Latest / Beyond Fulfillment Podcast / Lessons Learned from Losing $50 Million: Rod Khleif on the Art of True Fulfillment

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Lessons Learned from Losing $50 Million: Rod Khleif on the Art of True Fulfillment · Beyond Fulfillment Podcast

• 0:05
  When.
• 0:05
  When you have that burning desire, when you get knocked down, you're going to get back up, you know, And.
• 0:09
  And even if you've got an average ability, if you really want it and you're hungry, success is inevitable.
• 0:15
  Today's guest, Rod Khleif, needs no introduction in the real estate world.
• 0:20
  He's a powerhouse serial entrepreneur who's coached thousands to financial freedom, built a portfolio of thousands of apartment units, and hosts the largest real estate podcast on the planet.
• 0:33
  He survived losing $50 million in the 2008 crash and bounced back even stronger.
• 0:39
  In this episode, you'll discover exactly how to turn failure into rocket fuel for your next win.
• 0:46
  Why Rod sees every setback as a seminar, not a defeat.
• 0:51
  The execution habits and mindset shifts that separate doers from dreamers.
• 0:56
  Why embracing risk and committing fully, not just dipping your toe in, is the true game changer.
• 1:02
  Hear Rod's approach to decision making, ownership, and the power of the burning desire behind your goals and the fulfillment lessons behind the numbers.
• 1:11
  Why giving back is the secret sauce to long term happiness, and how redefining success leads to sustained motivation and impact.
• 1:20
  Whether you're grinding through your first deal, scaling an empire, or just need a jolt of inspiration, this conversation will ignite your drive and give you the playbook to thrive beyond success.
• 1:32
  Straight from one of the best in the business.
• 1:34
  As always, if you found value from this content, please like and subscribe.
• 1:40
  All right, Rod Khleif, welcome to Beyond Fulfillment.
• 1:43
  Oh, I'm glad to be here, brother.
• 1:45
  And I love the title of your podcast, because life is about fulfillment instead of just success.
• 1:49
  Yeah.
• 1:50
  You know, it's interesting, Tony Robbins, a quote which is relates to the science of achievement versus the art of fulfillment.
• 1:57
  How fulfillment is actually an arts achievement's a science.
• 2:00
  You know, if you want to learn real estate, get to your ass to one of my boot camps.
• 2:03
  But, you know, fulfillment really is an art.
• 2:06
  You got to figure out what you love.
• 2:08
  Yeah.
• 2:08
  Love it.
• 2:09
  Yes.
• 2:09
  Yes, sir.
• 2:10
  Yeah, And I love that quote, and I appreciate, appreciate the compliment there.
• 2:13
  Yeah.
• 2:13
  So.
• 2:13
  So, Rod, you are known as the multifamily mentor.
• 2:18
  You're really a legend in the space with a track record spanning four decades, and you've got the largest real estate podcast in the world.
• 2:27
  But every legend has a starting point, so let's just take it back to the beginning.
• 2:31
  Can you walk us through that moment when you knew that real estate was going to be your vehicle to success?
• 2:37
  Yeah, let me go back a little further because I think it'll land some framework to Your question?
• 2:42
  The answer to your question.
• 2:43
  So I'm a Dutch immigrant.
• 2:45
  Think wooden shoes and windmills.
• 2:46
  I immigrated when I was 6 years old with my brother Albert, my mother's Vancha.
• 2:50
  We ended up in Denver, Colorado.
• 2:53
  Didn't have much.
• 2:54
  In fact, you know, I.
• 2:55
  We shopped at an expired food store.
• 2:57
  Believe it or not, they had them back then.
• 2:59
  And drank powdered milk with our cereal in the morning because it was cheaper than real milk.
• 3:03
  And trust me, it sounds better than it is.
• 3:04
  And you know, and we.
• 3:06
  I wore clothes in the Goodwill and the Salvation army all the way through junior high school till when I was 14, I lied about my age at Burger King.
• 3:13
  He had to be 15 to work there because I was tall and so I could buy my own clothes and, you know, and ultimately buy a car.
• 3:20
  But excuse me, I know a lot of people had it harder than I do or did and maybe even have it harder now, but I knew I wanted more.
• 3:28
  And luckily my mom had an incredible work ethic.
• 3:30
  So she was.
• 3:31
  She babysat kids so we'd have enough money to eat.
• 3:33
  And with their babysitting money, she was an entrepreneur.
• 3:36
  She invested in the stock market successfully, but also in real estate.
• 3:39
  And her first real estate acquisition was a house right across the street from us.
• 3:43
  She bought when I was 14 for 30 grand.
• 3:45
  She paid cash from her babysitting money, believe it or not, paid cash in that.
• 3:49
  Then when I was 17, she told me it gone up in value 20,000 in her sleep, that it was worth 50,000.
• 3:55
  I'm like, what?
• 3:57
  This is when, by the way, this one 20,000 was a lot of money.
• 3:59
  We're talking 1977 here.
• 4:02
  And I'm like, you made 20 grand?
• 4:03
  You didn't do anything.
• 4:04
  Screw college.
• 4:05
  I'm getting into real estate.
• 4:06
  So I got into real estate.
• 4:07
  My first year in real estate, I made about eight grand.
• 4:10
  I was still living at home.
• 4:11
  Second year I made about ten grand.
• 4:13
  But my third year I made over $100,000, which back in 1980 was some real change.
• 4:17
  And so what happened between year two and year three that caused me to 10x my inc.
• 4:21
  Well, I was working for a guy.
• 4:22
  I was actually dating his daughter.
• 4:24
  He was a broker.
• 4:25
  And I actually had got my broker's license as well.
• 4:27
  And.
• 4:28
  And he taught me about the importance of mindset and psychology, how really 80 to 90% of your success in anything is just that, your mindset and your psychology.
• 4:35
  And so, you know, fast forward to today.
• 4:37
  I've owned over 2,000 houses that I've rented long term in three states, I own thousands of apartment units now.
• 4:43
  In 2006, my net worth went up $17 million while I slept.
• 4:48
  And you might say, wow.
• 4:49
  And I said, wow.
• 4:51
  And I got a head so big I could barely fit it through a door.
• 4:53
  I thought I was a freaking real estate God.
• 4:55
  And you know, when that happens, God of the universe occasionally will give you a nice little smackdown.
