben: It’s a different approach though. It’s usually it’s not that I want to buy your company, it’s that I want to get to know you. And I’ll fly them out or I’ll fly there. And I’ll spend a day letting them talk to me, tell me how great they are, explain their world, show me their business. And I don’t talk about me at all and I just get to know them.

And I ask them what’s important about them. And by the end of the day or two, I’ll understand what it is in their life that’s causing them pain or what is in their life that will give them pleasure. And I’m looking for that button. And I will spend as much time as I need trying to figure out what is the button that would make a difference in this deal when everybody else jumps in there.

One particular deal we did, there was an offer on the business for three million dollars from a private equity group and we bought that business for just over a million. They accepted a two million dollars less purchase price because I figured out what was important. And for that individual it was that he wanted to keep working, he wanted his employees to be taken care of. And he wanted it to stay in the location where they operated in.

So I made a commitment that I would stay there, I would keep them employed I would increase their salaries, I would provide them benefits, right. And I got the other competing company to write me a letter that said that their intention was to consolidate all the businesses and move into the East Coast. And I brought that letter to the meeting.

Said, “You may get more money today but you’re going to have to face these people in the grocery store every time you see them to let them know that you sold their jobs out. Or you can do a deal with me and we’ll find a way to make an equivalent win. And you’ll find that money is not the only factor in a deal.

Brandon: That’s so true. Alright so on this particular one that you gave the example of earlier, you talk about buying it basically no money down, right. What did you actually do with that property then? Did you put somebody else in charge? Did you find new talent or did you raise somebody up from within the company? And then what was the outcome to that? What’s the company like today?

Ben: Yeah because the gentleman was phasing out, we paid him for a short period of time to stay in and then we hired a replacement in that business. And that business today is worth quite a bit of money because the revenue I think when we did that deal the revenue was out like a million to a year. And I think in the first 30 days of using our sales and marketing engine we brought in more annual revenue in that next 30 days than they had done their whole previous year.

Brandon: That’s good.

Ben: Because businesses traditionally have either they’re great at sales and marketing and they have a crappy product or they have a really great product and they can’t sell or market it. And we bring an approach where we find great products and we put a massive sales and marketing engine on it because we’re used to pick up the phone and cold calling and doing marketing and we do that business. Most businesses don’t fail because they have a bad product, they fail because they can’t hire or they can’t sell it.

Brandon: Yeah that’s really good.

David: Alright, what lessons did you learn from this deal in particular Ben?

Ben: I think from this deal and a whole bunch of other deals like it, we learn how hard it is to integrate technologies into each other, or to integrate leadership teams into each other. And it took time and it takes a while. You always think it’s going to be faster than it is. And it caused a lot of chaos.

In fact that month that I said that we lost that $430,000 was because of problems that were created through that integration. And we fixed it and I was just messaging with those leaders the other day and he said, “Hey there’s been times in the last two years that I’ve really wanted to quit.

And I want you to know that I still think this is one of the better decisions I’ve ever made in my life and I want to thank you.” And it wasn’t always like that. I mean there were times that we wanted to strangle each other. But that commitment to each other and our commitment to work through it we’re able to survive it.

Brandon: There we go, alright.

David: That’s really good. I think one of the things you mentioned that I just want to comment on before is that your approach wasn’t let me chase someone down, throw money at him see if they say yes or no and move on. And that strategy will work at a lot of things in life.

If you met someone you don’t know and say, “Do you want to get married?” and they say no and you move on to the next thing you’re much less likely to be affected than if you slow down and you take the time to get to know them. Brandon always talks about how dating is a funnel, he thinks everything is a funnel and in a way it kind of is.

And Brandon is right, heather is always jumping in and saying, “Brandon you’re an idiot it’s not that simple, right.” because Heather understands that yeah you have to talk to a lot of people but you have to be doing it with a purpose.

You need to be getting to know that person improving yourself before you jump right to where you’re trying to get. And if more people would build skills in that area as opposed to just I’m going to just focus on how many LinkedIn messages I can send, I think they’d be more successful.

Ben: Relationships matter, that’s the message right there ain’t it?

Brandon: Voilà.

David: Yes absolutely.

Brandon: Yeah well that was the deal deep dive. Now we’re going to head over to the next segment of the show, The Fire Round.

