Latest / Reborn w/ Antonio Boutros / How to Flip Real Estate in Virtual Markets (Full Podcast w/ Alex Gittens)

Transcript

How to Flip Real Estate in Virtual Markets (Full Podcast w/ Alex Gittens) · Reborn w/ Antonio Boutros

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Reborn Podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's Tony Boutros.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Alex Diddens, who is the CEO of D2A ReoT, which is a real estate investing firm.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a funny story because Alex and I, we actually met through a mutual friend, Donovan Green, after a flip gone wrong.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alex, could you introduce yourself for those of those of us who may not know who you are, as well as that story of that flip?
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, first of all, thanks for having me.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um hey guys, yeah, absolutely.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as uh as Tony said, yeah, I'm Alex Gitton, CEO of D Day Realty.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I actually worked with uh started working with Donovan, who's been a guest on this podcast before.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I started the company in 2021, I believe.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, 2021.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm actually from Canada, so I invest in the United States remotely.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's actually where sort of the flip kind of now I have done some flips that went successful, despite this fact.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: However, this one had I been there, might be maybe things would have gone a little bit better.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, to go specifically into that flip.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, you know, it started out being one that was it was supposed to be a home run deal.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: So uh you know you you know New Western, uh the like that acquisitions company in uh that they're in Indianapolis.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, they're all over the I I actually started my real estate career with New Western, so yes, yeah.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Did you work with them?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I worked for I worked with them for a couple months.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely very, very churn and burned.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it wasn't there too long.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was dude, I was cold calling 12 hours a day for a month and a half, 400 hours of work for I think I made like$900 being there.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So oh man.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: I actually when I was like I was telling you, when I was in Indianapolis, I actually went to I went to lunch with Jacob Spain actually.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: And uh me and my business partner, Deshayne.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, dude, actually, yeah, he hooked us up, actually got us lunch off the new Western Business Card.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: I took a little tour of the office and everything, checked it out.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was cool.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but basically, so those guys had reached out to me because they were new in Indianapolis at the time.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I think it was within the first couple months of them showing up in the city.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, they uh they were just my guess is they reached out to me via probably some type of some some some type of data form that they've got.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: They just found, you know, investor data in the area and reached out to me that way.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um at first I was a little skeptical, you know, you get a lot of random calls.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um I looked into it a little bit more and I was like, okay, I mean, it can't hurt, right?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I pretty quickly after that, I think I was actually one of their first Indianapolis investors because they were like brand new in the city at the time.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So like probably within a couple months of that, I was already I was buying this flip on uh South Spencer Street.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, like I said, it was supposed to be a great one.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's in Irvington.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we got it at a pretty good price.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think we picked it up for like uh like just over a hundred.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: It might have been like 102 or something like that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like pretty solid, you know, especially in that area.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Tough to get things at that level.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I like at first glance it didn't look like it was gonna be like a heavy rehab.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that maybe you know we could put in 35, 40 grand maybe, and you know, be able to move it for like you know north of 250.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: That was the plan at first, like I said, you know, it's supposed to be a home run deal.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what made everything sort of go poorly, I guess you could say, was um, you know what, this guy really did me dirty, so I don't even mind outing him here.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um contractor that I worked with, New Wave Solutions.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you guys are ever in the Indianapolis area, steer clear of this company.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Do not work with them.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: I promise you, you will lose a lot of money.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it was just so to not make it too long of a story, essentially, they they went way over budget and way over time.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And as I'm sure you're aware of, you know, at that time, 2021, 2022, that was when the market was there was a time.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: There was a time in that, yeah, there was a little sweet spot, and our goal was to have it ready during the sweet spot.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't end up getting ready until like damn near the winter time.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, don't nobody buy a house in the winter time, right?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, that was that was tough.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that just pushed pushed back the selling so much further, and then at that point, like we already knew we were facing an uphill battle, and then at that point, like everything that could have possibly gone wrong, like just went wrong.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, for example, like a pipe burst in the house, and then now you know there's flooding, now we gotta deal with water damage.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um there was there was just so many other things that went out that went wrong.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: There was like a some I don't know, I I'm not positive what happened, so I don't want to speak too much on it, but there was like some type of like a memorial just out front the house for what I want to say, yeah, was maybe like a child that passed away in the area or something.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Rest in peace to the kid, it's not the family's fault at all, but just the fact that you know when you're trying to sell a house and there's a memorial of a dead child right in front of it, it's like you know, so now we're facing it's like, well, do I I don't want to take this memorial down?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't that's it's pretty crazy, you know.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I also don't want it here because now the people going to see the house are like, what's going on here, you know, so it's hurting us, but then it's also like, damn, like, you know, you gotta have some ethics here with that.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: So that was that was that was tough to deal with, and just you know, just some things like that just kept coming up, you know.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually as time just kept on passing and passing, we were paying more and more interest fees.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: We ended up switching agents like twice during the process.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Luckily enough, though, we actually ended up finding a new contractor, a new agent, and that's actually how I met Donovan was from that.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I was we were such like you know how they say motivated sellers, like we were we were very motivated because this thing was an absolute uh an alligator property, as Michael Zuber would say.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was just reading his book.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it was just taking money from us, we were bleeding money.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: I'm over here on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, whatever, what you know, this, that, and the third, reaching out to investors.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hey man, I got a property, come check it out.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: Hey man, I got a property, come check it out.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: One of those people happened to be Donovan.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And you know how Donovan is, you know, he's he's gonna check it out.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: So he did end up getting on the phone, and really, I guess the rest is history.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: But to be a hundred percent honest with you, if Donovan bought that property, I don't know that we'd be in business right now.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: He actually might have a death wish for it.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think I don't think he'd be friends.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I everything worked out, and uh we're out of that now, but you know, it was cool.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: That was obviously uh it was it was an experience to say the least.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what what was the final outcome of that property?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Did you end up bleeding money entirely or did you end up actually making some sort of profit on it?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um I guess if you look at it like when from what we sold it at, it would appear as if we made about 10k profit.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: But when we actually like go over what it is we spent on because like I said, the contractors went over the rehab.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: So on our records, it would it would appear as if that was what we made, but actually going over the the time and the extra rehab that we ended up doing, and also because we were doing hard money lending, so we had to keep paying you know the monthly interest payments.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: So overall, I wouldn't really say that we did profit.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I guess but at the time we sold it.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now, mind you, it took us like a year and a bit to sell it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: So at the time, you know, a year later, when everything else has already been paid off, you know, it feels like, oh, you know, we made 10k, but actually, like, probably not.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so not your most successful financially pro uh investment property, but still a learning point.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you now you did mention that you've done other successful flips.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, was this your first one, or was this a one that came later in your career?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And can you tell us about your journey to beginning in real estate and some of your other successful flips?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, so this one wasn't my first one.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um okay, I guess I'll start with sort of what got me into it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I was in I was in university, that's what we call it up here in Canada.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: I know you guys call it college down there.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I was in university, the pandemic hit.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I had always sort of been into real estate.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh this it was like the summer of 2019.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: That was like kind of very pivotal summer for me.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was 19 years old.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was just sort of I was I was really going through it to be honest with you.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of like bad things were happening in my life.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like not like like it wasn't anything too crazy.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know how it'll be, you know, you go to university, like I had a I had a girlfriend in high school at the time, and you know, you break up and that's like the first sort of sort of thing experiencing that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you go through that, you know.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, had some stuff in the family as well, and it all sort of came in like span of like one week.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, damn, you know, also with that being said, as well.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I I had like probably the worst injury of my life uh as well playing basketball.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I blew up my ankle, I was supposed to transfer schools and uh poop and you know, so that was all like I said, all in one week it was probably like the worst week of my life.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was terrible at the time, yeah.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but then that summer I started working as a uh as a lifeguard actually, and I worked at a pool where nobody swam at.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I spent basically my entire day sitting in an empty pool with pretty much nothing to do, but like I said, like I could barely walk, like I just had like an absolute terrible series of events that happened.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just basically there alone with my thoughts, and I'm like, damn, you know, this is this ain't it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: So my uh my dad, who's also like he he does real estate stuff as well, you know.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_01: He showed me this podcast, and I'm sure you've heard of his bigger pockets, right?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um so me, I hey, like I said, like I was just spending time at that pool every day.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because like I when I tell you nobody swam at that pool, like nobody swam at that pool.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I I pretty much got paid to sit there.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: So not a bad job.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Not a bad job at all.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not gonna be over here, you know, doing anything too crazy at the time.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I was just over here just listening to episode after episode of that podcast.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: I think I still have my uh my notes that I that I was taking from there, and I was just sitting there all day, every day, sitting there, listening to real estate podcasts, taking down notes, learning all the basics.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually my dad actually gave me my first book, which was The Remote Investor, which is specifically about being an out-of-state investor, in my case being an out-of-country investor.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I ended up reading that, and then you know, so that's that's the summer of 2019, and then my junior year of school rolls around, and now like things are looking a lot better for me, because you know, that really gave me I guess I could say it gave me like it just gave it made me feel like I had like like an it was like a new beginning almost, you know.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, cool, like this is where I'm gonna start, sort of getting into this, and now I just started reading up on it, and I I I'm not gonna say I became obsessed with it, but I started really like it.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um my really good friend who's also my business partner now, Deshayne.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: I went to university with him and he was my roommate.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, him that summer, he had been doing Amazon drop shipping, and he was he was really like he wanted, you know, we we we're all chasing the same thing that financial freedom, finding neutral income, all that stuff.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we were all we like we were on the same page, we're just doing different things, yeah.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I could see though that that was sort of his vibe, and that's what he wanted to get into as well.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: And that was exactly where he's at.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like he was hustling, like he was getting project one on his house, all that stuff.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: The whole nine yards, whatever it is.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: I've never really done Amazon drop shipping, so I don't really know necessarily what that entails, but you know, he was hustling.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I just remember us like being in the library of school and being like, damn, like I mean, school's cool and everything, but like I just feel like you know, the jobs that we're gonna get after this, like we're not gonna be able to live like the lifestyle that we're really just you know, we trying to try and really get after it, right?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that's why I told him I was like, man, like I've this summer, like I just really got into real estate, and he was like, damn, that's pretty cool.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, I'm gonna, you know, sort of read up on that as well.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: And he started to learn about that as well while we were in while we were in college, and this was the year, so our junior year, the pandemic hit.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so then now we've got all the time in the world, right?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like they sent us home.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was I think it was March, so like school year was about to be over anyways.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: We basically just got a longer summer because they canceled exams, they canceled everything.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was that summer, so the summer of 2020, where him and I just decided, like, yo, let's just let's just go after this.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we just just kept going at it, like making phone calls, doing everything wrong at first.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we didn't really know because you know you only learn so much from reading books, listening to podcasts.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so once you start actually doing it, um, we wanted to wholesale, we were like reaching out with agents in different markets, talking with them.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I didn't even know what a cash buyer was, and I kept calling people, telling them I was a cash buyer, just thinking that's just what you say.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then the guy was like, Okay, so well, how are you gonna fund this?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then I was like, Oh, well, I'm gonna have to talk to my lender, and he's like, What do you mean your lender?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I thought you were a cash buyer, and I was like, Oh, shoot, I thought I was a cash buyer, you know?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Just doing a lot of stuff wrong before I did things right, you know.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I was 1920.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I didn't even turn 20 yet.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I was er no, maybe I did.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I was 19 or 20, like I was young.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, and I was just, you know, I was there, I was just hustling, just sort of trying to figure it out.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually, like, I'm personally, I mean, sorry, Donovan, if you listen to this, I'm personally not the biggest fan of wholesaling.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's just, yeah, I don't know.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I like his style of doing it because he's got like a system for it, and he's got like very organized, and he's got like you know, all the things that you would need to have.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I like how he structures it, and I don't mind doing it with him, but when prior to that, like when I was doing it and I wasn't doing all that stuff, I did not like wholesaling at all.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then so then that would get us to our our first flip.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now we were in we were still in university at the time, um, when we got our first flip, and I decided one day I was like, because we had just incorporated uh to become like a like an LLC.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, actually we're an LP at first, then changed to an LLC.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we just got our incorporation docs probably in like I don't know, uh, 2020.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 2020 still, yeah.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we were sort of trying to figure it out.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: None of the wholesaling stuff was really working for us.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: Mind you, we also probably were doing it wrong, to be honest with you, but yeah, at the end of the day, it wasn't working.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: We weren't getting no money from it.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, had hired VAs, all that stuff.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: That didn't really work out either.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: But eventually I was like, yo, like we have a good connection with the the Olsen group, so that's who funds our deals.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: We have a good connection, like we could get funding, let's try and do a flip.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Yeah, like I'm down, let's try and do a flip.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, and now mind you, this was like the sweet spot of investing.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think at this point, it would have been it probably would have been just like early 2021, I want to say, probably at this point, yeah, where we gotten our first one.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it was a good time.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, exactly.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: So we ended up getting uh it was a property on North Butler.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I know that in Indianapolis, yeah, in Indianapolis.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Not the greatest area, like it's 46218.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's like a kind of the hood.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's a little high prime rate, you know, low-income housing sort of thing.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it was it was the first one we ended up getting.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: We got it for I want to say it was cheap.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: It was really cheap.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh yeah, it was we got it for 36.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, yeah, it was a good deal, super good deal.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Got it for 36, put in 25, I want to say, yeah, about that.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we're all in at like 60.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_03: 60-ish.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, something like that.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um that one was a lot smoother of process, especially for it being our first one.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it took its time to move as like a lot of flips do.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: But we didn't have any problems with the rehab.