• 4:59
  Well, that was 2008.
• 5:01
  I lost $50 million conservatively in 2008.
• 5:04
  And so, you know, Dave, what I'm known for talking about on my podcast and at my events and things like that is really the mindset it took to have that to lose in the first place.
• 5:14
  But maybe as definitely, as importantly, maybe even more importantly is the mindset took to recover from that.
• 5:19
  And so happy to drill down on some of those really psychological strategies that I utilize, which are the same ones you'd utilize to actually get started as well.
• 5:28
  It's the same.
• 5:30
  The same sequence of.
• 5:31
  Of actions, in my opinion.
• 5:33
  But yeah, anyway, we can take this wherever you want to take it, brother.
• 5:37
  Okay.
• 5:37
  Yeah, I appreciate you the story there and there's a whole lot to unpack there.
• 5:41
  So let's take it back to the beginning.
• 5:42
  So you have that breakthrough early on in your career between year two and year three where you 10x your income.
• 5:48
  And it's.
• 5:49
  You're attributing that to basically a mentor, an early mentor of yours that taught you about the mindset and psychology to become successful.
• 5:56
  Like what specifically?
• 5:58
  Like what type of mindsets helped you 10x your income at that time as such a young kid who you just got into real estate?
• 6:05
  Well, he'll.
• 6:05
  He helped me align with my goals, which is the first thing, you know, you really need to have.
• 6:10
  You need to know what it is you want and why you want it.
• 6:12
  You know, otherwise you're just like wandering around aimlessly.
• 6:16
  And when you have compelling goals, they bring a hunger and they create a burning desire.
• 6:25
  That's what Napoleon Hill calls it.
• 6:26
  This book, Think and Grow Rich.
• 6:27
  And you've got to have that.
• 6:28
  You've got to want it.
• 6:29
  That's how you push through fear.
• 6:30
  That's how you push through limiting beliefs.
• 6:32
  And so the first piece was really getting clear on what I wanted and why I wanted it.
• 6:37
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• 7:24
  Desire, when you get knocked down, you're going to get back up, you know, and even if you've got an average ability, if you really want it and you're hungry, success is inevitable.
• 7:33
  And so, you know, that's the first piece.
• 7:35
  That's what he told me, is get aligned on my goals.
• 7:37
  And then I had to make a decision.
• 7:39
  And, you know, was I really in?
• 7:42
  And I don't mean dip your toe in the water, one foot in, one foot out.
• 7:45
  I mean, it's done.
• 7:46
  You're committed.
• 7:47
  And, you know, once you make that decision, you're committed.
• 7:50
  You're like a train on a track.
• 7:51
  And if you're just like, quote, unquote interested, you're going to get knocked off track.
• 7:55
  And so, you know, that was the next piece I had.
• 7:58
  I had to make a decision that I was.
• 7:59
  I was going to do whatever it took to make it happen.
• 8:03
  And, you know, when you've got that total commitment, you know you're going to get back up when you get knocked down.
• 8:08
  And it's also, it kind of ties into ownership as well.
• 8:11
  You really have to own everything that happens to you, both positive or negative.
• 8:15
  And so that's kind of part of that decision process and that commitment process.
• 8:20
  So those are the first two pieces.
• 8:21
  The third one was, you know, is really just taking that first step.
• 8:26
  You know, I.
• 8:28
  And what happened back then, I mean, I'll give you the mechanics of it is I started knocking on doors of people that are in foreclosure, okay?
• 8:34
  And I mean, I killed it.
• 8:36
  I mean, there were.
• 8:36
  There were a lot of people in foreclosure, and I was buying houses, I was listing them and selling them.
• 8:40
  And I'll tell you, it took some real courage to knock on those first few doors of people that were in foreclosure.
• 8:47
  But, you know, a great analogy for a first step is Dr.
• 8:50
  Martin Luther King has a quote which is, you don't have to see the whole staircase.
• 8:53
  You see that?
• 8:54
  You take that first step in faith, and that's what you have to have.
• 8:56
  You have to have some faith.
• 8:57
  Lao Tzu said, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
• 9:01
  But you got to take that step.
• 9:02
  And, you know, a lot of people in my business, particularly I teach people how to buy commercial real estate, multifamily senior housing, mobile home parks, things like that.
• 9:10
  And, you know, a lot of people in this business are analytical.
• 9:15
  And if you're listening and you're analytical, you know who you are, and I love you, and you're some of the most successful students and people I work with.
• 9:21
  But you also know I have to check off every single box before you make a move.
• 9:24
  Well, you can't do that.
• 9:25
  Okay.
• 9:26
  You don't want to wait.
• 9:28
  You take that first step.
• 9:30
  And a great analogy is you could drive all the way across the United States at night with your headlight only seen 60ft in front of you, and you know you can make it.
• 9:37
  You may have obstacles.
• 9:39
  You know, other people have done it before you, but you've got to.
• 9:41
  You've got to do it.
• 9:42
  Okay?
• 9:43
  And.
• 9:43
  And if.
• 9:43
  If you fear failure, a lot of people fear failure.
• 9:47
  Don't fear failure.
• 9:47
  Fear freaking regret.
• 9:49
  Fear being in the same place you are right now, two or three years from now, unless you absolutely love where you are right now.
• 9:53
  And I'll.
• 9:54
  I'll leave this.
• 9:55
  This section with this comment.
• 9:56
  There was this nurse in Australia.
• 9:58
  She was a hospice nurse, so she took care of patients when they were about to die.
• 10:02
  Her name was Bronnie Ware.
• 10:03
  And she asked him a question, Dave.
• 10:04
  And the question was, do you have any regrets?
• 10:06
  And she wrote a book about it, something like the five Regrets of Dying.
• 10:09
  It's a bestseller.
• 10:10
  But the number one regret was not living the life I could have lived, living someone else's life, not doing what I know I'm capable of.
• 10:15
  Fear that.
• 10:16
  Don't fear failure.
• 10:18
  Yeah, I love that.
• 10:20
  And I'm sure that resonates with the audience, too, because, you know, so many entrepreneurs are out there on the journey, and they've taken that first step, and then, you know, there's a whole lot more after that.
• 10:31
  Sure.
• 10:31
  So.
• 10:32
  So.
