Phil Pustejovsky / Freedom Mentor Experience (a joke)

[Joe Gee]

Hi, All:

I know this has been addressed in the past but I wanted to share my experience and get some feedback on others' interactions with Freedom Mentor.

I've been seeking a mentor in REI for a while and have been watching Phil's videos on YouTube for years so I sought his 'mentorship' via his Freedom Mentor Program. They set up the process as a preliminary ‘interview' and then if you get the first screener's ‘recommendation,' you move on to a 2+-hour ‘interview' with the ‘director' to ‘dive deeper and see if you're a good fit' because ‘Phil is very selective'—so selective, in fact, that ‘less than 1% of applicants are accepted to join.' Long story long, call me a ‘one percenter' because I made it through interview #1 and was accepted into the program by the director—pretty cool, or so I thought.

Immediately upon receiving an ‘offer' to join, I was emailed a "Real Estate Profit Sharing Agreement' to review and sign on the spot. It's five pages long and you're required to Docusign it immediately while on the phone with the ‘director.' I wasn't comfortable signing then and there as I wanted some time to review the agreement, read reviews on the program, think about it, talk to my dad, etc. before committing. This, apparently, was an absurd request because all of the sudden the ‘director' got super aggressive stating that if I don't sign immediately then I'm not committed to my success and don't really want it as much as I said I do, that if I don't sign now, it shows them that I'm not serious, can't make big decisions by myself, that I'm not the guy they thought I was, and that they'll have to rescind my acceptance (which they did). They even went to far as to discredit my dad's (or anyone else's) input because apparently unless he's a billionaire or has personally made millions in REI, his opinions/thoughts aren't valid. I didn't sign because their aggressive desperation for me to sign up was a huge turnoff and ultimately it felt like they wanted my credit card number more than anything else (which I'm sure is the case). After doing some research on the ‘director,' Kory, he's actually just a freelance/self-employed salesman based in Utah…

I should have sniffed it out earlier in the process than I did because even in the 1stinterview, some of the early questions from the screener included how much money I make, how much I have in my bank accounts, my credit score, how much credit card debt I have, and what my credit card limits are…I was then asked if I was willing to ‘leverage my credit’ aka max out my credit cards to be successful. I was ultimately quoted a price of $10,000 to join the program, which I was encouraged to put on a credit card and ‘write-off on my taxes.’ This gave me pause but the salespeople were adamant that once I got my first deal, I’d be laughing at how I balked at a $10k investment in myself and my education. Plus, once I net $500,000, I get that investment back anyway!...

Being a day removed from this clown show, I’m realizing all of the red flags and bs that was raised. The first screener, James, told me how he once owned a 3000-employee software company that he sold and how, as CEO, he had to make all kinds of uncomfortable decisions where he didn’t have all of the information before making a move. He also stated that his first mentor was Robert Kiyosaki and how he worked with him for years and went to dinners with Robert and his wife, Kim, and Robert poured his heart out to him about regretting not making moves earlier in his life after getting tipsy on wine. Last, but not least, I was told that Phil is a Christian and a man of God and that he truly wants what’s best for me and to help me because he and I are brothers/God’s children and God is calling Phil to help me. The dynamic gradually went from me needing them and vetting me for their program to aggressive now or never ultimatums, challenging/criticizing my commitment and morals, and using religious appeals and made up personal stories to try and get me to see the parallel and cave/sign/pay. These guys thought they were the Wolf of Wall Street on the phone.

The best part was that they told me that they don’t have any mentors in Michigan at all and that there are maybe 1 or 2 program apprentices in Michigan (despite them being ‘very interested in my market’…). When I said that I was looking for in-person mentorship and that face-to-face interaction was important to me, I was told that I had a 1970s mindset and that phone/email/text/video conference contact is the same, if not better than, face-to-face interaction/mentorship in real estate.

So while it feels like I’m making the right decision by looking elsewhere, and Phil’s brand is, at best, tarnished to me by this experience, has anyone had legitimate, W-2 income replacing success through Freedom Mentor? Am I foolish for looking a gift horse in the mouth or am I dodging a bullet? Thanks in advance for your input!