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: We actually used the same contractor for this one that we did for the North Butler the sorry, the the one that went poorly.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um so that's why we trusted him though, because he had already had been doing good work for us.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we're like, oh, cool, like you know, like he made some money too.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, why would you go and just yeah do the opposite, you know?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, that's that's neither here nor there.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we ended up making that was that was a pretty good one.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: We got a good profit off that.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: That was about 25k on our first one.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you give, yeah, right, you give two university students two thousand 25k in university, like and mind you too, like, we're from Canada, so 25,000 American is about a million dollars Canadian.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know, exactly.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think it ended up being like 34 or something like that.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of money for for two kids in university, and like to say that we were financially savvy with that money would be a little bit of a stretch.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: I would I would say we weren't stupid with it, but like as smart as we could have been, probably not.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're the things that like maybe it would have been better if we weren't given that much money at a university where you let's just say, you know, uh kids are known for getting a little mischievous at this university.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'ma just leave it at that.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it was it was a great time though.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was that was amazing.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, you know, you feel like you're you're the top of the world.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm hey at that point, I'm I was 21.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So when I got my first my first flip, I was 21 years old.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I'm 21 years old and I'm getting five figures of money at that point.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's more money than I'd ever seen in my life, you know.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like at that point, I remember too.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: That was when I don't know if you know the show uh BMF and uh power, it's like a show about like hustling and making money and all that.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it's like a it's one of those gangster shows, you know.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I mean I'm thinking I'm basically I'm I'm a little meach on this and they're walking around thinking all chest all up high and everything.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing could possibly go wrong, you know?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so that was cool.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: That was probably one of my best memories of a good flip.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because it was it really was a good flip, though, like definitely a lot of investors.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, their their benchmark is 30k on a flip.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now it wasn't 30k usd, but it was 30k C A D.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: So for us, we had hit that on our first one.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: It did take us a little bit of time.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: The selling process wasn't like wasn't as smooth as it possibly could have been.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think it probably moved in about two months, I would say so.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: So not terrible, definitely not terrible.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Took us some time though, and uh like we were at a point too where we had to keep paying the interest payments, so and and we're brand new in it, right?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we're like, ah man, like another interest payment, you know?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was tough.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: We actually ended up lowering the price uh once or twice.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't without its adversity.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say it was like an absolute perfect flip, but it was yeah, as far as your first one goes, it was it was probably about as good as it could have been.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: I would say so.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: How did you manage to pay the interest payments while before you got the money from the flip?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Did you just borrow more than you needed in order to pay back the return?
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Or no, but I wish I did that.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's smart.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, for us, we uh that's a great question, by the way.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because like I said, we were still in uni, so I wasn't working full time, neither was the shade.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: To be honest with you, a lot of that first flip was actually funded by believe it or not, skip the dishes driving.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: What's that?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: You guys don't have skip the dishes in the US?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Is that is that like Doordash basically?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly that.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what it is.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, I don't think I don't think they have skip the dishes in in America.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say really I I thought you were I thought you made a new unique name for DoorDash.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I don't think they have that in America.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe so.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: If they do, it's not as big for sure.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have they have Uber Eats, Doordash, Grubhub.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um Yeah, we have those two.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Those are really the big three.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I didn't I did not realize Kip Dish was Canadian, but yeah, that's what we did.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that was both of our jobs during the pandemic, was just a lot of that.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna say I'm gonna I'm gonna say it odd jobs is how we made some of the other money.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's that that's what I'm gonna say.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna leave it at that.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: Deshain, if you're listening, you know what I'm talking about.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm I'm gonna just leave it right at that.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've got to get the Shane on here as well soon.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, absolutely, absolutely, yeah.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you were talking about reading books and and reading or listening to podcasts, the Bigger Pockets podcast.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: How can a new investor, how can they balance reading in education with action and execution?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's another great question.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um Well, okay.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Guys like you and me, you know, I I've seen your post a lot of times.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: You're all about taking action uh and the self-improvement and that sort of stuff.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: While I completely agree with you, absolutely, absolutely agree 100%.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's facts.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think you can go into taking action with absolutely zero knowledge.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's a that's a little crazy.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like you couldn't go and start doing real estate and not knowing what a wholesale is or what a flip is or or what a realtor is in their role.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think I think as a new investor, because then but then you know it's there's two sides of the spectrum.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: You've got the guys who just want to jump in headfirst and they have no idea what they're doing, and that's problematic.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: But then you also have the people that come constantly push it off.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Ah, I'll get started next week, ah, I'll get started after I finish this book, ah, I gotta learn a little bit more, right?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: So then they they just never start.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you need to really just sort of build as long as you have the basics, learning on the fly.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, like to me, learning while doing experience is the best teacher, absolutely.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Learning on the fly is the way to do it.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: I I stand by that 100%.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um basics, like no.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: How a flip works, know how like just know the basic exit strategies.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: So buy and hold, flip, wholesale.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, understand those.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Get those.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Know the role of a realtor.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Know the role of marketing.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, understand what's important.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then once you get like a solid basis, like that's when you can start doing the other stuff.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't think you necessarily need to know all the jargon and the slangs and the acronyms.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: Like, to be honest with you, I don't even know a lot of that stuff.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, we have we have a group chat and like calls with me and Donovan and Deshayne because we we've been partnering on stuff.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times these guys are talking, they're saying all sorts of stuff, and I'm just like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's true.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, give me all these acronyms and everything, and I'm just like, yeah, okay, buddy.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I would just say get your get your basis, and once you have that, you can start doing it, and you'll learn while you're doing because there's so many things that a book just simply cannot teach you.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like they they just really cannot.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so many things that happen in that flip.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: You could read a book about flipping, you could read a book that was dedicated about the best flipper ever.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know who that is.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Whoever, and their stories, but they wouldn't be able to tell you, like, you know, all the little nuancy things that happen, like in each of it, you know.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: They don't tell you in the books, like, get an inspection fee.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you go and you know what I mean?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you go to like you go on these Facebook groups, right?
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then the wholesaler is saying, like, oh, like it needs to be done in 10 days, so you don't get an inspection fee because you're gonna lose the deal.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like you can't be afraid to walk away from a deal.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: And one, like, this wholesaler has time, like, don't let him rush you into anything.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: He's the one, he's the one who needs you.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: You don't need him.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: He's not he's not about to rush you.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um like, don't let that happen.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, do what you need, take the inspection fee, or you know, pay it.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's definitely worth it.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: You'll see a lot of things.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if we had done that, we wouldn't have had that issue with self-spencer if we had taken the inspection fee and all these other, you know, things that have gone poorly.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I would just say, like, you know, there are so many things that happen in it that you won't know until you do it.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for like like you, like you said, you know, maybe it wasn't the best investment, but learned a lot.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in my next clip, you know, I'm not gonna do so many things that I learned from that, and I would have never gotten that from reading a book.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: So now, from what I can tell, it looks like you and Deshain, you were both young hustlers and it you just wanted that financial freedom, but now at this point, it seems like you guys have different strengths and you guys are able to collaborate and bring different traits and skills to the table.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: One, how did that relationship develop?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: And two, what in your opinion is the what what crucial role or does it have a crucial role of partnership, or what do you think about going solo as an entrepreneur, especially as a new entrepreneur in a a field that's predominantly dominated by people who are older?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I guess I'll start with the first part is how the the uh the partnership formed.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um really, like I said, Deshaun and I went to university together, and that's where I met him.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: I actually met him playing basketball.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and he he was I would probably say like, man, that guy is like that guy is like my arch rival, man, to be honest with you.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like when it came to the ball court, like you know, he was a dude that hey, like he has a he would he would just get the best of me all the time, you know.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: Make shots and all that.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: He wouldn't play for like three weeks and then he comes back and he's Michael Jordan, you know?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Me, I'm over here playing all the time, and this guy, this guy just walks up in the gym and he's ready to go all the time, and that would drive me crazy because I was not ever used to getting my my behind busted like that.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I just I grew a respect for him, not just because of that, but you know, because of I don't know, well, you know, a lot of because of that, but then eventually, like, you know, I started to like get to know him and like he was a really solid dude.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: And like, like I said, like I I roomed with him pretty much every year of uni.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're bound to become friends with somebody when it comes to that.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: And but it really did begin on the basketball court for the both of us, and then now it just sort of blossomed into business because I knew that that was something that he was always interested in, as well as what I was, and we sort of built that chemistry there.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's really important to sort of, you know, when you get to know somebody in any field, really, is you know, maybe get to know them outside of what it is you guys are working on, so you can really um build that chemistry so it's organic, and then by the time you know you guys start working together, um, there's things that you know you've you've seen from them and you can respect them, and you know that they have that that sort of dog in them.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that's sort of where it where it happened, and then you know, when we were in university, uh, like I said, we was always room together, and like we went to a very like a predominantly white school, and we were some of the only black kids there.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, north naturally we just sort of became friends that way.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Anytime, you know, they would associate us together.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Half the time, people are calling me Deshain and they're calling him Alex, you know, half the time.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we just ended up becoming friends a lot of it through that.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as for the business uh part of it, I think your your next part of that question was um like how what's the dynamic like uh between.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: What's the dynamic, but also what is the importance of having a partner, and especially having what you were saying earlier, he might he may have some more technical know-how with the with the let's say slang and what.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I mean I would say like in terms of like in terms of a partnership, like I hate to be doing all these basketball knives, but like it really is Kobe and Shaq.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like everything that I'm good at, he's not good at.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: Everything that he's good at, I'm not good at.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: So he's a great, he's great when it comes to numbers.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: And like, so when we get a deal, I'm the guy, like I'm more so like when people think of D Da Realty, like more so like they'll think of me.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: So if I'm getting when we get emails and stuff and say it's saying, hey Alex, you know, if people are reaching out, they're saying, Hey, can I speak to Alex?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: All that sort of stuff.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm over here talking and meeting people and bring things like that to the table.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Not to say that Deshain doesn't also do that and that he's not also, you know, the face of the of the brand, because he really is, um, in terms of like marketing and all that, but that's just sort of more my thing.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I'm on the social media, you know, that's me.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when it comes to getting on the phone, talking with new investors, you know, getting us into new markets, things of that nature, like that's where I excel, that's my thing.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: But if I get a deal and I find something like through those connections, I'm not the guy to break that down and know whether or not that's a sound investment.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's him.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like he's always done that and always been solid with it.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we've got he's got like the Excel spreadsheets that he's going through and he's cacking down all the all the numbers and making sure that we know it's a sound investment.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, like the one that we had gotten on Self Spencer actually was a great investment.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't it.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna like I don't want people to think they're like, oh, like you know, he chopped the numbers poorly.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what happened.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like, he chopped the numbers and they were there.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like, our contracting team added more and made it not a good deal.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was a good deal, absolutely, and we wouldn't have gotten the first one or any of the other ones either because if it wasn't for the chain, like I'll tell you, like, maybe not everybody will know per se that he's a part of it because he's not really as active on the socials, yeah.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: He's not like you know, that's not really his thing.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, people won't see his face, but I'll tell you right now, the company does not move without him, absolutely not.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it just really a complimenting skill set is what I would say is the best part about it.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think your other uh portion of it, like it was going as like being like a solopreneur uh in this field.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I actually think that is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a new entrepreneur is doing it by yourself.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: No matter how great you are, you can't do it by yourself.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like you just can't, like there's so much that goes into it, and there's so many things that you just it's just cannot be done.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I I hate to use the word can't in my vocabulary, but that is something that I don't believe can be done effectively.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe some people figure it out, but I don't know, no CEO, no high-level businessman that does not have a team, like and especially like you said as well, dominated by older people.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So, what do older people have?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: Higher salary paying jobs, more experience, more resources, right?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: People are gonna take them more seriously because they're 55.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: People talk to us like we're kids.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're we're 24 years old, so to them, maybe we are kids, but we're not like we're grown men, like talk to me and respect me like I'm a man, you know?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but they'll say, Hey buddy, hey big guy, hey whatever.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like they they'll they'll they'll talk to you like that.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely they will, and like that's not happening to somebody who's 55 years old, yeah.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's not happening.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: 55 years old who's the head of a partner at some law firm who's getting paid$200,000 a year and has lots of time and can you know invest that capital into real estate, like they have a huge upper hand, a huge advantage.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: So already with that, doing it alone is a huge mistake.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Not and that's not even like that's not even just the fact that like there's just so much that goes into it that I just don't think it can be done effectively alone.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I if anybody's listening to this and is looking to be an entrepreneur or get into real estate, like do not do it by yourself.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: I know there's the whole lone wealth mentality, and you see all these guys posting, you don't need anybody but yourself and yeah, all that.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's absolutely true.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: But when it comes to building a team and building a successful business, you absolutely need people.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I would never consider going solo.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: One one stat that I always bring up is I think Bezos owns like 10% of Amazon.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think uh Gates owns, I think a little bit more of that of Microsoft.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: So all these uh, as you were saying, all these massive uh entrepreneurs own much smaller portions than you think of their respective companies, but they're you know hundred billion dollar companies.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So would you rather own a hundred percent of a small pie, a tiny pie, or would you rather own 10% of a enormous pie?
