Transparent Real Estate Networking

Mike:Welcome to “Real Estate Investing Secrets.” We’re all looking for freedom and the opportunity to live better, more fulfilling lives. But most of us were trained our entire lives to work for someone else and chase their dreams. How can we use real estate investing as a vehicle to achieve financial freedom? My life is dedicated to answering your real estate investing questions, and helping you build an investing business that allows you to change your life and the world around you and to enable you to turn your dreams of financial freedom into a reality. My name is Mike Hambright from flipnerd.com and your questions get answered here on the “Real Estate Investing Secrets” show.
What’s up, freedom fighters? Hey, welcome back for another episode of the FlipNerd “Real Estate Investing Secrets” podcast and I have a good friend with me today, Miss Cassi DeHaas. We’re actually in the same market, DFW, but I just saw you two nights ago. So, we see each other I guess fairly often largely at events, and masterminds, and stuff like that. So, always exciting to see and honestly we’ve become good friends, so love you guys.
But everybody, today we’re going to talk about some really interesting things that Cassi and her partner, RJ, have been talking about a lot lately and a lot of people in these movements documenting what you do. A lot of us that are real estate investing are doing cool stuff, and interesting stuff, and certainly seeing some interesting stuff, like, all day long. And sometimes it just becomes part of our habit. And there’s a little bit of entertainment in there, as well that people would love to see what you’re working on.
People ask all the time, what do you do? I’m like, “Well, I step over bodies, and houses, and all sorts of weird stuff.” Right. Not necessarily, but that’s not totally out of the realm of possibility, right? You know, one of the things that Cassi and RJ have done really, really well at is just being transparent, and show who they are, and what they’re doing, and what they’re working on. And it’s allowed them to create really a massive following, and it’s turned into more deals, and raising money, and all sorts of stuff that they probably didn’t expect up front. So, that’s my little tee-up. Cassi, how are you today?
Cassi:I’m fantastic, Mike. Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited here.
Mike:Of course, of course. And I always love having . . . I mean, if you look across all of our shows, you know, there’s a very small percentage that are women, so always awesome to get some girl power in here.
Cassi:Yeah, get that girl flex on.
Mike:Yeah. Hey, before we get rolling here, for those that don’t know you yet, tell us a little bit about your background and kind of how you got into the business.
Cassi:Oh, goodness.
Mike:Tell the short. I know the long version.
Cassi:I’ll work on the short version. So, my business partner, RJ Bates and myself, we actually owned a construction company, which we were doing the flips for GC. We were GC’ing for investors, eventually. And just really inspired both of us because we didn’t really love the work, and of itself, we loved the process of it. But we did not love the business, I guess is the better way to put it. And so, the business side of things really just intrigued us and we just really started plugging away. You know, I was a little bit more passionate about our GC business because I did love the design aspect, but we did not love managing contractors [inaudible 00:03:21] we decided we want to go start flipping houses. So, that’s kind of how we got into the industry. And we just really started building our business on straight hustle.
RJ and I, we’re very tenacious people. We’re very tenacious individuals. And we just started figuring it out. And, you know, we’ll go all day every day. And so, we just have built it since then. And I don’t think we’re even that different than we were on day one. We’ve been doing this for about five years. So, obviously . . .
Mike:Different in the sense that you’re setting back on your laurels, you guys are still hustling hard.
Cassi:Oh, yeah, yeah. We’re still very much in our business. You know, there’s a lot of people that think, you know, they just have a different business plan than us, but we’re still very, very much in our business, which has a lot to do with us expanding, broadening, and taking . . .
Mike:Yeah. You guys are on world domination and you still have a long way to go.
Cassi:Yes, yes. Yeah. My business partner is very audaciously ambitious with some things. Not that I’m not, but he even outmatches me in that department. Hey, man, I love it. I’ve got no problems with this, so.
Mike:Just to give some perspective, you’re operating now and we won’t probably get into your business model and that today because we won’t have time. Because you guys have a lot of stuff going on, which is exciting. And if you’re listening right now and you’re not following Cassi and her partner, RJ, Titanium Investments and what they’re doing, they’ve got a lot of activity going on. So, you guys are operating in how many states now? You actively operate. I know you get pickup deals every once in a while in a bunch . . . in like more than half of the states, right? But where would you say you have an office out or you have a partner that you’re partnering with?
Cassi:So, yeah, we have branches, is really what we just call them. We are actually in the process of expanding our teams or we have, you know, teams or people there that are building our teams in nine states. So, I mean, we’ve done a lot of business in over 30 states at this point. RJ’s goal is to own 1% of the United States and I’m like, “Okay, bro.” I mean, I . . .
Mike:Yeah. Those are big hairy audacious goals. Yeah.
Cassi:Right. I’m the kind of person that I’m okay with setting insane goals to some people because I still feel like even if your goal changes along the way or you know you don’t hit that insane goal, I still feel like it pulls you up. In other words, if you’re focused on just that insane dream that maybe not everybody gets or understands or they may look at you like you’re crazy, but it’s actually taken us really far in our personal lives and our business lives to have that kind of frame of mind. So, yeah, you know, I’m like, “If you do [your 00:06:38] business in all 50 states, like, I’m good.” That point. Like, you know, we do own quite a bit of single-family rentals. I guess in other words, I think in the short-term goals, but he focuses a lot on that long-term goal. He’s not playing.
