The Millionaire Formula: 10 Steps to Hit 7-Figure Net Worth (Part 2)

Brandon:
This is The BiggerPockets Podcast show 504.

David:
What Brandon and I are basically talking about is don’t say turn off the water, this is too hard. That’s the wrong kind of quitting. Say I’m going to quit doing this task. I’m going to quit taking the easy way of bailing the water out of the boat myself and I’m actually going to build that drain so it just comes into me and flows right out of me.

Intro:
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Brandon:
What’s going on everyone? It’s Brandon Turner, host of The BiggerPockets Podcast, here with my cohost, Mr. David synergy Greene. What’s up man? How you been?

David:
I like that. Synergy’s always been a word and a concept close to my heart.

Brandon:
Well, it’s going to be close to your heart today as we dive into that topic a little bit and others that are going to help make you a millionaire. For those who did not get the memo, this is part two of a two part series on 10 … Or technically 11. We’re going to add an 11th in there. But 10 habits or traits or things, I don’t know what the word we want to use there is, that have made David and I both multimillionaires. So it’s like these are the millionaire habits that can affect anybody and anybody can put into place. In fact, I heard a guy say the other day, principles … Maybe we’ll call them principles. But principles are not things that you apply but principles are things that apply themselves to you. It’s like they are the universal truth. Like it’s a principle of gravity. Like you can’t choose to do gravity or not. It’s like it’s there. It applies itself to you. And so that’s what these are. We’ll call them principles.

David:
That’s a really good point. And I guess the people who follow principles … A better way to put it would be these are people that have accepted this is way the universe works. Gravity is a thing. They’re not resisting the concept of gravity because it doesn’t work for their specific situation.

Brandon:
Instead they find ways to use it and to play with it and to improve upon it or whatever to make cool things happen. Like the airplane isn’t like we’re going to fight gravity, it’s more like okay, gravity exists so how are we going to create lift and so-

David:
That’s really good.

Brandon:
Thanks man. Well, with that, we are going to review last week’s in case you didn’t listen to last week’s episode. It’s okay. You can listen to this one and then that one but I would recommend going back to listen to that one first if all possible. And before we get there though let’s get to today’s quick tip. David, I’ve been hogging the quick tips lately. Why don’t you give us a good quick tip.

David:
Today’s quick tip is read the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Brandon:
Great.

David:
This book highlights the principles of how to become likable and bring people that want to work with you and when we get to tip number 11 on today’s show you’re going to see how valuable the skill of winning friends and influencing people really is when it comes to your personal success and your business success. So check out that book.

Brandon:
There you go. Great quick tip today man. Good job. And speaking of, by the way, books, David and I are going to do a show pretty soon. We’ll probably record it in the next few weeks. Maybe it’ll be out in the next month or two. I don’t know. But we’re just going to pick like 10 of our favorite books that have made the biggest impact on us and unpack each one so look for that in the near future. Should be a lot of fun.

Brandon:
And now I think it’s time to jump into today’s show. Maybe we’ll start, David, by giving a quick recap of what we discussed last time. You want to just kind of back and forth and talk about the five that we covered last time?

David:
Yeah. You want me to start?

Brandon:
Take it. Take the wheel. David, take the wheel. Take it from my hand.

David:
Oh there we go.

Brandon:
All right, sorry. Go.

David:
All of you who just heard that, you’ve got to be wondering why Brandon chose to host a podcast with me instead of being on American Idol.

Brandon:
I know.

David:
That’s how powerful my winning friends and influencing people skills are as I took Brandon away from a career as a successful country artist. Hey, if people want to listen to your country song, is that on YouTube where people can look it up?

Brandon:
It is not but thanks for calling it out. Maybe I’ll … I wrote a country song. Backstory on that just for people who are like, “What?” Yeah, my buddy Seth Mosley who’s like the most talented music producer in the world, like grammy winning, awesome dude. Anyway, him and I sat down one time and we wrote a country song together and then we recorded it and it’s pretty awesome. I think you’ll like it. Maybe I’ll put it at the end of this show. Should we do that? Might be fun.

David:
Yeah. If you actually have it, it’s really good.

Brandon:
I do. I’ll also put it on my Instagram when this show comes out. I’ll put it on my Instagram the day the show comes out. So Instagram is BeardyBrandon. Beard with a Y. So if you want to watch it there you can hear the whole thing there. But I’ll play it at the end of this thing too. It’s a silly song. Very bro country but we had a good time writing it. Who knows? Maybe someday some artist will pick it up and actually put it on the radio but probably not. I know. Kidding myself. Anyway, thanks for calling that out David Greene.

David:
They can listen to the heartbeat song though right?

Brandon:
They can listen to the heartbeat song. That is on-

David:
YouTube?

Brandon:
I think it’s on YouTube. It’s also on Spotify.

David:
Brandon Turner Heartbeat?

Brandon:
Yeah. Brandon Turner Heartbeat. You’ll find it.

David:
Check out that song. Brandon wrote it about his daughter Rosie. It’s very sweet.

Brandon:
Well, thanks man. All right, review it.

David:
Rule number one. Aim for a target. You got to know where you’re going before you can measure any progress.

Brandon:
That’s good. Number two, scalable income sources. In other words, your job is likely fixed to a certain point so you’ve got to have a way of earning scalable income. That the harder you work or even more importantly the smarter you work, you can make more money. Things like being a real estate agent, flipping houses, any sales job, starting a side hustle. Those things that allow you to scale up revenue quickly is super important. At least that was a super important principle for helping David and I make a lot of money that we could then invest in real estate at a greater and greater level.

David:
Yes sir. Number three, fight lifestyle creep. This is the slow, subtle carbon monoxide that kills wealth where as you slowly start to make money because you developed a scalable income source and you have more offense going on, you stop playing defense and that money just goes into cars and vacations and clothes and eating out and all these things that make your life more comfortable but don’t necessarily help you make progress towards your target.

Brandon:
Yeah. There you go. Number four was buy assets with the extra income. So the more money David and I made in various things the more money we dumped into assets. Now, there’s nothing wrong with trying to do no and low money on creative strategies. In fact, speaking of no and low money down, David and I did a nine part video series for no and low money down real estate investing. And we give that away to BiggerPockets Pro members. So one more reason to go pro is to get that series. If you’re an existing pro member, you should have it in your account. I think if you go up to your profile and drop down I think it should be there. And if not, maybe you have to use a code. Oh, if it’s not there go to biggerpockets.com/alreadypro and use the code … I’m going to say use the code greene with an E. G-R-E-E-N-E. And you will get that into your account. But I think it’s there already for all pro members. If not, I’ll try to make sure that happens before this episode airs. And now I’m just rambling. But anyway-

David:
Well, not to gas ourselves up, this is probably the best content Brandon and I ever made.

Brandon:
I think it was pretty darn good. It was fun too. It was almost four hours of us sitting there and we divided it up into nine episodes. So anyway, that’s a new pro benefit. Anyway, so the point being, it’s okay to do creative stuff but if you want to become a millionaire fast it sure is nice to have a target, scale your income, fight lifestyle creep, and then dump all your extra income into assets that then generate more and more money. It’s just a very quick way to become a millionaire is doing that kind of cycle. And then that leads to number five.

David:
Number five is stair stepping wealth building. So rather than trying to say hey, if I can’t hit a home run on the first pitch I’m just not going to do it, understand that progress is made incrementally. So what this looks like in practical terms is that you start off an environment … Let’s use a martial arts example where you’re a white belt.

Brandon:
Of course.

