4 Tips for Growing Your Real Estate Business

Mike: This is the Flipnerd.com Expert Real Estate Investing Show, the show for real estate investors whether you’re a veteran or brand new. I’m your host Mike Hambright and each week I bring you a new expert guest that will share their knowledge and lessons with you. If you’re excited about real estate investing, believe in personal responsibility, and taking control of your life and financial destiny, you’re in the right place.
This is episode number 372 and my guest today is my good friend Brian Ellwood. Today, we discuss four powerful tips to grow your real estate investing business. Now, many or maybe most real estate investors get into investing in search for freedom, you want financial freedom, freedom of your time, but really most of us get stuck being self-employed. And even if you’re doing well financially you might be stuck still having to work maybe even more than you did before you became a real estate investor.
You’re going to enjoy this discussion because we’re trying to help take you to a whole other level. We also share some great resources to help you on your journey as well. With no further ado, please help me welcome, Brian Ellwood to the show. Brian, welcome to the show my friend.
Brian: What’s up Mike, thanks for having me.
Mike: Yeah, always good to see you.
Brian: How are you doing today?
Mike: I’m good, I’m good, and I’m excited to talk about these topics and you and I have talked a lot about, you know, I think probably our conversations tend to be more philosophical in the sense that, or strategic I should say, right? So I think a lot of times on the show we’ve talked about how to do specific things or as real estate investors it’s easy for us to get in the weeds. But once you’ve bought hundreds of houses and you start to talk to people like us and we’re talking to each other, you kind of get, you start to think a lot more about strategy, right, like how do I grow, and I’ve created this thing, and is it serving me the way I want it to, and things like that.
So I know we’re going to . . . I probably started to take this a little more philosophical than what we’re actually going to go to today but I’m excited to talk about how people can really think about their business and how to make sure it’s serving them.
Brian: Absolutely. Let’s take it high level.
Mike: Yeah. So hey, before we jump in, and everybody, we’re going to talk about really four different powerful ways to grow your real estate investing business today and it’s going to cause you to kind of look at yourself internally and say, you know, “Am I doing the right thing here? This is what I set out to do and am I on track for this?” So this is going to be some great information. But before we dive into that Brian, for folks that maybe don’t know you or don’t know you all that well yet, maybe you take a couple of minutes to tell something more about you.
Brian: Yeah, sure. So I, just to start the story kind of in the middle, I grew up in Tennessee. I went to the University of Tennessee, graduated from there. I moved back to Nashville, did the corporate thing for a few years and it wasn’t for me. So I became obsessed with podcasts and books and gotten mentors and got into wholesaling and fix and flip, buying rentals, kind of a combination of the three probably about, I want to say, six years ago or something like that, is when I got into it.
And over the first couple of years, we grew our business to where we were doing over a hundred deals a year, most of them wholesale deals but some rehabbing and some rentals and basically, grew the business to where I could, or set the business up to where I could run it from the house. I’ve always been keyed on this idea of virtual businesses. And so then my business partner and I tested that theory. We moved to Denver three years ago and ran the business from Denver for three years, the business being in Tennessee. We had a team on the ground there, at one time it was about 11 people, that’s about the biggest that I’ve ever got.
And just this year, my business partner and I amicably split. We decided to go two separate ways. He wants to go more to wholesaling and I am really focused on education these days, it’s always been my passion to teach and coach and help other people. I originally was going to be a college professor but I realized I wouldn’t really thrive in that environment. I had to create my own school as Dan Sullivan says. So that’s what I’m working on a lot now and continuing to invest in middle Tennessee and more focus on passive income, buying rentals, and creating cash flow.
Mike: Yeah, that’s awesome. So in today’s, the tips we’re going to cover I know you’re very passionate about, so first we’re going to talk about is kind of knowing what your perfect day is because I think a lot of us really as humans, our days kind of happen to us, right? We just wake up and we’re going through the motions and I know sometimes I get up and I think I literally have planned out like what I’m going to do this day. And at the end of the day I realized I got none of that done. I did a bunch of other stuff that I didn’t know was going to happen, and more stuff got thrown on the top. But sometimes that’s because people don’t really have a vision for what they want to happen, so maybe share your thoughts there.