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and you were talking about how you know these 55-year-olds, these they might have a successful law career.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: They have a huge advantage, and I think they do have an advantage, but us as young entrepreneurs, it's A, it's hard to believe that if we stick with it, if we are consistent, that we would not be making more than they have, you know, 200k a year as a lawyer on the first on the first part.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Or that of A kind of kind of the reverse psychology where they might count you out, and then you you overcome those ex you over uh overdelivered on their expectations, and they are like, oh wow, this kid's really about it.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so they immediately invite you into that inner circle.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I have personally gotten myself involved with that.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, most people I know are you know 40s, 50s, I know people who are 70s, 80s.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think being so young really is, I mean, and that's that's even without commenting and talking about the time that you have 35 years ahead of them, you know.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: But now another thing is you said being the biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make, especially in the beginning, uh, when you don't have all the knowledge, is being a solopreneur.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: How can someone who may not be super well connected and get and form a partnership with others, others around him that would multiply his business?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, well, I would definitely say when it comes to that, like I think your your right-hand man or woman that you that you work with should be somebody that you know and trust.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I wouldn't recommend if you want to start up a company or you want to start up real estate investing and you want to do with somebody, I wouldn't recommend you know, joining like one of those Facebook groups where investors flock to because you know, yeah, you know, you know these people, but you don't really know these people.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you've got like a best friend, if you've got a cousin, if you've got a brother who you know when it comes to push or shove is going to be able to perform and you trust them, that's the person you want to work with.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's not even about you don't even necessarily need them to be, you know, the savviest real estate investor in the world or the savviest tech investor or whatever it is.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you just need somebody that you know is solid and you know them well and you trust them.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't even necessarily need to be fully connected, like, don't look so far outside your circle.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would say.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: So really you don't really put too much emphasis then on that you want to have someone who has the opposite skill trait, which it just happened to be for you.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: That does help though, yeah.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so really the main thing is know like and trust.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, now I I think the contractor was a big thing that you brought up earlier, especially with that flip that you and and Jonathan and and funny enough, Jacob Spain uh met on.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how can you find a good contractor?
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: And how did you find a good contractor to quote unquote save that deal or at least not bleed too much on it?
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, that's that's that's hard because contractors, I mean, I I don't wanna I don't want to generalize or put you know a whole stain on an entire industry.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not about to do that, but I will say a lot of investors struggle with contractors, it's not just me.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so interpret that how you will.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I would just say it's it's tougher for me to do it actually, being a Canadian and doing this in remote investing.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I I went to Indianapolis so I could sort of humanize and meet these people.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I try to be in Indianapolis when I can.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um when it comes to contractors, like you gotta just look for the signs.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because for me, I'm gonna speak from my experience particularly as a remote investor.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, obviously, what I had said before about knowing and trusting applies equally when it comes to finding a contractor, because at the end of the day, they are a business partner of yours.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um that applies the same way for myself.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: I have things that I look for.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: So when I have a contractor who's telling me they're loyal or they have my best interest in mind every three seconds, that that's not somebody you want to mess with.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the people that always have to tell you they're loyal, nine times out of ten are not loyal.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I look for that.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's fair, yeah.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'll also, so when the process goes out, I'm gonna I'm gonna be analyzing so don't ever give a contractor all the money up front.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's you know, that's yeah, you know, right up right off the bat.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: But for example, let's say on the first draw, if I told you I wanted the kitchen and the cabinets done, when that first draw comes out, the floor of the kitchen and the cabinet should be done, and there shouldn't be any questions asked.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: There shouldn't be any any hoopla, any any nothing about that.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: And if there is, communicate with me.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Let me know.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Hey um, you know, something happened, there might be a little bit of a delay.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, now I know awesome.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't be when the when that first draw comes out and now I'm looking for the second one to start, I shouldn't be learning about these things right now.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna be looking at how it is, how do you operate?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: Can I are you smooth with it?
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Can I trust you?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are you doing what you say you're going to do?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: When I ask you for a walkthrough video, this is one of the biggest ones.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: If you get a contractor and you ask for a walkthrough video and he's like sort of going fast through things, you know, like going quick, maybe skipping over things really quickly, that is a really big red flag.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe if the video comes later because he's taking his time to make it look like nothing's bad, yeah, that's how you know it's an issue.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: So this this new contractor that we found, the most random thing.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I was talking with the new western people, and I was like, listen, man, like like there's been some issues.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, we need to we need a new contractor.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: And they had somehow they had known uh the guy that we work with now.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna shout him out really quick.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh his name's Josh, works for Thoroughbred Investments, great contractor in the area.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: You can definitely trust him.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Solid guy.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: You probably do.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: He has a pretty big network, yeah, solid dude, super, super solid dude.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um and really, like, he from the jump, like he did everything that I explained to you, he did all that.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: So when we got walkthrough videos, if there was a little stain somewhere, he zoomed in on it.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Okay, this is here, this is here because, and then he explains why that's there, so we understand it the good or the bad.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_01: He was like, So there was there was like I said, there was water damage, uh, and there was like flooding.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he zoomed right in on corrosion on the wires, and he was like, Yo, this is not good.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: There's these wires are corroded, like I'm going to have to do this process.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is what's going to happen.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you need to do this.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: And he walked through and he showed us all of that, gave us detailed photos of the wiring, he showed us exactly where the corrosion was, went right down with all of it.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: So when he did that and I started to know that I could trust him, I was like, okay, this is somebody I'd want to work with going forward.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, even for and then another example of that, like we had our realtor, again, awesome, Deb Kent, amazing realtor in the Indianapolis area, awesome, stages your homes for free, which actually really helped us remove the property, and she does a great job staging.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but with that being said, there were a couple things where she was like, Hey, we got this going on in the basement, you guys should spend extra money to fix it.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: She was just looking out for us.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I came through and he was like, zoomed right in, showed us broke down, but it's probably this, so you might not necessarily need to do that.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I trusted him on that, and it ended up being true when the investment when the inspectors came through, that was exactly it.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't really anything you need to spend any money on, it was just sort of what it was.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's an older house, that's what happens.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Explained that, broke it down for me, made it so I understood exactly what was going on, right?
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, when it's things like of that, when you notice those things, that's when you can be like, okay, this is somebody I can work with.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_01: And from that, like, me, I'm big on like I want the people that work with for me and with me to want to work for me and with me.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: So even though we didn't make a lot of money on that deal, I told Josh, I said, listen, when this thing sells, like I'm gonna give you something.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_01: It might not be like, you know, a lot of money, it might not be like, but I'm gonna give you something.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's not gonna change your life, but like I just want you to know, like, I appreciate what it is you did.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it took us a long time to move this property, and we didn't have a lot of money left over, but I stuck through with that.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I gave them, I gave him a little something, a little share.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then now to this day, now we've got that loyalty, and now like I know that if I want to go and use a contractor on a property in the Indianapolis area, that's my guy.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so is that something both contractors, agents, maybe even wholesalers, are those connections that you want to make before investing in a first property so that you don't have issues, such as that property on um that you got with from New Western?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, in a perfect world, yes, I would definitely say so.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: But it like it's funny, I mean that's kind of a double-edged sword.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I feel like in order to make those connections, you have to be in deals.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: So that's while it would be great if you had, you know, a five-star agent, a five-star contractor, and a five-star wholesaler bringing you deals right off the bat.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that would be awesome.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Is that realistic?
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, possibly.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't it could be, but is that it probably wouldn't be the case for most people.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I I I think you sort of need to be in the game a little bit to meet those people to get those.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like for the most part, you're gonna meet a lot of bad agents, you're gonna meet a lot of bad contractors before you meet good ones.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, in a perfect world, yes, but I just that's probably not what's gonna happen.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So really just learning, I I I I always say learning from experience is the best way to learn, and it's I don't going back to when you were talking about the books earlier, I would go as far as to say that even if a book told you exactly what you were gonna go through, the little things that you said the books won't tell you, which they won't, but even if a book told you exactly each thing, you don't actually internalize until it happens to you.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's just the human brain being ignorant, to be honest.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, but um overall, how many flips have you done?
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: And for those who haven't done a flip yet, A, how can they get their first flip?
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: And B, maybe they're maybe flipping isn't their style.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: How can you find your niche?