• 10:32
  So, Rod, let's.
• 10:33
  Okay, so you have that breakthrough.
• 10:35
  You get aligned on your goals.
• 10:37
  You really.
• 10:38
  You have this new way of doing things with the knocking on the doors, with the foreclosures and whatnot.
• 10:42
  You 10x your income.
• 10:44
  What happens next?
• 10:46
  Well, you know, there's some other pieces, so psychologically related pieces that I should mention.
• 10:53
  One of them is, you know, fear.
• 10:54
  Now, we all have fear, but successful people push through in spite of it.
• 10:58
  And, you know, limiting beliefs is.
• 11:00
  You know, when I immigrated to this country, I didn't speak English.
• 11:02
  I Got thrown into school.
• 11:03
  I found out what bullies were for the first time, and I got my ass kicked occasionally.
• 11:06
  And then my mom.
• 11:07
  In fact, I got them right here.
• 11:08
  I got to show you, because it's funny, my mom sent me to school in these wooden shoes.
• 11:12
  These are the actual fricking shoes, okay?
• 11:14
  And these.
• 11:15
  And these leather shorts.
• 11:17
  These.
• 11:17
  These are leather shorts that the Germans wear for Oktoberfest.
• 11:20
  So this shit was crack cocaine for the bullies, okay?
• 11:22
  So I got my ass kicked again.
• 11:24
  And then, you know, the bullies had chased me home from school, and she chased them off with a fly swatter.
• 11:28
  So the next day, ass beaten.
• 11:30
  And I came up with this belief system that I wasn't good enough.
• 11:33
  I'm like.
• 11:33
  I used to ask myself, how could I show them I'm good enough?
• 11:36
  And a lot of people have these limiting beliefs.
• 11:39
  And so if you're listening and you've got one of these, you're consciously aware of it.
• 11:42
  Sometimes you're not even aware of it, but very often you are.
• 11:44
  You know, things like, I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy.
• 11:47
  You know, I'm not strong enough.
• 11:48
  I don't have enough courage.
• 11:49
  I'm not young enough, old enough.
• 11:51
  Another one was, I'm not analytical enough.
• 11:53
  That was another one of mine.
• 11:54
  I don't have enough money or time.
• 11:55
  You know, there's a reason the acronym for belief systems is BS because they don't have any basis in fact.
• 12:01
  For the most part, 99.9% of the time, they have no basis in fact, but we believe they're real, and they impact our entire lives.
• 12:07
  So if you're aware of one of these, drag it out into the daylight, look at it with your adult, rational mind, and it will dissipate.
• 12:13
  I mean, I used to be afraid to raise my hand in front of 10 kids in a classroom, and now I literally speak in front of thousands of people a year, typically with flip flops on.
• 12:20
  So, you know, I.
• 12:22
  You can.
• 12:22
  You can mitigate these limiting beliefs, but you got to consciously pull them out in the daylight and look at them.
• 12:29
  So, you know, that's one of the things.
• 12:30
  The other thing that I honed in on was focus.
• 12:34
  You know, focus is power.
• 12:36
  And, you know, it was very easy for me to focus on what I lost back then.
• 12:40
  And.
• 12:41
  Oh, I'm so.
• 12:42
  I'm sorry.
• 12:42
  We're tired.
• 12:42
  I'm talking about the loss, not when I got started.
• 12:44
  Well, it's very.
• 12:45
  You know, when you're young, you know, it's very easy to have your focus distracted.
• 12:48
  Girls and cars and drinking and everything else.
• 12:51
  But, you know, whatever you focus on gets larger, both positive or negative.
• 12:56
  And so it's so critical that you focus on what you want and what you don't want.
• 13:00
  And I use the.
• 13:01
  Usually use the example, when I lost the 50 million, I could have focused on that, but instead I focused on reassociating with my goals.
• 13:07
  But, you know, I get asked very regularly, you know, how do I get out of student loan debt?
• 13:11
  And I always respond and say, forget the debt.
• 13:13
  Focus on how you make so much money, the debt's irrelevant.
• 13:15
  Okay.
• 13:16
  You know, they asked Mother Teresa, for example, when she was alive if she was anti war, and she said, no, I'm pro peace.
• 13:23
  But I mean, it's just a play on words.
• 13:26
  But the point is, focus is super important, you know, And I get excited because my podcast probably been downloaded over 30 million times, but I listen to two podcasts.
• 13:37
  The reason I bring that up is both of these probably get 30 million a week.
• 13:40
  One is Joe Rogan, and the other one is Tim Ferriss.
• 13:44
  I try to get both sides of the aisle.
• 13:45
  You know, I'm definitely on one side, but on the other side is Tim Ferriss, I'll say that.
• 13:51
  But conversations there are so stimulating.
• 13:53
  I don't know if you've ever listened to it, Dave, but he interviews the best of the best in the world.
• 13:57
  Best athletes like swimmer like Michael Phelps, NFL, NBA players, billionaires like Ray Dalio, heads of the biggest companies in the world like Zuckerberg, CEOs, CEOs of the biggest companies, actors like Ed Norton, Hugh Jackman, Jamie and Jamie Foxx,
• 14:15
  people like that.
• 14:16
  But what he does, it's very interesting convers, is he deconstructs their success.
• 14:22
  You know, how'd you achieve success?
• 14:23
  Kind of what you're doing here in a fashion, you know, and, and, but I started to hear a pattern, Dave.
• 14:29
  They almost all meditate, which ties right into focus.
• 14:33
  Right?
• 14:33
  Meditation enhanced your focus.
• 14:34
  So anyway, I just wanted to share that.
• 14:36
  But, but there.
• 14:37
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 14:38
  No, it's funny because I have not listened to Tim's podcast, but I read the book Four Minute Thing.
• 14:44
  Yeah.
• 14:44
  Or no, no, this Four Day Work Week.
• 14:47
  No, no, the.
• 14:48
  Well, that one.
• 14:48
  But no, the legends where he taught.
• 14:50
  He took.
• 14:51
  Took all those and he put them in a book.
• 14:52
  It's called who's that Book Called?
• 14:55
  But no, it's funny, that stat stood.
• 14:57
  Stood out to me where he.
• 15:01
  He had the common denominator of all these people.
• 15:03
  That was the number one Common denominator of all these successful people that he, he interviewed is 80% of them have a meditation practice.