Brian: Yes. So an analogy I like to think of, and I got this from Kent [inaudible 00:05:42] by the way, he was our coach for a while and this was the biggest thing we got from him. But the analogy is like let’s say you want to become an attorney and there’s nothing, I have nothing against attorneys, I like them and use them obviously. It’s a very noble, prestigious kind of job title, you get paid a lot. You have respect. It seems like a cool thing to go after for a lot of people.
So they go to law school and everyone knows that’s expensive and vey grueling and you pop out the other side, you take the bar, and then you become an attorney. And now you get to enter into the day to day lifestyle of being an attorney and what that actually involves is tons and tons of paperwork and being in court all day which both suck. So the day to day life of an attorney is very different from the perception of an attorney that a lot of people have.
And so that’s just an analogy to drive this point home, is no matter what you’re trying to build, in this case we’re talking about building real estate businesses you always start with the end in mind. You say, “What day to day lifestyle would I like to live?” So the concept of the perfect day is essentially just thinking about your perfect day, just one day, and you write down, “I wake up in the morning at 7:00. I have a slow breakfast with my wife and my kids. I spend one hour reading then I spend two hours coaching or looking at deals” or whatever it is that you like to do.
And then you have to think about what house you live in, how much it costs. So there’s lots of side benefits to this exercise because you can kind of learn what amount of money you need each year to live your perfect day which is very important. And you’ll find most people don’t need more than a 150 grand or something to live an amazing life where they have lots of free time, they have friends and they could do fun things. You don’t need those millions of dollars that people make you think you need when you look at rich people and you admire them.
But more importantly, once you have your perfect day written out that becomes your North Star. That becomes the address in your GPS because the eternal question for guys like you and me, Mike, is when we wake up it’s, you know, “Damn, am I doing the highest investing today to move me forward?” Right? And we always worry about that. Well, what’s moving forward mean to you? It should mean creating the life that you actually want to live, right, I mean more than anything else.
So all you have to do is look at one piece of paper. It’s really just a one-page document. This is the lifestyle I’m going after. And so you wake up and you say, “Am I doing the things that will move me towards this?” And if you are, you’re winning. And that can cut out a lot of the confusion that people have when they wake up and they have shiny objects under them and they want to do all these things. So that’s the bullet points on this idea of a perfect day.
Mike: So talk about, you were just showing a kind of a document, but just talk about the importance of actually writing it down and documenting it, because sometimes people get things in their head and I found in my, I know my wife is a big believer. I don’t know if you know, my wife has actually published a planner. My wife is such a big like planner, so she actually built a planner that she sold on Amazon and it’s actually one of the top performing planners on Amazon out, it’s a good planner.
But anyway, you know, she has read plenty of stuff and certainly believes the importance of actually writing down a goal or what you want to happen. Because a lot of times we just think in our head. But when you can actually reference it or put it on the refrigerator or frame it or stick it on your mirror where you’re getting ready in the morning, whatever it is, just talk about the significance of actually documenting that. And then maybe even like sharing what it is with other people.
Are you looking to change your life through real estate investing? If you’re interested in either getting started or taking your business to the next level please check out FlipNerd’s private program at theinvestormachine.com. This is the most robust real estate investor coaching, networking, and mastermind on the planet and designed for your success.
If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves, ready to take personal responsibility for your own success, and ready to dive into a world class instructional coaching program that provides you step by step instruction to help you achieve financial freedom then you should apply today. Spaces are limited and candidates ate only considered after an application and interview process. Our 12-month investor program is unparalleled. Think you might be a fit? Learn more today at theinvestormachine.com.
Stick it on your mirror where you’re getting ready in the morning, whatever it is. Just talk about the significance of actually documenting that and then maybe even like sharing what it is with other people.
Brian: Totally, it takes it to a whole different level. So if I’m just thinking about what I want in life that’s so fleeting and it could change every day and I’m not going to have any sort of concrete action steps. They’re tied to that. So the perfect day let’s say, you know, I have it written down on this page, which the one I do actually have is it would easily fit on one page, it’s a strategic tool.