David:
And you get your butt kicked by all the white belts that have been going there longer than you’ve been going there. You keep making progress. Eventually you become the best white belt in that group and now you’re at the top. At that point you need to take a step up and then start more horizontal progress when you’re going with blue belts who are now kicking your butt every single day until eventually you can beat the blue belts and then you take another step up to purple belt. This is how progress works with everything in life. When you’re lifting weights you slowly add more weights on and then you just suck at lifting that weight. You’re not very good at it until you go. But you have to get comfortable with this pattern, this rhythm of taking a step up, being humbled, sticking with it, getting good, and then not just being comfortable, being good. Then you got to take another step up and go through the humble phase and sort of climbing these steps towards success.

Brandon:
That’s good.

David:
Now, how this would look in real estate is that you’re using something like the BRRRR method to get more properties by adding equity in incremental chunks just like stairs. So again, you’re not trying to get one property that gives you financial freedom and you never try again. But you get a property under market value, you put in all the work of making it worth more, you do a refinance, you get your money back out. That’s one stair. You go buy the next property. You repeat that process. Consistent actions. Just getting on base, hitting singles, getting walks, whatever you got to do. You don’t have to hit a home run when you’re in real estate.

Brandon:
Yeah. The point I really like about this stair stepping this is comparing it to stocks. They say if you were to take $20 every paycheck and put it in the stock market starting with zero, by the time you’re 65 you’ll have $300,000. I’m like that’s great but it takes 40 years because you’re starting with zero and just you’re adding 20, 30, 50, $100 every month to your thing. That’s very slow growth. It will get you to a high level eventually but what stair stepping does, you put in all this effort like David said and all of a sudden one day, boom, you add $100,000 of value in one deal. And then boom, you add $50,000 in one deal. You stair step these big chunks which is a whole lot better than just adding $100 a month or whatever the number is to your wealth building. So if you want to grow fast to become a millionaire find ways to just stair step your way there rather than slope your way there.

David:
And there’s two enemies of star stepping. The first is being afraid of taking a step up. It’s like okay, I got my property and I’m just going to do the same thing again. I’m going to do the same very slow progress because you don’t want to push yourself. And the other would be trying to push yourself too hard. You’re not going in stairs, you’re trying to parkour your way up to the top which not everybody can do.

Brandon:
Yeah. I just got started. I bought my first duplex. I think I’m buy an apartment complex today with 150 units. You’re like whoa, slow down.

David:
Using other people’s money. Yes. And legal documents that I created myself on LegalZoom.

Brandon:
Exactly. Yeah. Slow down there. Yeah. Take the steps as they come but yeah, you can do it. So that leads us to part two. So that was part one, quick review. Let’s move on to part two. The first one I got here … And I’m going to have you go ahead and talk about this one David and that is what?

David:
Harnessing synergy.

Brandon:
There it is. Synergy.

David:
And again, I just love synergy. That’s exactly right. So let’s start off by describing what synergy is. You think that’s a good place to start?

Brandon:
Let’s do it.

David:
It’s very hard to describe actually. It’s one of those things where you know it when you see it. The way I understand synergy would be when you put together an accumulation of parts. Let’s use players on a sports team. Like I like to talk about the Golden State Warriors in their heyday. They would bring in a guy like Draymond Green who was an incredible good defensive player but he was lacking in offensive abilities. And on a normal team he’d have been a solid player that would have contributed but his lack of offense would have really hurt the team. But playing on a team like the Warriors where they had so much offense of firepower, they didn’t even miss it. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t good at offense because they had so many other players that could score really well. What they needed was his defense that took pressure off of those offensive players so they could spend their energy scoring points which is really their 20% where they’re supposed to be. And his presence made everyone better. And then likewise you had other players on the Warriors like maybe a Stephen Curry who could score really well but he couldn’t really guard the other team’s best player. Well, they had Klay Thompson who could guard the other team’s best player. And so he took a lot of pressure off of Stephen Curry.

David:
And I always look for ways in business, in life, in anything that I’m doing to limit my weaknesses while amplifying my strengths and that’s really what synergy does. So one example of this could be what Brandon Turner describes is he has like a kite analogy where he talks about how The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, just opened a tequila company. Well, what the hell does The Rock have to do with tequila? Nothing. It doesn’t matter. The Rock has so much momentum from other things in life. He’s running so fast that if he just throws a kite up in the air, boom, it catches the wind and it flies. Whereas if I started a tequila company, I would have to start off running from a dead stop and build up a lot of speed and then keep going for a very long time before I got the resistance that was needed to get the kite up there. The Rock is using the momentum he has and the synergy that that creates to launch a tequila company because he’s already got the marketing down and he’s got the press down and all the most difficult things.

Brandon:
I’ll give a real life example. So in my life … I don’t know. This is now five or six years ago. Y’all probably remember this because probably talked about it on the podcast. But I wanted to start some kind of eCommerce business with my little brother because my brother was looking for a way to make more money and I said let’s do an Amazon business together. So we were going to sell first actually kites. Like let’s go fly a kite. That kind of kite. And then we changed it to wooden sunglasses. We were going to sell these sunglasses that were wooden on the outside. They float. They look super cool. I really loved them. They were great. But I had zero momentum in kite selling or wooden sunglasses selling. I had no momentum in either one. Nor did I have a lot of interest in it. And so other words, there was zero synergy. So on my quest to become a millionaire I started at zero miles per hour in that world. Where instead, now fast forward a few years, I started Open Door Capital which is my commercial real estate apartments, mobile home park company. Now that thing went from zero to a hundred very quickly because I didn’t start at zero.

Brandon:
I started it with already tons of knowledge and experience in real estate and I had this massive Instagram following and I have this podcast that people listen to. So in other words the synergy shows that if I want to become a millionaire through some business line, I should not have done kites or wooden sunglasses. I should have done commercial real estate to be able to do that. So David … Another example. So David, you have a mortgage business now. Explain how that is a synergistic business model versus a distraction.

David:
I can show you how that became part of an ecosystem that was dependent on synergy. So when I was a police officer and I knew I wanted to step away from that and get into something else, I didn’t go buy a restaurant. I didn’t go start a DoorDash, a tech company. I said hey, I own a lot of rental properties. People know me as an investor. I will get my license and be a real estate agent. So that business took off way faster for me because most agents have to learn real estate, they have to learn sales, and then they have to learn their actual job of being a fiduciary. I only had to learn the fiduciary part. I already understood the real estate and the sales part. So that got that business going quicker and then as that started to gain momentum I started a mortgage company like you mentioned Brandon. Because all the same people that were coming to me to buy a house also needed to get a loan so I didn’t have to start from scratch. I already had a ton of momentum. And then the loan business, once that got going, started bringing leads for the realtors. And the realtors are already bringing leads for the loan people.

David:
So both of them are feeding each other, making both them more successful. That’s really the way you want synergy to work. And now I just systematically add pieces to that ecosystem like an escrow company and I’ll have a construction company and I’ll probably start a real estate fund at a certain point. And I’m always looking to say okay, if I bring this business in the ecosystem how is it going to feed all of the other businesses as well as be fed by them?

Brandon:
Yeah. That’s cool. Yeah. The ecosystem model is super cool. It reminds you of Apple, right?

David:
Yes.

Brandon:
So Apple has the phone and the computer and the iPad linked to all this ecosystem and once you get in one it makes everything else easier. And so they’re not selling insurance. They’re not selling condos down in Miami. They add products but it’s in an ecosystem. So to put this in a tangible thing, let’s say you’re an insurance salesman. That’s what you do for a living. You do insurance. And then you want to stop that and just go do commercial real estate. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do that. Maybe you need an abrupt change in your life. But I would first look … If you want to become a millionaire fast, what do you already have tons of credibility in your bank? Like in this bank of credibility. Where do you already have all this momentum and credibility built up and what can you do then? Could you start a consulting side that helps people? Could you do a …

Brandon:
What’s the world called? The claims adjuster. Could you become that? Or start a claims adjusting business. What’s the thing that’s already in the world that you’re already a powerhouse in and how can you use that? You’re a weightlifter. You’re awesome at weightlifting. Well, could you start a gym? That might be a better option than going to start a flipping business because you have zero credibility or whatever. You’re starting from zero.