It’s time for the Fire Round.

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Brandon: Alright it’s time for the Fire Round of course these questions come direct out of the BiggerPockets forums, which everyone can go visit at biggerpockets.com/forums. Alright Ben, we’re going to throw this at you rapid fire style, so big question Q&A nice and fast.

Number one Corbin from Louisville Kentucky said: I just got done reading Set For Life which is a book by Scott Trench the CEO of BiggerPockets. And I’ve decided I’m going to house hack. I’m going to buy a duplex or triplex or fourplex, live in one unit rent the other ones out. Where should I start shopping? What approach should I even take to begin looking for that small multifamily?

Ben: I believe most deals that are good, everybody knows about and they’re gone if they’re on the market I mean. So do what I did, go after off market properties, look for one specifically that have out of area tax mailing addresses. Because they don’t have a good grasp of what’s going on in the market or they inherited the property whatever.

Find a property that nobody else knows about. It would take you to door knock and cold call but you’re going to end up with a way better deal.

Brandon: Yeah awesome.

David: Next question: I’m a newly licensed real estate agent and an aspiring investor. Over and over again I’ve heard investors in the BiggerPockets community complain about the lack of investor friendly real estate agents. This seems to be an opportunity. What advice would you give me for how I can curve out a niche business serving other investors? What are investors looking for in a real estate agent?

Ben: Investors are looking good deals. And if it’s a good deal, first you should just buy it yourself. And the reason you don’t buy it yourself is because you don’t have the income and the cash set aside so go fix that problem. Investors that want a long term relationship, they’re going to invest as much into you as you do into them.

You don’t want somebody that’s just going to use you and make you write low offers all day. So be careful as a real estate agent that you don’t go chase a one way relationship where they’re using you and you don’t have that long term win.

Brandon: Yeah that’s great. Number three, I’ve got a commission based job so my income is really unpredictable. It’s going to be hard for me to get a loan to invest in real estate. Any advice for somebody without a steady pay check like every real estate agent out there?

Ben: The highest paid individuals in the world in my opinion and they have jobs or are on commission. And your commission can be variable if your activities are. So if you want to have a more consistent income, double or triple your activities. And if you’re in a commission job or you’re waiting on people to walk into your furniture shop or car dealership, switch careers so that you can get to that job that has that unlimited income.

Brandon: That’s so good. I never really thought about it in those terms before but so many people talk about like their pay cheques are up and down it’s not a very steady pay cheque, well that’s because like their thinking usually it’s like zero dollars one month, 5000 the next month, zero the next month. A lot of people have that problem.

So triple your efforts, find ways to work harder, work smarter and then maybe the variable is I make 20 one month, 25 the next month, 20 the next month, and now like who cares, variables is fine. No bank is going to have a problem with that.

But also the point about if you’re waiting for business to come in find something that you can go out there and hunt for rather than sitting at home in your cave hoping a bear wanders into the cave that you can hit it with a stick, alright yeah.

Ben: C'est vrai.

David: Maybe not a bear, maybe something easier to kill like a rabbit or something.

Ben: Well you remember that every good thing in your life required you to quite something. Don’t be afraid of quitting in order to get to where you want to go. Be afraid of staying where you are for the rest of your life.

Brandon: That’s good advice I’m out of here guys.

David: It’s Twitter quote right there.

Brandon: Let’s move on, we’ll wrap up the fire round there. But I want to head over to the last segment of our show which we lovingly refer to as our Famous Four. Alright with that let’s get to the world famous, Famous Four. The same four question we ask every guest every week. Ben number one, do you have a favourite real estate related book?

Ben: Probably the 150 pages of The Millionaire Real Estate Investor. And I hate to beat up Jay and Gary but the first 150 pages are the best. Or Tax-Free Wealth is a big winner for me this year.

Brandon: Alright.

David: Impressionnant. Okay what about your favourite business book?

Ben: I read a massive amount of books. I hate to give Gary and Jay too much credit but The ONE Thing has definitely been an instrumental book in my life. I focus in on what is the very first priority and what is the one thing that if I’m focused on today would make everything else in my life easier or unnecessary? That book in itself changed my life.

Brandon: I’d say the same thing.