Mike:So, one of the things that you guys talked about . . . Just a couple of weeks back, we were in Investor Fuel, our mastermind and you guys are members. We appreciate you guys. And we were talking . . . You guys were presenting on really some of the stuff that Gary Vee has been talking about and other people that are out there, but putting your own spin on it, just documenting what you do, and just being real transparent with who you are, and why. And I know that the side benefit ultimately is you meet more people that you can do deals with and you guys are growing all over the place. So, that makes a lot of sense.
But it also helps just people like people are bring you, you know, money, “Hey, I’m a lender and I’d like to lend to you.” Whatever it might be. There’s lots of probably a whole bunch stuff that you don’t know, didn’t expect to happen has happened. But [sure 00:07:44] people love to just follow along because, to be honest, a lot of people are voyeuristic. They just want to see like, my life sucks. Let me see what these guys or whatever.
Cassi:Well, they’re getting a challenge and they want to remind themselves that there’s people out there that are doing.
Mike:Or having troubles too. Yeah.
Cassi:Yeah. Like, they’re either having troubles or they’re running up to challenges and it doesn’t stop them. Or like that it’s possible. Like, something that they want to do that somebody else might be telling them and you see that a lot. I feel it in real estate like people might say, “Oh, that’s not the best plan.” But then you’re like, “These people are doing it.” So, yes, it is really important to us. I think that’s like we found a little bit of a niche at some point in there. And I don’t think we’ve necessarily identified it that way. But a lot of people come to us for remote stuff. A lot of people come to us for like virtual wholesaling because we do buy and hold in so many different, you know, places across the U.S. We do virtually wholesale and you know, we’ve done it in over 30 states, you know.
And some people, you know, back in the day when we started going virtual, they might have said, “Yeah, well, you shouldn’t do that, because there’s so many regulations and rules that differ from state to state.” And it’s like, “But other people are doing it in that state. And if I have boots on the ground, why can’t I do that?” Like, I’m not incapable of understanding title, you know, a lot of the times how the process goes and buying and selling properties in other states.
So, I think that RJ especially also is like, when you tell him he can’t do something, he’s going to figure out how to do it.
Mike:Yeah. It makes you want to do it more, right?
Cassi:Yeah.
Mike:You’re like, “I just have to prove you wrong.” Yeah.
Cassi:Yeah. For me, I think that that’s been part of our strengths, you know, through our lives is when . . . and both of us, when people tell me that something isn’t possible, I don’t necessarily have to do it to prove them wrong. But I want to understand why I thought it was possible and it’s not.
Mike:Yeah. That’s awesome.
Cassi:And most of the time it’s possible. It’s just everybody has different perspectives and scopes of view based on their knowledge and experience, you know. So, part of our niche and documenting what we do was just to put ourselves out there. Like you said, we get a lot of, you know, connections. Our network has expanded so drastically just from putting ourselves out there to say, “You know, somebody told us that this wasn’t possible, but here we are doing it.” And again, it was initially 100% honesty. It was initially to say to the investor community and anywhere, anybody that would listen, “I know people are going to tell you that you cannot do this, but you can. And here’s how we’re doing it.” It was a give back to the investor community.
Mike:Yeah. That’s awesome.
Cassi:Because when we first started . . . I mean, we’re in DFW, we’re based in Fort Worth, Texas. When we first started people told us that the market was . . . Now we’ve been doing this five years. The market was too saturated for us to come in and wholesale.
Mike:Right. Five years ago.
Cassi:And we went straight to wholesaling off the MLS. So, now it’s not something I see going very well right now, wholesaling off the MLS, like, we don’t really do that in DFW. But again, when people tell you it’s not possible, but you’re seeing the opportunity, I’m questioning, where am I, like, what am I missing? And so, when we started proving that things that people would keep telling us couldn’t be done, we just started documenting it. And it has been insane, like, to this day, the more we add to that side of our business, the more opportunities that we have not just to give back to the investor community, but for everything that we do. You know, it’s not just deals, but it’s like markets. Like, straight up a couple of our markets are simply because somebody recommended to them because they know that we’re audacious enough to do it.
Mike:Right. You should work with these guys. Yeah. I just want you to talk to the people that are listening to this right now that are questioning, you know, they’re just getting started or they’re trying to get started. And they’re like, they think they missed some window that was open. And, you know, my perspective is the window is always open. It just moves around a little bit.
Cassi:That’s right.
Mike:But you guys are one. And even when we first started in 2008, like, we had family members, and they’re like . . .
Cassi:”What are you doing?”
Mike: . . . “Why did anybody ever sell their house at a discount? Like, nobody would do that.” And I’m like, “Well, I heard they do.” Like, I don’t know. Because hadn’t done a deal yet. But I don’t care where you’re at in the market cycle. The majority of people chirping in your ear are naysayers, that this doesn’t work, or this doesn’t work anymore, or the opportunity is over now, or you could never do this, or those guys made it work because they got lucky, or whatever, right? It’s a bunch of bullshit. So, just tell us . . . speak to those people that are listening right now that want to do this. And they have doubts that this even can work.