David:
Or maybe you’re a fitness person who has a big Instagram following. Well, sell supplements that you use and you believe in to people. Start creating a scalable income source. That was tip number two in the first part of this thing to make some money. Then look at how you can invest that money into real estate. But maybe you use some of your connections from the fitness industry to help find you deals. That is the way that you’re sort of moving with the grain, with the current you’ve already developed, and letting it carry you as opposed to just trying to start from scratch which is a mistake almost everybody makes. Is they jump out of an area they have momentum into an area where they have none. Like you’re in this nice stream and it’s carrying you forward and you’re like, “But I don’t want to be in this stream. This is a W2 stream.” And they just jump right into a bunch of sand. And getting started in sand is very difficult. So make that transition easier on yourself by asking yourself what momentum do I have in this area of life that can help me get into the next one easier?

Brandon:
Well, that leads us to the next one on our list here and that is to get around way wealthier people. This might be obvious to some of you or might be completely a shock to some of you but you are the average. They say you are the average of the five people you associate with. And that’s in health, in wealth, in relationships, in everything. And there’s so many studies that back this up. But one of the things that made David and I both significantly wealthier people is by getting around wealthier people. In other words, when all I was around, when all I hung out with was people that were at a certain level making 50 grand a year, that’s what I made, 50 grand a year. When I started hanging out with people who were way wealthier and finding groups to be a part of and masterminds and going to events and hanging out with people … It doesn’t have to be a lot of people. Just a few people in your life. It’s incredible what can happen. In fact, I remember this was probably seven years ago. Maybe eight years ago. I don’t know. It was a while ago. Some guys that I knew that I was good friends with told me … Like we were in kind of this weekly mastermind group together. And he told me that he made half a million dollars in the previous year.

Brandon:
And my jaw hit the floor. I’m like I don’t know anybody that makes half a millionaire dollars. Like that’s so much money. When I was making like 60K a year. And my real estate was chunking along and I don’t make much off the real estate because I just keep reinvesting it and buying more properties. I’m like man, this guy’s making half a million. I was blown away. The next year I made the exact same amount. Half a million dollars. And I was like … When I look back and I was like, I believe it wasn’t a coincidence. I believe it was because my friend told me he made that much money it just raised that thermostat in my mind of what was possible. And so instantly I just did that. It’s not like a magic trick. It’s just you get around people who think differently and think bigger and money just flows to them easier so then you learn how that is and it flows to you easier. So get around way wealthier people. What do you want to say on that one David?

David:
I think there’s an element of faith to this one because as people hear it, it’s easier to say, “Yeah, I get it. Get around wealthier people. Average of the five people that I hang around with is who I’m going to be.” You can’t see how it’s going to impact you when you’re on the outside looking in. But what Brandon and I have found from doing this enough times is that it’s almost this hack that we have to use. Like you’re hacking into the version of you that’s going to get you the best. So let me just share a couple of examples of how this has worked out. When I first joined GoBundance, I had to a millionaire to get in. In fact, I didn’t know I was a millionaire until they made me check my net worth. And every event I went to I felt this big. It was horrible. I hated the feeling of going to those things because in my world I was the man. Everyone looked up to me. And I went there and I was like, “I don’t even belong to be here. These guys are using words I don’t even understand. I don’t do any of this stuff.” And so there was this imposter syndrome that I was struggling with but what would happen is I did not like that feeling.

David:
So when I went back to my regular life and I was tempted to sink into being comfortable I remembered I’m just a big fish in a small pond. I shouldn’t be believing that these little tiny wins that I’m having are actually big wins just because nobody else is winning at all. That’s what was going on. So it kind of forced me to deal with some of the obstacles that I had in life that were stopping me from getting ahead. And everyone listening to this, if you’re listening to this podcast I promise you, you have something or many things in your life that are stopping you from taking action. Whether it’s the way that we eat, the way that we exercise, what we do with our money, how hard we work at our job, the kind of father or mother that we are. There’s things that make it harder to be the best you. This is a hack that Brandon and I have found and many other people have found makes it easier to get over those things. Another example would be jujitsu. Why I go all the time. It’s hard for me to eat as healthy as I should eat and exercise as much as I know I should. It’s just that I should but it’s not necessarily I want to.

David:
And when you get stuck in this battle between I’m supposed to do it versus I want to do it, you always lose. You’re never going to consistently do what you’re supposed to do. It has to be that you want to do it. But when I go to jujitsu and I get my butt kicked by somebody, it makes me want to get in better shape and go more. When I was in the police world I was a defensive tactics instructor so in that realm I was already the top dog. I was better than everybody else when it came to that stuff. Then I started going to jujitsu classes and I was the worst person. It brings out a better part of me that makes me want to do more to get ahead. And if I take myself out of the environment where I’m at the bottom, I’m robbing myself of that natural ability that comes out of me when I see that I’m not there. So this is why you want to get around wealthier people and healthier people and happier people and deeper people and all the things that we sort of hold as a virtue in life. Because it exposes all the ways that you’re not. And that never feels good which is why we avoid it but it always is good.

Brandon:
That’s really good man. Yeah. Getting around people. I’ve told this story many times but it was going to that real estate conference three years ago. I was speaking and I realized I was like the least qualified person to be there. That’s what made a big impact on me getting to that next level and starting Open Door Capital is because I got around people where I wasn’t the smartest in the room. I’m reminded of something that Ed Mylett said one time. He’s been on our show. But super, super wealthy, successful guy. And he was speaking to a group of entrepreneurs. And he said, “I know a lot of you guys feel like you’re doing pretty good in life but that’s because you’re not comparing yourself to me.” And I thought that was such a great statement. I mean, it’s maybe … I don’t want to say arrogant because he can back it up. So it’s just a very confident response. He’s like look-

David:
Well, he didn’t mean it from a place of you should feel bad.

Brandon:
Correct. He was saying, “Look, you’re all the biggest people in your world because you’re the boss. You’re the one in charge. And so because of that it’s slowing you down.” He’s like, “But stop comparing yourself to your employees and start comparing yourself to me or to people that are even above what I’m doing. And then you’re not going to feel so cocky that you’re the man.”

David:
And it’s not about you have to make more money than someone above you. That’s not what we’re saying. If that’s your goal, sure. It’s more the principle in general. Wealth comes in different ways. One of the ways is more finances, more financial freedom. But it also could come from the way that you make your money. You might make your money with less work. You might make your money in a way that you enjoy more. You might be wealthier in your relationships. You’re just a more fun person to be around. That’s one of my favorite things about Brandon is you’re never around him and you don’t feel good about yourself. He’s very wealthy when it comes to relationships. So don’t hear this and think, “Well, when would it ever end? It’s never enough. If I have as much money as Ed Mylett I need to make more.” No. If you’re happy with your money, congratulations. But that doesn’t mean that you should be happy with where you are as a person. It’s okay to be striving to be a more service oriented person and think about yourself less and others more. And you’ve got to get around other people who do that better than you do if you want to increase in those ways.