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm, that's a good question.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um wow, that's a very good question.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, I guess I'll I'll start with the first part.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we've we've gotten three.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um finding your first flip, I would say flipping is kind of like like flipping's a job.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like you need to be, I would say you need to have probably about the same or maybe maybe a little different, but about the same m sort of marketing mindset that a wholesaler has.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then I like you you need to really sort of go after these properties.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like you could do the whole, you know, the driving for dollars, yeah, the c the calling, um you can have New Western reach out and send you a property too.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, bird dogging, all that.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: That th those are all sort of ways that you can find a flip.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um Now, I would definitely say, as I was mentioning before, to always do an inspection every single time.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do not ever conduct a flip without doing an inspection.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's just under no circumstances.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um it would probably be ideal if you could could go in and see it, or if if you can't, to have a trusted member of your team sort of your boots on the ground, go in and do it.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_01: You also can partner with like your agent.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh if you have like an investor specific agent.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um that works with that, then that's uh that's something you can you can do.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um those, yeah, I would say those are sort of the main kind of ways to do it.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, flipping isn't your style, which for a lot of people it just isn't.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like I said, flipping's a full-time job.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of real estate investors that also work actual full-time jobs and simply just don't have the time or resources to do that.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um also flipping can be incredibly stressful.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and there is a lot of risk for things to go poorly.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: I would say that if that's not your style, like you know, there's other options of real estate, you know, you can do wholesaling, you can do buy and hold, uh, you can invest in REITs, you can invest, you can be like a like a silent partner in like a a JV.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are other ways you can do tax liens.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: So it really depends sort of what you want to get into when it comes to that.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: But if you actually want properties, I mean, I've never actually done a buy and hold.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's next on my bucket list.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to do a buy and hold.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: I actually think that's the best way to really build wealth um would be, you know, sort of buying buying a rental property, sitting on it, making it livable, having tenants in there, which not gonna say it doesn't have its own challenges.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: Everything in real estate, everything in everything really has its own challenges.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um But I just think that when it comes to when it comes to other styles, you gotta find what works for you.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so does it work for you capital-wise?
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: Does it work for you time-wise?
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_01: Does it work for you socially wise?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and what I mean by that is like do you have the connections to allow this to be a smooth process?
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, are you in a market where you know people?
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_01: Are you in a position where you can have somebody go and check out your properties where you have a property manager, where you have an agent, where you have uh, you know, all the pieces that need to be put in place?
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: So I think while I would love to be able to give the answer for you know aspiring investors or investors who are out there now listening to this, I think you kind of need to know that.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: I can't really know that for you.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what is you need to know what style of investments works best for you.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody can really tell you that.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you that.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: Grant Cardone can't tell you that, Elon Musk can't tell you that.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, your own your own mama can't tell you that.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you need to know what works best for you, what's your style, where are you going to be able to put yourself in the best position to be successful and understand that there are a lot of other avenues for you to make money in this game, and flipping is definitely not the only one.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I would say you could never flip a house in real estate and be an incredibly successful real estate investor.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_01: I would I would definitely say that.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think the progression I usually see is, and I actually made a video on this today was active income.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: So whether that's wholesaling, that's being an agent, or that's flipping, and then you go into you go into passive income with acquiring residential rentals, preferably obviously you want to go after you know multifamily duplex, trucklex, clubplex, that kind of thing, just more doors, more money.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then for those who are really overachievers, you go into commercial.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: And now there's are there are some amazing investors who have never gone into commercial.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's some amazing investors who've never done a rental, there's some amazing investors who've never done flips.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really, yeah, I agree.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really about your style and your your goals too, because I think flipping, obviously, you're making, like you said, on that one, you made 25 grand, you're not going to make 25 grand in that period of time off of a rental, but it's a lot more passive.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's where you're at in life, you know, if you are that 20-year-old that's doing a flip and 25 grand is really quote unquote life-changing to you in the moment, or if you're an older guy and and you just want that passive income so that you're able to retire.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we spoke earlier about you getting dual citizenship in the USA uh because of some benefits that you may get as an investor.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what are those benefits for for uh other out-of-state investors or out-of-country investors actually?
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: So out-of-country investor, like for example, I can't get an EIN number.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for that, so that I I can't get that.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: That holds me back from a lot of things.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I have an I-TIN number that I was able to make because I registered my like I registered with the uh at the NR uh the IRS.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say the NRA, the IRS um with uh my with my LLC, so I was able to get that, but I don't even have a personal one, I have a corporate one.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, so there's that.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: Taxing can be taxing is a whole zoo when it comes to that, right?
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm getting taxed on your side, but then when those come back here on the Canadian side, I gotta deal with that too.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I I have like a tax professional that I work with, and he helps me with that.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that's great.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Again, something you wouldn't learn from a book, and I had to figure that out when it, you know, when April hit and it's tax time, and now you know Uncle Sam is asking me, hey, where's my share at?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I've I've got somebody to help me with that.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, being being a Canadian, like there are things that hold you back, absolutely.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, like I had mentioned, you know, no, no EIN, no personalizing, that makes it that makes it very difficult to open up a bank account.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like when it comes to moving money, like moving money to a contractor, moving money to an agent, moving money to a partner, all of that stuff, it is never a smooth process.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I I don't have I don't have Bank of America, I don't have, I don't have any of that stuff.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if I want to send you money and you're in the States, like odds are I gotta use PayPal.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people that's not that doesn't work for them.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: Some people it does, but not everybody.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: Wiring money is difficult to do from a Canadian bank to an American bank.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like the conversion rate sucks, you know, having that, that coming back in, like that's that's difficult.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of the processes are just not smooth.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to mail me something, I don't have an address in the US that I can use.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I could buy a P.O.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: box, but not everybody ships a P.O.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: boxes.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: Not sometimes a P.O.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: box isn't an option, yeah.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, now now I'm also what am I what about what do I look like having to pay rent on a P.O.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: box every single month?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I'm not trying to do all that.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: So getting that dual citizenship to me, like that opens a lot of doors for me.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: It just makes the entire process so much smoother.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I can't use I don't have Venmo, I don't have Cash App, I can't do those quick transactions that you guys do.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we have our versions of that in Canada, e-transfer.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know that that's the easiest thing.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, hey, like somebody, hey, okay, e-transfer me.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's our version of Venmo.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: We have that, it's quick, but we it's hard when it's an international transfer because that's that's what it is.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um but then you know, I've thought about just like fully, you know, moving to the states and becoming an American, but then you know, if I do that, now I'm losing some of the benefits of being Canadian.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like we have healthcare and it's for free, and it's it's awesome.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't ever want to lose that.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um so you know, I'm ideally like in a perfect world, I would have a dual citizenship and I would go my primary residence would probably still be in Canada, right?
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I would come to the States every couple weeks or something like that, have have operations out there, have partnerships, and you know, I sort of go back and forth.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, being from Canada, how did you come to invest in the greater Indianapolis area?
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, what factors influence your decision to invest in this excuse me, I can't even speak right now, in this specific location, and what unique challenges and advantages have you encountered as an international investor?
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you just we just touched on some of the challenges.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are there any A advantages and B I mean someone who's dealt with Shiny Object Syndrome and myself?
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, going to so many different markets, especially Indianapolis is a good market, but it's you know, there's Florida, there's Texas, there's Arizona, there's so many other good markets.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: How do you stay focused and how did you come to become an investor in Indianapolis?
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I had mentioned that my dad also uh invests in real estate as well.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_01: He invests not in Indianapolis, but in Indiana.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I wanted to be somewhat close to him in terms of like his investment.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I mean, I I I see him all the time.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like I am close to him.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: We live in the same city in the same house.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, I see him like that.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I meant more so being close to him as in the sense of like if I need a recommendation, like can I ask, you know, people that you know, you know, if I want to possibly use somebody that you use, like, you know, you know that stuff because you're there.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_01: He's in like the Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne, like that sort of area.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I wanted to do Indianapolis because I thought that like I just felt like there was more like Indiana at all.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: I love Indiana, but it's not a lot going on in Indiana.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I was thinking, like, if I'm gonna be somewhere, like, let me be in the main sort of city where you know you guys have your NFL teams, your NBA teams, your whatever else you guys have over there.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: There's things bring people to Indianapolis, so I thought about that.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's a larger city, but then to go a little technical, like the median home price in Indianapolis is almost like a hundred thousand dollars under the national average.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm looking at that as like, mind you, like I'm getting started, I'm 19, 20 years old.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking about it as okay, low entry point where I can still make some money.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if I want to go invest in California or Oregon, they're gonna cost me an arm and a leg.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right?
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm trying to go somewhere, it's a relatively large city that has those amenities that I'm looking for, but the entry point is lower.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so Indianapolis to me was the perfect marriage.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was easy, I liked it that way.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's sort of what drew me to Indianapolis.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, a lot of investors are flocking to Indianapolis um as it is as it is growing, you know, you guys are getting you guys the indie 500 is coming in, and uh got a lot of like traveling nurses and yeah, all that sort of stuff coming through.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: We got a lot of universities and colleges out there, so I I I I think it's a pretty good market to invest in um as as an investor.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you had mentioned some of those other ones, Florida, Texas, you know, those are popular ones, of course.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I those are pretty saturated though, as well.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like everybody when they think of the great ones, you know, that's exactly where they think.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that's where they go.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_01: However, with that being said, like my vision for this company and my goal is for us to be national.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I want to have a property in every state.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_01: Actually, really quickly, the name D to A Realty is actually inspired by the T Grizzly song from the D to the A, because we want to have houses from Detroit to Atlanta from the D to the A.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_01: People thought it was from D to A because my the Shane.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I figured.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's what people thought.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it kind of is too, because that works as well, but nah, it's a T Grizzly song from the D to the A.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: You want we want that.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, that's that's yeah, that's definitely not what I was expecting.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_00: I thought D today was just D John Deshain, the chain.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Alice Realty.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, like you wouldn't be wrong in thinking that.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: It is that too, but like what inspired us, what made us make that name, that was it.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: So now now that you know more about investing in this is a quick question, with the lower entry point, do you do you even still consider that a thing?
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, since you know that a creative finance is a thing, and and B, that you can get private money and hard money that you don't have to actually use your own money.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny we had a conversation about this yesterday.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um it still is, because like you can use other people's money, and I know that, but that doesn't come without some of your own money.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: You are going to have to pay some of that back.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, to me, in my position where my life is at right now, at 24 years old, being pretty much fresh out of university, yeah, I still like a low entry point.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, my capital is not out of this world yet.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like if things happen and I need to pay things back, I would much rather pay back an$100,000 loan than pay back a$500,000 loan.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah, you know, so I I'm looking at it as sort of mitigating the risks, because at this point in my life, I still need to do that.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you should always be mitigating the risks, but particularly ones that pertain to capital, I should be savvy about and and you know, brace myself because bad things can happen and and they have.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean if something goes south, you don't instead of being out a hundred grand or god forbid a million, you know, you you could be out 10 grand or something.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: So overall, what are your goals in your career?