• 15:12
  Right, right, right.
• 15:13
  Which is fascinating.
• 15:15
  And you know, the most successful people on the planet, in my opinion, have the highest degree of focus.
• 15:19
  Right, yeah.
• 15:21
  Tools of Titans, that's the name.
• 15:22
  Oh, tools.
• 15:23
  Oh, that's a great book.
• 15:24
  It's a big, thick book.
• 15:24
  Yeah, I've got it downstairs.
• 15:26
  I've got a big library downstairs.
• 15:27
  Well, yeah, that's a great book.
• 15:28
  Well, anyway, yeah, so, so focus is, is, is power, you know, and then the other piece is, you know, that I learned is I had to play to my strengths.
• 15:37
  I'm not an analytical person.
• 15:39
  I'm a great communicator.
• 15:40
  And, and, and you know, in my business, in the commercial real estate business, there are a lot of wear, it's a team sport.
• 15:46
  You're not going to do it by yourself.
• 15:47
  You're not going to buy 100 unit apartment complex by yourself.
• 15:50
  But it's a team sport and there's a lot of different hats you wear.
• 15:53
  And I tell my students, play to your strengths.
• 15:55
  Your strengths are your greatest assets.
• 15:57
  You know, don't try to maximize your weaknesses.
• 15:59
  You're going to get success much faster if you play to your strengths and then you hire or align or partner for your weaknesses.
• 16:07
  Because you see, when you love what you do, success is inevitable.
• 16:10
  Okay.
• 16:11
  And the very common combination of personality types in my business would be an analytical person with an introverted person.
• 16:18
  I'm sorry, analytical, introverted with an extroverted person like me.
• 16:21
  I'm the mouthpiece.
• 16:23
  I align with, you know, CPAs, things like that, to partner with.
• 16:26
  And that's just a fantastic matchup.
• 16:29
  And so, you know, play to your strengths.
• 16:32
  Because also when you're playing to your strengths, you never work another day in your life because you love it.
• 16:36
  You and your, when you, when you play to your strengths, you love what you're doing.
• 16:39
  And when you love what you're doing, you're also passionate about it.
• 16:42
  And passion is required to influence people.
• 16:44
  And you know, in any business you're going to do, you're going to need to influence people.
• 16:48
  You're raising money for a business.
• 16:50
  You know, in the real estate business, we raise hundreds of millions of dollars for deals.
• 16:53
  And you've got to have some passion because that's how you influence.
• 16:57
  And so you know that when you're playing to your strengths, you're passionate, you have the ability to influence.
• 17:04
  And that passion also breeds creativity.
• 17:08
  It's the fuel really.
• 17:10
  And you know, creativity Innovation, and it minimizes or even eliminates fear.
• 17:14
  So, you know, I'd highly encourage you, if you're listening, you know, don't try to do it all, you know, partner or align or hire people to help with what you're weak at and focus on your strengths, because that's
• 17:27
  really a big secret to success, in my opinion.
• 17:30
  Yes.
• 17:30
  That's great advice.
• 17:31
  And clearly you're oozing passion and excitement.
• 17:34
  Yeah.
• 17:34
  Well, thank you.
• 17:35
  Thank you.
• 17:35
  Yeah, thank you.
• 17:36
  Yeah, I love this stuff, you know.
• 17:37
  Yeah, yeah.
• 17:39
  So let's talk about.
• 17:40
  So you have this early success once you get your mindset and your goals aligned.
• 17:45
  Let's talk about the scaling process and how you turned, you know, becoming basically just buying and selling the foreclosures at a small level to where you.
• 17:54
  You got into syndicating these large multifamily deals.
• 17:57
  Like, how did that happen?
• 17:58
  Well, that's a great question.
• 18:00
  I will tell you.
• 18:00
  I didn't syndicate until after I lost everything in 2008.
• 18:03
  9.
• 18:04
  I already owned some apartment complexes and I'd own 2000 houses.
• 18:07
  I actually had 800 houses when that.
• 18:08
  When that crash happened.
• 18:09
  It was the houses that pulled me down, believe it or not.
• 18:11
  And I had several apartment complexes.
• 18:13
  And.
• 18:15
  And that's why I started my podcast was to tell people, hey, if you're going to buy and hold real estate, for God's sakes, do multifamily.
• 18:21
  Don't do single family.
• 18:21
  Ask me how I know.
• 18:23
  We give T shirts away at my live events that say hashtag askmehow.
• 18:26
  I know because a student gave me one once because I'm always like, don't do that.
• 18:29
  Ask me how I know.
• 18:30
  And one of my students thought was funny and he gave me a T shirt.
• 18:33
  Now we give them away.
• 18:33
  But anyway, you know, every business is nothing but people and systems, and I'm really good at systems.
• 18:43
  I'm not going to say I'm the greatest at hiring people.
• 18:45
  I'm pretty good after hiring hundreds of them, literally.
• 18:47
  Because as I told you before we started recording, you know, I built 29 businesses.
• 18:52
  And when they fail, I don't call them failures.
• 18:54
  I call them seminars.
• 18:55
  You know, they're only a failure if you don't get your ass back up and keep going.
• 18:58
  You don't learn the lesson and all that.
• 19:00
  They're a seminar now.
• 19:01
  That 50 million was an expensive freaking seminar, but.
• 19:04
  But that's really what they are.
• 19:06
  And so, you know, I lost my train of thought.
• 19:09
  But anyway, can I just ask you.
• 19:11
  One thing real quick?
• 19:12
  Because I think there's something just popped in my mind and you hit on just such a great topic because particularly on this show, I mean, I've interviewed a couple hundred different entrepreneurs, and probably the most important quality, because,
• 19:25
  I mean, everyone gets knocked down and there's all types of things you don't see coming.
• 19:29
  The most important quality, which is so much better than the perfect business plan, is resilience.
• 19:35
  Right?
• 19:36
  And you've been through some massive seminars, setbacks, whatever you want to call them, right?
• 19:42
  And you can talk about it now, but you seem to have such a great attitude about it.
• 19:48
  But, but so often in the moment, it could feel like it's over or how am I going to get past this?
• 19:52
  And so, like, how do you develop that type of resilience to come back from losing $50 million?