Brandon:
Yeah. I love getting around people right now that are like super … They don’t even care about money, they’re just super giving. How do I create this nonprofit or do this thing? Because I’m like, that’s not something I’m not real great at in life. So the more I get around those people the wealthier I become in my giving. And so yeah, get around people who are way wealthier than you and you’ll naturally rise to their level. That was tip number seven. Oh by the way, yeah, keep an eye out in the near future, BiggerPockets … I mentioned this I think last time. But BiggerPockets is hopefully starting up kind of a new high level club we’ll call it. And more information on that in the coming months but we’re putting together some pieces that are going to be kind of cool for that so keep an eye out. That’s the goal of that is you get people who are high level or at least want to be high level together more frequently to be able to do some cool stuff so I’m excited for that. Anyway, moving on, number eight, David.

David:
Number eight, committing to quitting. Now that sounds terrible so Brandon why don’t you identify what we’re actually talking about there.

Brandon:
Yeah. I once heard a billionaire say that the secret to success was being a quitter. He’s a quitter. The interviewer asked, “Well, what do you mean by that?” And he said, “Well, everything I do in life I find a way to quit it.” And I remember that made such a huge impact on me a few years ago when I first heard that. And I’ve even said it on the show before. Because it’s such an impactful statement. Every single thing that crosses this plate that he tries to do he finds a way to quit it. And I do the same thing today. Ever since saying that, everything that I do now I’m like how can I never do that again? And there are things that I’m going to always want to do. I always want to invest in my team and the people that are with me and my family obviously. We’re talking about like if I’m sitting there signing documents for something and I’m like, “Hey, yeah I need to sign documents. But do I always have to sign documents? How do I get to a point where I don’t have to sign documents and sign for 35 minutes every week all these papers?” And asking that question, you’re like oh, well what if I had this person or this level or this thing?

Brandon:
And that mentality of quitting, of being a quitter and committing to that process of outsourcing and knowing that your dollar per hour that you’re earning … Every task you do has a dollar per hour attached to it. Knowing that and continually striving for higher and higher dollar per hour tasks is one of the key principles to becoming wealthy.

David:
This is the way that I describe it to the people that are working on my team. I’m holding up a picture that would represent buckets. Okay. So that top bucket is where the workflow goes in and if there’s no way for that bucket to drain and the work to go to somewhere else, the bucket overflows. And when you get overflow is when you feel stressed out, depressed, you don’t like your job. Maybe that’s what you’re feeling right now with W2 job you have. That’s the problem when there’s nowhere for the bucket to drain. And then you’ll turn off the spigot and so you won’t have more opportunity, more wealth, more things coming in your direction.

Brandon:
That’s good.

David:
The problem though is that when you turn off the spigot you’re still not happy with life because you don’t have enough. So you’re always in this place of I’m overwhelmed or I’m hungry. It’s very hard to find balance. The key is you put a drain at the bottom of that bucket that flows into a bucket that’s underneath you. And that would be the person that you leverage the work onto. Now, that person if you get the right one should be happy to be there because what they want is more water coming into their world. More opportunity, more knowledge, more revenue. More things that would benefit them. And when they’re bucket gets full they got to build a drain to go to the next person.

David:
The first way to mess this up that I mentioned was that you don’t actually put water into the bucket. That’s a problem. Well, the next is that the drain doesn’t work. This is the skill we’re talking about is leveraging on to other people. It’s literally creating the drain between you and the bucket underneath you that takes time. You got to get the right bucket. They got to have the right skills. They have to be driven. They have to want the water. Like if they stop draining then their bucket overflows and you’re back in the same place. That connection between you and the person on your team that you’re pouring into is the drain. And that is a skill that you have to build. And so what we’re talking about is being committed to actually building that drain from you to the next person. Now, if you get good at this you create this entire sewer system. I guess sewer’s not the best analogy because that sounds like a bad thing. But you create this entire drainage system where everybody’s getting the water. Everyone is sharing in what’s going on. You have this velocity of money that’s flowing through everyone and they’re all winning.

David:
So what this looks like as a realtor on my team, if I just give them one or two deals a year and they got to figure out how to do it that’s all they every learn. But if I put their bucket underneath other buckets where 100 deals a year are flowing, they are learning 50 times faster than the people who are only getting two deals a year. Now, they got to pull their weight. They have to be good at what they do. But when this works well everyone’s experience levels go up a lot. So what Brandon and I are basically talking about is don’t say turn off the water, this is too hard. That’s the wrong kind of quitting. Say I’m going to quit doing this task. I’m going to quit taking the easy way of bailing the water out of the boat myself and I’m actually going to build that drain so it just comes into me and flows right out of me.

Brandon:
Yeah, that’s good man. I’m going to take this one level deeper as well. This doesn’t apply to everybody necessarily but I think at some point it will apply to everybody. And that is at some level of your business you are not just worrying about outsourcing your tasks but you also need to teach your team how to add a plug or add a drain to their bucket as well. So your job as a leader is to help your leaders become better leaders. And then their job is to help their leaders become better leaders. And as your organization builds everybody becomes that system again. So I’m reading this book called Multipliers right now by Liz Wiseman. And it’s all about that how good leaders don’t just try to get more of the glory and all the hard work for themselves, they just sit there and take it all in. They create better leaders. Like a good sign of a good leader is your ability to create other leaders that can do it and then pass the knowledge onward. So just for those few people out there that are listening that have big teams underneath them is think through how can you help your executives or your people that are under you? How can you help them as well reach that?

Brandon:
Even to a point of like husband, wife. Maybe you’re looking at your spouse and saying, “Wow. They are just overwhelmed.” I’m hot saying force them to go and get a nanny. That’s not necessarily what I’m saying. But how can you coach them or help them think differently? Because most people don’t think this way. Most of the world does not listen to podcasts about personal development and business and entrepreneurship and real estate. They just do their life the way that it comes to them. So if you can coach people around you or your kids to start thinking this way, it can make a big impact on your entire life, everybody around you and make everyone a little bit happier. And last point I’ll make on this is there’s a natural reaction that people have to this of well, I’m just giving my crappy jobs to somebody else. That’s not a very nice thing to do. But the thing you have to remember if that’s your natural reaction just like, “I don’t want to give that crappy job to somebody else.”, that’s how they’re putting food on their table. They want that stuff. Every job exists because an entrepreneur didn’t want to do it anymore. Every job. Every single job that exists is because an entrepreneur didn’t want to do it anymore.

Brandon:
And I use the word entrepreneur meaning anybody that’s running some kind of a team or whatever. Even if it’s an intrapreneur. And so everything. So don’t think of it as a negative. Think of it as a positive. You’re helping people put food on their table, helping them feed their families, helping them develop new skills. And if they don’t like that task longterm because it’s annoying, great. Give them the ability to rise out of that to get to a higher level so that they can bring in somebody who’s at that level to work that job.

David:
That’s exactly what I’ve found is the easy road is to say, “I am overwhelmed. This is too hard. Somebody come help me.” That’s what you see when someone just complains, “I’m overworked.” That’s a common thing that everyone will say. That’s basically a latent way of saying I don’t want to take responsibility for the fact that I am overworked or I am stressed or I can’t keep up. Somebody else come fix this. If you learn the skill of creating the drain from your bucket into someone else … Let’s say in Open Door Capital Mike is the person that deals with investor relations. Let’s say Mike gets so good at his job that he’s actually helping to raise money for Open Door Capital. He’s bringing in his own investors that are like, “I want to invest here.” Now Mike is torn between I’ve got new people coming in and I’m trying to keep the people we already have happy. I can’t keep up.

David:
Mike’s not going to complain that Brandon gave him the part of the job Brandon didn’t like. He’s going to be thrilled that he now can go hire a person to replace him as the investor relations guy and Mike steps up a tier in this bucket system to get to the point where he’s bringing in more money. He got himself a raise and he got himself new skills and he gets a bigger piece of the pie and he’s better off. Now we created a new opportunity for a new Mike Williams to be able to do the same thing. That’s the healthy way to look at capitalistic opportunity. The unhealthy way is to complain.