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_00: A as an entrepreneur and B as an investor, if you have any goals outside of real estate as an entrepreneur.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then I know you were saying your vision is to be national.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that makes me think that you do want to acquire a rental portfolio and not just do flips your entire career.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're absolutely right in assuming that.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: I I I'm gonna take I'm gonna take some breaks with flips, man.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_01: What I want, hey, if I can get one thing for Christmas, it would be a rental property.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so Santa Claus, if you listen in, that's what I want.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_01: I know I might it might take you a while to be bringing out on the sled, but hey, that's that's exactly what I want.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a good boy this year too.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, like I I want I want assets at this point, like cash-flowing assets.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_01: That is exactly what I'm looking for.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: Things that I can set it and forget it.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: My stock portfolio looks like that.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_01: I just I buy a bunch of dividend stocks and I just autopilot.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's my style, that's what I like.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: I in terms of like my goals as an investor, like I said, I want to build a multinational company.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I want to be, you know, as big as we can be.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, to have different departments.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: I want to employ some of my friends and my people from my community back home, you know, that that's big to me.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's giving them an opportunity, you know.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe, you know, you can run this region of this of the country, and you can run this region of the country.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_01: Giving that through to our community, building that up and building this exactly how it is we wanted it to be built.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's that is just you know, putting on for the people, um, maybe even being able to redevelop neighborhoods that were previously not taken care of and not viewed as important because of the tenants and the people that live in those places, but now creating nice, affordable hose hoes housing that otherwise would not be there if there wasn't landlords that didn't care.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that that I really like.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's something that's important to me.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as far as like goals, is I guess those would be my goals as an investor.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now I like how you differentiated the two investor and entrepreneur, because the average millionaire has seven streams of income.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I would love to build maybe even ten of those things, right?
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, like if I could be in a bunch of different industries, that's actually something that I'm looking for now.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_01: I started working, like I'm working a job now, I got out of a uni and like you know, I'm starting to make a little bit more money, so I've got a little bit more capital, got a full-time, well-paying job with benefits, right?
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I can afford to start looking into other things now.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_01: So, like I had mentioned before, like I'm into stocks, I would love to get into app development.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would love to get into some of the newer, new up and coming industries, you know, AI, um all well, like whatever, electric vehicles, um anything that could possibly be profitable is something that I would be interested in.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I'm at work, I I try, I you know, I don't to be honest with you, like I don't I don't really I like my job, but it doesn't get me going, you know.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_01: So like when when there's downtime at work, which a lot of times there is, especially when in the office, like I'm researching stuff, I'm learning about new topics, I'm learning about new industries, I'm trying to find areas that I can sort of get in with not a crazy amount of money down.
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I guess goals in as an entrepreneur, I don't know what all the streams of income would be quite yet for me.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_01: But if I could be anywhere from seven to ten streams of income that I'm profitable in, that's what I'm looking for.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now I think this would be a good time to segue into what is your purpose?
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: What is your why?
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you were talking about affordable living.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is that your is that your reason behind it?
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously when we start, a lot of us we just think about the money just because we need to live.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_00: But in an ideal world, when you have all the money you need to to live comfortably, to live your lifestyle, what what is keeping you going each and every day?
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, um, so right, like my why essentially.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_01: Well, my why is that I want to live life on my own terms.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I know that's kind of cliche, but I'll go into that a little bit more.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, for example, at my job right now, if somebody tells me to jump, I gotta jump.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody tells me go fill up my calendar, I gotta fill up your calendar.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't like that.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I want to be able to do whatever I want when I want.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I know that you need you you need the ability, like you need the money for that.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I've got a lot of things that I'm passionate about and that I would love to do that are outside of finance.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_01: But I can't do those things if I'm working a full-time job, if I'm, you know, if I if I've got all these different responsibilities, like I want to be able to sort of live my life on autopilot and do whatever it is I want when I want.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like a big thing about my why, and this might even be I tell people this all the time, and they're like, I don't know, I guess they laugh or they think it's like I'm joking, but like honestly, a perfect day in my life would look like me just sitting around playing basketball all day, just doing whatever it is I want, like, you know, just being active, whatever, training, like going and checking out different different ways that I can do that.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_01: And if I'm not able to do that, working a job, like I would love to be able to just pack up my stuff and go to a random country and be a professional athlete there because I can for no other reason but the fact that just because I can.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I want I want those options, I want to be able to do that.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_01: So those are goals, those are things, like those, those are that's my most important thing in my life.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I love the most.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to be able to do those things whenever I want and not think twice about it.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and that that that's enough for me to keep me going.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_01: Some people say, you know, your why needs to be stronger because you're gonna hit something that's a lot bigger than you and that's gonna really challenge your commitment.
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_01: But for me, like, there ain't nothing bigger than that.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's all that's all I want to do, and I want to be able to give my children that opportunity when I have them.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_01: I want them to look at me and say, look, like dad does whatever he wants.
• 1:03:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like he goes to work when he wants to go to work, you know, but he also coaches at an underprivileged school, and he takes time off, and he just that's just what he does.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_01: He invests back in the youth, back into the communities.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't feel like I feel like my purpose and my being in this life is not for me to be somebody who fills out calendars for people, it's somebody who gives back to a community and gives and builds up the youth.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, like like I I believe in being high level in every aspect.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_01: So if that's being super fit, that's being super smart, that's being a good person, that's giving my all that.
• 1:04:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't feel that you can do those things when you're constrained to that of a nine to five.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I do what I do, and I build these income streams so that I can have that freedom.
• 1:04:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_00: So first building up the income stream to support yourself and your future family.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um question about your future family, and maybe you haven't thought about this yet, but uh how do you plan on, and this is a kind of a deep question, but how do you plan on raising them as far as do you plan on giving them everything they want, or do you plan on making them earn it and not necessarily you know, earn earn their way into the world so that they're not spoiled?
• 1:05:09
  SPEAKER_00: I hear that.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good question.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would definitely I think a lot of people get rich and they say things like, you know, I wouldn't give my kid anything, or I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't want them to grow up spoiled or anything.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like I don't necessarily think you can have that mindset because if you do, like, what's the point of all of it?
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if the whole point is to break generational curses and give your kids a better life and more privileges that you were afforded, so why is it that by the time you succeed that now you're not about to do that?
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not saying as soon as your child turns 16 years old, you gotta go out and buy them a sports car just because you know that's what they want.
• 1:05:50
  SPEAKER_01: But if you have the ability to give them cash flowing assets to give them things that are would probably not be able to be passed down.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_01: Had you not worked so hard and had you not been able to have these fruits of your labor, why did you do it all in the first place?
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, I'm not about to I'm not about to cut you off too, but I'm not about to give a new pair of shoes or a new pair of all these little materialistic things just because they want them, like, yeah, okay, maybe then they'll be spoiled.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're telling me that I could have a rental property that I could put in, you know, a future daughter or son's name when they're two years old that I'm not gonna do it, are you crazy?
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm definitely gonna do it.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_01: And then that now all the time, now all of a sudden they graduate high school, they graduate university, and they have five cash flowing properties in their name?
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why wouldn't you do that?
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah, like to me, not doing that erases all your hard work.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so I mean, what do you think about a potential of possibly making your children weak because they were handed those cash flowing assets and so they never have to work again, especially as a young man, obviously as a young woman, it might be different.
• 1:07:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I just think like in that case, like if privilege is something that you have, why not use it?
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, why not use it?
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yes, maybe you didn't get out the mud, like you know, some of these.
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_01: I can't really think of an example of somebody, but you know, maybe you didn't right.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you didn't grow up in a single parent household with and there was roaches on the floor and you didn't know where your food was gonna come about, and somebody couldn't rap about your childhood.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe, maybe that's not your maybe that's not your reality.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but like we are all in this world and every what I had mentioned about my wives wanting to be able to, you know, live a life free of constraints and being able to do what you want when you want, that's something that everybody would want to do.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you might be weak, weak minded because it wasn't given to you, but like if you're here and okay, let's say, let's say you were given all of these uh cash flowing assets, you know.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's say let's say you do graduate uh high school and you have five cash flowing properties, let's just say that.
• 1:08:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, so maybe maybe maybe those five cash flowing properties were given to you, and maybe you didn't have to hustle to get them.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_01: But if now I've built you up at a young age understanding the real estate game, you're gonna tell me that an 18-year-old who goes out and manages five cash flowing rentals isn't a hustler, isn't out here putting in work.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, maybe they didn't get them the hard way, but you know, you still have to maintain those.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be able to be in there and make sure that they're still profitable and that they're able to, you know, prosper from that.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_01: Not everybody can do that, yeah.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this is so that's just it.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we're all standing on each other's shoulders, like that's what my mom always says.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, my family, we're so I'm a descendant of, well, I mean, first of all, I'm a descendant of slaves, but like initially, like from my family that I know exactly, like um, we're immigrants from the Caribbean.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_01: So when my family came to to Canada in the 1960s, like we came from an impoverished, small country that probably most people listening to this have no idea what even exists.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_01: So we're that's where we're coming from.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_01: And my grandparents got here to Canada and they didn't really have a lot of money, but they came here knowing because I'm going to give my family a better advantage, and they weren't just talking about this generation, they're talking about all the generations.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_01: So my grandparents came here, immigrants from the Caribbean.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now my mom is here, and my mom is able to get a university degree and get a good job because of what they did.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm coming after her.
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm able to invest in real estate.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_01: Now my kids are coming after me, and now they're able to reap the fruit, reap the benefits, not reap the benefits, enjoy the fruits of our labor while also working in what makes sense for you and your life approach, which is what it looks like for you now.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're all standing on each other's shoulders, and eventually we're gonna get to the top.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I just made that analogy up right now, too, by the way.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I I was gonna ask you, do you in your mind do you think it would be a disservice to not provide that for your future family?
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then for your kids to provide even more of an advantage to their future children.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_00: You think you have to keep building and building and building?
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_01: I I think you've got to keep building and building, really.
• 1:10:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, yes, I do think it would be a disservice, not just to them, but to those who came before me as well.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because their vision wasn't that Alex was gonna come here and say, and and Alex was gonna be hard-headed and say, Hey, y'all are gonna have to get it out of the mud, and you know, y'all are gonna have to figure this out.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna give you nothing, even though it's all right here for me, and I can't bring none of this shit with me.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_01: That wasn't their vision.
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_01: They're gonna they're gonna look back at that and they're gonna say, Alright, everything was going smoothly, and now this idiot over here in the middle messed it up.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if it's a relay race and they're they're running and passing me the relay, I got to the last leg and I didn't give it to them.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_01: I just kept running with it.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's just stupid.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you keep on passing the torch.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's that's a disservice to to everybody, yeah, especially the foundation, and that's where the real crime is because they did not have to leave that that that small country for us to be flourishing and be successful now where we are.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_01: That that did not have to be with their case at all.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_01: They chose to do that, they knew that was a challenge, and in the year they came over here and before Jim Jim Crow lads were were de-established, right?
• 1:11:40
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like you know, you you're not coming here over here at the best time, yeah.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so it's like that was that was a challenge for them.
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then also it kind of feels small too, I would assume.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's like I I mean what who who am I if I literally cannot give this to my children after my grandparents came from nothing and came here to give us a better life?
• 1:12:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it when you put it in perspective, it's like it feels like you're doing nothing, but steady progress throughout uh generations.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_00: If not them, then who?
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's what I always I always think.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one thing I wanted to touch on for a little bit now, because I'm very passionate about it as well, is as an enthusiastic basketball player, how has your passion for the sport influenced your approach to business and personal development as well?
• 1:12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you you play ball too?
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I played ball growing up.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, I've just been shooting around a lot quite a few times a week.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm about to get into a turn out in January.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool.
• 1:12:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's what's up.
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um so for me, it all it all starts with the passion, like you had said.
• 1:12:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I I believe everything is connected, okay?
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I had mentioned before that to me the most important thing is is is the fitness and the sports and all that.
• 1:13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm in I play in two basketball leagues, and I'm also I'm also a track and field athlete as well, too.
• 1:13:09
  SPEAKER_01: I compete in the Canadian circuit with that.
