How to be a Great Leader?

Leadership and just teams in general, this investing business that I do, and just life in general, you're more than welcome to do everything on your own, but you have a set of skills that work great for you. And by not surrounding yourself with the right team, not that it can't be done, of course, it can be done, I did it for years, but truly what has set me apart in the last couple of years is surrounding myself with people that are better at certain things than I am. And what that takes for you as a person, is it takes you to lose your ego and it takes you to lose a set of control. I think a lot of alphas; a lot of A personalities have a massive problem with control. They believe that nobody can do it as better as they can, and they're the only reason that it's being successful and that's just not the case. I tried that for a long time and I lied to myself about a lot of things and when you're lying to yourself about things that you truly love doing, you're living in this anchor and this false sense of duty or a false sense of action that you're taking, but you're actually moving slower is the case.

And it wasn't until I became real with myself and I became very apparent of self-awareness about what I did not like to do and I farmed out all those tasks, surrounded myself with people that are the opposite of me that loved doing that, but then they need me to lead the way. That's the game-changer for me, it literally sent me to another level because it allows me to soar, it allows me to just be me and when you're living in your truth, that's just such a freeing feeling. It's not working, it's not whatever, you're just doing your life because you love it.

And so many times people live in the world saying that this can't be done, “I'm the only one that could do this." And that's just not the case. One of the greatest books I've ever read on this is Rocket Fuel, it's a no brainer. I made my business partner read it before we partnered up, I think it's just a great explanation of integrator and visionary and I ask everybody that I coach, everybody, that I work with, what are the expectations of me as your boss or your business partner? And what are the expectations that you want to get out of this position? If you don't communicate that if you're not clear on what you're bringing to the table or you're going to do for them, and he's not clear on what he needs from you, then what's the point? Everybody's just faking it or what really happens and you're a leader that doesn't give a crap about what your team thinks because their voice doesn't matter.

And it wasn't until I woke up and realized that they don't work for me, I work for them, I serve them, I'm only great because they're great. And I'm only even greater because they're even greater. And I'll let you know this, I'm fun to work with, but I'm hard, like really hard, standards are top-notch, I move at Mach 30, so you better move with me and I'm not going to play small, I'm not going to come down to your level because I want you to rise to mine and that's what you have to realize.

There’re no ceilings in life, if you want to go out and buy 30 properties this next year, and you find 30 good deals, then buy all 30 properties, it's as simple as that. I have a lot of young kids ask me all the time, what do you think? You think I should go multi-family or single-family to start? I go, "I don't know, find the deal." It doesn't matter. What if it's a 20-unit? And then you thought in your mind that it was going to take you five years to get to 20 houses, but, on your first one, you bought a 20-unit and you partnered up with somebody that knew what they were doing. There’re no ceilings in life, it's only the ceilings you put in your own mind, it's that simple. Whatever you want to obtain, create the team to do it and then go out and execute.

I'm guilty of this in the past, it's probably my biggest flaw, talking a lot and not going anywhere. Well, that stopped because we're just moving like sharks through water and I can only do that because I've surrounded myself with people who have a certain set of skills that compliment my skills. And by a leader, I tell them all the time, "What are we doing boss?" And they're like, "Well, I don't understand." I'm like, "Well, tell me what we're doing, boss, you're the boss, this is your department, so tell me what you're doing." And it just frees me up to be who I am.

And the things that I love to do, which is a network and get crazy and fly across the country and meet people, they don't want to do that stuff and that's okay. And over time they might grow up to do, but I'm finding so much joy in opening them up to a world that they didn't know and vice versa. The only thing I care about in life is truly doing stuff with people that I care about. I mean, it's so much fun to watch them grow and watch them get out of their comfort zone a little bit.

And it's only because of this in the last year that I've been able to really move forward at a rapid pace because those tasks that I don't want to do and you've got to bootstrap in the beginning, of course, I'm not expecting you to go out and hire 20 people. But there are guys that work for me for free, I'm teaching them investing and coaching and they're on a trial basis and then they'll get paid. So, there's plenty of options out there, it's just really about how bad you want it and I want it really bad and my team wants it really bad.

And so, when you come from a place of understanding that they are just as integral as you as the CEO or you as the boss is, that's when you truly set yourself free and you can explode. Because what I try to do is I encourage creativity, I encourage ideas instead of stifling them, and "It only has to be my way and it only has to be this." I just come on my podcast and talk, I don't really do all the other stuff. The other stuff you see, yes, I have social media posts and all that stuff, but the design, the things that we come up with, that's all them, because in life you have to understand that people care about a couple of things and they want to be creative. They want to feel heard. Are you letting your team be heard or are you just running through them like a bull in a China shop because you want your idea to come across? True beauty is when everybody's hand's involved and look, all the ideas are not great that they come up with, but I sure encourage it and we'll give it a shot because then they're at least feeling heard.

Everybody is mad about millennials, right? "Oh, they don't want to work, they don't want to do this." No, you're not understanding what they want, they want growth, they want to learn, this is what they want. So, you're mad at them for that? It doesn't make any sense, does it? My number one need in life is growth and I know that about myself, and I know that I am a high I on the personality scale, high, like 98%. I love people, I want to talk all the time. So, what am I supposed to do? Hang out and do spreadsheets all day? That doesn't make any sense, because I'd rather go lay tile and mow yards than do a spreadsheet, that's how much I hate it.

So, when I started out, I was like, "I'm going to learn everything I can about multi-families, everything." I'm like, "I'm going to get in there, I'm going to learn it." And all that crap sounded like Spanish to me. Appreciating asset, water bill and I'm like, "Ugh." I mean, just makes me nauseous. "Oh, you want me to go talk to a hundred investors in a room and meet everybody in an hour? Oh, I'll do that all day." So, then I thought to myself, "Okay, you need to know enough to be dangerous, but you don't need to dive three years of your life into this. You need to find and partner up with people that love this and let them do that work and then it allows me to go do what I do better. Do you get what I'm saying? In investing and in life and personal development, everybody thinks you need to know everything and yes, you need to be a master, if it's your strength.

I am a master communicator and networker, I've got 25 years in the hospitality and restaurant business because it's my strength and I'm a master at it, but I don't need to be a master in spreadsheet performance. Why would you need to know all that stuff if you hate it or are not great at it? Double down on your strengths. Chris, who does the podcast and some of the social media, he's amazing at that stuff, it's what he wants to do, so he does it. My new assistant is great at finding information, organizing it, it's amazing. So, he crushes that, and then I go do what I do: the podcast, networking, meeting clients, putting deals together. And I can't explain to you the feeling it is when I lean on my strengths, I feel like an eagle soaring through the air with no anchors.

I really want you to look at yourself and ask yourself, are you playing to your strengths? Or are you trying to learn everything about everything? I know a lot about everything to be dangerous, but I don't need to go 9 million feet down when it doesn't serve me and it doesn't help me moving forward. So, I really want you to ask yourself, are you playing to your strengths?