Brandon:
It’s funny that you actually bring up that example because that’s exactly what happened actually.

David:
Oh, really?

Brandon:
So Mike got so overwhelmed with … I mean Mike’s working 100 hour work weeks. We have 600 investors now in Open Door Capital who have invested. Like accredited investors who have invested. We have almost 10,000 accredited investors on our email list. Like he’s so overwhelmed because of how successful he was at what he’s doing that he was just working so many hours. So it goes back to then my job as the leader was to help him become a leader and to drill some holes in his bucket. And now he’s done that. Now we have two team members that work underneath him and they are so excited to be part of what we’re doing now. They are just so happy to be … I got on the calls with them and they’re just like, “This is the best thing ever.” Because they’re like on a team call with Open Door Capital.

Brandon:
And Mike is like … He said it today to me. He’s like, “It just feels like a pressure relief valve like on a water heater went …” And all of a sudden he could breathe again. And what’s cool is yeah, Mike can breathe again. He can handle talking to more people and now we can bring in a lot more investors, a lot more accredited investors but it also made Mike a better leader. That’s going to help him the rest of his life. So yeah, this is how it should work and it feels really good when you get there and it’s fun to be able to see that in an organization so yeah. Quit. That’s your job today. Quit. Find something that you no longer want to do. At the beginning right now it might be mowing your lawn, changing oil. In fact right now, one of my team members went and just picked up my truck and they’re taking it to the oil change place. I could change my own oil. Especially the truck. It’s super easy. I can just lay underneath it. I don’t even need ramps. I’m not going to do that though. I’d rather pay 50 bucks and have somebody else do it and so I can record a podcast and help thousands people. That’s my thing there.

Brandon:
So anyway, be committed to quitting. Become a quitter and you’re going to be much more successful in life. One last point on that I’ll make and then we’ll move on. There’s a great book out there called 80/20 Sales and Marketing by a guy named Perry Marshall. We actually had Perry on the show today. I mean, before, not today. We’ve had him on the show before. I don’t know what episode number. You can just google Perry Marshall BiggerPockets. You’ll find it. But it was a fantastic episode. And his book 80/20 Sales and Marketing goes into this concept of hiring people and the buckets and replacing yourself in the dollar per hour tasks you do. That book changed my life and I think it’ll change yours as well so highly recommend it. All right, moving on.

David:
There we are. All right, number nine. Commit to continual improvement and the pursuit of excellence. Now, this sounds again obvious but no one does it.

Brandon:
No one does it.

David:
The very fact that Brandon can start a fund and have it become this big this fast is because Open Door Capital adheres to Brandon’s standards of excellence. Brandon has a very high standard of what he expects of people because he knows when you guys go to him and say I’m going to invest my money with you that you have a high expectation because you sit here and you listen to Brandon all the time. That pressure that we carry forced us to raise our standards so that we don’t let people down. And then we have to raise the standards of everybody around us and that’s how Open Door Capital became so successful so quick. Same would go with me with selling houses, why the David Greene team became one of the top teams in all of Keller Williams, the biggest brokerage in the country, in like a five year period or whatever it was. I guess as a team it’s only been a two year period. Is because of this pursuit of excellence. Now, the bad news is it’s hard. It’s always harder to try to level up from white belt to blue belt to purple belt. It’s easier to stay the same.

David:
The good news is because it’s hard nobody else is doing it. And when you do get to that point where you hit the top 20% of whatever you’re doing there’s this magical moment where your head pierces the clouds and you look around and there’s no one around and business just starts coming to you. I have this example that I write about in the SOLD series of when you start your business as a real estate agent … And this can apply to being an investor as well, like maybe a wholesaler. You feel like you’re pushing this boulder up a hill. You are just … Every inch of progress is so hard. Gravity is fighting you. The weight of this boulder is pushing you back. Your shoulders are screaming and sweat’s pouring out of you. You feel like you’re getting nowhere. And you can’t see when the hill ends. The boulder blocks your vision. All you know is you’re just pushing and pushing and pushing. And at a certain point you crest that hill and now all of a sudden gravity’s not working against you. Everything’s neutral and the boulder is just rolling and you’re making good progress.

David:
Like every step you take the boulder’s rolling and you’re picking up momentum and most people stop right there if they even get to that point. But you shouldn’t. If you keep pursuing excellence and you keep pushing that boulder what happens is the plateau ends and you start going down the other side. Now that boulder starts rolling faster than you can even keep up with it. And now you’re at a dead sprint trying to keep up with this boulder. This is what my business looked like when too many buyers and sellers came to me. I wasn’t out there working to get them to call. I couldn’t keep up with the people that were coming to me. And at that point I had to go build my team so that I could keep up with the opportunity that was there. I needed other people chasing this boulder down the hill with me so we could keep up with it. No matter what vocation you’re in, I would challenge anyone to tell me that that wouldn’t work if they were a plumber or if they were a roofer. That if they pursued excellence, that word of mouth would not eventually get around that everyone would be going to them.

David:
And now they have the opportunity to bring other people into their business. But it’s the pursuit of excellence that makes that possible and you rob yourself of that huge win when you look for the shortcut, the easy way out, the hack that gets you money without having to work hard where you try to become successful at anything including finances without pursuing excellence.

Brandon:
That’s so good man. Yeah. There’s a phrase that I want everyone to ask themselves or to say over and over and over and over and over in every piece of your business. It’s five words that will change your life. Very simple but five words. It is what can we do better? People who are excellent at things, they ask themselves that over and over and over. Because in the beginning we all suck at everything and most people will just live there. But ask yourself what can we do better? In fact, when it comes to, for example, property management, one of the reasons that we are really good … When I say we, in this case I’ll talk about my wife and I. We were very good at managing tenants. We don’t have many that we do on our own anymore. We’ve got the huge Open Door Capital and this big machine and I’m building what’ll probably become the largest property management company in America. At least that’s my hope. But on an individual smaller level when we had just 20 or 30 tenants we were so good. Because in every single situation Heather and I would look at each other and go, what could we do better? So we’d take a phone call. What could we do better on this phone call next time? Could we have a better greeting when we answer the phone? What could we do better while signing a lease?

Brandon:
And it’s a continual never stopping, never ending, relentless pursuit of excellence and always asking that. Never saying yeah, we’re good enough, it’s good enough. Everything. It’s how you do anything is how you do everything. What’s our marketing look like? Is our logo good enough? And you don’t want to get caught up on the details and spend all your time on little stuff like that but at the same time how you do anything is how you do everything. So ask yourself how can we do better? In fact, every podcast episode I have ever done in the last nine years of being here on The BiggerPockets Podcast episode, the first half of that was Josh and I. Every time we’d get done with a show Josh and I would say, “Hey, what went wrong? What could we do better?” And then David now, you and I, every time we get done we’re like, “Yeah. What could we do better?” And it’s this continual pursuit because you’re never happy with where you’re at. So if you take one tip I think from this entire list of 10 … And maybe I said that last time with some these. But if you [inaudible 00:40:36] one thing and just continually improved and pursued excellence, you’re going to become a millionaire because nobody does this.