• 19:59
  Yeah, well, I'll tell you, it's everything I just said, okay?
• 20:01
  Now, luckily, I spent about 23 years with Tony Robbins.
• 20:04
  I was on his team for eight years, and he's the best in the world at this stuff, this mindset, you know, twist, you know, turning yourself around, you know, going and kicking ass.
• 20:11
  And so luckily I was in that environment.
• 20:16
  But, you know, it relates to what I just said.
• 20:19
  It relates to focus.
• 20:20
  You know, it's so easy to.
• 20:21
  And here's another thing.
• 20:22
  Those of you that are listening, that are entrepreneurs, never identify with your business.
• 20:26
  Do not make it your identity.
• 20:28
  It is your vehicle.
• 20:29
  And if the vehicle crashes, that doesn't mean you did.
• 20:32
  If the vehicle fails, that doesn't mean you're a failure.
• 20:34
  That just means that business didn't work.
• 20:37
  And that's okay.
• 20:38
  I was telling you, I've done 29 businesses, several worth tens of millions of dollars.
• 20:42
  Two right now are worth tens of millions of dollars.
• 20:44
  Most were spectacular flaming seminars, okay?
• 20:47
  Because we fail our way to success.
• 20:50
  But, you know, as long as you don't identify with the business.
• 20:53
  Listen, people killed themselves for losing less than I did back in 2008 and 9.
• 20:57
  Same with the Great Depression.
• 20:59
  Hell, that was just that crypto guy that shot himself in his Lamborghini a couple of months ago.
• 21:03
  I mean, you know, people, because they identify with the vehicle, don't do that.
• 21:08
  And so that's piece number one.
• 21:09
  Piece number two again, is back to focus is super important.
• 21:13
  Getting around the right peer group.
• 21:14
  When I was losing everything in 2008 and 2009, I was in Tony Robbins platinum partnership, very high level, very expensive mastermind.
• 21:21
  And I was around people that were killing it in that crash in 089.
• 21:24
  And they're like, get up, you puss.
• 21:26
  50 million shmillion.
• 21:27
  Get up and go make something happen.
• 21:29
  That's who you want to be around, is people that, you know that think what you think is hard is easy.
• 21:34
  You know, here's the problem, Dave, and you know this.
• 21:36
  Most people will default to people they went to school with for peers or people they work with.
• 21:41
  And sometimes those people have their own limiting beliefs and fears and fear of losing you, fear of feeling less than if you succeed.
• 21:47
  And sometimes it's family.
• 21:48
  And I'm going to tell you, love your family, but proactively choose your peers.
• 21:53
  Super important.
• 21:54
  And so that was a big piece is to get around people that, you know, that were still doing well, because a lot of my peers had gotten their asses handed to them in 2008, 9.
• 22:04
  I mean, countries went bankrupt, pretty much anybody in real estate got crushed.
• 22:08
  And so I had to get around a different group of people, which I did.
• 22:12
  And so that was one of the pieces.
• 22:14
  And then all these other things I said, reassociating with my goals, you know, deciding to quit my pity party, you know, get out from under the rock I was hiding under and go kick ass again.
• 22:25
  And, and just, and just looking in the mirror and recognizing the truth of the matter.
• 22:30
  And guys, this is applies to every one of you listening that anything you put your full mind and devotion to will flourish.
• 22:38
  Okay?
• 22:38
  And so, you know, just recognize that about yourself.
• 22:43
  And so, you know, and recognizing that you only fail if you don't get up, you don't learn the lesson, we fail our way to success.
• 22:51
  And honestly, a lot of our problems and setbacks are really gifts because they help us become better.
• 22:57
  And so, you know, recognizing that as well.
• 23:00
  And you know, but again, all of that process really is between your ears.
• 23:05
  And it's just so important to pay attention to that stuff when you're building a new business and recognizing that you're going to have issues.
• 23:14
  And it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of matter of when.
• 23:17
  And you just be as proactive as you can to mitigate those.
• 23:21
  And you're going to have problems, but you want to seek higher quality problems, okay?
• 23:25
  That's the secret to success, seeking higher quality problems.
• 23:29
  And you know, like right now I need a couple more coaches for my coaching business.
• 23:33
  Can I brag for a minute?
• 23:34
  I want to brag for a second, if you'll let me.
• 23:37
  I've got a coaching program and I've got about 2,000 students around the country and they now own upwards of 300,000 multifamily units.
• 23:46
  I'm incredibly proud of that.
• 23:47
  And tons of other, I mean, tons of senior housing, mobile home parks, self storage, you know, industrial flex space, you name it.
• 23:54
  But see, that ties into the peer group because they, you know, that rising tide lifts all ships.
• 24:00
  So, you know, if you're thinking, maybe you're listening, you're thinking of starting a business.
• 24:03
  Get around people that do what you do, that think what you think is hard, or think or do what you want to do, that think what you think is hard is easy.
• 24:11
  And that is such a recipe for success.
• 24:12
  If you're interested in real estate, you know, go to meetup groups, go to your real estate investor association meetings, get around people that are doing this, because I'll tell you, that's just such an important piece.
• 24:22
  I hope you agree, Dave.
• 24:24
  Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 24:25
  And like, you know, you mentioned so many great quotes there, but another one is that you're the sum of the five people you spend the most time of.
• 24:33
  Right?
• 24:34
  That's it.
• 24:35
  Yeah.
• 24:35
  Okay, so let's talk about.
• 24:37
  So you lose the 50 million in the crash, you get out of your pity party.
• 24:42
  What is the rebuilding trajectory?
• 24:45
  What does that look like?
• 24:46
  So what I did was actually built a litigation support company.
• 24:49
  I completely shifted gears.
• 24:50
  I was a little soured on real estate for a while, so I built this litigation support company, did something no one had ever really done, built law firms in five states because there were a lot of foreclosures.
• 25:00
  And so what I did is this company, I hired attorneys and set up law firms in five states.
• 25:05
  And I got the bulk of the revenue because a non attorney can't own a law firm except in D.C.
• 25:11
  and so I built these law firms, hired the attorneys, hired the paralegals and I, we would stop the foreclosures through litigation.
• 25:18
  And then I had 60 employees here in Sarasota doing loan modifications.
• 25:21
  We saved thousands of homes.
• 25:23
  And I sold the business a few years ago and he's killing it again right now because a lot of people in trouble again.