Cassi:Yeah. The first thing I want to say on that point is the people that are telling you that it can’t be done, it’s nine times out of 10 because they can’t do it themselves. So, like the first thing that I have to say about that. That’s my experience in anything in life. People do want to tell you that you can’t achieve what you want to achieve. It’s just like if you decide you’re going to change your health and nutrition plan up, nine times out of 10 the people that aren’t going to support you are the people that don’t want to get up off the couch. You know what I mean? So, it’s the same thing in your business. I would say it’s so crazy to me. I would look at somebody that’s doing specifically, like, I would get specific, if you’re getting into this, get specific. We got specific, we wanted to wholesale. Like, that was our first thing that we are going to tackle, you know.
And I just started saying, you know, there’s a lot of YouTube University out there. And it’s so easy for you to feel like you’re drinking out of a water hose these days. We didn’t have that problem, but we also didn’t have as many resources there for us when we first got started. And we haven’t even been doing this that long. It’s five years, that’s not that long, you know. So, if we can do it, anybody can do it. But it’s about being very intentional and you know, having an action plan, and making sure that you’re going to, you know, set yourself up in a situation where you’re going to actually take action on those items and make it happen.
There’s going to be a lot of learning along the way. And that’s just the nature of it. There’s so much in real estate that’s actually very hard to put into, like, a perfect little picture of explanation. Because I always say every house is different. Every seller is different, every buyer is different. Like, you’re getting . . . like, those scenarios are pieced together, they don’t look . . . no two look the same.
So, just connecting yourself to people who do it successfully that you can learn from. That are either, you know . . . Like, if you’re wholesaling, like, pay attention to somebody who’s wholesaling. Like, we have so many pages that just give so much quality information. But at the same time, I also wish . . . Now we paid for a program to learn about wholesaling and I wish that we had known that there were ways to go about having, like, an actual solid education program and mentorship program. A lot of these like big crazy, like guru-style, like you see on the TV, you know, other times those programs aren’t going to teach you anything.
Mike:It’s a lot of day-to-day information that are basically selling the dream instead of the systems and processes.
Cassi:That’s right.
Mike:And you know, I’ve been coaching for a long time. And that’s what we sell up against. So, we talk to people like, look, we teach you how to build a machine, we teach you how to run the machine, we teach you how to [inaudible 00:16:36]. Because there’s a lot of people that pay $50,000 where we go through a coaching program, and then they’re like, “Well, what did they tell you about lead generation?” They’re like, “Well, they never talked about that.” And I was like, “That’s all we talk about is finding leads.” Because the rest of it actually is easy if you find the deals.
Cassi:It’s not just that, but it’s also like the processes. Like, we did not even know how to submit an offer on a house when we came out of the program.
Mike:Yeah, I remember you guys talking about that before.
Cassi:That is insane to . . .
Mike:What I want to tell people, what you were just talking about, for those that are listening right now, I was with my buddy Corey Peterson, the Big Kahuna the last couple days. Corey and his wife were staying at my house. He was on the Propelio show yesterday. And you know, it’s just funny. I was thinking of Corey’s story. Corey’s bought $100 million in multifamily now. They started as a single-family, moved into that, but he just moved into multifamily like five or six years ago.
You know, it’s like, you’re talking about, it’s only been only five years. For me, it’s been 11 years. But out of the gate, our first year we bought 65 houses without ever having bought a house before, we were just determined to make it happen. Right. And I know your story and for those that want to go back a few . . . I’ll add RJ’s link to his show he was on. It’s been a while back now, but he shared this story upfront and guys of like essentially being broke. Like, your bank account’s empty and you got to make this work. And I was fired out of Corporate America and burned through a bunch of money trying to like not have to go back to Corporate America before real estate.
Corey, I just heard his story again yesterday while he was on a show and he was like, he basically got fired and had to go home and tell his wife, like, here’s what I’m going to do next. It’s real estate investing. And you know, like, most of the people . . . I’ll say most, a lot of people that I know had hit, or kind of proverbial, or real rock bottom before they had success. And, you know, for those that are listening right now, I want you to know, like, you don’t have to have that happen. You just have to get out of your comfort zone. Because it’s real easy to just say, “Gosh, I really want to do it, but I got this, you know, my job’s in the way.” So, when is your job not going to be in the way, right? So, I’m not saying to go quit your job, but . . .
Cassi:There’s always a lot of excuses. And I will be like fully, fully, fully honest when I say I don’t think I would have ever jumped off of that cliff if it weren’t for RJ. Like, I definitely was raised and all of my family for years, kind of thought . . . when we opened our own business they were so worried about me. They were so worried. You know, they were so worried. You know, everybody thought, you know, I was going to go into the medical field and I went and done art degree. So, that in and of itself was weird. And then whenever I graduated and I was talking about going back to school and now here we are opening your own business and they’re like, “You jumped off the deep end. Like, what are you doing again?” I hear a lot of people say stuff like that, but proof is in the pudding, man.