So you look at it and you say, “I say I want to have more friends and spend more time with them,” well, your actual goals for that year need to involve inviting your friends to do more stuff, you know, like planning events for them to go to. And so your perfect day, it creates your action items that you work on. So not only do you need to have that written down but then you come up with action items that link to achieving it. And that’s essentially just what’s your to do list every day.
It’s the best to do list you could ever create is your constructing a life that you enjoy living so that it won’t be all about business. Business and work is a big part of everyone’s life, and finances too, we know that. But you do have stuff on there like family, friends, hobbies, your health, where you live, those kinds of details too that are really important to happiness. So yeah, that’s why you need to write it down because you also need to write down what you’re going to do about it.
Mike: Yeah. For me, this is great stuff because for me, I think we all, yeah, so we want this to be a destination for somebody, right? Like you’ll actually get there instead of a journey that I’m always kind of moving towards but the reality is, is it can be a journey I think before it becomes a destination, like you have to work to get there, right?
And so, I found that a few times a year I’ll actually its down and I’ll just, unfortunately, I fill a page with what is all the stuff that I’m doing right now that I shouldn’t be doing. And I think sometimes for me at least if I truly sit down, you know, I go to like a coffee shop or something and I just like start to kind of scribe that and document it, then I realize how much shit I’m doing that I’m just like “Why am I doing that, why do I . . .” and then I try to like assign a time to it like how much time am I spending on that a week or a month. And when you start to see it it’s like, “Oh, this is why I’m not doing more of those things because I’m doing all of this stuff that I shouldn’t be doing anymore.”
Brian: Absolutely. I think you were there when we heard Dean Graziosi speak and he talked about the importance of creating a “stop doing list” or you could call it a not to do list. I did that as soon as we got home from that meeting, pasted it on the wall, and Frank did too. And like one of the things, for example, we were still doing was signing all the closing docs. Every time we bought a house, he and I had to run to the notary and then run to FedEx and print out all the like 50-page contract and all of the stuff at our printer, get every page notarized at the bank. It would take three hours of the day every time we bought a house.
Mike: Wow, yeah.
Brian: And then we just realized we could easily give our office manager a resolution, you know, to sign for us.
Mike: Like power of attorney or something.
Brian: She lives in Nashville where the properties are and the title company is so there is no notary needed or FedEx needed. And because we forced ourselves to stop doing that thing we gave ourselves back all this time that we were spending on minimum wage activities. So yeah, I mean, it’s powerful.
Mike: Yeah, awesome. So that’s good stuff. Do you know where, folks want to learn more, I know Kent talks about it and a few other people talk about kind of the perfect day or the perfect week or your perfect year or whatever. Any kind of resources you want to share with people to learn more about that? This is still tip one, everybody. We’re going to go on to three more tips, but any resources or books that you can reference where they talk more about that?
Brian: You know, honestly, nothing comes to mind. I do talk . . . I have a podcast called “The Virtual Real Estate Investing Podcast” and I’ll be rambling about this more on plenty of the episodes, but it’s not something you necessarily need to learn more about. Just write your first draft of it today, write out your day in detail, what you do on your perfect day. And ask yourself what you can do to live that day over and over again like in the movie “Groundhog Day” except he’s living a life he hates. You want to do the opposite.
Mike: Right. Awesome, awesome. Well, let’s move on to number two, so I know we’re going to talk about, a little bit about the book “Rocket Fuel” and I think the first time I read it, I know the first time when you read it, and we talked about this a little bit before the show, about how it kind of opens your mind to realize that there’s different types of people that you need to have in your company. And a lot of times is kind of solopreneurs or entrepreneurs, we’re trying to be like all types of people, right? So kind of share your thoughts on tip number two here.
Brian: Yes. So you got to read the book “Rocket Fuel” by Gino Wickman, it will expand upon this concept comprehensively. But the bottom line is that there’s two types of people. There’s visionaries and there’s integrators. You and I are both visionaries, most of the people that start businesses are visionary types, right? They have the ideas. If you are known for having tons of ideas but you changed your mind every three to six months and you have Shiny Object Syndrome and you don’t really like details, you’re a visionary. You need to embrace that.