• 25:28
  So.
• 25:29
  But that's, that's kind of what I did.
• 25:30
  I just picked myself up.
• 25:32
  I completely shifted gears and you know, I, the business did really well.
• 25:39
  It wasn't a fun business.
• 25:40
  So nobody's happy when they're losing their houses.
• 25:41
  And there's a lot of, of potential pitfalls with the bar associations, with this, this type of a business.
• 25:47
  And it dealt with a lot of crap, but, but made a lot of money and, and, and, you know, so that's what I, that's what I did.
• 25:53
  And then when I.
• 25:54
  Then when I started to get back into real estate is kind of when I was thinking, you know, I'll start the podcast.
• 26:00
  You know, it's kind of funny.
• 26:00
  I started the podcast and I never planned to do anything like I'm doing now.
• 26:04
  I used to say early on, I'll never sell you anything.
• 26:06
  I just want to add value, which was the truth.
• 26:08
  Now I'm a freaking liar because I sell everything.
• 26:10
  I got courses and coaching and everything else.
• 26:12
  But I, you know, you want to make God laugh, you tell him your plans, right?
• 26:16
  Yeah.
• 26:16
  Okay, so.
• 26:17
  So in a couple interesting things I want to dive into.
• 26:20
  So you were solid on real estate after the crash.
• 26:22
  Understandable.
• 26:23
  And then that litigation support company sounds like did.
• 26:26
  Is that a.
• 26:27
  Like, that type of company didn't exist before.
• 26:30
  That was like a new thing.
• 26:31
  Not.
• 26:31
  Not like.
• 26:32
  Not like I was doing it.
• 26:33
  So what.
• 26:33
  What we did is we initially started being like a back office for attorneys.
• 26:37
  We provided phone support, we provided pleadings, preparation.
• 26:41
  We provided calendaring and bringing business in for them and dealing with that business.
• 26:47
  And so, you know, but that wasn't very profitable, and I almost bankrupted it in 2010.
• 26:52
  I almost gave up, but then I reinvented.
• 26:54
  And that's another really important thing, guys.
• 26:57
  Especially with AI coming right now.
• 26:58
  You better be thinking to reinvent if you're doing anything digitally.
• 27:02
  Okay.
• 27:02
  I just listened to Elon Musk on Joe Rogan's podcast.
• 27:06
  Fascinating conversation, guys.
• 27:08
  Highly recommend you listen to it.
• 27:09
  But talking about AI and how, you know, in the next literally couple of years, most digital jobs will be gone in.
• 27:16
  In five, six years.
• 27:17
  Most.
• 27:18
  That's when then.
• 27:20
  How did he word it?
• 27:21
  Any jobs that require moving of atoms is the way.
• 27:24
  Is the way he described it.
• 27:25
  But, you know, painting.
• 27:26
  Anything you're doing physically is going to be.
• 27:29
  Is going to be mitigated.
• 27:31
  And so, you know, I had to reinvent myself back in 2010 because that business wasn't working.
• 27:36
  So I decided to build these law firms and actually do all of the work except for going to court.
• 27:42
  The attorneys just went to court.
• 27:43
  I ended up with the lion's share of the revenue, and I had the trademark.
• 27:47
  You practice law, we do the rest.
• 27:48
  And so, yeah, nobody had ever done it before.
• 27:53
  Most litigation support companies are very niche, and they do what we initially did.
• 27:58
  Not even to the extent that we did, but.
• 28:00
  But yeah, you know, it was a lot of fun.
• 28:01
  I had some good people around me, and it was fun for a while.
• 28:07
  It's kind of a Like I say, not a happy business when you're dealing with foreclosures.
• 28:12
  But, but yeah, yeah, well, and that's.
• 28:15
  Such, such a great lesson though, too, because the, you know, the essence of an entrepreneur is someone that finds a problem and then solves it for a profit.
• 28:23
  It.
• 28:24
  And you obviously had some, some.
• 28:27
  You just got done with a huge seminar and then.
• 28:30
  Well, let me say this.
• 28:30
  Sorry, sorry to interrupt.
• 28:31
  I had 800 foreclosures.
• 28:33
  Okay.
• 28:33
  I was in foreclosure, so I was like, in the thick of what was happening.
• 28:37
  So that's kind of how I fell into it.
• 28:39
  Just so you know, I forgot to leave that.
• 28:41
  I didn't put that piece in.
• 28:42
  Yeah, yeah.
• 28:43
  But again, do you take a massive setback?
• 28:46
  I mean, geez, 800 for.
• 28:49
  I mean, most people, I mean, it's a, just even handling one would be a massive problem.
• 28:54
  You had 800 and then you took that experience that you had and you turned it into a thriving company, which you eventually divested.
• 29:02
  Yeah.
• 29:02
  So just again, amazing resilience and amazing resolution to pivot as an entrepreneur.
• 29:08
  Let's just talk about your podcast, because again, you started it as a way to build value.
• 29:14
  You've now turned it into the largest real estate podcast in the world.
• 29:18
  And you've interviewed, like, the who's who of real estate.
• 29:21
  I mean, you.
• 29:22
  Yeah, I mean, you can even rattle off some of the names.
• 29:24
  Well, I mean, I've had Grant Cardone on a couple of times.
• 29:27
  He's a funny as hell.
• 29:28
  We laugh every time he comes on.
• 29:29
  I've had, you know, I've had huge operators, just so you know, and I've, and I've had a lot of big authors.
• 29:34
  You know, I, I, I, I give away books to my students, like the five Love Languages.
• 29:38
  I had him on the show, which was a real treat because I've given away so many of his books.
• 29:42
  You know, the, the slight edge is.
• 29:44
  No, I'm sorry.
• 29:45
  Hal Elrod wrote the Miracle Morning about what you do in the morning to get up and start your day off right.
• 29:51
  National bestseller.
• 29:53
  Yeah.
• 29:54
  So I've had some great people on the show and, you know, again, I never thought I'd do anything with it, but, but for, but then I hit a million downloads and then I was like, number one in business,
• 30:04
  number one in entrepreneurship, number one in education.
• 30:08
  I was always number two in real estate because there's a, there's a single family program called a podcast called Bigger Pockets.
• 30:14
  So I was, I was never number one in the residential real estate.