And so, you know, it’s very different, but I would have probably never without having a partner that is very strong and . . .
Mike:You guys support each other. Right?
Cassi:Yeah, yeah. He’s very . . .
Mike:It’s hard when you’re . . . That’s what we tell people when we’re talking to prospective students or just people we’re talking to, to just try to help them get started, is you need . . . That’s why partnership are so good. Like, my wife supported me. And we have this joke, like, if it was just her, she’s more introverted, not sales-oriented, you know. She never would have bought a house because she would have been over-analytical and not pull the trigger. If it had just been me, I would have gotten this in this cash management mess a long time ago and we would have been out of business somehow, you know. And so, yin and the yang are perfect.
And you know, like I said, our . . . I mean, my story, I don’t if I ever publicly said this before. But the truth is when we were getting started, my wife and I had good-paying jobs that we had left. And for her to have our son and for me, basically I got fired. And my company was filing bankruptcy. So, it was kind of over. Had a newborn baby and I just did not want to go back to Corporate America. And we’re like talking about getting a real estate investing. And then we started trying to do deals and our family is like saying things like, “Why are you doing this?” You know, some of the stuff we talked about. And then at one point, my wife said, “Are you going to be able to support us?” And it was just like, got to rip the shirt off, it’s time to go, you know. Just kind of lit a fire under my button.
And it was just like, I had never had that in the short period of time we got married, then we had a baby, and it’s like making good money, and then no money. I was like, “Oh shit. Shit’s getting real now, I got to figure this out.” Right. For people that are listening right now whatever it takes for you to get that fire under your ass to light you off, then do it.
Cassi:Yeah. I always, a lot of times, the discussion that I have with like people who are in that place is . . . I mean, at this point, up until you know, you really started doing a lot of the coaching . . . like, until we started forming, you know, our relationship, you know, I tell people as much as I want to coach you and mentor you, we’re just not in that space right now. We’re so much a part of our business. We’re very scrappy. And we built our business very scrappy. Like, we are scrappy, scrappy people. And so, we’re still very much in our business and I’m like, “I’m not going to ask you something that I can’t deliver on.”
But before I knew like people who would very much serve them well, that made me feel comfortable saying, you can go here. If you find a home here. Like, I would just tell people all the time, like put a number on it. Like, you can do . . . like, how much do you make it your job?
Do you make $1 million a year? Because I can pretty much guarantee you if you’re not going right into flipping or if you’re going and you teach yourself how to wholesale slowly, or you join and you’re coached and you’re mentored well, you can come out and replace your income like that. Like that. [Start 00:22:45] down a little bit, replace your income like that.
But I think that also what people discount is that everybody learns different ways. And everybody’s going to come out of the gates different ways, you know. Going back to being a part of Investor Fuel, like, we’re in that room and I look at my investor like that is my investor family. And I look at every . . . and all of our businesses are completely different. Now we use a lot of the same tools, we do a lot of the same things. Some of us are better at this, this, and this, you know. Like, none of us are running like this insane mega corp. You know, like that race, every single step of it is exactly the same. So, you’re going to just break down the numbers and figure out exactly you know, what your strong suit’s going to be and specifically what you want to do.
We always recommend going . . . And when we go into new markets, we go straight into wholesaling in that market because that’s how we learn the market, you know?
Mike:Yeah. Yeah.
Cassi:So, that’s what I recommend. I mean, I don’t know if that works for everybody. It’s what works for us. But, you know, it’s super-easy. Like, if you’re trying to like, start your business, get out of your day job, that kind of thing. Just put a number on it and realize like, one deal a month, you could probably replace . . .
Mike:The most people they can replace your income. Yeah. There’s a lot of people too . . . We’re getting off on a tangent a little bit. But there’s a lot of people that . . . You know, we’ve been coaching and mentoring people for years and even talking to people that, you know, might join our program. It’s pretty common for people to say, they’re . . . you know, they say, “Well, what’s your goal for the first year?” And I’m like, “I want to make 1 million bucks?” They’re like, “Okay, well, how much . . . you know, what do you make in your job?” “Well, I make $50,000 a year.” Like, “Okay, well, maybe your first goal should be like, replace your income.” And I think what happens is . . . You know, like you said, with RJ, you guys have these big audacious goals, you want to take over the world, and that’s awesome. There’s nothing wrong with that. But that inspires you to push hard, right?
I think what happens with a lot of people is they’re making $50,000 a year, let’s say, and they have this goal of making $1 million a year. There’s nothing wrong with that. But what happens is when they realize that they can’t make $1 million a year, or if they might not, or they start to get a doubt in their mind, then they just stop completely. And it’s like, “Well, wouldn’t you rather just start by replacing your income? Like, let’s get there first and then [inaudible 00:25:10].”
Cassi:Right. And I say that all the time. And I actually don’t recommend just like replacing your income. I actually would say it’s best to think of it in terms of replacing your income and covering your overhead as well because . . .
Mike:Yeah, sure, sure.
Cassi:[inaudible 00:25:25]. Yeah.