Brandon:
Everyone just settles in at what they’re at and they call themselves good enough and they say, “Yeah. Yeah, we’re fine. I don’t need to do anything better.” Pursue excellence. Hey, I’ll add one more thing on this. We have a consultant who helps us with EOS which is our operating system at Open Door Capital. He asked a question that was really good and I’ll ask it to all of you. What have you stopped doing that helped you get to where you are? In other words, when you’re young and in a business and you’re just eager and all excited, there are things that you did that were really cool and different that were awesome. What have you stopped doing now that you’re bigger? And again, that doesn’t necessarily apply to everybody here but some of you it does apply. You could be like, “Oh yeah, I used to do this one thing and people thought that was so cool. But then eh, I don’t really do that anymore.” So David, is there anything in your real estate business … You don’t have to answer this. But anything in your real estate business that you used to do that you’ve now stopped doing because you just got busy but it helped you get to where you are? Or in your investing. Anything that you used to do that you stopped doing because you just got busy? That’s the question I would encourage everyone to ask themselves.

David:
And you have to fall in love with the process of becoming great. Like I was saying earlier, if it’s just something you’re supposed to do you won’t do it. If it’s something you want to do you will. So when you look at the people that have accomplished great things like a David Goggins, he loves the process of pushing himself. So again, I’ll tie this back. It’s not about I need more money. If you have enough money that is great. There’s other ways to become great. There’s other ways to commit to improvement. You can be making a lot of money but you’re making it in a hard way that wears you out, that takes you away from your family. Can you improve the way that you’re making your money? Can you improve the business you have that you have enough money? Well, how do you make opportunity for other people to come into the world that you created, the ecosystem that you created and do better? There’s something very addicting about committing to this process of self improvement and seeing the progress that you’re making as you go. And I think the reason I love it is it forces you to become a servant of other people.

David:
So if Open Door Capital is making enough money for all the owners to be happy they could easily sit back on their laurels and say okay we’re done. But could they make more money for their investors? Could they make it a more fun experience for their investors? Could they make it a less stressful experience for their investors? That’s why you always ask how can we do this better? Because it forces you to take your eyes off of yourself and put it onto other people.

Brandon:
Yeah. Very good. One other piece that adds on to this whole is the idea of self education. Constantly reading, constantly asking how we can do better, joining masterminds, going to conferences. All that stuff helps you become better. Because oftentimes we think we’re pretty good. We’re like, “Oh yeah, I’m already excellent.” But then you read how somebody else does it or you see a system somebody else puts into place or you go to a conference and you hear a speaker say, “Oh yeah, we do this one thing.” And I’m like oh that’s so good. That’s how you know, oh yeah, I can improve even more. I’ll give you an example in property management. I once heard Steve Rosenberg who’s been on the show before and he’s one of the speakers at BP Con this year. Steve mentioned how his company, his property management company would donate meals to a local charity. Like a local food shelf or whatever. They’d donate meals every time they did a showing. And they would then send a letter or a phone call to the person who came to do the showing for a rental unit and say, “Hey just so you know, we donated a meal in your name to the food pantry or whatever.”

Brandon:
It’s such a cool little thing. It doesn’t cost much money. It’s a few dollars. But it made such an impact to that community and helped people but it also made them look really good and it made every showing … People were like, “Wow, I did really good just by showing up here today.” So anyway, that was like a spot that he did a better job than I did. So now that we’re working on implementing some things like that in our business because we wanted to pursue excellence. We’re asking how can we do better? That’s one way to do it. Anything you want to add on that David or should we move on to number 10?

David:
No. Let’s get on to number 10 here.

Brandon:
All right. The last one that we added here … And this does help you become a millionaire even though it might not sound like it. And that is to along the journey, give back. I often use the analogy that we’re not free falling off a cliff when you get into real estate or you’re trying to build wealth or be an entrepreneur. You’re not just free falling. You are on a hike. You are on a journey. A path. And it’s generally a very well worn path. Especially if you’re in real estate. There’s millions of people who have become millionaires through real estate. You’re on a very well worn path. But what that means is that there are a lot of people ahead of you and there are a lot of people behind you on that path. We’re all on this exact same journey. You, me, David, everybody. We’re all on the same journey. On the same path. But it’s a group of friends on a hike. And so one way that you become a millionaire faster is by helping people behind you. And that seems almost counterintuitive. Why would you waste your time helping people and giving back? It’s because for whatever reason … But it does.

Brandon:
I mean the scientific studies have shown that. They’ve done studies that show when you donate money, when you donate your time, that actually makes you wealthier. In a religious or spiritual side every religion out there has a similar principle. When you give you’re going to get more in return. But now science and psychology actually backs that up and says yeah, that’s actually totally true. When you give back you’re naturally going to grow more. And I think it’s largely because when you give, whether it’s money, time, whatever, it releases your hold on money to the point where you are able to take more risks with that money because you’re not so glued to the money. You’re not just a greedy person. You’re like hey, it comes and goes. It changes you when you’re generous. It changes your very mindset about money which allows you to take more risks and then make more money in return. So giving back. And also when you give back in terms of education, when you’re teaching other people, you actually learn the stuff better. One of the reasons that I am really good … I’m not shy about saying this. I’m very good at understanding real estate. The reason I’m so good at understanding real estate and I can write all these books is because I teach this stuff. I teach it all the time.

Brandon:
And the more I teach it the better I get at it. David, you’re the same way. Teaching actually makes you good at the topic that you’re doing. So if you are … Maybe you’re way farther behind on the trail than I am on this journey but there are still people behind you. So you are an expert to somebody. Everybody is an expert to somebody. And so yeah, how can you teach it? What do you want to add on that? I’m rambling.

David:
The reason I like the bucket analogy for when we were talking about committing to quitting is because it makes the goal, money in this case, the water. And I like looking at wealth as water because when water gets stagnant it sits in one place, it goes rotten. You don’t see fungus and mold and moss in a stream that is moving or in a river. You see it in a pool where it gets taken away from the flow. This is one of the reasons that the government is always trying to stimulate the economy. What they’re trying to do is make money pass from one hand to the next. We call that the velocity of money. The higher that is the more that everybody wins. When money passes hands from one person to the next if it can pass 10 people’s hands, 10 people benefited. Versus when it sits in one place that becomes a problem. And so when you give you are forcing money out of you. You’re committing to quitting on hoarding that money. That doesn’t mean you spend it on dumb things. We’ve already talked about the fact that we don’t do that.

David:
But when you give it to someone else, when you invest it into something else and it’s gone and it goes out, now you have a building and that building is employing a property manager. It’s giving tenants a place to live. It’s giving construction people something to do. It’s giving your maintenance man something to do. It’s using energy. So now your money is passing hands into whoever the utility provider is that you have and all the employees that work there. You see this whole world that we live in only makes sense when money moves. You just want to move it into good channels. And so when you give back, like you said Brandon, it forces you to release that money. It gets it out of this pool of stagnant that just sits there and goes bad. It flows into something better. And then more money can flow into you because now you have more room.

Brandon:
There you go man. I love it. So give back. Find a way to do it. And one tangible way to do that everybody is go to the BiggerPockets forums and answer questions if you can. Even if you’re fairly new, you probably know something that you could help at least point people in the right direction. Be helpful. Go out to coffee with people. Go out to lunch with people that ask you if you’re experienced. Help them along their journey. And in return they’re probably going to help you find deals or find properties or find investors, whatever. The more you can give back the more chance that in the future you’re going to get a return on that. Even if you can’t see a one on one. What I don’t like is when people are like,, “Yeah I’ll give back if I get a return. Right now show me what return I’m going to get. I’ll go out to lunch with you if I’m going to get something from it.” But it’s not that. It’s more of a spirit of being generous with your time, with your money, with your abilities and just knowing, having the faith that this will come back to me. It’s going to benefit me longterm. I may not always see it but it’s going to benefit me. Even it if it didn’t it’s just are right thing to do. So give back.

David:
There you go.