But you also need to realize that there’s a lot of weaknesses that come along with being a visionary too. You’re not very good at hiring and managing people, you’re not good at the details, you’re not good at sticking with things, and seeing things to the finish line. And so that’s where what they call an integrator comes down. This is a bit of a rare personality. And for guys like you and me, Mike, we don’t even realize that these people exist, like you and I . . .
Mike: It’s the quiet guy that’s been standing in the corner.
Brian: Like, yeah, if I told you, Mike, there’s guys out there that love spreadsheets and checklists and systems. They love to manage people and follow systems and the documentation that was created and have quarterly performance reviews and look at KPIs and look at profit and loss statements. And in the book, they keep using the analogy, the integrator makes sure that trains run on time. That’s essentially what they do. They run the business. And it’s a very, very powerful role when it’s correctly implemented in your company.
But us as visionaries we give ourselves too much credit. We think our ideas are gold. But the thing is, the truth is ideas are worthless unless they are implemented. Mark Cuban even said “Ideas are worthless. The hard part is doing the work,” basically.
Mike: For sure, yeah.
Brian: You know, you and I could come up with a hundred business ideas in the next hour if we had to, if we’re just shooting them out. And those are all worthless unless someone actually does the work to make them a reality and that’s what the integrator does. It helps the visionary make his or her vision a reality. And so, that’s one of the biggest downfalls people getting into real estate or anything else is they don’t have someone to run the business because most of you guys listening are probably also visionaries.
You need to partner with somebody who will build out systems, will hire and manage your employees, hold them accountable to the results, just checklist everything out, look at all the details to make your business run well. And we have never formally had this person in our real estate business but we have a rock star integrator that we just didn’t know what he was or how to use them correctly. He was kind of doing the job and when we would let him manage someone they would get way better results than we were ever getting trying to manage that person.
So now, in my education business I pulled that guy over. I said, “You’re working for me as my integrator in this business.” And I can say something to him like, “Hey, man, we need a podcast.” I just want to push record and say something and push stop. And then, boom, it’s on iTunes with my picture and cool descriptions and it’s posted on Facebook and Instagram and everywhere else and all I had to do is just be the visionary and dream up the idea for the podcast, that’s where my value comes in, and the actual recording, and then the rest gets done. That’s the power of having someone on your team to do this for you.
Mike: Yeah. And it’s important to . . . I want to say this because I work with my wife and I think a lot of real estate investors especially early on work with a spouse, and so I think in my business my wife has really kind of, I told you this is kind of play the role of our integrator. But she doesn’t necessarily like it. She’s good at it, she’s detailed oriented but she doesn’t . . . she wants to use more of here creativity and do things too and she has other business interests and other . . . she has lots of hobbies and stuff.
But I think it’s important if you’re working with your spouse or your best friend as a partner or whatever, it’s really important that you understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses whether you’re a visionary or an integrator because you don’t want to have . . . this is a common thing. If you’re working with somebody that’s like you, you’re probably both visionaries. And then you’re both like coming up with ideas and you don’t have that person there to integrate them. And so, the integrator or the visionary is typically, kind of also referred you as a fast starter, right? You got this idea, you start building something and you have a bunch of half-done projects because you don’t have the right person there to finish them, right?
Brian: Absolutely, and your wife might actually be a visionary who’s just good at the integrator role.
Mike: Right.
Brian: Because really like you and I could be integrators if we had to. I mean like to feed our families we could hire people, manage them, follow checklist, and I know how to do that stuff. I did it reasonably well in our company but I didn’t really enjoy it. You know, what I mean? And that sounds similar to what you’re saying, with [inaudible 00:21:26].
I can make systems and processes and print them out and have them in front of me every time I talk to someone. But it’s just not my highest level of service, you know, because I’m more . . . I can add more to a business as the visionary for the business. It doesn’t mean I’m better, it’s just two parts that make a whole, it’s like the Yin and the Yang that make the business go together.
Mike: And if you look back at your perfect day the work component of that if there is . . . if your perfect day is not working well, you got to get . . . and we’re going to continue talking about where to get income for that here in a little bit. But if you have to work you should be working on things that you enjoy and that you can thrive in. Not doing stuff that you don’t really want to do. Sometimes we have to as entrepreneurs but that’s why you’re defining your perfect day, right? It’s not to say, well, what if . . . it’s kind of like, “Well, what if I didn’t have to do the crap that I don’t like to do?” and then figure out plan to get there, right?