Mike:And my point is like have big goals, but don’t let them discourage you from doing nothing, right?
Cassi:Don’t say, you know, I want to be a millionaire. I’m going to need to do these things to get to that point. And it’s so funny that you actually bring that up. I mean, our first year, like . . . And people hear this kind of stuff all over the internet. And it’s kind of actually one of the negatives of documenting the journey. When RJ and I sit up there, we do it ourselves. Like, it’s part of our story. Our first year we did $750,000 in wholesaling. So, people look at that and they’re like, “Oh, well, now it’s been five years later I’m going to do $1 million.” You know, it’s like, you don’t have to do that. Like, the journey is not going to look the same as anybody else’s.
So, if you have a business plan and you can do that, you can set up an action plan, you don’t have to go all willy-nilly, you know, fly by the seat of your pants actually. I know a lot of people out there in the interwebs say that that’s how we did it. And to a degree, we kind of did too, but you don’t have to do that.
Mike:Because you have the wisdom now. Like, what you didn’t have when you started and even when I started is the wisdom to know how you would do it, if you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now. What you guys do and through all the stuff you’re documenting in social media, and through the podcast. And what I try to do is like look, I’m trying to teach people things that I wish I knew when I got started and like you use that. Gosh, when I first started like, there were no podcasts. I don’t even know if podcasts existed. This information wasn’t out. There’s information out there, but it wasn’t as . . . it was . . . I don’t know. It just wasn’t as good as it is now. The truth is you’re talking about all this documentation. And I’ve said this to you guys a few times.
Up until . . . You know, we started our podcast five years ago. So, I’ll say in the last five years or so, people’s . . . and I’m not trying to take credit for this at all, but I’m part of this movement, right, of sharing knowledge, sharing information. Like why do I this? I’ve never made a dime off of this podcast. Like, I love to do it. I love to talk to you, and people like you, and friends. And I love to like, share experiences. And I love that it helps other people learn in the process. But up until, you know, five years ago or so, like, there was very little like, open information sharing with what we do.
Cassi:One-hundred percent.
Mike:That wasn’t tied to some big sales pitch at the end.
Cassi:Right Exactly. And I would not even say, like, to me, at least we started five years ago, I didn’t really feel like it was really open and widely, you know, available, or known, or easier to find. It didn’t start feeling that way to me until like, about three years ago, to be honest with you.
Mike:Yeah. Because definitely there’s momentum going on now. Yeah.
Cassi:Oh, yeah. Now, you know, that momentum and like, what’s so crazy is, you know, we were very inspired to give back, to share with people, and we started doing it so naturally. Then we started you know, documenting our journey. It was really to give back. And, like you, we don’t get anything from the podcast, but we still . . . we actually time block that time. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what app on my computer is just going off.
Mike:You’re fine. I don’t hear anything. You’re fine.
Cassi:Okay. So, it’s dinging, so I’m glad because I’m like, “Why is this [inaudible 00:28:53].”
Mike:You’re good. You’re good.
Cassi:Now I’m hearing all my crazy notifications that prove I’m still very much in this business. But yeah, I feel like us doing that, hasn’t necessarily, like, we don’t sell podcast episodes or anything like that.
Mike:Yeah. You do. I mean, at the end of the day, there’s some benefit that comes back because you guys might get a partner, you get a deal, somebody works with you, you know. But it’s not like you’re not . . . One thing I would say differently is I think a lot of the big guru-type folks, whatever, they’ll withhold information until you come into the system. And now we’re like, I’m just going to tell you everything I know and I get some benefit down the road from it. That’s fantastic. And if it’s not, then that’s okay, too. That’s not why I’m doing it necessarily. Right.
Cassi:Right. And the facts remain, like, there’s nothing that I’m going to tell anybody that’s not available for them to find out somewhere else. I think it’s what it’s got to do. Like, just taking another space into account, you look into like the health space, personal training space, or you look into like, life coaching or you know, whatever lifestyle type of stuff. And you see people that, you know, have awesome media companies. And, you know, they’re public speakers, they write books, and things like that. And I read a lot of that stuff. And I pay attention to that stuff because sometimes it just helps me get into the right mind space. But none of them are reinventing the wheel. None of us are reinventing the wheel of real estate, where real estate is very, very, very broad. It’s very versatile.
You’ve got to be able to move on your toes. You’ve got to be able to change directions and make pivots in your business when it’s demanded by the market, or the property even sometimes. But none of us are reinventing the wheel. None of us are about to tell you something that is like, you have to go out and be a brain surgeon tomorrow if you want to be successful in this business. So, I think it’s just how you put the information together. And how you execute it is really what makes you unique in this business. That’s what’s made us unique in this business.
Mike:Yeah, you guys are doing things in a unique way for sure.
Cassi:Yeah. And so, it all goes back to you know why we document. It’s just quickly being your authentic self, putting yourself out there, and, you know, saying, this is what we do, and this is how we do it. And if that can help you, great. If we can, you know, add value to you as you’re growing or even if your business . . . Like, we do business with people that like to me, are further along, or they know more about this space in real estate, you know, or they have more experience than we do. And, you know, there’s just so much opportunity out there to add value to each other. Because like I said, none of us are running like mega-corporations here in the state. But we’re also really successful in it, you know.