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_01: When I'm not training and I'm not playing sports, and I'm not doing all that stuff, I'm not happy and I'm not well up here.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So for me to be well up here means that now when it comes to me getting on the phone and doing my business, I'm in the right mindset.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_01: I feel I feel good.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_01: The endorphins are going.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm good.
• 1:13:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I don't, I'm not bringing no baggage in, I'm not angry about anything, I'm just right where I need to be.
• 1:13:40
  SPEAKER_01: So to me, if that's actually where everything starts.
• 1:13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like I work, my days look like this.
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like I work, I work in 95, I work all day, and then I have practice right afterwards for track, and I go there right afterwards, and I'm in a great mood when I get there because I'm running, I'm I'm I'm using my body, and that to me is therapeutic.
• 1:14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So everything stems from that though.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because if I have let's say I didn't do that, now I'm at work and I'm pissed off.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I here?
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking I could be doing this, I could be doing that.
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody wants to get on the phone.
• 1:14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Alex, can we talk?
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, man, I I can't.
• 1:14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to talk to you.
• 1:14:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm frustrated.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah you know.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, Alex, do you think this is a good idea to do this deal?
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Nah, man, I don't.
• 1:14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm angry and I'm I'm you know, I haven't gotten my fix and I I don't want to hear from you because I'm not happy.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_01: To me, like the most important, like you need to be happy.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like that's so important.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_01: How you don't need to be a high-level athlete to do that.
• 1:14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever way, whatever floats you're both have.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you if you like playing the flute, if that's your thing, cool.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to be a basket weaver and that's what gets you going every day when you wake up, all right, cool.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you basket weave every single day of your life.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you need to do something.
• 1:14:54
  SPEAKER_01: If something makes you smile and you love it, don't ever, ever say no to it.
• 1:14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Never.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I graduated uni, you know, and a lot of people like they think like, oh, you're done uni, you didn't go pro, like, okay, you need to stop playing basketball, you need to stop being fit.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because but I'm 20, 22 when I graduated, or 20, no, I was 22.
• 1:15:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm 22 and I'm in the best shape of my life.
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, and now I just have to not be athletic and lay on the couch all day and get fat.
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, nah, I'm good.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people do that, and yeah, they're probably pretty angry and not very happy, and that's why they don't do other things because they're mad and they get home after work every day and they're pissed off and they don't want to do anything because they're in a bad mood.
• 1:15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so to me, the sports and the fitness and all that, it powers everything, everything, not just business, career, how I interact with people on a daily basis, how I am as a family member, everything, every single thing goes right back to that.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because if I'm if I'm not in the right mindset, I cannot do any of that stuff.
• 1:15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, where do you think you would be if you did not indulge in basketball and and running and these things that you enjoy, this physical activity?
• 1:16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, would you would you even be in real estate?
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, maybe not.
• 1:16:10
  SPEAKER_01: I might have started and then things wouldn't have gone well, and I wouldn't have built up that perseverance, and I wouldn't be able to keep going through it.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_01: I would probably be overweight and resentful, to be honest with you.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_01: And that that's not a good color on anybody.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how much you know about the Reborn Podcast.
• 1:16:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually originally started uh around mental health specifically because I went through some mental health adversities growing up, and I went right now, I'm from my top weight, I'm down about 65 pounds.
• 1:16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Umgratulations.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_01: I saw your first video where you were uh where you were you were talking about that.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I see that.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that's something I'm very, very, very, very passionate about.
• 1:16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually been talking to some people recently, and I'm planning on starting a group uh here in Indianapolis, a Christian's men's, possibly entrepreneurs group.
• 1:17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I guess I'm spoiling a little bit right now, but around mental health and meeting some other people that might be partners.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's I mean, I I've been talking, I've been talking to people.
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, if I can accomplish one thing in my life, that would be to, and I don't think, I don't know if it's really possible to solve mental health, but to be a big leader in that space and to to help to help break that stigma, you know, today's a big stigma.
• 1:17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing with basketball is I just picked up a basketball again for the first time a few months ago in years, and it was very it was almost therapeutic because um I used to do it competitively, and now just and I don't know, I think you still do um correct.
• 1:17:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I do, yeah, yeah.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, just going from kind of having it so competitive to now, just being able to play and shoot around just for for relieving stress.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think especially when you get to do that in the beginning of your day, like you said, those endorphins get going, your your mood is boosted.
• 1:18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're even if you're doing stuff that you don't want to do, you know, cold calling, and no one particularly, I don't think, enjoys cold calling, but you're much more encouraged and motivated to do it.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you feel you're again your endorphins, your your your mood is boosted.
• 1:18:25
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you have something to look forward to also.
• 1:18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_01: When this is over, I get to do this.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think health, and I think health is in mental health specifically is the base of everything, whether it's business or creating other relationships or whatever it is.
• 1:18:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can't have that.
• 1:18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, yeah, to me, fitness and mental health go hand in hand.
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm I'm saying exactly what you're saying.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's just my vehicle to get me there.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's I mean, I I think you are mental health is more important than physical health, but I don't think you can achieve peak mental health without physical health.
• 1:19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you you you were talking about you know basket weaving and whatnot, and that can also be therapeutical, but you also always need something physical in your life, whether that's yoga or lifting weights or basketball or whatever it may be.
• 1:19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, whatever it may be.
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, exactly, exactly.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_01: I was just sort of you know giving out examples of whatever.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you are a basket weaver, make sure you're going for walks and going to the gym too.
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's important.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, man.
• 1:19:32
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, you were talking about I'm sorry?
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_00: No, I was gonna I was gonna say I think walks are another key thing, and walks specifically, or I mean possibly runs, but as an entrepreneur especially, it's easy to get sucked into working all day, and yeah, A, you're not gonna be productive towards the end of the day, and B, you're just gonna feel down and uh burnt out.
• 1:19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So what I suggest is is taking a 10, 15, 20, 30 minute break in the middle of your day to just go on a walk with like no music, just just enjoying the the weather and taking a break and trying your hardest also to not think about what's going on during work.
• 1:20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Although I will also say that some of my best ideas have come to me when I'm on walks, not thinking, not trying to think about work.
• 1:20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm I get my steps in.
• 1:20:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always walking.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I take an hour for lunch every day, and I'll if I'm in the off because I work uh three days a week from home, two days a week from the office.
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_01: If I'm in home, I'll probably go for like 30 minutes, 30 to 45, because you know, I'll eat my lunch and then I'll go for my walk to take my dog out.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_01: But if I'm in that office, I eat before my lunch and I go for a one-hour walk because the office is you know, it's it's constraining, it's it's it's not nice, it's not it's not where you want to be.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm man, I'm always walking, man.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a BMW, a black man walking, brother.
• 1:20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always, always getting my steps in.
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Every single day.
• 1:21:01
  SPEAKER_01: I I love that.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_01: I love to go for a walk.
• 1:21:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm right with you.
• 1:21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Although I will say, I'm always listening to music or podcasts when I do it.
• 1:21:09
  SPEAKER_01: I hear you, it is like like it is like no.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you do need to just do it raw and and and walk and stuff and all that, but ah, more often than not, I definitely have something going in my ears.
• 1:21:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I've noticed too is going to the gym, and this is more difficult, I would say I don't I don't do this too often, but going to the gym without music is not as bad as it sounds.
• 1:21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you think about going to the gym without music, it's like what I yeah, yeah.
• 1:21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I know what you mean.
• 1:21:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know what you mean, yeah.
• 1:21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, music's a big part of my life too.
• 1:21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I've never like been the type to like make music or any of that.
• 1:21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's not my thing.
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_01: But as far as listening and appreciating music, oh man, like I'm somebody drops an album, like I'm right on that.
• 1:21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm listening through the whole thing, I'm analyzing it, I'm I'm checking out all different from different eras.
• 1:21:58
  SPEAKER_01: I love music, like yeah, no, big part.
• 1:22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Who are your top artists?
• 1:22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Who are your top three or top five go-to artists?
• 1:22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Artists in general or like in a particular genre, just artists, period.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Artists in general, and then I guess if you have a specific genre that you like, what is that?
• 1:22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, artists in general, that's tough.
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um damn, that's really oh, oh man, you put me on the spot here.
• 1:22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, uh, in no particular order.
• 1:22:27
  SPEAKER_01: Dirk has to be there.
• 1:22:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I listen to a lot of little Dirk.
• 1:22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Dirk has to be there for sure.
• 1:22:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna say Dirk.
• 1:22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 1:22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't want to just do hip-hop, I wanna be like sort of wide.
• 1:22:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna I'm gonna give you two hip-hop guys.
• 1:22:46
  SPEAKER_01: So Dirk Lil Wayne is the greatest rapper ever, so Lil Dirk, Lil Wayne.
• 1:22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Give me Bob Marley, give me Lauren Hill, and one more greatest artist.
• 1:23:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say I'm gonna say Michael Jackson.
• 1:23:15
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like he's gotta be in there.
• 1:23:16
  SPEAKER_01: So influential, so you know, you gotta re reserve a spot for him.
• 1:23:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna put him in there.
• 1:23:22
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in terms of genres, I'm a big I love rap, hip hop, uh, RB, soul, neo soul, gospel, um, even folk music.
• 1:23:33
  SPEAKER_01: I started getting into that.
• 1:23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Some Ella Jenkins.
• 1:23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, that's that would probably be some of my main stuff.
• 1:23:39
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit of jazz, not too too much, but a little bit.
• 1:23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm I I try to keep an open mind too.
• 1:23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and I how can I forget?
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_01: I love I love my dance hall, Caribbean music, Afro beats, all that sort of stuff too.
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Big enough of that as well.
• 1:23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's that's most of what I listen to.
• 1:23:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's a that's a good top five.
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hear from the audience what your top five is and what genres you guys like to listen to.
• 1:24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Drop that in the comments.
• 1:24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Dirk, I haven't listened to in a while.
• 1:24:06
  SPEAKER_00: Lil Wayne is fire, Bob Narley haven't listened to in a while.
• 1:24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Lauren Hill I don't think I've listened to in a while.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Michael Jackson can't go wrong there.
• 1:24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, um being being kind of against the odds, being in going back to the real estate, um, being against the odds, being young and being an out-of-country investor and being black as well.
• 1:24:31
  SPEAKER_00: You your bio on the D2A Realty uh mentions that you're black-owned, and I think you have the uh the hashtag the kids from Canada, I believe, in there.
• 1:24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, can you discuss the importance of representation, both as a black man and as a Canadian in the USA and diversity in the real estate industry and how it may shape your approach?
• 1:24:53
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 1:24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, nah, I gotta be honest.
• 1:24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Hashtag the kids from Canada, I did definitely steal that from LeBron, hashtag the kid from Akron.
• 1:25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Not gonna lie, definitely that is yeah, for sure.
• 1:25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um however, the the black side of that, I find it extremely important just on the fact that like when you look at when you look at we were talking about it before, you know, with generations and passing down that wealth, black folks most of the time don't have businesses to pass down to their kids.
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so already there's that.
• 1:25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Usually, you know, there's there's exceptions to the rules, and I'm sure you know you can for yourself as you're you're Latino, aren't you?
• 1:25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm I'm uh half Middle Eastern and half Hispanic.
• 1:25:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:25:37
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm even for you as well, I'm sure it's the same, same sort of thing, same kind of inspiration that uh that comes from it that way.
• 1:25:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, I just think that with that, like that's the biggest thing, is is is driving that.
• 1:25:51
  SPEAKER_01: And but also, you know, having people that look like you in these spaces, like if I can be somebody for that for the youth, that's powerful to me.
• 1:25:59
  SPEAKER_01: That means the world to me.
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm I'm super I I really love education.
• 1:26:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm super advocate, I advocate for that.
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I actually do want to one day be in teaching um and you know, working with like inner city kids.