• 30:17
  Been number one in commercial for a long time.
• 30:20
  Largest.
• 30:20
  But, you know, I didn't think I'd like it because initially podcasting was all verbal.
• 30:25
  I mean, it was all auditory.
• 30:26
  There was not, there was, there wasn't video.
• 30:28
  And then this, then video got implemented.
• 30:30
  I'm like, man, yeah, I'm a visual guy.
• 30:32
  So I really liked that piece.
• 30:35
  And, you know, and I started taking free phone calls from my listeners.
• 30:39
  I took hundreds of free phone calls.
• 30:40
  I would carve out, you know, three or four hours a week and I'd do 30 minute calls every week.
• 30:45
  And I never.
• 30:46
  And they always ask me, you know, can you help me do this, this, this?
• 30:48
  And I didn't have anything to sell.
• 30:50
  And then I wrote a book.
• 30:52
  It's been.
• 30:53
  It's a national bestseller in three categories.
• 30:55
  I've given it, I've always given it away.
• 30:57
  I do it.
• 30:57
  It's on Amazon, but it hardly sells anything because I don't promote it.
• 31:00
  But I've given away tens of thousands of copies of that.
• 31:03
  And by the way, listen, if you're listening, you're interested in real estate at all, go to rodslinks.com there's a ton of free resources.
• 31:11
  There are a ton of free books.
• 31:12
  My book is there.
• 31:13
  You pay six bucks or something like that, that I'll send you the actual physical copy.
• 31:17
  But there's a bunch of PDFs that are really good.
• 31:19
  My boot camp site is there.
• 31:20
  I do a virtual boot camp every couple of months and it's $47.
• 31:25
  So, you know, and I don't sell anything.
• 31:26
  So, you know, no excuses.
• 31:28
  If you're interested in real estate, I spent two days with you for 47 bucks and nothing being sold.
• 31:32
  But so I.
• 31:33
  All of that is there.
• 31:34
  And you know, talk about goal setting.
• 31:36
  The first thing in my boot camps we do is goal setting on steroids.
• 31:39
  Because again, like I said earlier, how do you get anything?
• 31:41
  You don't know what it is?
• 31:42
  Well, on that link tree, by the way, if you're driving, text the word links to 72345.
• 31:48
  Links to 72345.
• 31:49
  But at the bottom, that's my goal setting workshop.
• 31:51
  And Dave, people spend more time planning a fricking Christmas party than they do designing their lives.
• 31:56
  Doing your goals is designing your life.
• 31:58
  And so.
• 31:59
  And I'm sure you agree.
• 32:00
  And so if you're interested, go there.
• 32:01
  Even if you're not interested in real estate, do that workshop.
• 32:04
  There's a guide you can download.
• 32:05
  I'm not going to try to sell you anything and have your spouse do it, have your kid, if they're over 10 years old, do it.
• 32:10
  Have them design their lives.
• 32:12
  I promise you, you'll all leave so motivated, you'll be coming out of your skin.
• 32:15
  So I want to mention that.
• 32:18
  Okay?
• 32:18
  Love that.
• 32:19
  And Rod, you've clearly had such an incredible four decades as an entrepreneur, a lot of ups and downs, but you've, you've, you know, just, just developed an incredible business and done so much throughout all of that.
• 32:33
  What has been, what has been the best part of it for you?
• 32:38
  Sorry about that.
• 32:40
  My phone's ringing.
• 32:41
  I tell people, turn off your phone.
• 32:43
  Anyway, sorry about that.
• 32:44
  I'm sorry, repeat the question.
• 32:45
  That distracted the hell out of me there.
• 32:47
  Throughout your whole four decade journey as an entrepreneur and everything you've done, what's been the best part of it for you?
• 32:54
  Well, I'll tell you, actually, it's 47 years, so it's almost, it's approaching five decades at this point.
• 32:58
  Good God.
• 32:59
  But anyway, you know, I will tell you, I.
• 33:02
  The best part for, for me for sure is, is being involved in that Tony Robbins environment and, and, and, and helping to stay focused on what matters, you know, and if you've never seen him, I'll give a free
• 33:14
  shout out.
• 33:14
  I don't get anything for doing this.
• 33:15
  But he's helped me in, in my health, my relationships, my business.
• 33:19
  So he's been my greatest mentor by far.
• 33:22
  And, and you know, he's got a quote, a couple, a lot of quotes actually.
• 33:26
  But the one I love the most is live with passion.
• 33:29
  You know, that, that just to me, you know, don't coast through life.
• 33:32
  Embrace life.
• 33:33
  You know, focus on, on being a little uncomfortable.
• 33:36
  You know, that comfort zone is a nice warm place, but nothing fricking grows there, right?
• 33:41
  And that life of your dreams is just on the other side of that, on the other side of comfort.
• 33:45
  So I think it's being in that environment, getting excited about self actualization, looking in the mirror, growing, becoming the best father I can become, best husband, you know, best business person, best human being.
• 33:58
  And in fact, if you don't mind, let me share one more story while I'm thinking about it here.
• 34:03
  You know, I talk about gratitude, okay?
• 34:06
  It's the most powerful emotion we have available to us.
• 34:09
  And I do a gratitude exercise in my boot boot camps because it makes us stronger when we face adversity.
• 34:14
  It strengthens our immune system, makes our heart stronger, even lowers our blood pressure, brings us closer to our spirituality.
• 34:19
  And it's how you manifest everything you want in life.
• 34:22
  You know, I'll very often.
• 34:24
  And I may lose some of you analytical ones on this, but ignore this at your peril.
• 34:27
  This is how I had 50 million to lose, and how I got it back is very often in the mornings I'll sit and I'll just do gratitude about the things that I have in my life, the people I
• 34:35
  love, the people that matter to me.
• 34:37
  But then I'll do gratitude for things I want as if I already have them.
• 34:39
  And sometimes I've gotten emotional being grateful for things I don't even have yet.
• 34:43
  And I know some of you are going, oh, good God.
• 34:45
  Well, this is how I had 50 million to lose and how I got it back.
• 34:48
  But.
• 34:49
  So that's one piece.
• 34:50
  The second piece is.
• 34:52
  And there's a real message in this.
• 34:53
  So stay with me for just a minute.