Mike:Yeah. I think one of the things that changes with . . . You know, if we kind of talked about the Investor Fuel group or the people that are in there, like you were mentioning, is there’s a layer of wisdom now. And not that we know everything because we know we don’t know everything anymore. Like, if you thought you did, you don’t. And there’s this respect for the fact that everybody in that room has arrow wounds in their back and they’ve kind of been through the depression, or the war, the struggles, and they come off the other side. And you have this new respect for people that have been through that, right?
Cassi:Right.
Mike:Respect people that are willing to invest in themselves and people that aren’t willing to take no for an answer. I mean, at the end of the day, that’s really what a mature investor is. And probably one thing that I would say, and you guys represent this more than anyone, is looking for opportunities to JV, and work together, and collaborate on stuff instead of . . . I guess, I kind of referred to you or not referred to you, mentioned to you earlier about, you know, the old days of real estate investing, everybody’s a pirate, they all have their own ship, and if they see any other ships, they’re a target for attack. It’s like, you know, now we’re pulling up and we’re kind of like . . .
Cassi:Ready to cannon.
Mike: . . . “Hey, buddy, you got any sugar over there?”
Cassi:Yeah, like, “Hey, we want to trade with you.”
Mike:Yeah, yeah. Exactly.
Cassi:We do. There’s just so much opportunity. And RJ and I, part of who we are, at the very core of us is . . . I mean, we are, you know, very much about adding value. Like, we are very intentional about the time we spend is either adding value to a deal, or someone on our team, or someone else’s business that we can work side by side with. And, you know, of course, that’s bitten us in the ass time or two. I mean, it’s going to. But I mean, you’re dealing with people. You know, you’re not the Lone Ranger. It’s going to bite you in the ass. But I can tell you, it’s the good that’s come from having that one of our core values has been, you know, probably one of the most powerful things about how we’ve done what we’ve done so far.
Mike:Yeah. That’s awesome.
Cassi:Yeah, like trade. There’s sugar, there’s all kinds of stuff, you know.
Mike:Yeah. It’s that ultimate mindset of whatever the reverse of scarcity is, like, everything is [inaudible 00:34:26].
Cassi:Abundance.
Mike:Abundance, right. You have this abundance mentality and so many in this industry and so many in the world have the scarcity mentality of, I need to take this right now, and there’s not room for you here. And honestly, it’s not a fun way to live [inaudible 00:34:44].
Cassi:No.
Mike:Because then you’re in this, like, feast or famine mode, and you’re constantly worried about the famine, and instead of saying that there’s plenty for us all. And by having that attitude, all this abundance comes in. Things that you just believe in the system that having that abundant mentality brings 10 fold your way whatever you share, right?
Cassi:Yeah. So, there’s a lot more. I will say this too, like, just on top of that. There’s so much more peace in that mindset. It’s much more fruitful. But you have more abundance the more like, for yourself for your business, for your life that there’s so much more that comes with that. Now that’s not to say like we never do anything wrong, we never have failed deals, we do. But there’s a security, I suppose, is the way I’m trying to say. There’s a security that comes with having an abundance mindset.
Like, I know for a fact that if something goes wrong, I have somebody. I have somebody that can help me either in my headspace, or in solving the problem, or being a sounding board, or you know, just listening. Whatever it is, I know I have somebody that I can call. And that’s because I’ve had that, you know, we’ve built . . . we’ve run our business that way. So, there’s just a lot of comfort and security in that.
Mike:No doubt. No doubt.
Cassi:That’s what it’s grown into. Now, when we were first in it, it’s so funny because I don’t really know that my business partner, Mr. Bates, there ever had this problem, but I definitely did. In that, I would get like anxiety when anything would not go right. Like, even the smallest thing, and that’s been one of the, like, a huge changing factor for me. Like, I don’t really get anxiety over it anymore. Like if something doesn’t go . . .
Mike:You get to a point where like things happen to you and you’re like, “Oh, that’s the worst that can happen. Like, I can overcome it.” Right. I mean . . .
Cassi:Going to be a good day. Yeah. I say that all the time.
Mike:Something happened the other day. I can’t remember what it was. It was fairly early and a couple of things happened. And I told my wife, I was like, “Well, if this is as bad as my day gets, then it’s all downhill from here. You know, it’s like, it can only get better from here.”
Cassi:Literally.
Mike:And it’s like, you can choose to wallow in the crap or you can just say, “Next, let’s move on.”
Cassi:Yeah, I think that you do get like a certain amount of resilience, and that comes with time, you know. And for the newer people, or for people who, you know, maybe just trying to grow their business out from, you know, the box that they built themselves in, I would say like that resilience is, man, it’s one of the best things that being a business owner and being in real estate has given me in life. Like, I actually, to the point where, you know, going to the personal side, I lost my brother at a very young age, and it had an effect on me to . . . Like, I was in my early 20s. He was in his early 20s. We were really close. And when that happened, like, man, something happens like that to you when you’re in your early 20s, it’s like mortality hits you in the face.