Brandon:
All right, there we go. By the way, speaking of giving back, we are actually going to be doing an auction. An actual real auction at BP Con this year where you can bid on cool stuff like hanging out with me in Maui in my vacation rental or coaching calls, things like that. There’s a lot of cool stuff on the auction block so if you’re going to be at BP Con this year bring some money for that because it’s going to be awesome and it’s going to go to A Hero’s Home which is a really cool cause where they are helping put homeless vets into properties so it’s pretty cool. That said, we got to move on to this last point here and that is … David, you want to over it?

David:
Number 11, our bonus tip.

Brandon:
Bonus tip.

David:
Create the Avengers. Brandon, why don’t you go on and explain what we mean by that.

Brandon:
Sure. So I used this analogy several times now but I’ll say it again. When you’re building a real estate team or a team … It doesn’t have to be real estate. Any entrepreneurial team or whatever. You’re building a team of people. It’s because you want to find people who are the best at what they do. So everything we talked about today is great but if you want to take it to another level, maybe all the 10 tips we gave they’ll make you a millionaire. If you want to be a millionaire who doesn’t have to work very much or you want to be a millionaire who goes from one million to 10 million or 20 million, you got to create a superhero team of people who are superheros. I don’t just mean grab people off the street and say, “Hey, we’re going to make a team together,” or grab your best friend because he’s there. I’m talking about finding who are the best people.

Brandon:
It’s like Tony Stark and Black Widow and all these people. Thor and The Hulk. They were all amazing at something and you bring them all together. I became a millionaire basically … I don’t want to say on my own. But I own the company. I did most of the stuff. And that was fine. My wife and I did stuff. We brought in third parties as needed but I became a multi, multimillionaire when I build Open Door Capital as a team or when we build BiggerPockets and made it a huge team of people. That’s what took BiggerPockets to a new level. That’s what took Open Door Capital to a new level. I know, David, that’s what’s taken your real estate agent side to a new level is by bringing in the team. And you’re bringing people, again, who are awesome.

Brandon:
So like when I look at like Mike Williams, we talked about him earlier, he’s the best investor relations guy on the planet. I really believe that. He’s so good because he’s so personable and smart and knowledgeable. Like he’s like my Tony Stark or my Thor or whatever. And then Micah. Amazing genius mathematical mind for running finance. And then Walker, amazing at acquisitions and really as just a leader of the company. He’s now my COO. And Jay and Tristan. Everyone. Ryan. Like the whole team of people who are just amazing. Brian Murray. Brian Murray is my hero in this thing. He makes it happen. And so if you want to get to that next level create the Avengers. And if you want to organize that, remember that you’re not just doing work, you’re building an engine. That’s what a machine is. That’s what an engine is. Is a bunch of little pieces that all work together in concert to create movement or to drive the vehicle forward or whatever the thing is. That’s your job to get, that’s the bonus tip is to create the Avengers or the justice league if you’re a DC person. That’s fine.

David:
Yeah. There’s a scene in The Avengers. I think it was the first one. Where Thor hits Iron Man with lightening trying to hurt him but all it does is power up his suit.

Brandon:
Oh yeah.

David:
And then he takes that extra power and he shoots it at Captain America and this beam hits his shield and bounces off his shield and now it’s even stronger than it was before. And it’s this really cool way of showing how all these team members, when they use those instead of fighting with each other, they use it against the bad guy, they all become stronger. That’s what you want your team to look like. And the bonus tip I will give to the person who is either just starting out or new to this in whatever way they’re not an avenger, don’t go to the Avengers and say, “Hey, I’ll volunteer my time to help on your team. Make me an avenger.” Go to the Avengers and say I will dedicate my life to the pursuit of excellence and helping you achieve your goals. There’s a very big difference between the person who wants to join a team and says, “I’ll work for free,” versus the one who says, “I will work tirelessly until I am valuable to this team.” And that’s what the Avengers are looking for. They’re not going after just random Joe Schmo military person to throw out there. They’re looking for superheros. The best of the best and they want to make each other better.

David:
So if yo have a good goal which you should … If you followed rule number one which is aim for a target, something like financial freedom, that’s a very noble goal. But you don’t achieve a goal of that size, you don’t defeat a villain like Thanos, or in this case it would be being stuck in the rat race you’re entire life. That’s you villain. You don’t defeat it with a mediocre effort. It takes a heroic effort to get to where you want to be. And the fun of what we’re talking about is the hero that you become as you take the journey.

Brandon:
Yeah. Really good man. So create the Avengers and if you’re not at the level where you can go hire people, that’s fine. That’s not all we’re talking about. Maybe you can JV with people. You can bring in some partners. Again, don’t just grab people who are near you because they’re good, but bring in the best people. The right people. JV. That’s why things like BP Con or any real estate conference are so helpful. Because you meet people and you start to see, oh, they’re a superhero at that thing. But they’re not good at this thing. Well I’m good at this thing and they’re not good at that thing. Perfect. We made a perfect team. And then you start talking together. So maybe it’s a JV. Maybe it is a partnership. Maybe it is an employee thing. Maybe it’s that you … Like David said and I love that point David. Maybe you just make yourself a superhero so you can join somebody else’s team because you’re so good at something. You don’t need to own the whole thing right now, especially if you’re beginning. Being a part of something else could be a great way to grow and you can probably grow a lot faster and get a lot more wealth built by being a part of something bigger so don’t be afraid of that.

David:
My new line when someone says, “I don’t want to work in somebody else’s company,” is I’m going to say, “Well, Thor wasn’t too egotistical to join the Avengers. So are you saying that you’re stronger than a god?”

Brandon:
Funny man. All right well, this has been a lot of fun. We got to start wrapping this thing up. But maybe we’ll do a quick famous four. You good with that?

David:
Yeah. Let’s do it.

Brandon:
All right. Time for the famous four. All right. David, any real estate book. Actually, let’s do the other question. Let’s do the habit or trait you’re working on in your life right now.

David:
I am working on, this is a little bit of a deeper one, trying to foster the belief in my own head that … Let me think how I can explain it. Things are going to be okay. I don’t have to worry until they’re okay. That’s a problem that I tend to have is I see where I’m going and then I’m unhappy and I worry, worry, worry until I get to the goal and then I relax. Well, if I’m pursuing these 11 tips that we talked about, success is going to happen. I don’t need to be surprised that if I’m working out and I’m eating good I’m going to get in good shape.

David:
So why be down on myself the entire time I’m going through the process and take the fun out of it? I’m really trying to get focused on hey, I have the vision, I’m making the right moves, I should be excited right now and believe that it’s going to happen and have the emotional state of it’s already happened. Then when it happens I’m like, “Hey cool. Now I just set another goal.”, instead of sort of creating this world which I think many of us do where until I hit that point I am going to be miserable and I’m not going to be happy. And then you hit it and you have a brief moment of happiness and then you jump into your next thing and then you go unhappy again. How about you?

Brandon:
That was way deeper. I was just going to say, I’m trying to get taller but now I got to come up with something better. All right, no. I am working on … And this will relate to the book I’m about to mention in a minute. But I am working on drastically doing less. Like trying to do less. My days are just too packed right now and it’s affecting my family life. Not in a terrible way. I’m not saying my wife hates me. Just like I find myself working from like eight to five. And I’m like what am I doing? And it’s because I’m doing 40 different things all at once and each one requires an hour a week. And I’m like well there goes 40 hours. I didn’t move to Hawaii to work 40 hours. So I am working on decreasing the amount of things that I do.

David:
So you’re committing to quitting.

Brandon:
I’m committing to quitting. And even part of that is this idea of you’re going to hear more of David, a little bit more of David doing more solo shows. Like just him talking like the Seeing Greene episodes. You’re probably going to hear more of that because we want to do more and more episodes of the podcast but I don’t want to do three podcasts a week, four podcasts a week, five a week. But I know there’s a need for it. So you may hear a little bit less of me. That’s cool.