• 1:26:12
  SPEAKER_01: So if I have this a business that I built up and I can share my experiences with that, with with them and talk with them about that, you know, that that to me that means the world.
• 1:26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um and being some of those figures, you know, when you look at black people, you know, when you just say the word the words black people, who's gonna come to mind?
• 1:26:34
  SPEAKER_01: Not not that these people aren't all my idols though, but Tupac, LeBron, Kobe, rest his soul, um, you know, Michael, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, you know, all these entertainers and athletes.
• 1:26:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's what people think about when they think of black people.
• 1:26:49
  SPEAKER_01: But there's another aspect of black people that are so ignored and just don't get credit for it.
• 1:26:55
  SPEAKER_01: But people don't realize there have been black entrepreneurs for for years.
• 1:26:58
  SPEAKER_01: There was a Negro Business League that was uh created like at the turn of the of the 20th century.
• 1:27:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you have Booker T.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_01: Washington, who was has his own business college, he's the first black man to ever be invited into the White House.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_01: You have A.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_01: G.
• 1:27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Gaston, he's an a self-made black American millionaire who's only like a generation removed from slavery.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_01: You got Alonzo Herndon, who had his barber shops and turned that into a million-dollar enterprise.
• 1:27:22
  SPEAKER_01: You have Madame CJ Walker, the first black woman millionaire ever in this country, right?
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_01: So there is such another there, like there are so many other aspects to black people that just don't get talked about and aren't celebrated.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_01: So if in these spaces, you know, we can be proud of being, you know, a majority black owned in like corporation, you know, with black partners, black contractors, black agents, you know, giving back to communities that are for the most part, you know, impoverished and have are in mostly inhabited by black residents.
• 1:27:58
  SPEAKER_01: If those are things that we can do and build.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Up our own communities while also teaching the next generation and our kids that hey, if you can't dribble a ball or write a rhyme, your life's not over.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's but a lot of kids feel like that.
• 1:28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, if you're a kid, like I was just recently in New York City, and I was in I was in Harlem, uh, at at the Rucker Park.
• 1:28:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, going through there, like you look at it and like Harlem's a beautiful place, don't get me wrong, but there are there are some neighborhoods like that where it can feel like you're trapped and you don't have a lot of opportunity to get out because you know, you look around you, there's violence, you know, there's single mothers, there's drugs, you know, all of that.
• 1:28:38
  SPEAKER_01: Your dad is incarcerated, your friends are incarcerated, you're losing friends at an early age.
• 1:28:42
  SPEAKER_01: All of that can make you feel trapped and make you feel like like, you know, like I said, like if I'm not I'm not a kid who can jump 45 inches in the air, you know, I don't have the lyrical melodies of Jay-Z, you know.
• 1:28:57
  SPEAKER_01: So am I stuck here for the rest of my life because I don't have these extremely rare god-given talents, and nobody else in any under other industry other than entertainment or sports looks like me?
• 1:29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's crazy, you know.
• 1:29:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, like to go back to your part about representation, like if I can be that for some kid to think like, hey, you know, like I can be a black self-made millionaire because D DayA Realty is a huge company that is founded exclusively by black people and employs black people and builds up black communities, that's gonna that would mean everything to me.
• 1:29:29
  SPEAKER_01: If only one, if one kid said that, that would I would feel as though this entire mission was completed.
• 1:29:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so if if I was able to do something like that, that that to me would be amazing.
• 1:29:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love the youth, the youth are our future, I love education, but all of that, like we can if we can be those figures, be that change that you want to see in society for yourself, that's why that's important to me and our entire team, and we're all on the same page about that.
• 1:29:53
  SPEAKER_00: So just breaking the stereotype again as of being an entertainer, an athlete as a black person, and that being the only way that you can lead a successful life.
• 1:30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and as you were saying earlier, lead a life that is your life, that your life is not dictated by your boss, which uh most of the time is black is white, is right.
• 1:30:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's that's that's interesting.
• 1:30:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's I mean, that's it's it's powerful because yeah, I mean, there are there definitely is a stereotype.
• 1:30:29
  SPEAKER_00: When you do think of black people, you don't think of too many black entrepreneurs, but you just listed at least five to ten of them.
• 1:30:38
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I mean, you'll you and Donovan and uh Deshain should be three of those names to add on to there when we when we talk again in 20 years.
• 1:30:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to see what the future what the future holds for you guys.
• 1:30:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's and and not even not only what the future holds for you guys, but what the future holds for your children, what the future holds for your community, what the future holds for the people that you're gonna be impacting by doing what you're doing in the world.
• 1:31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, man.
• 1:31:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's just it.
• 1:31:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's so much bigger than all of us, really.
• 1:31:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you when you think of it as bigger than us, it gives you a lot more power because, for example, you're waking up at 5 a.m.
• 1:31:25
  SPEAKER_00: in the morning, and it's like, am I worth it?
• 1:31:29
  SPEAKER_00: You know, your your bitch voice starts talking, but then when you wake up at 5 a.m.
• 1:31:34
  SPEAKER_00: in the morning, you think about all these people that you're impacting.
• 1:31:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you're religious, but you think about God and you think about the the purpose that you're serving, and I think you are religious because you were talking about gospel music earlier, but right, yeah.
• 1:31:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's much more it's much easier to get up than we're when we're just like, oh yeah, I'm gonna get up and uh make some phone calls to some sellers and go hopefully get a deal rather than no, I'm gonna make I'm gonna wake up so that I can A, make some money so that I can feed back into my community, but also B, so that I can serve my purpose as a God-fearing man, um, and and help revitalize.
• 1:32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really what you're doing as an entrepreneur in real estate, is revitalizing communities, and in your case, specifically revitalizing black communities and helping these black people come to living a life that's not like many black black men and women have lived in the past, one that's more comfortable and preferably for those that are willing to put in the work, it's also one that they control their own life.
• 1:32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now I think we started with this, um, and so maybe you have you have the same answer.
• 1:32:47
  SPEAKER_00: But can you recall a specific moment of failure or setback in your real estate journey and how it ultimately contributed to your growth and success?
• 1:32:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if this is the same setback of the deal with New Western, maybe how did you learn from it?
• 1:33:03
  SPEAKER_00: How did it contribute to your growth and success today?
• 1:33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, that would definitely be the main sort of one.
• 1:33:12
  SPEAKER_01: I guess like another sort of setback, I guess, would be the time it took before, like, you know, we s actually started to get the thing off the ground and make some money.
• 1:33:21
  SPEAKER_01: But I'll I'll I'll I'll touch on that one.
• 1:33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh your your second question there.
• 1:33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um how did we bounce back um and and you know, sort of get back on track?
• 1:33:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, honestly, like by the time the deal was done, we had met Donovan and we we were getting ready to create a new partnership.
• 1:33:41
  SPEAKER_01: We had gotten a new contractor and a new agent.
• 1:33:45
  SPEAKER_01: So when we that part of the in the podcast earlier, when we were talking about, you know, wanting to build up all those things, you know, having a having a contractor, an agent, and uh and a quality wholesaler, we had all that afterwards.
• 1:33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like like I had said, you know, you need all you need bad things to happen before good things happen, right?
• 1:34:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:34:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we ended up, we got just that.
• 1:34:07
  SPEAKER_01: Our network grew extensively.
• 1:34:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like cause and also like I had mentioned, all those calls I was making and all those like to try and move the property.
• 1:34:14
  SPEAKER_01: I met so many people through that that now, you know, want to do deals with us or wanna, you know, just really work with us and be per possibly partners or investors with us.
• 1:34:26
  SPEAKER_01: So so that really grew and that's helped us a lot.
• 1:34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, mentally I would say mentally is where it helped us the most.
• 1:34:36
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of like you know, the things that don't always show up on the stat sheet, you know?
• 1:34:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like obviously those the new contacts was great.
• 1:34:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely, but it was the adversity of that built, and knowing like, wow, like it can't really get much worse than this, to be honest with you.
• 1:34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like we've been to the valleys right now, right?
• 1:34:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, or the valley or the peak, I don't know.
• 1:34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, the valley, the valley, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:35:00
  SPEAKER_01: We we've been we've been at the valley, yeah, we've been at the valley, you know, like we've been there when we were already paying interest payments and struggling with those to figure those out, and then we get a phone call telling us that now there's water damage and you need to pay for that too.
• 1:35:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then we also had a time where we we actually almost sold it like four times.
• 1:35:21
  SPEAKER_01: It never like it kept going through the inspection, and the people that were going it were like, ah, nah, maybe not.
• 1:35:26
  SPEAKER_01: So being right there on the doorstep, right being able to go, and then now it's snatched and taken away from you.
• 1:35:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like like how much worse can it really get?
• 1:35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're bleeding money here, more things they're adding that we need to pay for, and we're getting teased.
• 1:35:39
  SPEAKER_01: It can't get much worse than that.
• 1:35:41
  SPEAKER_01: So now I'm thinking, I'm like, yo, I can I can get through this.
• 1:35:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, like there'll be challenges that will come, but like that was a pretty big storm, you know, and like we we managed and weathered, and yeah, you know, one could argue that maybe we got out of there better than we than we came in.
• 1:35:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that that that really helps all of us mentally, really.
• 1:35:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:36:00
  SPEAKER_00: So just being in and well, let me ask you this do you do you think it was good that you experienced the valleys so early in your career because now you have so much time ahead of you where you will have be able you will have that education from those mistakes that were made?
• 1:36:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:36:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the way you explain that is exactly what I would say.
• 1:36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so early in the career, experiencing it now, and then now, now you know, when things get tough.
• 1:36:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, like I'm thinking now, like, hey, let's say let's say we have another flip, you know, five, ten years from now, and it goes just as poorly as this.
• 1:36:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:36:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, yeah, maybe it goes just as poorly, but now I have so much more money and capital to work with it.
• 1:36:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that already, awesome.
• 1:36:49
  SPEAKER_01: I've also seen this before, and I know exactly what to do.
• 1:36:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:36:53
  SPEAKER_01: So now, like, I'm now it's just it's you know, um, it's it's water off a duck's back.
• 1:36:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, um, it's it's fine.
• 1:37:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's not a big deal.
• 1:37:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just exactly the way you put it, yeah.
• 1:37:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I think that I think the connections are a big thing as well.
• 1:37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, just being being able to go from there to where you're at now, and and I mean, the other thing is Indiana does have a much lower entry point as we were talking about earlier, so you know, you'd much rather do that in Indiana than you would in California when it's you know much, much, much, much bigger numbers.
• 1:37:27
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 1:37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 1:37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:37:29
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, it's very interesting that you're still competing in basketball, and that's something I'd like to get into as well myself.
• 1:37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but with your background in both real estate investing and athletics, what advice do you have for individuals looking to balance their passions and pursuits in multiple areas of life?
• 1:37:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think time management is the ultimate skill.
• 1:37:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was fortunate to be a student athlete, and I absolutely had to establish time management.
• 1:38:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, like, you know, you you go from school and then you go to practice and then you go to, you know, games, whatever, preparing your body, preparing your mind.
• 1:38:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm still kind of dealing with that now.
• 1:38:12
  SPEAKER_01: I guess I would say I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm a corporate athlete, I guess you could say.
• 1:38:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um like every day, you know, I I go to work, but my bag is like I've got my backpack and it's got, you know, my my spikes are in there, I've got my my shoes, I've got my my gear, so I gotta lay out, you know, what I'm gonna wear to practice tomorrow, and then I gotta lay out what I'm gonna wear to work tomorrow, and then I gotta lay out my lunch, and I gotta have enough food.