• 34:55
  So I ended up in Denver, but my dad worked for the airlines, my stepdad, so we were able to fly.
• 35:00
  And I got to Hawaii a couple of times and I saw, man, I need to live on the beach, and there's no beach in Denver.
• 35:05
  And so I would, you know, I'd visualize the palm trees and the surf and the sand.
• 35:09
  And 20 years later, I built this incredible.
• 35:12
  What's now probably about a $10 million mansion on the beach.
• 35:14
  It's, you know, I own the beach on one side, I had the boats on the backside.
• 35:18
  It was called a Gulf to Bay.
• 35:19
  It was a slice through an island, which was unthinkable when I was 18, but I made it happen.
• 35:24
  And, and I worked for it for 20 years.
• 35:27
  I mean, this place was magnificent.
• 35:28
  Big spiral staircase up through the middle, wine cellar elevator, waterfall from the second floor balcony to the pool was magnificent.
• 35:34
  The pool was in.
• 35:36
  Was in magazines.
• 35:37
  I'll land the plane with this.
• 35:38
  On the second floor.
• 35:39
  I had aquariums built around the staircase that cost me almost 200 grand.
• 35:42
  So this gives you an idea of the house.
• 35:44
  And so I'm floating in the pool two months after I moved in.
• 35:48
  Literally two months.
• 35:49
  I'd worked for this thing for 20 years, two months after I moved in, floating in the pool.
• 35:52
  And I'm looking up at this testament to my ego, which is really what it was.
• 35:56
  It was to prove to the freaking world I was good enough.
• 35:58
  I mean, if that didn't do it, forget it, you know.
• 36:00
  And I had all the cars and the Lamborghini and the Maserati and the Mercedes and all the stupid shit I thought was important, but I got depressed.
• 36:08
  This is two months after I moved in.
• 36:09
  I don't mean a Little depressed.
• 36:10
  I mean, I was really depressed.
• 36:12
  I'm like, what is going on?
• 36:13
  I've just achieved success, like times 10,000.
• 36:16
  So what was happening?
• 36:17
  And this is a message I definitely want to leave before we cut loose here.
• 36:20
  One thing was, you never achieve a big goal without having other goals lined up behind it.
• 36:24
  You know, like the good book says, without a vision, the people perish.
• 36:27
  I didn't have a vision for the future.
• 36:28
  So that was number one.
• 36:30
  Second thing was, it's never about the goals.
• 36:33
  You got to have the goals.
• 36:34
  But, you know, they say the happiest days of a boat owner's life, the day they buy the boat and the day they sell the boat, right?
• 36:39
  And so you need them to create that burning desire.
• 36:42
  But, but it's, it's.
• 36:44
  Happiness comes from progress and growth, okay?
• 36:47
  You've got to, you've got to celebrate your progress and growth.
• 36:50
  But the third big thing and the message here is I was totally focused on me.
• 36:54
  Rod, Rod, Rod, show the world I'm at or blah, blah, blah.
• 36:56
  And that's the year I went and saw Tony for the first time.
• 36:58
  And because I needed help, I read one of his books.
• 37:01
  I'm like, oh man, I got to go see this guy.
• 37:02
  So I went to his event in Fort Lauderdale and saw that he fed families for the holidays.
• 37:07
  And I was like, what a concept.
• 37:09
  Do something for someone else.
• 37:10
  I'm embarrassed to Sad to be 40 to get that memo.
• 37:13
  But I called my brother in Denver and I was flying back for Thanksgiving.
• 37:16
  I said, bro, let's feed five families.
• 37:17
  And so he found five families that really needed help.
• 37:20
  He called his church, and the third family changed my life.
• 37:22
  Dave.
• 37:23
  We bought food and toys for the kids and frozen turkeys and all this stuff.
• 37:26
  And, and we go to this, this, this shack.
• 37:28
  It was a shack, a one bedroom shack.
• 37:30
  And there was a woman in there, a Hispanic woman with five kids.
• 37:32
  And she comes out, she sees all the stuff on the porch and she starts crying.
• 37:36
  Her kids come out to, the older ones start crying, I start crying.
• 37:39
  And I was hooked.
• 37:40
  And, and I'm blessed to say, and please know there's no ego here.
• 37:43
  There's a message here, guys, so don't tune this out.
• 37:45
  In the last 25 years, I fed over150,000 children in my area here for the holidays.
• 37:51
  At risk children.
• 37:52
  I've done tens of thousands of backpacks filled with school supplies to local kids that don't have the bas.
• 37:58
  Don't get me started on that.
• 37:59
  Greatest country on earth.
• 38:00
  And no school supplies.
• 38:01
  But I've done thousands and thousands of teddy bears, the local police departments, for their officers to keep in their vehicles if they encounter a child that's been in a traumatic situation.
• 38:10
  And the reason I bring this up is the first thing I said when I first came on the show, because I love your.
• 38:15
  Your the name of your show.
• 38:16
  Tony Robbins calls it the science of achievement versus the art of fulfillment.
• 38:21
  Again, achievement is a science.
• 38:22
  You want to learn how to buy real estate?
• 38:24
  Get your ass to my boot camp.
• 38:25
  Okay?
• 38:26
  There's no excuses, but fulfillment is an art.
• 38:29
  You've got to figure out what juices you.
• 38:30
  For me, it's kids.
• 38:31
  Maybe for you it's the elderly.
• 38:33
  I love the elderly as well.
• 38:34
  I bought my first assisted living facility two months ago.
• 38:36
  Maybe if you do, it's animals, maybe it's the environment.
• 38:38
  Give back right now.
• 38:40
  Don't say, well, I'll do it when I have money.
• 38:42
  You did it when you had money.
• 38:43
  No, you want the money, do it now, because that's how you get the money.
• 38:46
  That's the way God works, the universe works.
• 38:48
  And so, you know, power moves to those who serve.
• 38:51
  So, you know, we've been taught to achieve, to be happy.
• 38:53
  Dave, when you're giving back, I know it's a play on words, but when you're giving back, you're fulfilled.
• 38:58
  You're happily achieving.
• 39:00
  Love that.
• 39:01
  All right, well, Rod Khleif, thank you so much for being here and sharing all this incredible wisdom from your journey with our listeners.
• 39:06
  We greatly appreciate it.
• 39:08
  Thanks, Dave.