Brian: Yep, that’s a great point.
Mike: Yeah. Awesome, so another . . . so tip three here, and I know it’s something you’re passionate about, you wrote a book on it. So I want you to share where people can find the book here in a second, but as real estate investors it’s to hire an acquisitions manager. Tell us about that.
Brian: Yeah. So this tip probably sounds a little unrelated to the previous tips but we promise it fits in somewhere, basically, I’ll show the book real quick just because I like the cover, but anyways . . .
Mike: And you could tell us a link to it afterwards too.
Brian: Sure.
Mike: And I do want to say it actually does fit in though, because in your perfect day, and this could sound bad that you’re saying, “Well, I’m going to give somebody the crap that I don’t want to do all day long,” but in your perfect day it probably doesn’t say, “I’m going to drive all over town all day long and meet with people and try to buy their house.” I like to buy. I’m a good acquisitions person. But my perfect day doesn’t include me driving all around town all day long doing anything. Right? So I think it fits.
Brian: That’s a great point. Yeah, a lot of people . . . I remember when I first got into investing we sent out our first direct mail campaign. I got 70 phone calls within three days when all the postcards hit and I didn’t call anybody back because I hate talking on the phone. I was terrified by it. I got over it eventually and did it for a couple of years before we hired our acquisition manager.
But most of the people listening probably don’t get excited about the idea of being on the phone, making offers, analyzing leads, going on appointments, writing contracts, following up, all the things that all the gurus are teaching, you have to do it to get deals. And they’re right. You do have to do those things. I mean, really, it’s just about doing those things consistently.
So if you’re sitting there saying, “That sounds true Brian, but I hate doing those things.” That’s fine, you don’t have to do them. But you do have to be willing to hire someone else to do them for you and manage them to get results. And so our first acquisition manager took our business from, I think we had only done 300,000 or 400,000 in revenue per year, gross revenue, for a couple of years in a row.
And when we hired our first acquisition manager per the advice of the man, Joe McCall who is our coach, we went to $1.1 million in like one calendar year because there was a guy who was doing those activities all day everyday where we had just been previously fitting them into everything else.
And so even though he wasn’t as good, maybe he was 60% as good as I was as a salesperson starting out, he outperformed me three to one just purely based upon the sheer volume of activity that he was generating every day.
Mike: That’s awesome.
Brian: So yeah, this is the most powerful hire you can make as the acquisition manager, and they’re paid commission too. So I mean they don’t have to cost you anything. You could pay them a little [inaudible 00:25:31] in the first 30 to 60 days that gets paid back once they start closing deals. And if they don’t bring in any contracts, then you let them go and you need to hire the right person, you know what I mean?
Mike: Yeah.
Brian: But really, it’s worth giving up, you know, 8% to 12% of your gross revenue to double or triple your business, isn’t it?
Mike: For sure.
Brian: I mean the numbers just make sense.
Mike: For sure, yeah. And honestly, and I even want to share that I read your book and I’ve hired lots of acquisitions manager, we’ve done lots and lots of deals, but there were . . . so if you’re listening and you’ve hired people before, you’ve hired salespeople before, honestly, I got a lot out of the book because I know you share some processes and systems in there for how to basically continuously be recruiting to try to find those people.
Because a lot of times, you know, back to all these things fitting together, the perfect day like the problem with small businesses, a lot of times we don’t hire somebody until we absolutely need them, you know? And the problem is, is it’s like if you absolutely need them, like if somebody’s left or they quit or something happened to them then as a small business owner a lot of times you got to stop doing everything else you’re doing and do that, right?
So I got a lot out of you kind of sharing your process for how to just continually be looking for people and continually really almost advertising to find those people and, you know, somebody the other day asked me, knew somebody in Dallas, in my market, this guy is getting out of college, he’s looking for a job, he’s kind of sales oriented. He’s like, “Do you have anything available?” And I was like, “Well, I don’t, but I’m always looking for good salespeople. I’ll find a place for salespeople almost always.” And so, I think I got a lot out of him. So tell us real fast how people can find . . . how they get access to your book.