• 1:38:35
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I would just say to you, like, if you're or to anybody who's listening and sort of wants to balance the two, like establish the priorities in your mind.
• 1:38:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you love, if it's your passion, presumably you love it.
• 1:38:50
  SPEAKER_01: So if you love, you know, whatever sport it is you do and you wanna do that, it's like okay, well, do it.
• 1:38:58
  SPEAKER_01: Work around, understand that you have 24 hours in the day.
• 1:39:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's more time than you think.
• 1:39:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, you go to work and that's that's eight hours, like, okay, you know, you should hopefully you're sleeping eight hours.
• 1:39:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, okay, you got 16 hours to play with.
• 1:39:09
  SPEAKER_01: You got eight hours at work, you've still got eight hours after work is done.
• 1:39:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, yeah, how much time are you really gonna spend eating, showering, and you know, doing the basics that you need to do?
• 1:39:20
  SPEAKER_01: You've probably still got a solid six, maybe seven hours, you know, to be doing that stuff.
• 1:39:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like understanding like it can feel overwhelming, but like you have more time than you than you think.
• 1:39:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, you know, you're gonna have late nights.
• 1:39:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like when I like I said, I work uh office and uh at home.
• 1:39:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like if I go into the office and I I leave the house at 7:40, the practice is over at about we have practice till like 8 30 and then we lift until like nine, nine thirty.
• 1:39:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm home at 10 30.
• 1:39:55
  SPEAKER_01: Days are like 13 hours long, like they're long days.
• 1:39:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's gonna take you're gonna have to do early mornings or late nights, I would say.
• 1:40:03
  SPEAKER_01: One of the two.
• 1:40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I personally don't love getting out of bed super early in the morning.
• 1:40:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like some people people always assume that I do.
• 1:40:10
  SPEAKER_01: I really don't.
• 1:40:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'll do it if I have to.
• 1:40:13
  SPEAKER_01: I prefer to do the late nights.
• 1:40:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:40:15
  SPEAKER_01: So like find that time.
• 1:40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like you'll just have to work in these sort of unconventional hours, but if you really like it and you really want to do it, there's no reason that you can't.
• 1:40:26
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely not.
• 1:40:28
  SPEAKER_00: So just being very being very effective with your time.
• 1:40:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, do you use any time management strategies, hacks, that kind of thing?
• 1:40:39
  SPEAKER_00: Do you time block or do you I mean obviously nine to five, you have you're you're nine to five.
• 1:40:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um do you use Eisenhower matrix?
• 1:40:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's something I've used, uh, again, time blocking, anything like that?
• 1:40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Any technical ways to be uh efficient with your time?
• 1:40:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:40:57
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, nah, man.
• 1:40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm I'm not like a technical procedural kind of guy.
• 1:41:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm really like I'm a wing it off the top kind of guy.
• 1:41:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's why like working with Donovan really helps because that's how Donovan is.
• 1:41:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's systematic, like he's right down, bang, bang, bang, bam, bang.
• 1:41:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not like that.
• 1:41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's just not how I operate.
• 1:41:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've always sort of just been like, it's just kind of all I know.
• 1:41:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like since like middle school, you know, it's been you do your schoolwork, you go do whatever it is you do after that.
• 1:41:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's always just sort of been how I've been.
• 1:41:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know anything else.
• 1:41:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I know I don't really have techniques or anything like that.
• 1:41:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, to be honest with you, I don't, I'm not an early riser.
• 1:41:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not out here waking up at five o'clock in the morning, you know, and having the the Rocky theme song go.
• 1:41:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that's not me.
• 1:41:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, yeah.
• 1:41:45
  SPEAKER_01: People just assume it is, but it's it's it's it's really not.
• 1:41:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like on the weekends, I wake up super late.
• 1:41:49
  SPEAKER_01: I sleep in because my weeks are tiring.
• 1:41:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, and when I say late, like I mean late.
• 1:41:54
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not those people that say they sleep in and they wake up at 10.
• 1:41:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, nah, bro.
• 1:41:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm up at damn near noon on the weekends.
• 1:41:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you.
• 1:42:02
  SPEAKER_01: I can't be sleeping.
• 1:42:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:42:05
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why like I need to take that time to be like to be sleep, you know.
• 1:42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we have on Saturdays, we'll have our lifts that we have as well.
• 1:42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Like Sundays I've got I've got ball, like I've got all that stuff.
• 1:42:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it all happens, but man, like I need I need my sleep.
• 1:42:18
  SPEAKER_01: Trust.
• 1:42:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like during the week though, I'm I'm on it, you know, I'm I'm there, I'm there.
• 1:42:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like to me, man, it's just I've never really had the the systems or the tips or anything.
• 1:42:27
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think I've just been blessed enough to just have it.
• 1:42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I think I love it so much that I don't need to like manage it.
• 1:42:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm gonna find a way to do it.
• 1:42:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not you know, I'm not, I don't have a bedtime.
• 1:42:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, nobody's here telling me like Alex, you need to be asleep by 1030 to figure this out.
• 1:42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, like you know, like if I need if my lift needs to end at 9 45 and I'm eating dinner at 10 30, well then I guess that's just how it's gonna be.
• 1:42:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:42:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's just that's just it.
• 1:42:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, a lot of I think sometimes with people what they struggle with that is actually is they let these time constraints and these time management, like, yo, you should eat dinner at five, you should do this at that.
• 1:43:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I mean, yeah, you probably should, but like you don't have to.
• 1:43:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:43:12
  SPEAKER_01: If the system that you work with and that you live in, if that's how it has to be and that's how it ends up being, hey man, get it how you live it.
• 1:43:19
  SPEAKER_01: Then that's then that's how it has to be.
• 1:43:21
  SPEAKER_01: Like, simple as that.
• 1:43:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that goes for everything.
• 1:43:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of people, I think, to you to your point about mental health, like, I think a lot of like, you know, there I think I saw somewhere with like 65% of young men, like 18 to 30 or something like that, are single.
• 1:43:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that that can be, I know it's kind of off topic, but I'm gonna wrap it back.
• 1:43:40
  SPEAKER_01: That can be like, you know, something like, whoa, like you know, that that can you know that can affect some people.
• 1:43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Big but I think the biggest reason as to why they think that is because they feel like, oh, I should be getting ready to be married in my mid-20s.
• 1:43:53
  SPEAKER_01: I should be having kids by 30, you know, and it's like when they're not, now they're like, ah, I'm behind.
• 1:43:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I have to follow these timelines.
• 1:44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there ain't no timelines.
• 1:44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like, find the time wherever you need to find the time, and however it works for you, it works for you.
• 1:44:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I'd say.
• 1:44:09
  SPEAKER_00: I think um, I think that's a really powerful point because if you want, if you truly want to get something done, and it's not just, oh, I want to build a million-dollar business, but it's just cool to say, if it's truly something you want to get done, it will get done.
• 1:44:26
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing is you were saying it's on your timeline.
• 1:44:30
  SPEAKER_00: So something that uh I was talking to Donovan about the other day, uh a week or two um ago, and he was saying, I was talking to him about uh Alex Hermozzi, one of my business role models, and he's and he was against it because he was like, I'm not Alex Chermozy, I'm Donovan Green.
• 1:44:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is you know, this is my life.
• 1:44:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, you know, I'm not on his timeline, you know.
• 1:44:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, just just because there's so much education out there, and and and some of it's good, and some of it is not so good, but there's even on the good side of stuff, there's so much.
• 1:45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, there's content that'll tell you literally the opposite of something else that someone else told you, because anything, or not anything, but so many different things can work, such as in real estate flipping or wholesaling, or or uh you know, investing in a uh REIT or investing in a syndicate or whatever that is.
• 1:45:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's it's your life.
• 1:45:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's a great way to wrap it up.
• 1:45:28
  SPEAKER_00: I do have one last question for you uh that I ask you on, and what that question is, is if you could give the audience one actionable piece of advice, what would that be to get started?
• 1:45:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like just like one thing they can take action on, kind of thing?
• 1:45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, just one.
• 1:45:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, whether it's whatever whatever comes to the top of your mind, one actionable piece of advice.
• 1:45:51
  SPEAKER_00: I always like to ask actionable because act advice is very easy to be like, oh, that's a cool quote or whatever, but actionable means that that's something they can do in the next 24 hours.
• 1:46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Something they can do in the next 24 hours.
• 1:46:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hmm.
• 1:46:06
  SPEAKER_01: Something you can do in the next 24 hours.
• 1:46:09
  SPEAKER_01: I would say for I I talk to myself a lot.
• 1:46:16
  SPEAKER_01: Some people think that's weird.
• 1:46:18
  SPEAKER_01: Go for a walk for like an hour and spend an hour getting to know yourself.
• 1:46:23
  SPEAKER_01: Figure it out, see where you're at, you know, be happy with where things are at right now.
• 1:46:29
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you reflect a little bit.
• 1:46:31
  SPEAKER_01: How did this affect me?
• 1:46:32
  SPEAKER_01: How will that affect me?
• 1:46:34
  SPEAKER_01: Are things where I want them to be?
• 1:46:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just reflect.
• 1:46:37
  SPEAKER_01: Talk to yourself, figure it out.
• 1:46:39
  SPEAKER_01: What do you like?
• 1:46:40
  SPEAKER_01: What do you not like?
• 1:46:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's what I would say.
• 1:46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now is is music or a podcast a yes or no here?
• 1:46:50
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely not a pod, definitely not a podcast, because a podcast, like I'm hey, when I watch my shows, I get super into them.
• 1:46:58
  SPEAKER_01: The same thing goes for my podcast.
• 1:46:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if I'm listening to my podcast, like I listen to all the smoke with Matt Barnes and Steven Jackson, like I'm locked in, I'm listening, like that's all I do.
• 1:47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm I'm trying to hear everything these guys say.
• 1:47:09
  SPEAKER_01: So not a podcast.
• 1:47:10
  SPEAKER_01: Music, but not fully blasting.
• 1:47:14
  SPEAKER_01: It can be like somewhat in the background, you know, maybe it's setting a little bit of a mood, you know.
• 1:47:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's what I would say.
• 1:47:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's it's might be a little better to go without the music, but yeah, that's yeah.
• 1:47:26
  SPEAKER_01: More times though, when I do it, I probably do have music in the background.
• 1:47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this was the Reborn Podcast with Tony Buchos.
• 1:47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Today we had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Giddens, who is a real estate investor and entrepreneur that is very involved in a black community and wants to revitalize that community and also provide the family, provide its future family a life that they don't need to escape from, as well as providing that for himself.
• 1:47:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Alex, it was an honor speaking with you, and I appreciate your time.
• 1:47:57
  SPEAKER_00: No doubt, man.
• 1:47:58
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing to you, likewise, and thanks so much for having me.
• 1:48:00
  SPEAKER_01: This was a lot of fun, man.
• 1:48:01
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 1:48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:48:04
  SPEAKER_00: One last question.
• 1:48:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know I said that before.
• 1:48:07
  SPEAKER_00: Where can people find you at?
• 1:48:09
  SPEAKER_01: Oh man, they can find me on Instagram underscore all things A G.
• 1:48:14
  SPEAKER_01: They can find me on uh D Da Realty, uh, the Instagram as well, at D Da Realty.
• 1:48:18
  SPEAKER_01: Come check me out.
• 1:48:19
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 1:48:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:48:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and everyone, I definitely recommend reaching out.
• 1:48:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, Alex is a great guy, as you can see in this episode.
• 1:48:26
  SPEAKER_00: And go do go go go do some deals with him.
• 1:48:30
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a seasoned or a new investor, go do some deals with Alex.
• 1:48:35
  SPEAKER_00: My man, I appreciate you.