Well, the biggest effects like long-term effects that it had had on me was everything was a big deal. Everything was a big deal. Like, it was important, and I would get anxiety if anything that didn’t go right. Because it’s like, I had this thing about me, where it’s like, life is so short. And you know, you got to make the most of it. And I was already kind of built that way, to begin with.
So, being a business owner and especially in real estate, building up that resilience in me, it’s been priceless. Because I literally fear or feel like I don’t live with those anxieties or fears. And I think that that’s something that, like, most people don’t talk about. I think that it’s crazy because I look at it and I’m like, “We’ll just solve that, like, that’s a problem.” Life comes with problems. Like business comes with problems.
Mike:Just figure it out.
Cassi:Yeah, it comes with problems. So, let’s talk about solutions. I don’t ever feel like anything’s going to be the end of the world, you know?
Mike:Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Cassi:A normal huge end of the world, and world ending, and life ending-type of thing, you know.
Mike:Right, right. No doubt. Cassi, good stuff. This is good stuff, you know. Hopefully, we’ve inspired some people to like fight through some of that early pressure, the early like doubts or whatever, and just kind of fight through it.
Cassi:Yeah. We did it. They can do it. Thank you.
Mike:Yeah. Awesome. Would you do me a favor? Would you mind . . . You and RJ have been members of Investor Fuel almost from the beginning. We’ve had six meetings now, quarterly meetings. So, we’ve been doing this for a year-and-a-half. You guys, I don’t think you were the first meeting, but from two on, you guys were there. Can you just maybe share your thoughts on . . . I mean, you guys are . . . you know, you’re members of the family whether you like it or not now.
Cassi:No, we’re lifers.
Mike:But if you can give your thoughts on Investor Fuel?
Cassi:Yeah. So yeah, I could talk about this just as long as I did the rest of the interview.
Mike:No, no, just keep being brief.
Cassi:No, I am like a huge advocate of Investor Fuel for no reason other than . . . Well, I mean, there’s other reasons. But if I were to solely say that it’s just a community. Like that community comes with so much value that has been brought into our business. You know, we could very easily say directly related to becoming a part of Investor Fuel, our business has advanced so much.
Now, I don’t have a measurement for that, but I know it that we do work, and get value, and get, you know, tools, and systems, and community, and all kinds of things from our entire Investor Fuel family all of the time. Like, there is not a week that goes . . . there might be a day here and there that goes by, but there’s not a week that goes by that we’re not gaining value. I personally also, like love immersion, when we have our meetings like it does so much for me. It just recharges my battery just to even be in that room.
And it is also like we’ve . . . You know, I know I talked about this at the last meeting. Like, we love it so much that it makes us go, “Oh, you know, maybe there’s another mastermind out there that’s good, but different. That can also . . . ” and then we quit them. We quit them because nothing is as good as this. I think there’s just so much power in the space and everything that you, and Stinson, and Hannah just pour into Investor Fuel. It’s so obvious and there’s nothing out there like it, if you ask me. It’s something . . . anybody that asks me, I’m like, “Go, just go and see what it does for you.” I know we’re all different. But every meeting we have, it’s my favorite time of the year.
Mike:I appreciate that. The funny thing is, for us, it is a business for us ultimately, but it’s our favorite thing too. It’s like, every quarter it’s go-time. We’re not like dreading going to do something we said we would do. It’s like, this is what drives us, right, so.
Cassi:And it’s fun.
Mike:Oh, yeah. It’s a blast. Yeah.
Cassi:Like how much better can get? It’s just [inaudible 00:42:37].
Mike:And I know you can’t put numbers on it. But you guys have done . . . you guys are doing deal volume regularly by partnering with people and doing stuff, right?
Cassi:Yeah. And so, it’s not just that we learn. It’s not just . . .
Mike:Yeah. Not just big love fast or here’s some tools and stuff. It’s like, there’s a lot of people that are lending to one another, or found new lending sources, or doing deals together, and all sorts of stuff. Yeah.
Cassi:There’s so much.
Mike:[Inaudible 00:42:58], we’re talking about a multifamily deal right now that we wouldn’t be talking about if we weren’t both in Investor Fuel.
Cassi:Yeah. I mean, yeah, there’s just so much connection there. Like, all of the things that you really want to have key pieces in your business exists within the Investor Fuel’s space and the Investor Fuel family. I mean, there’s nothing better. I mean, RJ and I literally said something about that yesterday. I can’t remember why I got it brought up and I said, “You know, I don’t want to say this to them. But there’s nothing like Investor Fuel out there.” And RJ goes, “Because there’s not. There’s nothing better than that.” And that’s not me like tooting your . . . I got no reason to toot your horn or [inaudible 00:43:43] not true.
Mike:Yeah, yeah. I love you no matter what.
Cassi:I know you love me no matter what. But if I came up to you, and I was like, “Mike, I wish you guys could do this a little bit different.” I know exactly what your response would be like, “Okay, talk to me. Let’s brainstorm. Tell me why.” Like, you guys care so much about what you give us. It’s incredible [inaudible 00:44:01].