Brian: Yeah, sure. I’m giving it away for free, technically, it’s the cost of shipping, but go to fireyourself.net.
Mike: Fireyourself.net, awesome. Cool man. Yeah, who doesn’t want to fire themselves?
Brian: You need to fire yourselves from the job of the acquisition manager because it’s the hardest job in the whole company. They get paid well if they do a good job, but man, if you’re doing it right it’s a fulltime job and you’re not going to have time for anything else.
Mike: And certainly, you’re going to cap your growth because you’re limited by your time.
Brian: Absolutely.
Mike: Awesome, awesome. So let’s move on to tip four, the last tip we’re going to talk about today which is generating enough passive income. A lot of us get into this business because we want freedom of time, right? And financial freedom is something that we want too, but more than anything if you can generate income to cover your expenses that allows you lots of freedom that people generally don’t have if they’re working for incorporation, another company. So talk about tip number four.
Brian: Yeah, you bring up a good talking point. Just that term financial freedom, people throw that around all the time. Let me just say something. You’re not financially free if you make a million dollars a year but you are working 60-hour, 80-hour weeks with a massive flipping business and you’re always grinding and your business runs you essentially.
You might have millions in the bank, but that doesn’t really matter. The true definition of financial freedom is you have your finances set up in a way where you can do . . . you have total freedom but every day is a blank slate. You can wake up and say, “You know what, I’m going to take today off. I’m going to lay by the pool all day today.” I mean true financial freedom is really when your money works for you rather than you working for it.
And so what we’re talking about here is building a portfolio of rental properties. It can be multifamily, single family, whatever, to where the money comes to your mailbox, mailbox money, you know? Every month, and there’s a term that I like to use called “Becoming a 100 percenter.” And what the means is you want you to find your number, if you say you run your numbers in your perfect day and you say, “60 grand a year is my number, if I had that coming in every year I’d be fine. I’d be able to pay all my baseline bills and stuff like that.”
Then once you’ve got 60 a year coming in you are a 100 percenter, you’re essentially retired, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do anymore. Your work can be 100% based upon things you’re passionate about and like we were talking about before the show, it allows you to take a lot more risk when you’re . . . like what’s your rock bottom, if your rock bottom is 60 grand a year that’s not so bad. You’re not going to be kicked out on the streets. Right?
So with each property you buy, if you get the average of 300 bucks a month in net rent, net after paying mortgage etc. which is kind of industry average, that’s $3,600 a year per unit that you take down. So with each one you buy, right now if you have none, you have zero. If you buy one your new rock bottom is 3,600 a year. If you buy two it’s 7,200 a year. If you buy three it’s 10,000-something. Do you know what I’m saying?
And so the point is you just slowly raise your safety net to where you have a higher and higher rock bottom. And once it is at your living expenses, then you’re done. Do you know what I mean? Like you’re done worrying about money, you can choose to worry about it after that everyone does. You know what I mean? But that should be goal number one because I hate when people throw out this broad term of real estate investing like it’s all the same thing. There’s so many outcomes that you can create in that world.
Some people never build businesses. They just buy rentals and they’re one-man show and they get 80 rentals that are all paid off and they just drive around their truck, managing each one themselves. And some guys do 500 rehabs a year and some guys do a combination. But it’s my belief that goal number one should always be to become a 100 percenter no matter, like forget everything else, do whatever you can to get to that point the fastest, to hit your number in passive income because then all your options open up and life gets beautiful and you can do whatever you want to do from here on out.
Mike: Yeah, that’s awesome. And you said this word that I always think is interesting is retired and you can get to a point where you’re retired. And I think in America we’ve been trained that retired is something you do when you’re old, you know? It’s like retired should . . . really, what it should mean is you no longer have to work because you’re financially . . . you’re kind of financially free like you just explained there. So I think retired is more of a lifestyle than it is an age factor, right?
Brian: Yeah. It’s almost like you’re just saying you’re retired from worrying about money like if you want to just add to the term. But yeah, I don’t believe in the concept of retirement. There’s lots of studies that show that people die faster once they sit in their rocking chair all day.