David: We’ve actually had Jay on the podcast before. So he did a really good job we’ll get that number for you guys and put it in the show notes if you want to listen to Jay’s podcast. But he’s a very smart business mind and he writes very good books. How about some hobbies Ben? Quels sont vos hobbies?

Ben: They’re not popular in today’s world but I love to fly fish, and hunt and hike and be outdoors and hang out with my golden retriever. And I love to read books and buy businesses.

Brandon: C'est génial.

David: Pretty cool hobbies.

Brandon: Really good hobbies. Number four, Ben what do you think sets apart successful real estate investors from those who give up fail or never get started?

Ben: I think they complicate things, they come up with reasons to justify their results and they don’t take action. They don’t just start with one thing. If you want to be a millionaire in real estate and you don’t know where to start, buy a house. And then in two years buy another one and then in two years buy another one.

If you did that 10 times and you held them for 30 years, at the average price of America, you’d have a net worth of almost $8 million in 30 years. You just wanted to be an eight million dollar per year person, all you have to do would be to buy a house, rent it out and then buy another one. And you do that because the down payment is low, the interest rate is fixed and you can get a proof of financing. Just do it 10 times,

David: That’s really good. I’ve heard it said the easiest way to be a millionaire is to take a million dollars in real estate debt and let your tenants pay it off for you.

Brandon: That’s how I do the whole college hacking thing right for Rosie. Buy a property, put it on an 18 year mortgage, let the tenants pay it off and now it pays for her entire college. It would be worth 400 grand by then.

Ben: That’s amazing.

Brandon: Yeah it just pays for your kids’ college. Anyway alright cool. Well David last question.

David: Alright last question of the day. Ben for people that are fascinated by your incredible story and want to follow you on your journey to being the second coming of Warren Buffett where can people find out more about you?

Ben: They can reach out to me online. They can email me or Facebook or Twitter, or if they ever want to come to one of our events we do events at benkinneytraining.com. Our next event is Win Make Give and it’s in April. And it’s about health, wealth leadership and legacy.

And one of the things that people may not know is we give 100% of the proceeds of all my training events to charity. And this year we’re putting that money towards providing housing solutions for fathers who are in some form of homelessness and they have children. Right now across the United States there’s nearly 3,000 organizations funded by the government for women and children.

And the last time we checked there was only one for fathers. And we want to break that cycle of homelessness. So if you come during any of our events, I don’t do it for money, that’s why we do it. So hopefully they’ll show up someday.

Brandon: That’s fantastic, really good stuff. Well thank you Ben this has been like eye opening just really good stuff today. So thank you and yeah I look forward to seeing you around.

Ben: Alright. Good to see you guys thanks for the time.

Brandon: Je vous remercie.

David: Thanks Ben.

Brandon: Alright that was our interview with Ben Kinney business extraordinaire what did you say, the second coming of Warren Buffett.

David: Oui. I don’t know if anybody has ever told him that but I thought of it when he was talking because they think the same way. Man I mean honestly this is one that you’re going to need to listen to a couple of times because I can guarantee that with this much coming at you that fast you’ll miss some stuff while you were processing something earlier.

Just his facts alone on the filter he runs things through the seven goals that he has and he asks himself when an opportunity comes, would this help me meet my goals, like that’s worth thousands of dollars. Just that one little piece of information. And this was full of things just like that,

Brandon: Yeah really good, so awesome episode. I’m totally bumped up I actually want to just like even before this episode comes out because this doesn’t come out for a few weeks, I’m going to go and just take my Mp3 I just recorded and just go listen to the whole thing again because I’m like super jazzed.

So anyway alright everyone thank you so much for listening to our show. Again you can find the show notes at biggerpockets.com/show322. Again biggerpockets.com/show322. Follow us over in Instagram @BiggerPockets is the BiggerPockets Instagram, mine is @BeardyBrandon with a Y BeardyBrandon and David’s is @DavidGreene24. You want to take us out buddy?

David: Oui. Everybody who is listening add us on Instagram and Facebook, Twitter. Post what your goals are I want to issue a challenge for it. If you’ve got goals post what they are, tag Brandon and I. he and I are going to put our heads together and come up with how we help each other meeting our goals and we’ll probably share those with you in the future. I think that’s a great exercise. And with that being said, this is David Greene for Brandon (Everything is a Funnel) Turner, signing off.

Brandon: That’s a pretty good one.

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