Mike:We appreciate that, so awesome. Well, Cassi, if folks want to reach out to you, they want to follow along with your story, what are you guys are . . . obviously, we just talked about you documenting your process and things that happened in your life , and all that, where do they go? You guys have all sorts of websites and all sorts of social media accounts, but give us the top couple of those at least where people should go to learn more.
Cassi:Yeah, no, I hear you. So, the best place to go, you can actually still add me because like I clean my . . . I scrub my friends’ list on Facebook. So, it’s Cassi, C-A-S-S-I and it’s DeHaas D-E-H-A-A-S, you can find me on Facebook. But my favorite places to send people is our Facebook group because it’s where we connect a lot of the dots. So, that’s “The Vault” and it’s “Unlocking the Secrets to Wholesaling & Real Estate Investing.” So, that’s a Facebook group. And you can also find me on Instagram @cassifras222.
Mike:Awesome. I’ll have all those links there in the show notes. So, if you’re driving right now and you didn’t get that down or you can’t remember it, just go to the . . . look at the show on flipnerd.com. And we’ll have all the links to all these things in the notes there.
Cassi:Awesome.
Mike:Cool. Cassi, thanks for joining us. You know, we love you guys. We appreciate your story. I appreciate the hustle. I mean, honestly, this business is hard work. And you guys could work a lot less than you do now. And I know you continue to hustle. I know some of it is because you’re on a mission take over the world. But I know some of it is a mission, kind of in that process to bring a lot of people along with you.
Cassi:Yes.
Mike:Helping a lot of people. So, I admire that, I respect that. I don’t know how anybody couldn’t. And so, you guys are doing an awesome job.
Cassi:We appreciate that and I appreciate you. I appreciate you saying that. Some days, I’m like, “Does anybody realize?” You know.
Mike:Yeah. And it’s easy. I mean, I’ll be honest with you. Even doing a podcast, this is episode number 473 of this show. We’ve done like 1000 episodes of another show. And sometimes you don’t know. You’re talking to people and it’s like, does anybody even care about this? And you know, we went to the Propelio event a couple of nights ago. And there were probably five or 10 people that came up and talked to me that I that I’d never met before. And they’re like, “Oh, You’re Mike FlipNerd. I’ve been listening to your show.” And those things make you feel good, right? And so, I would encourage people, if you’re listening to this right now, I guess, you know, we have a show you just consumed it. You’ve got some good knowledge here, like go out to Cassi on Facebook and just say, “Hey, thanks for the show. You added some value to my life.” And something like that is . . .
Cassi:Yeah, shoot me a message.
Mike:Sometimes we don’t . . . you know, we’re working hard to like change people’s lives. And sometimes you’re right. Sometimes you wonder. It’s like, is there anybody even listening to this one or . . . ?
Cassi:Right. I mean, you know, because like whenever I met you, I told you I had like a shine to you.
Mike:Yes, yes.
Cassi:RJ thinks he’s [inaudible 00:46:55].
Mike:But my point is that if you guys are listening, for those of you that are listening, I’m not saying this for self-serving reasons at all. I won’t even mention myself. But any of our guests that have been on the show, if Cassi changed your life today, just send her a message and say, “Hey, that was cool.” I mean, even if it’s something little, I promise you what happens is it lights a fire under Cassi to help more and give more, just like this is impacting other people. And I could probably say that’s true for any guests I’ve ever had on or anybody that’s added value in your life. It drives them to know that that helped you in some way.
Cassi:Yeah. It really does.
Mike:Show a little gratitude out there basically.
Cassi:Yeah, it makes you go, “Okay, you know, people actually want to hear what I’m saying. I’m not just you know, rambling on.” I’m a rambler.
Mike:Yeah. We both are. This could be like a four-hour podcast if we let it, but . . .
Cassi:Yeah. You know, so yeah, I want to make sure that I’m spending my time giving value. And I think anybody that does any of this sort of stuff really wants to hear that and like we do appreciate you just pop . . . I mean, even if you guys just pop on there, like, RJ gets a lot of that. Because he spends a lot of time with his, you know, podcast and everything like that. And, yeah, it keeps the fire lit for sure.
Mike:Yep, absolutely. Well, Cassi, thanks again for your time today. And I appreciate you. Thanks for sharing your message, and your story, and some great knowledge.
Cassi:All right. Well, I appreciate you having me on, Mike.
Mike:Yep. Yep. And everybody, thanks for listening today. We appreciate you a bunch. We’re going to keep these shows coming at you. Until next time, keep on fighting for freedom. We’ll see you on the next show.
Thanks for listening to today’s show. There are three ways I can help you start or grow your real estate investing business. If you’re a new investor, and just getting started the FlipNerd Investor Coaching program is the most effective program in America. I’ve been coaching and mentoring new real estate investors for 10 years, and my students have literally purchased thousands and thousands of properties. Many of them started with little to no experience at all. Our program is a paint-by-numbers program, where we tell you exactly what to do week by week, to make sure that you don’t get distracted on your way to results. We’ll show you how to build a real business, not just create another job for yourself.
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