David:
Well, we may need to hear less of you so that you can go learn more things that you can share when you’re on the podcast.

Brandon:
Maybe. Maybe. So yeah, that’s a big thing for me. Books. I’ll let you go first. I got to look at the official name. Any books that have made an impact on you lately or in your life?

David:
Patrick Bet-David’s book, Your Next Five Moves I believe it was, was really good.

Brandon:
That was really good. In fact, I have that sitting right behind me right now. It’s really, really good. I thought that episode was awesome also. If you guys have not listened to our episode we did with Patrick Pat-David, make sure you listen to that one.

Brandon:
All right, so the book that I’m reading right now … It’s hurting. I’m reading it. It hurts. It’s one of those books that convicts you really well. It’s called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How To Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World. It’s written by a Christian pastor named John Mark Comer but it’s not really necessarily a religious or spiritual book, it’s just about how busy and hurried our souls have become. It’s like jumping from thing to thing to thing and everything’s a rush. And how that’s not actually a human principle. That hasn’t existed forever. This is a relatively new thing and our minds can’t take it. So yeah, that’s got me really thinking about a lot of things right now.

David:
I think a lot … When people suffer from anxiety it’s odd because I think the diagnosis of anxiety is way up compared to what it ever used to be.

Brandon:
Oh I’m sure, yeah.

David:
But this is an easier time to be alive than ever before. I don’t mean that disrespectfully I’m-

Brandon:
That’s exactly what the book makes that point. So why?

David:
There’s less tigers eating humans and less of us starving and less babies dying from no medicine than you ever had. And I feel like anxiety is a byproduct of this you’re in danger. So it’s good. Anxiety’s supposed to serve a good purpose. It’s like hey pay attention, something’s bad. And it’s the constant I got a million things to do that tricks my body into thinking I’m in danger. There’s a tiger that’s going to kill me, there’s a storm that’s coming and I have to build a shelter or whatever the case is. There’s an irony in the fact that even though we have more comforts than we’ve ever had before, we can be less happy than we’ve ever been before.

Brandon:
Yeah.

David:
Did I just sum up the book that I haven’t read?

Brandon:
That was pretty much it.

David:
Okay. Read that book.

Brandon:
You should read it.

David:
Yeah.

Brandon:
You should read it. Real good. All right, next one, hobbies. What have you been doing lately for a hobby?

David:
Jujitsu. So I’m in the stage where … You and I had a discussion. I think we even did it on a podcast where we talked about these three stages of success. I’m trying to remember who the guest was. But it starts off where you’re passionate and you have this gift where you just love it and it’s all you want to talk about, it’s all you want to do. And then you go through the trench where it’s just like you get no results and you get your butt kicked every day and it’s miserable and you just plod your way through the trench. And then finally you arrive on the other end, if you keep going, of success. There’s these three stages.

David:
So we see this when someone gets into something and all they do is talk about it nonstop. It’s kind of how you and I are with Brazilian jujitsu. Because we’re in that new phase. And what we’re trying to do is develop habits that will get us through the trench. When it’s no longer exciting, it’s no longer fun, it just sucks of continually realizing you’re not that good. So what I’m doing right now is I’m trying to set up a system while it’s fun where I do this four times a week. And I’ve decided if I’m not going to … If I can’t roll with somebody I will just do exercises that will help me. Like practice the movements of what we’re getting into. So that I set this tone of four days a week this is what I’m doing. So that when I hit the trench these habits are established and I have a healthy process to get me through the trench rather … If I don’t do that I know what’ll happen is six months later I’ll lose interest, it’ll just die off.

Brandon:
That’s it. That’s it man.

David:
What about you?

Brandon:
Well, I’m the exact same answer. I’m just going to say the same thing.

David:
It’s hard. We have to be this committed to it.

Brandon:
Yeah definitely. Yeah. I would love to keep progressing from a white belt onwards so jujitsu, that’s my thing. All right, last question. What are you seeing lately? What separates successful people from those who give up, fail, or never get started David?

David:
I think right now with the economy doing as well as it has and I know we just went through COVID and there’s a lot of people that are not doing well. I’m not talking about individual people but overall the economy shouldn’t I don’t think be this strong considering what we just came out of. We’ve printed a lot of money that have made things go well. There’s this phrase in sports that the best … Something like the best deodorant is winning. So you get a team with a lot of bad attitudes and a lot of fundamental problems but if they keep winning everyone just goes along with it until they finally start to lose and that’s when the whole team falls apart. I think in a lot of the ways that’s happening with our economy where there’s a lot of businesses that are existing on venture capitalist funds that are not profitable that won’t be in business in a couple of years. And so to me, the trait that makes somebody successful is having the ability to recognize I’m in a grace period right now. This is not always going to be this easy for me. Money is not going to flow this well so I’m using this opportunity to grow my skills, make smart investments, save my money, make good decision. Not just assume money is always going to be flowing in.

David:
Versus the people that are like, “Hey, it’s a party. The wine’s flowing. Have a good time. Don’t worry about it.” Because eventually that party ends and those are the people that are left hungry.

Brandon:
Yeah. That’s really good man. I’m going to give more a cop out answer. It’s going to be I think the thing that separates people is they do the 10 and a half things that we mentioned on these two podcasts but here’s the key. They do it long enough to see the results. I call it consistent persistence. Like if they just do the right things that we talked about today and they do it once or twice they’re never going to see the results they want. It’s if they do it over the long haul. I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again, Josh Dorkin is probably the best entrepreneur I have ever known in my life because Josh stuck with BiggerPockets. He’s the founder of BiggerPockets. And I say he’s a genius because he stuck with it for years without seeing results and that’s why Josh is such a success is because he stuck with it long enough and most people don’t.

David:
He’s that guy that pushed the boulder and just kept pushing.

Brandon:
Yeah. He just kept pushing it. Even though everyone’s like this is stupid, you’re not making any money, he just kept pushing it and kept pushing it. That pig headed determination. And I mean that in a good way. It’s huge. Yeah. That’s it. All right everyone, thank you so much for listening to the show. Quick recap of the 10. Let me just say what they are in case you’re taking notes. Number one, aim for a target, number two, scalable income, number three, fight lifestyle creep, number four, buy assets with the extra income, number five, stair step your way to wealth, number six, harness synergy, number seven, get around way wealthier people, number eight, commit to quitting or committing to quitting, number nine, continual improvement and pursue excellence, and number 10, give back. With the bonus being kind of the multiplier here is create the Avengers. Build a team and a system and a machine that can take you to new heights. And that’s all we got today so thank you everyone for joining us today. I will let David get us out of here.

David:
I will say if anybody here is looking to join an Avengers team or looking to do one of the number two, scalable income source, I’m hiring loan officers and agents to work on my team. So if you live anywhere near me and you’re looking to get into this world I could be one of those scalable income sources for you. Brandon, anything you’re hiring for right now?

Brandon:
I don’t even know. You were always looking for deals. We just hire so much. We have a lot of internships going so I don’t know. If we do, I post them on my Instagram.

David:
So follow Brandon at BeardyBrandon and keep an eye out for internship opportunities. There’s been quite a few young people that I’ve come across that have had their lives changed interning with you Brandon. You’re doing a really good thing there.

Brandon:
Thanks man. Appreciate it.

David:
All right. Thanks everybody for listening. Hope you liked this show. Please leave us a comment if you’re listening on YouTube to tell us what you thought of it and what you’d like to see more of. This is David Greene for Brandon I am groot Turner signing off.

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