My dad recently retired a few years ago, less than that, but he stayed very active. He’s taking classes at local universities and he’s volunteering. He started his own business, you know, and he’s doing great because he’s still engaging his mind and he still has a purpose in life. He’s still involved in his community and his church and everything. And he still thinks about money too. You know, he’s managing his wealth that he built up over his life.
So really the sooner you can get to where . . . but note I said, he’s doing things that he enjoys and he’s passionate about now. So the sooner you can stop worrying about money and doing things for money, the sooner you can start doing things that you love. And there’s plenty of people that have accomplished this in maybe 10 years of being a real estate investor and you could probably do it even sooner.
Mike: Absolutely.
Brian: And then so you don’t have . . . the whole myth of saving up this big nest egg and when you’re 65 you retire, that’s not the only way to do it. And in our belief, it’s not the most efficient way, it’s not nearly as fast as building out passive income. Matt Theirault talks about this all the time. He’s like “Forget saving up a big pile of cash. Create a stream of cash, you know, and let that become your pile.” You know, I just love that different way of thinking about it.
Mike: Absolutely, awesome. Brian, well, so I want to talk about a couple of things here before we kind of wrap it up. I appreciate you sharing this. So this is good stuff because a lot of times as real estate investors we . . . a lot of real investors kind of forget why they got in the business. They end up getting in because they want financial freedom and because they want freedom of their time, and they want control over their life and their lifestyle. But they end up just becoming self-employed and grinding all the time every day and making really good money.
But like you said, if they want to go on a vacation or they want to do something, their income stops because they can’t run without them. Yeah, so this is great stuff, so hopefully you folks got a lot out of it today. But I want to kind of go over a few things we talked about. So I’m going to add links down below for all these things. We’ll add a link to Rocket Fuel that we talked about, and tell us how people can learn more about your podcast?
Brian: Yeah, if you just search for Brian Ellwood in the podcast app it should come up or The Virtual Real Estate Investing Podcast.
Mike: Okay, awesome. And for learning more about your book, “Fire Yourself” go to fireyourself.net and I’ll add a couple of more links and some other things that we talked about. Any other ways if folks want to learn more about you where they should go check you out?
Brian: Yes, so I just launched my membership program for helping people do essentially what we talked about. More about defining your perfect day and how to become a 100 percenter and how to create . . . how to build your own portfolio to where your safety net is at that point. That’s kind of my whole mission, I guess, with this membership program. It’s called Freedom University and the only way to get in is to attend one of my webinars. I do one every Thursday and you can register for it at virtualinvestingclass.com.
Mike: Virtualinvestingclass.com, awesome, so I’ll add a link down below for that too. Brian, thanks for being with us today, my friend.
Brian: It’s always a pleasure man. I always enjoy talking to you.
Mike: It’s good to see you, this stuff inspires me too, so yeah, it’s good stuff.
Everybody, hey, this was episode number 372 with Brian Ellwood. We got a whole bunch of links of the stuff that we talked about. So if you’re listening on iTunes you can go to flipnerd.com and go to the expert interview show, look up episode 372, you can get all these links if you weren’t able to write them down.
But we’re going to keep these episodes coming at you. I kind of keep forgetting to say this, I’ve done hundreds of shows and I’ve only said this a few times, but if you love the show please rate us and review us in iTunes or Stitcher Radio, Google Play, wherever you watch the show at or listen to the show at because those ratings help us show up higher in the rankings and it’s like a virtual hug. Kind of like shows us that you appreciate what we’re doing here.
So we’re doing this to try to really make an impact and that shows us that you enjoy what we’re doing. So I appreciate everybody. We’re going to see you on another upcoming episode. Have a great day.
Thanks for joining us for this episode of the flipnerd.com investing show. If you’re not yet an Elite member of FlipNerd, you’re missing out. We have tons of great training, including a new detailed master class published each month and live training webinars with experts twice a month. Plus you’ll get access to all of our archives where we already have a growing library of master classes and other training videos.
Elite members also get membership in our incredible online mastermind group where many of the top real estate investors from across the country, including many of the hundreds of guests I’ve had on the show in the past, are already members. Whether you’re brand new, looking to get started, or a veteran, you simply must join today. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.
To learn more or join today, please visit flipnerd.com/lab, that’s flipnerd.com/lab. See you on the next show.